The diamond blocks

Today I completed the diamond blocks.

It is so important to cut these very precisely.

When piercing them start like this. Align the corner of the triangle to the point of the diamond. See photos 

Press so that seam is under diamond

Now place the second triangle from same point as seen in photos.

Pierce 

Trim the little excess triangle by snipping it off

Again iron so seam is under diamond.

This is the back looks

Now continue on the other point

Pierce and trim 

Press again so seam is under diamond

Then add the last triangle is added

Trim at both sides

Then press again seam under diamond

Now you have the diamond block, you now need to carefully trim to the correct size, in this case the correct size is 10.5"x5.5"

Its important that the points are at the in centre of a side, so best way to trim is to do it side by side, 

When trimming the short sides use your rules and have the 5 1/4" line on the two points of diamond first one direction and trim then turn and do the other side, you will now have exactly 10.5" long block and the points of the sides of diamond is exactly in the middle.

For the long sides you do the same but this time you align with 2 3/4" 

And trim like this at both of the long sides, you should now have a perfect block of 5 ½" x 10 ½ "

Do note that your seam allowance at the points are 1/4 inch

This is quite time consuming but it will make the assembly of your blocks easier and more precise. 

Cutting my pieces

I am a real perfectionist when it comes to using my material - I hate wastage and so I am always looking at the pattern to see if I can save on their instructions.

It is often possible to make significant savings as. With this pattern I found that if I subcut part of the material wof and then cut lof I can use fabric better.

When cutting the diamonds I would start a run off with the pattern on the strip and then for the next use the ruler to do the next by simply aligning at 5'' along.

I take real care to ensure it is well aligned and every 4th diamond I will double check with the template. I find this easier and just as precise.

then I have a look at any left over from each cut and look to see if any of the other cuts can be made there. 

I do this prior to cutting and even draw out how I can cut.

I always stick to the direction the pattern prescribe but not always to the suggestions on how to cut.

Also I found using batiks that it was sometimes difficult to tell front from back of fabric, to ensure I got it right I would identify front and back before cutting and then carefully place all cuts the right way up and pin them together with the pin on top. That way I know which way to turn them. 

As this pattern has 8 different fabrics and I knew that when sewing being able to refer to The individuals via their letter A-H I would take a small cut of each and stick that to a piece of paper next to their letter then when I am following the instructions to assemble the blocks.

I also write down on same piece of paper how many I have cut of each size - this is maybe me being silly but I like to check and double check 😊 and tick them off as I cut them. 

Finally I could not resist laying out part of the pattern just to start getting a feel for the final project.

However I will put them all back in their stacks and pierce the blocks according to the instructions.

Our Hearts will go on

Fabric arrived

My upcoming project

Got my fabric today, I am so excited to start, its for my daughter who graduates this summer.

My first Stained Glass Quilt

The Quilt
This is my quilt nearly finished, I will post the final picture up when I have decided on the border

Design by Bob on Craftsy

Inspiration
My inspiration for this quilt came from seeing some stained glass quilt designs online and I then found this pattern on Craftsy, however I decided I would make this from my stash and this restricted me as I only had 1/4 Yard of black fabric for the sashing.








Design
So I kicked off by drawing out the design to calculate the sashing needed, I made a drawing of the final quilt, and from that I could work out the different length of sashing needed and how many of each type of sashing. Using my math skills I set up a formula (yes thats whom I am the nerd who uses a formula) to calculate how best to use my sashing, I quickly realised I need to make the sashing very narrow so went as narrow as I could which would be 3/4'' strips.

Guide for cutting sashing

When I had worked out the sashing I then drew how I would cut it to make sure it would fit and also this would give me a guide for cutting it. Sorry my hand writing is not the best, but hopefully you can read it.


As for my blocks, I needed 12 blocks so I sorted my fabric into 12 colours (red, pink, orange, yellow, light green, green, light blue, medium blue, blue, purple, brown) yes I had a lot of blue.
I chose to use larger prints for my large blocks. But as you can see from the original inspiration they have used a mix. I also used dark blue and browns, maybe next time I would stick to lighter colours to get a better contrast with the sash. For each block you need 8 pieces, and I chose mine to be 8 different pieces. but again you could use some similar material its up to you and what you have, I thought it fun to use my stash.

