Be A Diamond Blog Hop and Giveaway

Hi blog hoppers!
Carol has organized another fun blog hop for us! This time the blog hop is for projects featuring the diamond shape.


See the shape of this golden yellow diamond template? That's called a "round brilliant cut" shaped diamond, which provides the maximum reflection of light. I thought it was a perfect project to work on for the Be A Diamond blog hop.  Although some quilters (including me) are wary of using templates, I cut my template diamonds using 2.5" strips and it was quick and easy. 

Me, Susan, Marj and Barb all working with the diamond template

This project was started during a quilt retreat last winter. What a surprise it was to find that there were 4 of us at retreat who brought the diamond templates to start working on this quilt pattern. Two of us had a large template and two had the mini size. 

working with the layout

Susan and I used the small template and made our projects in reverse. She put the colour in the template position, and I put the colour on the edges of the template. It was fun at first, but then I realized how challenging it was to do the layout and needed to have the project laid out beside the machine as I sewed the blocks. I could have made the quilt construction much easier on myself to use one background fabric, but I didn't of course!

wrong side of a block which uses 2 foundation papers

Using this layout, a block is two foundation papers sewn together on the long diagonal side. This is how the block looks from the back. One side has the paper still on and one side has the paper removed. It was very easy to remove the papers as they are just a wee bit stronger than tissue paper. 
This project is an interesting blend of using templates and paper foundation piecing. You can watch a video on how to piece the blocks using foundation papers here. 

All the machine quilting was done with the walking foot. I stitched vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, and then stitched 1/4" inside the light diamond shapes.

Here is the finished quilt! 

This bright and happy wallhanging wanted to called "Umbrellas". It has 144 pieces and measures 16.5" square. 
Linking up to Alicia's Finished Friday and the One Monthly Goal Finish party because this project is my April UFO.

right side of a block which uses 4 foundation papers

Because I still had many leftover foundation papers, I started another project using the easier layout with reverse values that Susan had made. In this quilt design the template is used to cut the coloured fabric and the pieced sides are the background fabric. I am using up the little scraps left over from the Tula Pineapple quilt. Four foundation papers make a block in this design and are joined on the short diagonal side.

Here are the diamond blocks I made from the leftover scraps. The plan of the moment is to sew these blocks into the backing of the Tula pineapple quilt. You can see the quilt top in progress here.





Here's the "Be a Diamond"  giveaway... a lucky blog hopper will win the diamond template and 150 of the foundation papers!  If you would like to give this pattern a try, leave a comment below. The random winner will be drawn at the end of blog hop on April 26th. The draw winner was randomly chosen... comment # 35!


A big thank you to Carol who organizes these wonderful blog hops for the online quilting community to enjoy! You can find all the Be a Diamond projects on the Pinterest page here.
Here's the list of bloggers to visit today:

Needled Mom

Keepsake Moments

Kathy’s Quilts (that's me!)

Kathy's Kwilts and More
Color, Creating, and Quilting

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day - Say no to plastic pollution

Slow Sunday Stitching

Happy Easter and welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching where we celebrate the art of creating things with our hands, where we connect to our ancestors by using time-honoured techniques to make things we could easily buy for a fraction of the cost, and where we recognize the value we add to our lives by engaging in this restorative practice. 

Today I am binding my April UFO and you just know how much I love my binding by hand stitching time! It's exciting to be so close to finishing a project and to be able to spend some relaxing stitching time thinking about the project, and what it has taught you. I'll be posting this finish tomorrow for the Be A Diamond blog hop.

As a special treat today, I want to share a treasure that my friend Debby found (this is the same friend that found the antique paper needle books a couple of years ago). 

needle book side 1

This needle book is made of wood. The images on the outside depict St. John's Church on one side and the river Tay in Perth. I have no idea how they fastened the image to the wood but it really is a lovely piece of stitching history. If only we knew that history!




The blue fabric in the centre is quite fragile and worn. The paper needle folder in one of the pockets is literally disintegrating.

needle book side 2

I believe this needle book comes from Perth, Scotland but I was not able to find any information on this treasure online. Have you ever seen a wooden needle book before?


Are you celebrating Easter today? 

Easter cookies

We had our big dinner yesterday, so today I can relax, eat leftovers and stitch! I even made some labour intensive, one of a kind shortbread cookies for the celebrations.

If you are looking for an Easter project to make today, you can scroll through the 27 easter projects that Jacquelynne has posted for our enjoyment here. 

I hope you will link up your Easter hand stitching activities below. Happy Easter!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrappy Saturday Doughnuts

Aqua Doughnuts

A few teal scraps were sewn into blocks this week. This RSC block project was inspired by the Temecula Quilts One Block Wednesday sew along. I don't know what they are actually calling this block, but it looks like a doughnut to me, so that's what I'm calling it! The project uses up the 1.5" scraps. It's fun to look at these blocks and remember which quilts the scraps came from.

