Geode

I started sewing the blocks for the scrappy diamond quilt together. Since at least two sides of these blocks are on the bias, when the chunks start getting big, I often leave them on the floor.

This is put together in long diagonal rows.

I wasn't quite sure if I liked this quilt, but it's growing on me. As you can see I used a dark blue batik in the fill in triangles along the sides.

I didn't use fill in triangles at the top or bottom. I like the way this look like it's stacked. I've decided to call this quilt GEODE. Right now it's 63-1/2" x 75".

Hand Sewing to Country Music

I've had the scrappy diamond Magic Carpet quilt ready for binding now for many weeks, but since I spent much of my vacation time in California, I didn't get it done then. Usually I work on the binding while I "watch" TV.

This week, Country Music, the documentary by Ken Burns, started showing, so I've been sewing the binding on the quilt while I watch it.

See that quilt that is hanging on the wall behind my TV? That's a quilt by my quilting idol, Wanda Hanson, who blogs at Exuberant Color.

I'll tell anybody who'll listen that in my not so humble opinion, NOBODY, but NOBODY in the quilting world knows color like Wanda does. There's a reason why her quilt dominates my living room. It is that good. Wanda is that good.

Binding the Magic Carpet

I was so engrossed watching Dr Jeff on TV last night that I came to the end of the binding of the Parade of Zebras quilt before I even realized it. So that's done, and I'll take it out for some Beauty shots later.

That meant I had to sew the binding on the Magic Carpet quilt, but when I went into the studio this morning before the Men's final at Wimbledon, I realized I had not even made it! So that's what I did.

Now that is sewn on and I can do the hand sewing all around it.


By the way, if you want to know all the details of how and why I sew my bindings to my quilts, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download, so you can get started right away.

Big Scrappy Diamonds Quilt - Magic Carpet!

Last year I made this quilt out of the leftover big diamonds cut from "giant" prints. Each fabric is used only once. It's a kind of colorwash quilt made from big blocks and big prints.

As you can see, Millie approves.

The quilting is outstanding.

I'm really happy with it.

Millie likes it too.

This is the fabric I plan to use as the binding of the quilt.

Here's the whole quilt, trimmed.

What quilt really needs is a name! (Geode??)

update: Tuesday May 21, 2019. I've decided this is going to be called "Magic Carpet." Thank you, Rondi!



Everyone always asks about my binding techniques. I wrote a tutorial about it so I could put all my hints in one place. You can get a copy here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download, so you can start learning all my tricks right away.

ColorWash Diamond Quilt Backing

After I finish a quilt top I put it aside, and don't even shop for backings or the binding until later.  I finished the scrappy diamond colorwash quilt in August, and didn't select the backing fabric until October.

I think this is a great combination.
 

I'm working on the edits for the binding tutorial. I hope to have it ready soon!

A Cropped View

I haven't cropped the scrappy diamond quilt, Splendid, but I wanted to see what it looked like when it was trimmed, so I did a camera crop. I am really happy with the way this is looking and will likely enter this in some national quilt shows next year.