Lagartija Mola
February 2017

Two years ago, we helped our friends navigate their sail boat through the Panama Canal. During the trip, I had the opportunity to be exposed to Molas, a colorful textile art form made by the native Kuna peoples. Molas are brightly colored panels that use the techniques of appliqué and reverse appliqué. The panels are then used in the women’s blouses/dresses.

Unfortunately at the time, I didn’t have the opportunity to purchase a Mola, as our time was dedicated to enjoying time with friends, and sailing. However, given our global economy, I was able to source a Mola from ebay. I thought a Mola would be a perfect center block for a medallion quilt, and I loved the bright colors of this lizard-motif Mola.

The fabrics used for the borders were mostly pulled from my ‘Pieces of the Past’ stash, but I did have to buy a little more of the aqua-teal color to complete that particular border. While I liked how setting this border on point looked, it created a challenge in keeping my sizing consistent since the bias cut edge lends more stretch to the fabric. I used the black with aqua-teal hourglass blocks to mimic the lizard’s cuisine – flies!

I have only done one other medallion quilt, my Marigolds quilt. I wasn’t sure if there were certain rules to be followed for a medallion quilt, so I checked in over at Catbird Quilt Studio since Melanie does a lot of medallion quilts. Here is what I found:

A medallion quilt is simply a quilt made with a central motif, which is surrounded by a number of borders. That is the ONLY rule, If you can follow that, you can make a medallion.

So, I guess I can log this one as my ‘second’ medallion quilt! 🙂

This quanket was donated to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, for a foster child in April, 2017.