I started this RSC block collection in January, so now there are 4 months worth of blocks. These blocks aren't sewn together yet because I'm not sure how they will be in the final layout. This is how they will look in colour blocks and you can click here to see how they looked last month in diagonal colour lines. I won't decide about the layout until I have many more blocks to play with.

aqua diamond block

And here's a sneak peak of my project for the Be A Diamond blog hop happening next week. I hope you can stop by and see my project on Monday. Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge weekly party.

Design Wall - Alamo Stars

This project started as a 2012 leader-ender project. Blocks were made slowly over the years, here and there from time to time, sewn in between piecing the other quilts that made their way through my quilt studio over the years. 

Alamo Stars

Wow that's beautiful if I do say so myself!
I prefer rectangular quilts, so I'm thinking of rearranging the blocks into a layout of 16 stars across by 18 stars down. 

Alamo stars sewn into 4 patch blocks

The fact that in the past 7 years I have never put the blocks on the design wall together is a testament to the fact that quiltmaking is really all about the process (for me). I just love playing with colour and fabrics, and constructing quilt blocks! I did not have a vision of what I was making or how big it would be at the beginning. I just started making little blocks for fun. It might have become a mug mat, or a placemat, or a table runner. But it has grown into a wall hanging now and I don't really want to make any more as I feel done with making this block.

Thank you to Bonnie Hunter for her ideas which revolutionized my way of sewing with the leader/ender concept. The blocks for this quilt were sewn together using her construction methods.

I have some muddy dark  blocks that I'm not sure about putting in. What do you think of these? They kind of don't fit in with all the colour saturated blocks. But maybe a quilt (and life in general) needs some of this muddiness to appreciate the colour?

When I look at the old photos of block construction for this project I marvel at my former highly organized self, dealing with so many little scraps. Each star block finishes in the quilt at 2.25" and has 17 pieces. This is a box that Julie sent me many many years ago that was perfect for keeping my strips, pieces and blocks organized.

Thank you to my blog readers for their encouragement on this project and for occasionally asking about the status of the Alamo project. I really appreciate your interest and support over all these years!
Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!  Take a few moments to set aside your machines, your devices and screens, and just take a deep breath... ahhh... so much better.
Now pick up your needles and fibres, and put a few stitches into your project. You will feel better in no time!
Today I am slowly working on my hand pieced quiltalong project. This task seems to require a lot of coffee and treats!


There are a few holes that have appeared in places where I didn't connect the units properly. My hand stitching friends said not to worry, that "the quilting will take care of the gaps".  So I decided to hope they are right and just accept the holes. 
Holes happen!


I didn't have much of the background fabric left, and the rest of the fabrics were from a charm pack, and I had nothing that suited this project for sashing. Hence, there will be no sashing. It might be a bit of a busy mishmash, but that's just the way it goes sometimes!

What are you hand stitching today? 
Are you have any challenges... like holes appearing in your project, or not having the right materials for the next step?  Link up your blog post below and share your miseries and successes with your slow stitching friends!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrappy Saturday

The past week was so busy I didn't get much quilting or blogging done. I have been working on my hand piecing for the quiltalong, and am almost ready to add the border.
And I have been sorting out aqua scraps for my RSC projects. 

Sweet Baby Jayne sews little aqua blocks

I did enjoy sewing some little tiny blocks on my white Featherweight. I love this machine so much and it's just perfect for sewing these 1" pieces. 

Here are the 3" Economy Path blocks for April. 
I am making 4 blocks each month and this pattern is perfect for using up my smallest scraps. Even though they are small, these little gems take at least as much time to cut and sew as a regular size block.

Here are the blocks for the first 4 months of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge year. After all this sewing, this collection of 16 blocks is now the size of a 12" block!! LOL

And speaking of tiny blocks, I've been working on my Alamo Star project so stop by on Monday to see them on the design wall for the first time since I started working on them almost 7 years ago!
Hop over to the RSC weekly link up and see what other folks are sewing with their aqua scraps.

Design Wall Monday

The quilt project I started at a class on Worldwide Quilting Day is on the design wall. I just have to finish 2 more blocks and get the whole quilt top sewn together by tomorrow. It's guild meeting and we are supposed to bring our quilt tops and finished quilts to the meeting. 

No pressure!
I'm still trying to decide on sashing or no sashing, but the time deadline may make that decision for me. 
It's one busy quilt, but I do love the Tula fabric!

It would be ever so helpful if the sewing would go more smoothly than it has been. Part of the difficulty is only having time to sew late at night when I'm tired.
Must concentrate!

Linking up to Small Quilts.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly linkup that celebrates the art of hand stitching! We are all about pure relaxation, taking deep breaths, and taking one s l o w stitch at a time.

