Set 8

Because this section has so much yellow and red, I laid out the blocks and auditioned fabrics as I was preparing to do the next block. I did try to keep the reds and the yellows from being directly next to each other.

I have decided that I need more red and yellow reproduction fabrics. There's a gap in my collection, and more red and yellow blocks coming soon in the next set(s).

L15

L14

K14

Be careful when assembling this block. The squares are NOT square. They are very close to being square; however, they are rectangles.

K13

This was a quick and easy block -- certainly compared to J11!

K12

J12

J11

This little beauty has 122 pieces. Some of them will be "lost" in the seam allowances, however.

I did keep true to the three swapped four-patch units. Most of the 4-patch have a yellow upper left corner; however, there's three here that have red in that position. Do you see them? 

I10 - Post 100

Wow! This is post 100 on my Lancaster Diamond Quilt.

It could have been a post about the incredible J11 block which has 122 pieces. But, there is something special about this block, too.

This is my first ever hexagon block. And, it is a fine block.

<*breaks into song*>

The quilter said " Hexie, you're a fine block"
"What a good block you would be
"But my life, my lover, my lady is 'Big T'"

<*ends karaoke*>

Just in case you didn't recognize it, that's my version of Looking Glass' "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)."

Another great thing about this is that I have been able to keep up my New Year's resolution: I have sewn at least once a week each of the two weeks of the year.

Spoonflower Plaid Fabric

Just in case anyone might be interested in the plaid that I created on Spoonflower, here is the link to the fabric.

Lancaster Diamond F4 Plaid

Units completed on January 1, 2012

These are the nine large diamond blocks I completed on the first day of 2012. This was approximately 10 hours of sewing.

I did take breaks for lunch, dinner and a little bit of cross stitching (to give myself a break).

I consider myself an "average" quilter.  I admit I spent a lot of time on the cactus/bird block (G6 - top of diamond) and the red/white/green/yellow "diamond block" (I9 - centre right of diamond). 

The rest of the blocks were well-behaved and went together quickly.    Okay, mostly well-behaved.  Don't look too closely at the red/white geese in block I8 (bottom of diamond). 

Nine Units

Without flash

J10

I9

I struggled a little with this block. I could not figure how to place the white blocks as whole units by paper-piecing without a giant pucker in the center. I ended up doing some y-seams to get them in the block. Not my favorite to do, but not as bad as applique (in my opinion, at least!)

I8

A bit out of focus. My apologies.

H8

The center four-patch is to be yellow and green, but I had this perfectly sized white and green four-patch hanging in my scrap bag. So, since it's MY quilt ... I used it.

H7

H6

G6

I still struggle with applique. I have a hard time getting "round" to be "round". Those little circles (the eye and the berry (?)) are not nearly round. They're more like 20+ sided units.

F4

Center square (3-inch square inside the yellow box) of fabric was printed at Spoonflower.