Diamonds: A Girl's Best Friend

Diamonds...they are a girl's best friend, as the saying goes, but they can also be tricky to sew. This design by Tammy Silvers, featured in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine, is rated challenging but made easier with several tips and videos--if you like the quilt, don't be intimidated--there's plenty of help to get it made! We love how the diamonds sparkle with the cool colors of the Piccadilly collection. Keep reading to learn more about this pointed beauty! 

"Cubed" by Tammy Silvers; machine quilted by Pat Yearwood;
featured in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting Nov/Dec 2014

Q. What attracted you to the Piccadilly prints?

Tammy: It is such a fun collection of prints and colors - modern, and yet soft.

Q. Favorite print in the collection?

Tammy: I have to pick just one?  Urgh…it would have to be the border print - love the cubism.

Q. What inspired you to use diamonds? 

Tammy: I have to admit - I am fascinated with the idea of depth and overlap, and the diamonds were a fun way of playing with that effect.

Q. What was most challenging about making this quilt? 

Tammy: The diamonds!  I love 'em, but...if you don't use a corner trimmer, then you're looking at eyeballing - or marking each diamond - to get the offset just right.  Well worth it - but in the moment...I was questioning my sanity!

Q. Any tips for cutting and/or working with diamonds? 

Tammy: Well, like I mentioned, because you're working with an angle and not a straight line, you can't just match up raw edge and end to end - you have to have that 1/4" offset at each end.  So either get REALLY good at eyeballing that 1/4" offset - or use a point trimmer.  And of course, using the diamond ruler from the good folks at F&P! 

(This quilt was also featured on Fons &Porter's Love of Quilting TV Series, complete with tips on how to make it.)

Q. What do you like best about this quilt?

Tammy: Besides that it's done (kidding!)?  I love the mix of colors (gray is always a great neutral that lets other colors shine) and the movement created with the rows of diamonds.

Q. Can you talk about the machine quilting design used on the quilt?

Tammy:  I LOVE my quilting fairy - Pat Yearwood - and she is a master at choosing the correct quilting motif for each of my projects.  

See the entire Piccadilly collection here.

Find out more about Tammy here.

Find the kit for Tammy's Cubed quilt here.

Find Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine here.