The Pattern

Each Block 

A: 1 large 5 ½ '' square
B: 1 small 3 1/4 '' square
C: 4  longer pieces 4'' x 1 3/4''
D: 2 shorter pieces 3 1/4'' x 1 3/4''

Sashing

24 A length 4''
36 B length 3 1/4''
12 C length 5 ½''
20 D length 8.5''
5 E length 25''
2 F length 33 1/4''

(see cutting guide above)

I cut the blocks individually as I was using scraps. The important thing is to be precise in your cutting, if you are making some blocks the same you can of course be smarter when cutting.

Piercing

lay out your squares in your design

I started with one test block, just to make sure I had everything right, but after that I started working in a production line, which I will describe here.

layout all your coloured blocks on a table to see the final design, I was lucky I could keep mine there while piercing, so find a place where you won't have to move them. As you can see there is up and down blocks so be careful to consider where you have placed the blocks. I took a photo like this and had that on my phone next to my sewing machine so I could quickly double check how I had placed the blocks.

You can see I have the one completed block at the top, the orange block, next time I will just leave them all and start piercing.

First pick one from each of the two longer pair C and pierce the 4 inch sashing to these, you have 24 pairs. Make sure you are careful to keep the 1/4 inch seam.

When you have done this, I pressed the material to the sashing side, I chose to do this as I did not want the black to show through behind the lighter fabrics

Sashing added

how it looks on reverse after pressing

Pressing to sashing

 When all 24 are completed then you go back to your table and put them back out where they belong in the design

putting the pieces back where they belong

I now carefully put them together with their partner two and two face to face, so that I knew where I wanted to sew, and I would not get any directional fabric the wrong way up.

 I could then pierce the pairs together, now when you pierce the second to the sashing you have exactly 1/4 '' sashing showing on the reverse (if you did your first piercing accurately) so I simply used that line as my guide
When I had pierced all 24, I again pressed to the sashing side.

Stack of paired pieces - you can see the black line

Piercing right down the line

Once again I would press into the sash side, I know it is quite thick there, but I did not want any shadows, so I persevered. 

with second pierced onto sashing

Press towards sashing

And you start seeing what we are working towards

When all 24 are completed, I put them back on the table in their position and then added 3 1/4 '' sashing to the little rectangles, again put them back on the table, and then pair them with your original pairs, these are then pierced onto their pairs, now because we use the guided line of the sash when piercing together we will always have any seams on the fabric below.

laying out on table again

see how the line guides you
and the seams are at the bottom

we now have 24 completed ready to press

piercing the small square to the block

We now take the 12 smaller square and add 3 1/4 '' sashing to them, be really careful here that you add the sashing to the right side if there is directions on the fabric, this was where the photo I had on my phone became really useful. You want to sew the sashing to the top or the bottom of the square (depending on where in the block it is) so that the sashing will be on the side where the little square will fit with the same coloured pair below or above.

Once again press and then put them back in place on your table, checking they are all turned the correct way and then pair them with the block above or below in same colour block and pierce them together, again pressing the seam to the sashing side. 

matching up large square with block above

Again back to the table and this time you take the large squares, and add 5.5'' sashing to the bottom or top depending on where the block is (it has to be to the side where the colours are of the same block) 

Press seam to the sashing and then back to the table, now match up with the correct block.

(I did both the small block and large block in one go but thats harder to describe)

Now we are ready to complete the block, you take the blocks with the large square and put 8 ½ '' sashing on. Again press into the sashing and put them back on the table and match up the two halfs of the same block, this time you will need to check that your black line matches up, this is the first time that you have two lines crossing the block. So I put a pin through the seam to check I had them aligned.

make sure your black line matches up

After piercing again press and then I would trim my blocks to be exactly 8 ½ '' square

trimming my blocks

Now add the 8 ½ '' sashing to the left hand side of the blocks in row 2 and row 3, press and put back.

Match up with the partner to left, and you end up with a completed row.

fine trimming to ensure seam is straight

once again I trim to make completely sure they are straight seams, and then I added the 25'' sashing to the bottom and the top of the first and fourth row and to the top of the 3rd row. 

Then I joined Row 1 and 2 and Row 3 and 4 and finally the two halfs. Here it really pays to pin as you have several lines you want to join up. Between each joining press the seam to the sash.

pinning to ensure the blocks lines perfectly

Now you can complete by adding 33 1/4 '' sashing down the right and left hand side.

Hey presto you have your quilt top. And you can start considering how to frame it, I am still thinking.....