Friday, January 22, 2016

Dazzling Diamonds Remix

Three years ago now I taught a class for my Dazzling Diamonds quilt pattern. Instead of making it on solids like my original pattern, I made this one in some prints to go with the colors of my guest bedroom.
I'm really not sure why it took me this long to finish this quilt, because I really do love it. This is still one of my favorite quilt patterns I've designed over the years. I love that there are so many different layout options for this quilt, making it so versatile.
This quilt finishes at 24" square and is now hanging in my guest bedroom. I picked these colors specifically for this bedroom, with it's blue walls and pink and green accents.
I machine quilted this on my longarm and found inspiration from a recent Craftsy class - Angela Walters' Dot to Dot quilting. I had quilted the white and blue already before that class but decided to use one of her quilting techniques to do the green points here. I really love how it came out and will definitely use this design again. I had toyed with pebbling the pink, but it became clear that with the pattern, it would be difficult for any pattern to show up, so I just echoed around the diamonds.
I'm not sure if this new quilt will become a favorite over the original, but they're both pretty awesome in my opinion. I can look back at this original all the time and just smile.

If you ever come stay with me at my house, your guest room will now how two lovely quilts hanging in it. You can see my Twirling Trellis quilt hanging in the mirror here with some great complementary colors to it. 

Monday, January 18, 2016

Twirling Delight

I was recently asked to publish my Twirling Delight pattern, which originally appeared in Quilty a few years ago. Upon receiving that ask, I looked back through my blog and realized I never blogged about this quilt.
This is a super simple paper pieced quilt that has only seven pieces per block with minimal points that need to be matched up, making it ideal for the beginner paper piecer. The colors of this quilt remind me of spring and summer, a much welcome color palette right now given that I spent the morning snowblowing my driveway and shoveling my front walk. I could go for a picnic in the park or on the beach, just sitting on top of this quilt.

This quilt was machine quilted by Angela Walters. Some day I hope to be able to quilt swirls the way she does. She brought so much texture and movement to this wonderful quilt with her magic.

If you want to make this quilt, visit my Craftsy page here for the pattern. 

Friday, January 1, 2016

Kaleidoscope Block of the Month - Month 1

Here we go, it's month one in the Kaleidoscope Block of the Month. Hop on over to Craftsy to download the first two blocks today!

Block one is a simple kaleidoscope block that has a couple of star patterns here. If you look at the light teal and the dark teal, each color individually could be a star. Make one of those colors the same as the plum in this block and you have a completely different look.

Block two has a lot of depth to it with the dark and light orange here. Playing with color here could change the look of this block as well. Alternate colors for more of a spiral look or make it more scrappy with more fabrics instead of just three here.

Download the blocks here!

Share your blocks on Instagram using the hashtag #kaleidoscopeBOM. I can't wait to see what you make.