Diamonds and A Girl's Best Friend

 Oh, happy day! I have another 'Finish' to show you today. It's a real jewel and a long time coming!

 The pattern was a free one by Tula Pink and, although I can't seem to find it available anymore, it looks an awful lot like this one on Craftsy. Be warned, though, that because of the piecing method, each diamond might turn out to be a different size and need to be trimmed before setting the quilt together. I'm just sayin'.

 Back in 1980, I took my very first quilting classes along side my bff, Jan. Since then Jan and I have sewn many quilts in tandem, this Gypsy Diamond quilt being our last collaboration. Many of the fabrics were purchased off the flat-fold tables from various small town Alco stores in Kansas.

 The outside border, however, is an Amy Butler fabric called Gypsy Mum that I purchased after the diamond blocks were finished. Although I wouldn't call that particular print a favorite, I love the way it incorporates the colors and lends a sort of autumn feel to the quilt. A trip through the washer and dryer turned my all-over leafy quilting into pure crinkly delight!

 The quilt is a large one, 88" x 98". The blocks were finished in 2009 and set aside for about 5 years out of frustration with the size discrepancy. Finally, about a year ago, I got the top finished but took another year to get it quilted and bound. Sheesh!

 The quilt is backed using an extra wide blue batik purchased as a flat-fold in Delta, Colorado (my hometown growing up). The perfect binding was found among my stash treasures: a blue/grey square design by Aneela Hoey.

Last March, I wondered who would get the top quilted first....Jan beat me by a month or two. I'm happy to have at least caught up, finally!

Friendship Diamonds

Over the weekend, I got together with my BFF, Jan, at her home in El Dorado, Kansas, near Wichita.  One of the important things on our list of things to do was to set this diamond quilt together.

You may recall that a few months ago I showed you my version of this quilt. The diamonds were not consistent in size due to the construction method given in the pattern as well as two of us making them on different machines  . 

Jan and I both became frustrated with our blocks and hid them away for the last five years. Finally, I realized that I could easily trim them all up with my triangle ruler so that they would be equal in size. Friday, Jan and I worked together to get her top all put together so that it could join mine.

These Gypsy Diamond quilts are probably about the 10th friendship quilts that Jan and I have worked on together. This one just took the longest! As you can see, we used different fabrics for the setting triangles and Jan added a pretty pink border to hers.

I wonder who will get theirs quilted first?

And how shall we quilt them? We've only had since 2009 to think about it!

Cherry Oh! Wordless Wednesday

OK. Just a few words.  The Cherry Churn Dash quilt is one that I made with my quilting friend, Jan Anderson, during one of our weekend sewing marathons. We each made two alike of six different blocks and then traded blocks with each other, putting them together for "friendship quilts". As you can see, cherry fabric was our theme.  My cherry tree supplied the cherries, Pillsbury, the crust, and I added the sugar and love! It was yummy!!