I had two quilts accepted to hang at QuiltCon this year, which was a huge privilege given the volume of amazing modern quilts submitted. One of the quilts was my Rainbow Plus quilt (from this pattern):
The other quilt was made from my Diamonds in the Deep pattern… you might remember this version I created in navy:
I’d wanted to sew a version in red for a while, but was keen to sew something other than just plain solids. When I saw Alison Glass’ gorgeous Handcrafted 2 fabric line, I knew Speckled in Tomato was the fabric I was looking for.
The red was beautifully vibrant and the pattern was in a dark beige/tan – a nice change from white. It matched perfectly with a Moda tan solid the store had in stock, which I took as a sign from the universe that the pairing was meant to be.
I wish I’d stopped to take a photo of the fabric for you, but the truth is I cut into that yardage as soon as I got home. I was very inspired 🙂 The whole fabric is wax-resist dyed with spots, and both edges of the fabric (parallel to the selvedges) have three border lines. When I cut my strips for the log cabin blocks, they were delightfully speckled, with perpendicular stripes at each end.
It makes for a fun effect over the whole of the the quilt. I made the pattern as per the instructions, I just kept in mind as I was sewing to try and use speckled and striped alternately where possible. When I laid my blocks out, before sewing the top together, I also swapped and rotated blocks to achieve an even spread of patterns.
I sent this quilt to Kelly at the Quilt Machine to be long-armed with a flame pattern, which played in nicely with the quilt’s name. Beautiful job, thanks, Kelly!
I backed it with some Amy Butler yardage I had in stash and then bound it with the remnants of the Speckled in Tomato.
I love how it turned out, especially the extra interest the fabric gives to the overall design. It really reminds me of a bushfire and all the flotsam, jetsam and debris that swirls up on hot air currents.
Best of all – it looks a bit complicated, but the fabric does all the work for you. I’m pretty happy with that 🙂
If you’d like to make your own version of Diamonds in the Deep, you can find the pattern over here.
Have a great weekend!
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It’s beautiful Kirsty! The perfect fabric for your gorgeous pattern. Congratulations on having two quilts hanging at QuiltCon.
Whenever my Diamonds is ‘seen’ it generates loads of comments, thanks for creating such a stunning pattern and letting me test it.
I’m glad I read your description of the fabric Kirsty, because I was having all sorts of difficulty working out why it looked different to the original design! Great job!
Congratulations on being accepted into QuiltCon – TWICE! Yay! 🙂 Both quilts are stunning and I love the effect the fabric creates in your Diamonds! I really love that pattern, one day I’ll have to make one, too! 🙂
Beautiful, I love the pattern in red! The fabric makes for some very cool designs when pieced into the quilt.
Very nice patterns:)
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Well done Kirsty! Congrats!! Thanks for letting me do my thing as well I’m quite proud that I had a little to do with it. Yah ??