Challenge of the month - 2010

This year, each month or so, we will be intoducing a challenge for you all to work on and after several months, each of you will have a self-designed quilt top. The purpose of this project is for you to learn and try new techniques. My suggestion is to design this quilt as a medallion quilt. A medallion quilt has a central design motif surrounded by multiple borders. The borders can be one piece, appliqued, or rows of blocks.
The first challenge is to decide on the central motif. It is good to use complex, relatively difficult patterns. Design wise, you want something complex enough to hold attention. If this is a difficult or time consuming block, you only need one center.
This is where I challenge you to try something you have never done before. I have always wanted to do a mariners compass. So guess what? I just made two this weekend! It was challenging and I'm happy with the results. I will bring them to the meeting to show. I'm glad I didn't try to do a whole top of just this block but with this one block, I have the start of my medallion quilt.
Other good choices for the center is a feathered star, lone star, or tree of life. These grab attention and the pointed edges draw the eye outward to the rest of the quilt.
Of course, you can do applique or even a pre-printed panel to embellish.
So, here is your challenge. Think of a block for your center. Again I suggest trying some technique or block you haven't done before. The center can be square or rectangle and any size. Just remember if it starts out too big, the top will just keep getting bigger as we add borders in the next months. Lets see if we can have our centers done March 9.