faceted diamonds quilt

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I took a little break during the holiday season and ignored my sewing machine/ongoing projects, but after Vermont was hit with an ice storm, I couldn’t resist grabbing a nearly finished quilt and heading out for a quick photo shoot. The ice was so beautiful and such a nice contrast to this bright and colorful string quilt, and I’m hoping we can call it finished, even though it’s shown here sans binding.

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I made these blocks a while back just to see how they looked using rectangles rather than squares and then I set them aside for quite a while. When I came back to them I decided to play around with the layout and came up with this one. I’m pretty fond of it – I love that off-centered diamond and even the way the white strings don’t quite make a solid line (I think it gives it that faceted look – can we go with that?)

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The strings are a wide variety of fabrics – lots of colors and patterns! It’s fun to cast a glance at certain strings and remember what project they were originally used in.

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I couldn’t decide how to quilt it and spent far too long just staring at it. In the end I decided to go with narrow straight lines through the middle diamond section, then I used straight lines on the diagonal on the four sides of the diamonds. It makes a fun secondary pattern where the lines cross. As much as I like the backing fabric, I kind of wish I had used a solid so you could see the quilting design!

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After taking these photos I did eventually pick a binding and get it all bound and finished. You’d be surprised how long it took to pick a binding though! With all these colors and prints you’d think it would be a no brainer, but for some reason everything I pulled out seemed wrong. I finally went with the red Seedpod print from Denyse’s Florence line. I don’t think I’ve ever used red for a binding, and I quite like it! (You’ll have to take my word for it though – I haven’t gotten a photo of the fully finished quilt!)

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And yes, it’s for sale! Want to buy it? You can find the listing here.

Posted in [search] String Quilts, Fabric, Posts about Quilts, Quilts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

pretty fabrics

There have been a few pretty bundles joining my stash recently (I was unable to resist the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals recently!).

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Like this lovely bundle of Liberty of London prints. Loverly. Did you know that Westwood Acres is now carrying Liberty? I made a King sized Liberty quilt for our bed and it’s really the softest quilt ever. I’d love to make another someday!

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Or how about a little Anna Maria Horner? (purchased at Fabricworm). I’m particularly loving her line of True Colors. I can see pairing it with the little bit of Good Folks I have left for a really gorgeous quilt in saturated colors.

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Speaking of fun colors, Hawthorne Threads recently designed their own line of solids called Hawthorne Hues. They generously sent me a fat quarter bundle and I’m really loving the colors they came up with. I haven’t had a chance to sew with them, but stay tuned! In the meantime, you can grab yourself a handy swatch ring so you can see the colors for yourself.

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It’s not even all quilting cottons around here – I’ve been lured in by a few apparel fabrics. I’m particularly fond of the unique offerings at Drygoods Designs, and love to periodically check their new arrivals page. Though some of these are more appropriate for clothing, I wouldn’t be opposed to using them all in a quilt. I’m intrigued by the idea of a quilt with various types and weights of fabrics.

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Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics. I had to.

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And a few of the new Up Up and Away prints by Skinny Laminx for Cloud 9. I already paired a few of them with some fabrics from my stash. I’m thinking some big log cabin blocks.

I’m going to ask Santa for some free time!

 

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Hazel – 5 months

A little late this month, but better late than never!

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Hazel really has turned into the happiest baby, which is really wonderful, considering how unhappy she seemed during her first several weeks of life!

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How I wish I could keep her at this adorable stage – so aware and interested in what’s going on, quick to smile and laugh, yet still relatively immobile (though that’s quickly changing — we need to do some more baby proofing soon!).

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I thought perhaps I could get a decent shot to use as a Christmas card, but seems perhaps I should leave that job to a professional. I don’t seem to have much luck getting them both to look and smile for the camera!

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