Broken Diamonds

Another quilt is done, and guys, I am so excited about this one! It is one of the best I've made. It's like I get better at this the more I do it {go figure}. This quilt is for my aunt and uncle who....requested one. As in I gave my grandparents the one I made them at Thanksgiving and they immediately asked where theirs was. Of course I don't know when I will see them to give it to them, but it is done and that's what counts.

This is the first time I've ever made up a pattern on my own. Of course it is a simple one, half square triangles sewn together and sashed, but I love the look. I actually got the idea when I was making the center blocks for my embroidery 101 quilt. I had the corners sewn on and trimmed and it was a snowball block with triangles facing in each corner and a plus through the center. And I thought about how cool that would be as a quilt so I drew it out and waited for the right opportunity. The hardest part was laying it out since I have very little floor space to do so. It also was kind of a pain that I couldn't use one of the quicker hst methods because of the color layout, but it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be.

For fabric I used 4 charm packs of Tula Pink's Prince Charming with kona coal as the sashing. They come in 6" squares so it is a bit bigger. I actually trimmed the squares to 5.25" because that was the biggest I could consistently get. The quilt finishes at 61"x72" which isn't bad considering it wasn't pre-washed so it shrank quite a bit. Also, because of the lack of pre-washing, it didn't crinkle quite as much when I washed it since it all shrank pretty evenly which I kind of liked. I did an allover meandering stipple on this one and for the first time, no puckers! I was ecstatic when I turned it over and saw how nice the back looked. It's not perfect, there are definitely some pointy spots and loops, the stitches aren't exactly even and then tension isn't perfect but I am improving! I used a gray thread that is a bit lighter than the sashing color, but I think it blends pretty nicely.  The back and binding are both DS quilts fabrics from Joann's and I love how well they work together.

I am just in love with how this came out. So now I need to get back to attacking my scraps. Yep, I'm still at it. It seems pretty never ending really, but I am determined to be done soon so I can start making something of them!