Moving right along ...

I'm making progress. See the two fabrics on on the right? The lighter one is for the side triangles and corner squares, then there will be a 2 inch dog tooth row, then the darker eggplant color. All of the diamonds are done, and most of the 8 diamonds are together, with a few of the large segments also together. Some of the paper is even gone!

I like it!

(But I DON'T like that carpeting! It looks worse than it really is! LOL)

Our quilt guild challenge in July is "Diamonds" but unfortunately, this is too large for the category! That's OK, I'm having fun. So much fun that I've already picked out the next project from Karen Stone.

End of one Project, Beginning of the Next

Diamond Challenge:
I am almost finished with this Diamond, lacking hand quilting in 2 of the 4 corners, and in the border triangles. After seeing it here in my blog, I think it still needs more quilting - maybe a diagonal (diamond) grid. I also will block this project before calling it 'finished.' I am naming this something like Botswana Diamonds, since the Challenge theme is “Diamonds”. There are numerous diamond mines in Botswana, South Africa. I did some unobtrusive machine stitching in the ditch with silver thread, representing diamonds. But Botswana has other ‘diamonds’ – treasures, such as its wildlife. So I quilted a sable antelope in one corner, a baobab tree in another. I have yet to quilt the hyena pup, and lion.

Now, my question ... my center is sewn perfectly, but it also takes up too much visual space, so I want to add ... something. I have wooden beads, hand-made twine, but so far, no other ideas. I cannot find appropriate buttons, – these are some of the ideas I’ve been thinking about to help fill up the large space in the center. Any ideas? Dimensional something or other ... Remember, I live way out in western Nebraska, shopping for ‘just the perfect thing’ is not reasonable – it has to be something I can make myself.


Next project is paper-pieced, from a pattern by Karen Stone. I seem to be working on patterns these days - I am unable to come up with my own original ideas, (due to other things heavy on my mind), but hers are splendid - much more interesting than I could ever devise. I have chosen a pallette of pinks, rose, greens, pinky browns, dark browns, a bit of deep purple.

I am going out of town on family business for two weeks, and want a wonderful project waiting for me upon return.

Diamond Challenge

Here are my fabrics for my Challenge Quilt for our 2007 Quilt Show. I have so many ideas, projects, stored quilts, photos of quilts, and I’m getting a bit bored with them and finally decided to try something a bit different.

The theme for the Challenge is “Diamonds” so here are diamonds, and the fabrics are a bit Africa-y looking, one looks like wood blocking. This is paper pieced, not usually my favorite, but I like how this is turning out. I haven't decided to use the speckly print on the bottom of the stack for the corner or side triangles. It may look very different when the diamonds are finished, although I am also tempted by a cheetah print at the LQS. The star finishes at 28", and I'll add borders when I see what it likes.

The center is turning out to be a large space - I can see where it may improve with being broken down into smaller triangles.