English paper pieced diamonds for "81", Flare Fabrics and Mom's Africa quilt

All of my English paper pieced diamonds are now stitched together and ready to be appliqued to the border strip. They are so bright and cheerful and will be the perfect finished for my quilt.

As I was pressing them (with a little spray starch) before removing the basting threads and paper it occurred to me that they could be assembled into some interesting larger diamonds. Here are a couple of examples. I think there are lots of possibilities for assembling these into some new and interesting designs.

For now the diamonds are going to be appliqued to the border. I've cut  4 1/4" strips of fabric for the border. The next step was to draw a line 2" from the edge of the strip that will attach to the quilt and the line is on the right side of the fabric. I'll use this mark to line up the points of the diamonds. My diamonds measure just shy of 5" from point to point and my strip measures 85" (excluding seam allowances). This means I will be able to applique 17 diamonds. I found the middle of the strip and centred the first diamond over the middle being sure the line up the points on the pencil line. The basting threads and papers have been removed. I pin with applique pins and then applique the diamond in place.

Here you can see the tip of one diamond stitched down and the pencil line extending to the left.

The next diamond is positioned and ready to be pinned in place for appliqueing.

 And here is part of the border strip with a few diamonds stitched down. I'll do this sewing in the evenings so it will take me at least a week to get it done and then I'll attach the borders to the quilt. Can't wait to see them on the quilt!

Flare Fabrics is having a sale and until September 20th you can take an extra 20% off your order. Best of all shipping is free within Canada. Great deal! A deal like this is not to be missed so I ordered a bundle of 23 fat quarters and with tax it worked out to $47! Don't know what I'll do with these but they sure are nice!

If you want more fabric (need doesn't enter into it) head on over to Flare Fabrics! There's lots there to choose from!

Work continues on Mom's African quilt. Here are some pictures of what I've done for her thus far. She'll embellish with beads and embroidery and gold hoop earrings!

There'll be no post tomorrow because I've been invited to go hear Edyta Sitar speak. Should be a fun day out! Until I post again, happy sewing!