Monday 14 July 2014

Bordered Diamonds - WiP

Last week I put my sewing machine away and cleared the table tennis table I use for sewing. The reason? I really had to get out my Bordered Diamonds quilt and finish it.

Bordered Diamonds quilt
I've been working on this quilt for quite some time. I first saw the Timeless Treasures Plume range in my local quilt shop back in January 2012. I just loved the colours in the Peacock fabric, and knew I'd like to make a quilt with it. I spent 24 hours going through my saved images, thinking of a pattern I could use that where I could keep large sections of the fabric in tact. I'd always admired the Kaffe Fassett Bordered Diamonds pattern, so decided to use that.

I went back to the shop and bought some of the Peacock fabric plus a couple of other fabrics in the range. I then spent most of 2012 collecting complementary fabrics. I picked up more of the Plume range from other shops, plus some from the Shimmer range, and other fabrics that I knew would tie in well.


It wasn't until January 2013 that I started to cut into the fabrics. By then I had far more than I needed, but that's a whole other quilt. (I made another quilt from the scraps which I'll show once this one is finished).

I pieced the top during the early part of 2013. I then started to think about the backing fabric and I knew I wanted a new design by Chong-a Hwang from the Tree of Life range by Timeless Treasures.

By mid 2013 I had a quilt sandwich, but it was the biggest quilt I've ever made, and was going to take time to hand quilt. I quilted in the ditch around each of the 108 diamonds with quilting thread, but I knew it needed something more, so I started to hand quilt with Perle 8 inside each of the diamonds. I got about half way through this, and then put it aside for some reason.

Hand quilting inside the diamonds
Once I had quilted all the diamonds on the edges, Mum helped my out by putting the binding on during one of her visits.


Now it's winter again and I really have to finish it. There are less than 40 diamonds left to do, and I can do at least 4 each day, so that's only 10 days of quilting. The only problem now is that the stitches I'm doing now are different to those I did a year ago. I think I'm going to finish the whole quilt first, and then give myself permission to unpick the 10 blocks I'm most unhappy with. Otherwise this quilt will never be finished!


I'm linking up with Alyce at Sew Cute Tuesday, Esther at Esther's WOWsLee at Freshly Pieced, Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation and Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

20 comments:

Joanna @ Riddle and {Whimsy} said...

I love peacock colours! This looks like a beauty!

Terri said...

Sew pretty! Thanks for sharing the inspiration.
Hugs

Liz said...

I like you use of this quilting pattern to show off the fabrics. And I know what you mean about something you've done a while ago not meeting your ability/standards of today. I'm sure all your quilting looks great, I'd say you're done when you finish these last diamonds!

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

Those peacock colours are divine! I love how you give yourself permission to fix a certain amount of blocks, it's a great way to curb the perfectionist within.

margaret said...

what beautiful fabrics, I loved them in the bag Mum made and they look wonderful here too. Happy quilting, it may take longer doing it by hand but it is worth it. Re the bag is there a pattern for it please.

seabreezequilts said...

I'm sure when you look at the quilt as a whole those 10 blocks won't really matter. Love the jewel colours. It will be spectacular.

Dasha said...

Those fabrics are just beautiful

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

sometimes we have to unpick blocks and redo or we will never love the quilt. I think it looks lovely!

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl said...

Beautiful fabric line. I like that you are going to finish and then give yourself permission to redo a handful of blocks that bother you most. Great idea!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is just stunning! What a great idea to give yourself permission to redo a few blocks. Maybe when it is done, you won't find 10 to redo. Carole @ From My Carolina Home, visiting from Sew Cute Tuesday

Soma @ inkTorrents.com said...

That is a beautiful quilt and the hand quilting made it extra special!!

-Soma

Oops-Lah said...

Beautiful! I had to laugh about your "book keeping" ;)! I do exactly the same. Probably "déformation professionnelle" as we call it!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous colors. Lovely hand quilting. I have never done that before. Just lovely

Granny Maud's Girl said...

I think I described your favourite colour scheme recently as 'peacock'. I think I was onto something!

Rachel said...

Lovely. The diamonds work so well to showcase the peacocks, and I love the colors! Those metallic printed fabrics are my favorites. I had a quilt where my stitch size changed dramatically over the course of the time spent. I didn't pick any of it out, but I still notice. :/ Sounds like you've found a good compromise!

Jenny said...

Just Beautiful. My favorite colours and your pattern choice is perfect to show your lovely fabrics.
I am also a fan of metallic overy so your quilt just sings to me. Jenny in Whangarei.

Sue Jennings said...

The quilt looks absolutely stunning! The colours are beautiful. Can't wait to see the finished quilt!

Lorraine said...

Now this is a project - looks great so far Wendy!

France Nadeau ❅ inspiration imagination creation said...

Wow! You used many gorgeous fabrics in that quilts. All those prints... beautifully centered. Luscious!

liz said...

I love these - thanks so much for sharing! Love my friend Maren's quilt and so many of the others are wonderful too. I hope to get to Sisters some day....