Reels of inspiration!!

While a lot of the Facebook reels are a bit annoying, every once in a while I hit on one that makes me so excited.

This was one of them……

It started out simply enough with a few lines on a page…..

Then more lines…..

At this point I am wondering exactly what it is going to be!!

But once the color is added……

….I am TRULY in love with this design!!

In particular, I like how the boxes start out on the top right and magically end up on the bottom left.

Since I like piecing 60-degree diamonds so much, I might have to try this one day!!

I checked out the artist who drew this and found his YouTube Channel. This is a video that has several of his 3-D drawings but starts out with this one that I like.

Enjoy……

Would you ever try a design like this??

Am I crazy to try it???

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More Exploding Star Piecing…..

Yesterday I left you with the quilt top at this point…..

It was interesting to figure out what needed to be added to fill in the inset areas…..

At this point, I had to figure out how to add the pieces that were NOT diamond shaped!!

Fortunately, the Deb Tucker ruler is well designed and it was easy to decide what size to cut!!

Then it was just a matter of sewing the piece in…..

….and performing the “inset seam” procedure on each end.

I got the entire area filled in…..

…..and promptly ran out of cream fabric!!!

I am now waiting for the next 3 yards to be delivered so that I can continue with the design.

The real question is….”What am I doing on the next round??”

I feel like I need to bring those two “duller” inner fabrics into the outside but I am not sure exactly how.

Piecing the Exploding Star

Now that I had the technique down (see Tuesday’s post), it was time to start piecing the top.

I started in with the center star……

….and then realized that I should have added more bits to the star points BEFORE I put them together. SO….a little ripping ensued……

I added the bits to the orange diamonds…..

Doesn’t this look good……

As I worked on various sections, I struggled with keeping the pieces in the correct order so there was a lot of referring to a picture……

It was enjoyable to see how the bits came together…..

Come back tomorrow and I will take it up to where it stands right now……

Let’s piece some 60-degree diamonds

I have enjoyed working on the new quilt that I am designing, but first I had to learn to piece the inset seams on the diamonds!!

I used Gyleen Fitzgerald’s book, “Polygon Affair”…..

….to learn the piecing process.

Check out this video to learn more…..

I am enjoying actually doing the piecing. Come back on Thursday for more!!

Cutting 60-degree diamonds

Yesterday I was talking about getting organized to make my “Diamond Explosion” quilt and was pleased to find that I could piece the 60-degree diamonds easily.

Now it was time to cut the real fabrics and get started!!

I knew that I could cut the diamonds just using my regular straight ruler….I had done it back in May…..

….but it wouldn’t be as easy since I needed to cut the fabrics one at a time, rather than having them stitched together.

I really like Deb Tucker Rulers and decided to purchase her 60-degree wedge tool…..

Using this tool, I can cut out strips of fabric and then cut the diamonds easily from the strips!!

I settled on a 3-inch finished diamond which meant that my strip was cut 3.5-inches.

The first step was to make the initial cut to start the diamond shape. To do this, I placed the ruler on the strip, being sure that the lines were parallel to the cut edge of the strip…..

A quick slice, and we were ready to go…..

Next, I placed the ruler so that the 6.5-inch mark was at the point I had just created (6.5….because it was 2 times the 3-inch finished size, plus 1/2 inch for the seam allowance)….