When I saw the announcement for this hop from Carol, I just KNEW that I I had to be part of the event. You can find a full list of bloggers that are participating at the end of this post. You will also find some details about a prize drawing. =D
Several years ago my daughter wanted to make a quilt as a gift for a friend. She perused some catalogs and found a pattern that inspired her.
She grabbed some graph paper and started sketching...
I liked the block as well and made a quilt for some friends who were getting ready to make a move to Romania where they would serve as missionaries. (shown below)
Now, you may wonder how does this even remotely fit into the diamond theme???
Well... with a little bit of quilting I was able to create the facets of a cut diamond...
Last year I had a bit of a lucky streak going and was selected as the the winner of two different prize drawings and won a batik jelly roll and a set of Aurifil thread... and they matched just perfectly! And I had been waiting to find the perfect quilt to feature them...The stars aligned with this hop! It was like it was destiny... or kismet... meant to be!
As I cut and pieced the blocks and assembled the rows it reminded me of the birthstone charts that I used to look at in the Farmers Almanac when I was a kid.
I always thought that I was lucky to have the diamond as my birthstone... you know because it was considered valuable and precious. But it was a bit boring... it was... just white.
The other stones were just so... pretty!
BUT... when the light hits a diamond just right you can see a prism... all of the colors! Just like my quilt!
Just looking at the top on my design wall without the quilting it looked... well, like a diamond in the rough.
I quilted in feathers on the gemstone sections...
and then did straight line stitching with grey thread to make the facets. WOW! Did they pop!
I am in love with the way it turned out! But the white border needed something special. Something just as special as the body of the quilt. So I located some variegated embroidery floss and did some big stitch quilting. (the link will take you to IG to get a closer shot of the floss)
I consider myself lucky to have had just enough of the jewel-toned stripey fabric for the binding and the brightly colored hot air balloon fabric for the backing in my stash.
The finished size is 48" x 41". It took a little math to make sure that the white border would allow for the final border of 2-1/2 inch squares to come out perfectly.
It seems that the stars really were aligned for this quilt... the jelly roll, the thread, just enough binding fabric and a brightly colored backing. Maybe I should go play the lotto, or something...
But you could be lucky too! Leave a comment before Saturday, April 27th...
What is your birthstone?
And let me know if you like it, or wish that it were something different.
You will have a chance to win this quilt pattern, English Crackers
I love to hear from my readers... but remember, if you are a no-reply or anonymous commenter, you will need to leave your e-mail address so that I can contact you if your name is chosen the winner.
Be sure to visit all of the other bloggers that are sharing their diamond inspired quilts this week!
Quilt happy!
Melva
Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series
April 22
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I love my birthstone it's Sapphire... happyness04431@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteSo clever; the diamond quilting was the perfect decision!
ReplyDeleteMelva, your quilt is gorgeous! My birthstone is ruby...fingers crossed for that win...lol
ReplyDeleteLove the quilted gems, a great idea. My birthstone is diamond and diamonds are a girls best friend.
ReplyDeleteMelva, you nailed it! This is a great quilt from beginning to end. Love the diamond quilting and the rainbow spectrum as seen through a prism.
ReplyDeleteI love that your diamonds were hidden in plain site - in the quilting. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThis is so pretty and I love your fabrics.
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever and beautiful way to make those diamonds pop right out there with your quilt stitches. I love this idea! The colors, the quilting, the fabrics...wow...you really did have the stars align for this one. Thank you for sharing this beautiful quilt with us!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quilt! And how imaginative to stitch the diamonds. You did a wonderful job.
ReplyDeleteMy birthstone is Pearl or Alexandrite. I like both, but I prefer Alexandrite because it is different colors.
Thank you for sharing your quilt.
This is a lovely quilt and a great use of that roll of fabric and the the thread set.
ReplyDeleteLove your clever quilt! Being a May baby, emerald is my stone, the green goes with my eyes!
ReplyDeleteEileen ekmvalencia@gmail.com
My birthstone is a pearl and my Mom bought me a lovely ring for my 16th birthday which I still have and love!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing you wonderful diamond project... so creative to quilt the diamond design!
Fantastic in every way!
Gorgeous quilt! So neat! My birthstone is June, moonstone, I believe June has 2 or 3? Anyway, enjoy your day! :-) :-) angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom
ReplyDeleteI love your stitched diamonds! My birthstone is sapphire and I love it!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely quilt, and a great post. My birthstone is garnet and I love it. I have designed two pieces of jewellery using it, one a snowflake pendant and the other a ring with all the different colours in which garnet is available surrounding a red garnet in the centre. Thanks for the chance to win.
