Quilting with Rulers: Star with Diamonds

I took Monday's post to heart and stepped away from my computer during my prime quilting time. I finished up my star with diamonds block. This is a pretty common ruler work design, with diagonal lines forming a series of diamonds. It leaves some great space to fit small fills between lines and is pretty popular among the more modern long arm crowd. I show how to stitch the unadorned diamond in my Craftsy class, Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine.

ruler work and free motion loops and pebbles

It was so nice to quilt with the sun coming in my south-facing window. The side light helps show the dimension to this block too. I showed the larger squares of this block before and continued the diamond theme throughout. Working the points of diamonds from corner to corner is a great way to quilt continuously. After quilting the lines with my favorite straight edge (a Handi-Quilter Mini Scallop) I decided I definitely needed to go back in with some fills. I had originally wanted to do circles down the center of the diamonds, but that looked too much like eyes!

Quilting diamons a ruler work design
Can you see which square I pebbled first before I decided to mark the pebbles?

Loopy 8's or whatever you want to call them (Laverne's was one fabulous name I was given- that loopy L) went in the middle and the pebbles went on the outer spaces. I was glad it worked out to have enough spaces in the bigger squares to leave the outermost space unquilted as it is easier to do pebbles where there aren't any seam allowances. Yes, those 4 squares in the middle were harder to pebble.

free motion quilting with rulers

The white triangles were kept a bit simpler. I'm not sure if I want to quilt in the navy blue star points. I had planned to quilt with the same light turquoise thread on the blue, but it's a huge contrast. If I do quilt these, I think I'll give myself permission to use a darker blue thread.

My day was so much better once I started it off with quilting. I'm going to try to stick to that routine on the days I work at home. Shutting my laptop helped! I love all my online connections, but it can really suck you in until you've wasted a bunch of time.

I shot a video of the quilting of the white triangles too. Look for it soon on YouTube or here.

10 comments:

  1. Looking good ,Amy...I like the dark blue popping like it is now.

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  2. What special foot is needed for working with rulers?

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    1. Hi . you will need a specific ruler foot for your machine. Look to the left in Amy's links and you will see "Quilting with rulers on a Domestic Sewing Machine. The info you need is right there. All the info on what you need and how it's down are on her numerous wonderfully informative Youtube videos.

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    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    3. Check out the tab at the top of the blog titled, "Quilting with Rulers"

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  3. Love how this block came out, Amy. Throwing in some filler work really makes it look complex.

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    1. Thanks Patsy. The best part is that it's not complex, just fun!

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  4. Yup this is getting better and better...I can't wait to see the end result!I am glad you stepped away... My kids are trying hard to convince me to go on facebook but I resist...first reason.... my life is not that interesting...and I don't need to be controlled by the obsession that every little ding is something I need to know. I am quite happy to check blogs that interest me daily ( you do) I am trying hard to improve my quilting ability and someone that I knew 100 hundred years ago who does not even know what quilting is ..well I personally don't give a crap ...I digress.. it is out of frustration...I admit to pinterest which is a huge timesucker but sometimes very informative...Amy you can delete this post if you want but I am so sick of being in peoples company and having them looking at their phones every time it dings...I just want to reakin learn and quilt...Val

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    1. Thanks Val. No deletion necessary. This tech is a blessing and a curse, isn't it? The important thing is that we all use it as a tool to suit our needs, not let it take over. Sometimes I have to take a break from it or just make boundaries for it. I will say if you've got grandkids that are on FB, you might want to get on it, because these kids (and 20 somethings) have the internet completely integrated with their lives. If they can't share it via the web, it didn't happen. (Just went through my sister getting married this year, she's 23--- Pinterest inspired, Instagram-worthy, big event shared all over FB--- so different from my simple wedding)

      Now, back to quilting!

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