Round 2 of Meredithe’s medallion quilt-a-long is all about squares.  I really did agonise about what to do for this round.  The fabrics that I am using are mostly fat quarters or odd skinny shapes, so I really do have to think outside the square a little (ha ha!) to work out what will highlight the fabrics best while working with the overall (evolving) style of the quilt.  It’s a challenge, but I like it!  I get out my pencils and graph paper and draft a design out to get an idea of how the finished product might look.

For a while I considered doing simple large squares in as many fabrics from the blue/green colourway as possible.  Then I changed my mind and ended up with a square in a square, and mixed up the border fabrics and the inside squares.  No two are exactly the same.  The next challenge – how best to balance the design in terms of value.  I’m happy with the finished result.

Even though they are squares, the changing fabric combinations keep a sense of movement around the quilt. Here are some of my favourites:

Because there are only one or two colours in each fabric, I think each round needs to be kept simple. I’m not being especially challenged in terms of piecing (although it’s not perfect: don’t look too closely at those points) but I am being challenged in terms of design. Meredithe, this is loads of fun!

If you’re interested in joining in, you can! The next round will be announced in November. Just pop over and visit Meredithe’s blog and/or check out the flickr group.