Diamond tries

 Hello everyone. How is your week going? We are in full swing at school now and it's going okay, I must say. Everyone has their masks and we're all being careful. I just wish it was a little warmer so we could open the windows. It's been quite cold, at least by East coast standards, and overcast, though not actually snowing. I'm okay with that, but I do want some natural ventilation in that room.

I'm just popping in for a little bit today to share the next round of the Stay at Home Round Robin project. Here is where my project stands right now:

 

 

The prompt for this round was diamonds, and if you look, there is a white diamond in the top right corner and the bottom left corner.  Yes, there are only two diamonds. But it definitely works for this little quilt top, so I am totally okay with it. I made the diamonds with a Tri Rex ruler, just cutting the triangle on a small piece of folded fabric. I forgot to account for the seam allowance between the two triangles, so they're a little long, but they work.

This was not my first try at diamonds. I tried to make a diamond chain using Seminole piecing, but I messed it up. It's been too long since I tried Seminole piecing! Take a look:

Yep, that's a fail. There isn't enough blue fabric on the sides to keep the diamond points after trimming. It was quite frustrating. I went back after I finished the yellow border and realized that I had mixed up the cutting sizes for the diamonds and the side pieces. Ah, well. It turned out better with the single diamonds, I think.

Depending on the next prompt, I think it's time to turn the quilt into a rectangle by putting the next borders on the top and bottom only. I think it's also time to bring in some hot pink or lime green, too.I guess we'll see!

Hope you are having a good week and staying nice and warm. On that note, we have a small visitor:

I didn't want to get really close for a picture, so it's a little grainy, but that is a brown bat, tucked up close to the eaves on our front walkway. It kind of creeped me out, so I called the wildlife center, and they said that he probably took refuge there when a front came through. It's literally too cold for him to fly, and he's kind of in suspended animation, so he'll probably stay there until it gets warm enough for him to wake up and fly away. I can't decide if this is cool or creepy, but I'll decide that after he leaves!

Sharing at the Darling Dogwood for the SAHRR.

Shining in the cold

 Hi everyone. How are you all today? I am happy to say that it is getting slightly warmer and today was full of sunshine. Hurray! There may even be a hint of green out there. Hurray! I was inside most of the day, except for a walk before it warmed up, but thankfully there are windows, and it. was. lovely. Sunshine just makes you happy, you know? 

Today I have a very small top to show, but it's also lovely and somewhat complicated. Here she is (yes, quilts are "she"): 

 

I told you it was really pretty! 

A few months ago, my friend Preeti reviewed a book and made a beautiful quilt from it. Since I had never made a quilt with diamonds, she loaned me the book and I chose this small top to try the technique. Why not challenge myself, you know? 

And it was a challenge, too! The cutting went just fine, and piecing the bigger diamonds was pretty easy, but then the bias edges made putting everything together a bit challenging. Some blocking and a lot of Magic Sizing and it turned out just fine. Next time, sizing (or better, starch) before cutting and piecing would be a good idea. A *lot* of starch would be an even better idea.

This top measures about 23 by 23 right now, which is small but a good way to try out a new technique. I used hand dyes for the colorful fabrics, and I am just thrilled with how it turned out. The tree above is curved, so the top looks a bit distorted, but I am pretty proud of the fact that it turned out both flat and square. And the points match (mostly!). I feel like this is a win! 

And now-- Some of you have noticed that I haven't been posting a lot, and I really owe some of you a thanks for the nice notes I've gotten. The truth is that, apparently, ten months of unrelenting stress is my limit. Something had to give, and the only "optional" thing in my life was stitching time and thus also the blog. Believe me when I say that this has been a real loss for me, but it's saving my mental health. I miss it terribly, and I will post more at the rate that I have for the last six years eventually. Thanks for sticking around and sticking with me through this, and really-- thanks for checking up on me. You can't know how much I appreciate it. (And don't worry, I am still buying plenty of fabric and paging through a lot of patterns and making plans!)

ANYWAY. . .this lovely little quilt is called Cactus Star, and the pattern and templates are in Diamond Star Quilts by Barbara Cline. You can find the book HERE, and read Preeti's review HERE. For now this one little quilt is enough for me, but there are some beautiful quilts in there if you love diamonds.

And just to end on a much happier note, I had some visitors very close to the house, right outside the door to the patio:

Yep, I'm ready for a fence. A little close for comfort!  Hope you are all staying well and healthy. Spring is coming, in more ways than one.

Sharing at Midweek Makers, Finished or Not Friday, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.