I have been looking forward to today and have 3 projects lined up ready to receive some attention. First, I have a baby quilt binding to stitch that I have been looking forward to finishing (since the baby arrived in February).
Second, winter needs to be over and so this snowperson embroidery also needs to be done! SO done with winter weather! 


Third, I would like to finish the last hand pieced block for the quilt along so that I can finish the quilt top before the deadline. However, I think I cut some (or all) of the inside triangles incorrectly. I'll work on it today and see what I did wrong.

What are you hand stitching today?
Hoping that the new Inlinkz linkup will work for us today. Fingers crossed!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Scrappy Saturday

The RSC colour for the month of April is aqua. 
This is a colour that I don't often buy, don't notice at the quilt store, and used to dislike (see quilt retreat report from 2007!) But participating in the RSC has helped me to become friends with this colour and to see the benefit of using it in scrappy quilts. 

The March Aurifil BOM designer of the month is Sedif Imer and she designed a block called Harvest Block. I used some scrappy aqua fabrics to make the HSTs for this block. 

Here are all the Aurifil blocks that I have made so far. There are a few from last year's Aurifil DOM and a few from this year.
Hop over to the Aurifil linkup to see more versions of the Harvest block. Also linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Machine Quilt Day

Cat Snoopervisor

It's been a lovely day of machine quilting the baby quilt for my daughter's best friend's baby. I  realized I didn't show a photo of the finished top on my blog because this quilt went immediately from having the borders sewn on, to being pin basted, and then to being under the needle for machine quilting.

Paw Patrol

It has been fun to notice the little animals as I quilt on by ... the cats, dogs, ducks and birds. It's so relaxing when you "get in the quilt zone", listening to music, and the sound of the sewing machine making lines of stitches. 

I stitched the usual horizontal and vertical grid between the blocks, and then stitched diagonal lines across the star blocks. I marked the lines using a Hera marker, which just makes a slight indentation in the fabric to stitch across, leaving no permanent line. I mark each block as I come to it... mark, stitch, mark, stitch.


The border is made of the baby HST blocks (from the sawtooth star points) joined together in flying geese blocks.
I zigzagged around each point. It was a lot of twisting and turning of the quilt, which my back has been protesting since I started that! It's almost done now and I look forward to hand stitching the binding for Slow Sunday Stitching. Loving the light blue slightly variegated Aurifil thread that I am using!

April UFO

April is a busy month, with the tax deadline looming large and lots of boring paperwork to do. So I'm setting a hopefully achievable UFO goal this month.
I started the Wacky Web project project at quilt retreat in 2017 but I needed a design wall to work on in order to continue expanding the size, so I brought it home and put it away in a box. And there it stayed unattended for over a year.
This is a Missouri Star Quilt project made with a template and paper foundations. It is a challenging project requiring colour and placement organization to sew the blocks, and there is a lot of seam matching when joining blocks together. 

I'm hoping I'll be able to finish this quilt for the "Be a Diamond" blog hop, AND also finish my taxes by the end of the month!
Linking up to the April Goal Setting at One Monthly Goal.

Hand Piecing Update

Block #7 Eula

The finishing intructions have been posted for the hand piecing quiltalong so I am hurrying to finish up my blocks. These blocks were very relaxing to stitch. I really enjoy making the flying geese blocks. 

Block #8 Bess

The HST blocks are a little more challenging for me but I am improving with the practice.
I like how these two blocks are the exact same pattern but look different due to value placement.

The last block link up is here and I still have one more block to piece, plus the whole quilt top to get together. I'm not sure if it's doable by the end of the linkup deadline, but I'll try my best!

Happy Spring!

We had snow on the weekend which covered up the daffodils that were bravely poking up their little leaves. The snow was the perfect backdrop for my newly made blocks.

Design Wall Monday

I started a new quilt on World Wide Quilting Day (which was March 18th) at a quilt guild event. This quilt uses Tula Pink fabrics from the Zuma line. It's not very often that I make a quilt from a single fabric line, but I really like this one!
As often happens with me, although I really enjoy the quilt project I am working on, I get completely distracted by the scraps. And I mean totally distracted!
I just want to stop sewing the original project, and start playing with the baby HST blocks and see what they can turn into. I turned them into pinwheel block and here they are on the design wall. They are so darn cute! 



What about if the blocks are set on point?

The spaces around the outside would need to be filled in with the background fabric or I'd have to buy more yardage.
I like both layouts.


Wait...
what if I keep the on point layout and separate the blocks with a plain square?

Hey, that's fun too!

It really looks like the old fashioned pinwheels of days gone by with this layout. 
What if there was a little pinwheel in the centre of the alternate block so that it's not so plain? Maybe I'll try that!
What would you do with these blocks?
Linking up to Design Wall Monday.