Be a Diamond Blog Hop
Welcome to a sparkling blog hop hosted by Carol @Just Let Me Quilt. She consistently comes up with some of the most interesting and challenging themes for hops. The theme for this hop is diamonds, who doesn’t love diamonds? Some people love them for their beauty while others use them as a status symbol. As quilters we know these aren’t the diamonds we are talking about today.
My design
Oddly enough the square in a square is considered a diamond, who knew? Initially I was going to add a diamond in the sashing rectangle but that left the corners empty so I decided to add square in a square blocks to the corners. But, it didn’t make my eyes wonder around the design.
After playing with diamonds in different designs I settled on one with the help of my flying geese. My goal in this hop was to use up some of the scraps (I hate to call them scraps ) that are lingering in my drawer. Yes I limit myself to a single drawer of fabrics. Okay maybe 2, but the 2nd is for my muslin only.
Fabrics
With muslin in hand I pulled the last of my red and blue solids from the drawer. BTW, the stars are raw edge applique with a straight stitch to secure them. I love frayed edges.
Lets face it, I am not the best at narrow bindings. To avoid ruining the points on the outside blocks I decided to add a border. Back to my drawer where I found a red with gray print and this blue. DH thought the blue would look best and I have to agree. The blue border adds a nice balance.
This design has a lot of potential for someone who is creative with fabric placement. There are a few possibilities for secondary designs that I hadn’t noticed. If you stare at it long enough they pop out at you.
Several of my friends have said this would be a perfect pattern for Quilts of Valor, I agree. That led me to join a hop in July for QOV which I’m a little up in the air over the design. One thought was to eliminate the top star section and add a border all the way around for the stars. Honestly, I will likely stay with the same layout just on a larger scale. Presently I have no pattern available but perhaps after the July hop I will make something available.
For quilting
Vertical stitching in the blue.
Horizontal stitches in the red, white and blue area.
For the border I followed the print on the fabric and stitched triangles.
What do you think, does the design say QOV to you?
The mini also generated a lot of IM’s on my personal Facebook page when I posted it. One of my cousins said it would look perfect hanging on her living room wall. A friend told me it would fit right in to his decor. Brother trumps friends and cousins so it will be gifted to my OLDer brother who will use it for a wall hanging. I added loops across the top while binding.
A patriotic quilt was not my intention, I just never do seasonal quilts. The top star section was an after thought merely to increase the size. Sometimes we just get lucky with improv.
Of the blogs I follow, I am always inspired by Susan at QuiltFabrication, and Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter. Susan shares her gorgeous seasonal/holiday quilty items throughout the year. Jennifer has fun, holiday themed linky parties where she encourages previous finishes. My point, I will have my QOV finish in July to share with Midweek Makers and my choice of 2 quilts to share with Wednesday Wait Loss in July. I’m so excited!!!
Be sure to scroll down for the list of links to others participating in the hop and the linky parties I join through the week.
Oh Scrap, Design Wall Monday, Monday Making,
April 22
April 23
April 24
April 25
April 26
For The Love Of Geese-That’s me
Lovely quilt and so patriotic! Thanks for sharing it on my special Wednesday Wait Loss.
Thank you Jennifer and thank you for Wednesday Wait Loss
Beautiful design! This is perfect for QOV. I wouldn’t change a thing. Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.
Believe it or not, I changed designs completely. ?
Well, I thought it was supposed to be a patriotic quilt until I read your post. So I think it would be perfect for QOV. A very strong and striking design regardless.
Well……change of plans on the qov design. Completely different from this one.
The scourge of having a designer’s mind 😀
Lol, it wasn’t that bad. If I told you how I came up with the design you wouldn’t believe me. About 8 hours later final draft complete.
What a beautiful patriotic wall quilt! I can see why your OLD-er (hah!) brother likes it so much. Great job!
LOL thank you.
Such a pretty quilt!
Awe thank you so much
That is one striking quilt!
Thank you Vicki
I love it! I can see all kinds of patterns jumping out of it, a great way to explore alternative color schemes.
For sure, its just hard to decide which design to highlight.
This is definitely a QoV quilt!! I am especially impressed with the sashing you created…awesome!!!
Thank you, I really love how the geese highlight the large square in the square block.
ABSOLUTELY a perfect QOV! I am lusting after it myself. (grin)
Thank you
LOL, thank you
I think it would be a perfect QOV! I really love the stars that mimic the stripes in the flag, but not really. Such a great patern!
Thank you
I love your pattern and how your quilt turned out! I love that old truck too! LOL I think this would make a great pattern for a QOV. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing your QOV project!
Thaml you
Your quilt is awesome Thanks for sharing
Thank you for stopping by.
Gorgeous quilt, absolutely love it!
Love those diamonds – very striking!
Wowziers that is absolutely stunning and a perfect QOV quilt.
LOL, thank you
Gorgeous. I love the secondary patterns that emerge.
I’ve been playing different color option and struggling to decide which one I should concentrate on for fabric placement.
This is a unique and beautiful design. Not surprised so many people wanted it 🙂 Looking forward to your larger version.
Well, I’ve been working on a design for the July QOV hop. We will have to wait and see which I choose to make.
I agree- this would be wonderful for a QOV! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for stopping by today
I think it is a perfect QOV design. It really is beautiful. I think the blue was the perfect fabric for the outer border.
Sometimes my dh has wonderful ideas. Thank you for stopping by.
It is stunning! Yes it a perfect Quilt of Valor quilt too. Thanks for the nice comment on my blog, but since you are a no-reply, I couldn’t email you back, but replied on my blog just in case.
Thank you. The only email I have that is gmail is my work email. Blogger doesn’t offer too many options. I’ve threatened to create a blogger account and duplicate the content. That’s a lot of work though and I’m just now comfortable with wordpress and still learning. I appreciate you stopping by and leaving a kind comment.
This is a beautiful and patriotic looking quilt that totally paid off with your “improv.” I love the layout and fabrics…gorgeous! Everything just pops out with all the different blocks and colors to make a very stunning quilt. Thank you for sharing and hopping with us!
Thank you Carol. The design does carry your eyes around.
Very pretty
This quilt only looks like a QOV or 4th of July quilt because of your colour selection and the added stars. It is a great design. I love the secondary stars. They look primary to me.
Thank you
Hey Denise! What a great design this is! I think it would make a spectacular QOV! Beautiful!
Thank you Cathy.
Your quilt is unique, and lovely
Thank you.
Lovely quilt! What a neat pattern–love it!
Thank you so much for stopping by
Lovely quilt! I’m sure it would make a lovely QOV.
I think so too but I’ve also been working on another design for the QOV hop. Thank you for stopping by.
Your quilt would be perfect for QOV! It’s really beautiful.
Thank you Elizabeth
A beautiful project you have created.
I really like it a lot, thank you for stopping by.