ReplyDeleteGosh! Your diamonds are stunning. Love the way you use your quilting to focus on the negative space. The colors for the fabric and thread are awesome.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog hop tour. Loveley pattern too. Hope I can join without knowing what a birth stone is (sorry)
ReplyDeleteGreat design...love the diamonds quilted into it, super! Amethyst, love it...so Regal!
ReplyDeleteWow these quilts are the poster child for what quilting can do for a quilt! I am a batik lover, so that one and the rainbow colors really is something I love and with hot air balloons on the back, well it really should be living here with me in the balloon capital of the world, The Land Of Enchantment! LOL!!! My birthstone is yellow tpaz, which looks more like gold to me and gold is not a color I am all that fond of. I like yellow like lemon yellow, just not gold. There is a blue topaz which I like much better as I love blues more and purples and pinks...well in quilts I love all the colors, but worn I love bright blues, purples and pinks best. Thanks for the giveaway, it is a pretty quilt pattern.
ReplyDeleteSuch a pretty, colorful quilt! My birthstone is Ruby but I like Amethyst because purple is my favorite color. But I also like Aquamarine because the blue reminds me of the ocean. Thank you for sharing your quilt.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilt! My birthstone is opal which I love or pink tourmaline. I really don’t care for pink too much
ReplyDeleteThe quilting totally fits the "diamond" theme!! My birthstone is Sapphire...love that it comes in all colors of the rainbow except red!!
ReplyDeleteLove all the rainbowyness of this quilt! My birthstone is a sapphire and even though my favorite color is red, yes I do love it!
ReplyDeleteLots of diamonds there.Well done. My birthstone is Amethyst and I do love it.
ReplyDeleteI love how the diamonds appeared. I really do like my birthstone, topaz, for November. One of my favorite rings has a topaz on it that I asked my husband to buy me for a birthday gift. Thank you, peterstankovich@comcast.net
ReplyDeleteI LOVE how that quilting creates the diamond. That is such a great idea. My actual birthstone is an opal that also has all the colors in it. I do like the opal even though they are fragile stones.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a choice of birthstone I would choose Sapphire
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat diamond project, simply ingenious! I love the opal birthstone for my birthday month, however I'm not a fan of pink tourmaline. Guess I'm lucky there are two for October. Thanks for sharing your creativity as well as a chance to win.
ReplyDeleteLove, love, LOVE the rainbow version of your design!!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome quilt and your quilting is fabulous. My birthstone is amethyst. I love it when everything just works out.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is beautiful! I love my birthstone, it’s a ruby!
ReplyDeleteI'm a sapphire girl but my favorite color is rainbow. I'm in love with your quilt and the quilting is amazing. I love your interpretation of the diamond. It's so cool.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is beautiful. Mine is an opal. I like opals but I would love a ruby. Jmikebalou (at) aol (dot) com
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is beautiful and the quilting really enhances the design. My birthstone is Peridot, which I like fairly well.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me how the quilting can make a quilts design pop. Yours certainly did just that. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, it just amazes me, the vision that some people have. This is just incredible. I'm one of those who pulls out the graph paper and stares at it until we are both sick of looking at each other. You are certainly an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThis is sew fabulous, Melva! Love the quilting. I would make this in blue sapphires as this is my birthstone and my hubby's favorite color. Thanks for sharing ... :) Pat
ReplyDeleteMelva, your quilting for this is perfection! My birthstone is topaz, which is Ok but a little boring. I like the blue topaz much better than the yellow one. Happy quilting!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!! The diamond facet quilting was perfect! You are sew talented.
ReplyDeleteSapphire, and I love it. My very first purchase, after a few paychecks, from my first job was a sapphire ring. Still have it. Many years later.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt does seam to be, meant to be. Great design.
Beautiful quilt and quilting of the diamonds! Love how everything for your project turned out perfectly. My birthstone is amethyst, and since purple is my favorite color, I'm very happy with it!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilt! I love the prism!! My birthstone is citrine. 😐
ReplyDeleteMy birthstone is amethyst! What’s not to like about purple? Love your quilting on your diamonds!
ReplyDeleteMy birthstone is a diamond, since I was born in April. I always liked it, but nowadays the birthstone that means the most to me is garnet, which is my mother's. She is gone, but I wear a garnet ring and chose that because of her.
ReplyDelete