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Monday, April 15, 2013

Scrappy Diamonds


I mentioned last Thursday that inspiration had struck and I'd combined some ideas to start a scrappy strings quilt to enter into Le Challenge.  Well--I got the top done!
**ETA--I'm entering it into Rachel's Festival of Strings too!**

I finished up the piecing yesterday but it was so rainy and gray I waited till this morning to snap some photos.

Recap:
  Lucy and Nat issued a challenge to all who wanted to participate to make something with the broad theme of "Geometric."  After waiting till the last minute and not having time to complete what I'd planned I came across Rachel's idea of scrappy string zigzags.

  So I took that idea and made it my own.  I gathered a bunch of old worksheets Emma had brought home from school and cut them in half lengthwise so I had sheets of paper that were 5.5" by 8.5".  Then I glued a 1.5" strip of black fabric on the diagonal (alternating directions to make the diamond shapes form) and went for it with my string scraps.


  I obviously had a lot of 2.5" strips, but also some 1-inch and 1.5-inch and some in-between widths too.  I really went random here with my only planning being that I used each of the colors the same number of times roughly.  I didn't worry too much about what matched up where.  When I got all of the rectangles done I stood back and looked at it to see if anything stuck out at me and then sewed all of the rows together!

  Seriously, the most time-consuming and hardest part of this quilt top was tearing all of the paper off the back!  I should have taken a picture of the pile of paper I had on the floor last night!


  I wanted to border this quilt both to add width/length and to frame the diamonds so I used every last inch of  the Kona black I had left and that is how I decided on the width of the borders.  :)  I think I ended up making the side borders 6 inches and the top and bottom were about 3.5 inches.

  Lucy and Nat--I know you said completed projects for this challenge, so if you don't want to count this one as completed, I do understand since it still needs to be quilted.  BUT, I did want to make sure you knew I was playing along with your fun idea.

  This quilt is not what I usually make.  It's in your face and very striking.  It doesn't really match the decor of our house, but you know what--I LOVE it!  I love that it's bold and fresh.  I love that it looks both modern and traditional.  I love that it's a piece of art made from many of my previous projects.  I am very happy with it.  :)


Thanks to Lucy and Nat for this fun challenge.  I'm off to link up and check out the other takes on geometric.  And I just saw that next month's challenge is:  WINGS!  Ooh, my wheels are already turning.  :)

Did you play along this month?  Will you next time?

18 comments:

  1. Beautiful! It wouldn't fit in my decor either but I'd make room for it... really striking.

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  2. I love it too! It reminds me of stained glass windows! :)

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  3. It is stunning! I thought of stained glass too. Thanks for linking up to Le challenge and can't wait to see next months project!

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  4. Stained glass for me too! Stunning work.

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  5. It is amazing, and you got it done in no time, I am super impressed! Thanks for taking up le challenge!

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  6. Beautiful! I love the way the black makes the colours pop!

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  7. Love it. The black is perfect with the brights! :)

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  8. It's great. Love the rainbow-y diamonds. Nice idea and I believe you about the paper on the back. I think it took me an hour to rip the paper off the back of my 6 bee blocks :)

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  9. This is beautiful. I love the contrast between the bright colors and the black :)

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  10. Beautiful! It looks like a modern stained-glass-window, vibrant and lovely. Well done! JJ

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  11. This is seriously gorgeous. The black just sets off the vibrancy of the colours. They look like stained glass windows in a church. It looks great out in the bright sunlight too.

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  12. Kelli, this is so pretty! I love the black against the bright scrappiness. Totally dramatic and stained-glass. I think you rocked this challenge!

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  13. I appreciate your comment that your quilt is "a piece of art made from many of my previous projects." It sums up so many of the quilts in the String Festival. They are all artsy. Yours is stunning. Beautiful.

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  14. Hello! I just found your web site. This quilt is BEAUTIFUL! I would love to try to make it though I'm a beginner quilt maker. Did you use a pattern for this and do you mind my asking from where did you purchase it? It is stunning! Thank you so much for posting your work of art.

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I'd love to hear from you, so let me know...whaddya think!