Fishheads, fishsticks, and shark's fin soup

It's time for the big reveal of the final borders of the Gwennie Inspired Medallions, and I don't remember ever having more fun with a sewing project.  There was a lot of joy, mixed with intermittent angst, and really, isn't that Life in a Nutshell?
We started with 'baskets', then had 'childhood', then 'log cabins', then 'stars'.
September's theme was 'Something's Fishy', which was an interesting challenge.  My first idea looked better inside my head than it did outside.

I was thinking 'fishbones', but this missed the mark somehow.
Back to the drawing board.
Fishbones led me down the path to fishsticks, though, which carried me on to fishheads.
Fishheads...  hmmm...
(I took a whole bunch of pictures of my fishhead process, but unfortunately they're all on an SD card that is currently sticking out of the front of my computer back home.  Sigh.)
I made huge strips of fishheads, then made them even longer when I tried them up against the sides of the quilt and realized I was seriously underestimating how much length I was going to need.
Then I started sewing them on.
Without measuring anything.
This is so Not My Way.
And when I reached the end of the quilt side,

I chopped off the extra.

They said it would get easier.  They were right, though I did still gasp when I chopped this one.

Then the biggest surprise of all - when I got to the fourth corner, sewing on the fourth border, it came out perfectly with NO trimming necessary.

I was a little afraid I'd slipped into an alternate universe...

When I laid it out to look at it, I discovered that sometimes fishheads just aren't enough.

Luckily, I'd already worried about this and had a Plan B tucked away just in case.

Fishsticks!

I'd already started piecing bunches of rectangles, figuring if I'd use them for the smaller medallion if I didn't like them here.
I like them!
So did the official Resident Quilt Inspector.  (That's Samwise.  He's new to his duties as Resident Quilt Inspector, but I thought he did a fine and conscientious job.)

So, I sewed on yards and yards of fishsticks, until the quilt was too big to lay out anywhere in the house...

We clothespinned it to the curtains and I stood across the room.

There's a bit too much light behind it, and it's still too long to not drape on the carpet.

Here it is with a chair in front of it for reference.

Whew!  That was the larger of my two medallions, and it was a relief to finish it.  And a joy, because I love it to bits.

Speaking of bits, I had some left over.  These needed to go into the second medallion.

At first I was going to just do more fishsticks, because seriously?  That big quilt had taken its toll on me.  But if fishheads aren't enough, then obviously fishsticks aren't either.
So I added some shark's fins.

I'm pretty pleased with how this one turned out, too.

 Though I did have a moment's mad thought of doing this:

which would have meant a bias border all around the edges.  Luckily a trusted friend talked me down off that ledge.
It'll make a lovely binding, I think, so I'll settle for that.  (Though if I find a purple bias stripe print, all bets are off.)

Final stats?  
The large medallion finished at 87x93 - definitely bed sized.  It seemed even bigger when I was hanging it up!
The smaller one finished at 46x53.  I think it needs one more dark border (purple bias stripes!) to really be done, but it's still a good sized lap or baby quilt.
Considering I started this QuiltALong figuring I'd end up with a couple of wall hangings, I'm a little surprised how they grew!  

This QuiltALong has been a blast from beginning to end.  I feel like I learned a lot, especially about just relaxing and letting the stitches fall where they may sometimes.  And it's been a pure pleasure seeing how other quilters tackled their own challenges as we explored these themes together.

Many many thanks to the wonderful women whose brainchild this whole thing was, and a special request -

Can we make this an annual event?  Pretty please?!?



Linking with the Big Reveal.  Come see all the gorgeous quilts!