Pattern for the Shaded Diamonds Quilt

I finally finished the pattern for the shaded diamonds quilt. This pattern assumes that the nine patches and sashing blocks were done according to the plan we set forth at our meeting. It creates the following quilt:

Finished size: 67" x 89"

Requires:

39 nine patch blocks   (9” x 9” finished size)

                                    9.5” x 9.5” unfinished

48 sashing blocks       (1.25” x 9” finished size)

                                    1.75” X 1.75” unfinished

38 cornerstones          (1.25” x 1.25” finished size)

                                    1.75” X 1.75” unfinished

The quilt is constructed on point in nine (9) diagonal rows with sashing between blocks.

Row 1: one block.

Row 2: three blocks

Row 3: five blocks

Rows 4, 5, and 6: seven blocks

Row 7: five blocks

Row 8: three blocks

Row 9: one block

The rows are connected by eight (8) diagonal sashing blocks with cornerstones between sashing blocks and at the ends of the rows.

Row 1: one sashing, two cornerstones

Row 2: three sashing blocks, four cornerstones

Row 3: five sashing blocks, six cornerstones

Rows 4 and 5: seven sashing blocks, eight cornerstones

Row 6: five sashing blocks, six cornerstones

Row 7: three sashing blocks, four cornerstones

Row 8: one sashing, two cornerstones

When the entire center of the quilt is sewn together it will need to have the extra triangular extensions cut off to make square sides. To do this, after pressing, turn the quilt to the back and mark the outside seamlines (where the borders will be attached) by drawing a line through the diagonals of the outer blocks. Then cut a quarter inch larger all around to provide a seam allowance, as in the illustration below. (This illustration is not drawn exactly to scale.)

Once the edges are cut, the quilt should measure about 44” x 73”. Now cut the borders. Note: the finished size of the inner border is 2” wide finished, but the outer is 9.75” wide on the sides, and 6.25” wide top and bottom so that it makes a properly sized twin quilt.

Inner Border    (sides): Cut two 2.5” x 73”

                        (top and bottom): Cut two 2.5” x 48”

Outer Border   (sides): Cut two 10.25” x 77”

                        (top and bottom) Cut two 6.75” x 67.5”

Sew the inner and outer borders to the quilt, with the side borders going on first, then the top and bottom, as shown in the picture at the beginning of the pattern. This should result in a quilt that is approximately 67” x 89” finished.

Iron Quilter 2 -New Challenge

Welcome back, Iron Quilters!

I have gone through the bag of black, white, and gray fabrics. Almost all of it is already cut into squares; I think they're about 3.5". There is enough of the white, black, and red plaid fabric for backing. There are 34 nine-patch blocks already made. Most (about 30) are made with 5 white squares, two darker gray or black squares, and two lighter gray squares, like this:

Basic 9 patch

I've been playing around with EQ7 to see what we could come up with using those 30 blocks, making some similar ones and/or sashing using the squares, and adding a little red to the mix. Because of the colors and patterns, I tried to come up with mostly masculine quilts. We could do any of the following quilts. (Click the quilt picture to see a larger version.)

Shaded Plaid Quilt

Shaded Diamond Quilt

The next 3 quilts use variations of the Disappearing 9 Patch, so we would have to make 9 patches (and use the existing ones), cut them apart and then reposition the pieces.

Alternating Bow Ties

Bow Ties

Spinners

I'm thinking we should probably avoid the Spinners quilt, as it looks too much like swastikas. The first two would be simpler, since we wouldn't have to cut any blocks apart, and would just have to make more 9 patches and put them together with sashing that we make by sewing the squares into rows of white, medium gray, and white. We then cut them in half and put them together with 1.75" red cornerstones. We set them square for the first quilt (Plaid) or on point for the second (Diamonds).

What would you prefer?

A Few More Possibilies

Can you tell I love doing this? Here are a few more layouts.

Quilt variation #5, diamond and diagonal stripes.

Quilt variation #6, diagonal diamonds and stripes.

Quilt variation #7, diamonds.

A Few Other Layouts

I couldn't sleep last night, and so I thought I'd play around with the quilt design. It occurred to me (after having sewn together the entire lower leftmost block) that the strip placement can get confusing when doing a block this size and if the 1/4" seams aren't consistent, it could make piecing the top pretty difficult. So I came up with a way to incorporate that full block with a number of smaller blocks made with the same strips. Here are a few examples: (Note, the blocks are not square, as this was just  playing around with some photos and not drawn to scale.)

Quilt #1 variation with random stripes

Quilt variation #2 with larger, more lumpy stripes.

Quilt variation #3, using the diamond motifs.

Quilt variation #4, with more even stripes.

In playing, I found I liked the teal as sashing. The pink was just not enough contrast. The teal color and smaller blocks seemed to calm things down a bit. We don't have teal fabric, but I would be willing to donate some if the group likes it. Or maybe someone else has another idea. I'll try to have a design wall so that we can play a bit on Thursday.

See you then.

Quilt Mystery Solved?

Welcome, Simmering Stitchers! I've looked through the bag of fabric, organized the strips, and analyzed the situation. And yes, I managed to figure out how to put the pieces together to make the basic quilt. There was a clue in the bottom of the bag that helped, but no real instructions, so it took me a bit of time.

Thanks to my camera and Photoshop, I am able to give you a visual of the quilt center. It will look something like this:

Simmering Stitchers Quilt without borders (artist's rendering)

The quilt is made up of 12 blocks. I have made up kits for the blocks, putting together the strips needed to make each block. If you look closely, you will notice that to finish the pattern, there needs to be one more column added to the left side and one more row added to the bottom. I have included those additional strips with those block sets.

I am labeling the blocks in this order:
Block1 - Block2 - Block3
Block4 - Block5 - Block6
Block7 - Block8 - Block9
Block10-Block11-Block12

The strip sets are labeled "A" through "G". The sets go together in the basic block as in the picture below:

Basic Block Strip Set Placement

The sets with a prime (') are simply turned upside down. There are 6 basic blocks in the quilt that are made like this. (Blocks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9)

The leftmost blocks (blocks 1, 4, 7) have extra strips on the left side. They go together like this:

Blocks 1, 4, 7
Notice the extra F and G strips to the left.

The bottom blocks (11, 12) have strips added to the bottom. The strips are F and G again, but they are turned on their sides, as in the picture below.

Blocks 11, 12

The 10th block is the leftmost bottom corner and so has strips added to the left and below - I will sew together that block, along with block 7. That will leave 10 more blocks for the other members of the group to sew.

At the meeting, we will decide how to divide the blocks among the team and talk about borders and backing. There's about 4 yards of one of the busy florals, that could work for either a border or backing. Several other fabrics also may be sufficient for borders. We can also discuss whether to piece the back or borders or add some applique to a border or to the quilt center for some additional creativity points. Can't wait to get going on this! Hope to see you at the meeting.