Still Blooming

I've added a few more blooms to my Coastal Lily project.  I've yet to make an ugly one!!

The Diamonds Tradition book tour continues today at Denise's blog, The Corner Stitch.  Be sure to stop by to see what project Denise has made and another opportunity to win Monique's latest book.  (click here)

Thanks so much for all the comments that have been left on my giveaway, I've enjoyed reading your answers to one my survey questions and getting to know you too.  It's been very interesting to see which question you decided to answer, there's been a little bit of everything.  If you've not left a comment you have until Friday to do so.

A Finish AND A Book Tour

Hello and welcome to day one of the Diamond Traditions Book Tour.

Diamond Traditions is the latest book by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts published by C&T Publishing.  This is Monique's 3rd book, following Fat Quarter Winners and Fat Quarter Quilts.  This book is also a fat quarter friendly book.

As with Monique's first two books, this book has beautiful color pictures of all the quilts and quilt blocks, wonderfully illustrated instructions, and charts to help you make all the projects in an assortment of sizes.

Diamond Traditions has patterns for 11 different quilts. I was fortunate enough to get to piece a quilt for the book, I pieced Ocean Diamonds.  This is the first time I've had a quilt show up in a book, it's a fun experience for me.  I pieced this quilt way back in June of last year but could not blog about it until now.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 83 - Ocean of Diamonds

The fabric is Memories of Provence by Monique Dillard for Maywood Studios

The pattern is Ocean of Diamonds from the Diamond Traditions book by Monique Dillard

It finished at 62" X 74"

Its has approximately 972 pieces.

Diamond Traditions is available in quilt shops and online.  Comparing the cost of one pattern to the 11 patterns provided in this book make this book a real deal!  If you enjoyed Monique's first two books I know you'll love this book also.

As part of the book tour, each blogger is going to answer the following questions, I hope you enjoy getting to know us a little better.

1. When did I start quilting - I pieced my first quilt the fall of  2005
2. What was my first project - Lifetime Quilt Number 1 - Click here to read all about it.
3. Favorite Movie - I love movies, so this is hard for me, but I've watched "You've Got Mail" more times than I can count, so I guess I will have to go with it!
4. Favorite Book - I love to read, so this is hard for me too, but I really enjoy books that make me think about them days after I finish them, and I love all types of books, biographies, mysteries, fiction, non fiction.  But if I have to pick one book I'll go with "My Losing Season" by Pat Conroy.
5. Favorite TV Show - I love those bridal gown shows on TLC on Friday nights.  I don't care if it's "Say Yes to the Dress", "Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta", or "I found the Gown".  If it's Friday night,  I'm watching somebody pick out a wedding gown.
6. Where I grew up - I grew up in a small town in the midwest.  All of my family still lives there, I was the only one who flew the coop.
7. Dog or Cat - Not even close, this family is a dog family.  Although I'm allergic to cats so I've never been able to get to be around them.
8. Hobby if I didn't quilt - If I didn't quilt I know I would have some sort of hobby, I'm not one to sit around and just watch TV, I would probably select golfing.  Quilting is a lot like golf, both hobbies are very time consuming, require expensive equipment, and practice if you want to be good.
9. Sports - participant or spectator.  I love sports, my favorite sport by far is football, which requires me to be a spectator, but I also enjoy other spectator and participant sports.
10. Least favorite part of quilting - Picking out the fabric!  It's not very often that I finish a quilt and don't think, "I should have used different fabric" or "I want to make that again in different fabric". 
11. Most favorite part of quilting - The math!  I love checking all the math in every pattern I make and even redo the math on most patterns I buy.  It's like a game to me and relaxing.
12. Biggest quilting inspiration.  I would have to say my quilts became more interesting and I became a better quilter when I started participating in Sinta and Sherri's Schnibbles quilt along.  Those little patterns let me be more creative with fabric, experiment with block sizes, and sometimes, change up the whole thing.  The things I've learned making those Schnibbles has seeped into all my projects.
13. Sweet or Salty - Sweet!

This is going to be a week of fun and giveaways, please visit these bloggers to see their projects and for more chances to win Monique's latest book.

Tuesday - Denise from Quilter’s  Window - Quilterswindow.com/blog/
Wednesday - Lisa from Stashmaster - The-Stashmaster.blogspot.com

Thursday - Sherri from A Quilting Life - aquiltinglife.blogspot.com

Friday - Monique from Open Gate Quilts - opengatequilts.blogspot.com

To be eligible to win Diamond Traditions from my blog, just leave a comment on this post by the end of day Friday, June, 21st.  I'll select and announce the winner sometime over the weekend.  Anyone is welcome to enter, if the winner lives outside the United States, they will receive an ebook.  Since you've gotten to know me a little better with this post, how about telling me something about you, just answer any one of the questions that I had to answer above in your comment.

Finally, something worth showing

So after the stems were stitched the next step was to add the berries to the stems.  I chose to machine appliqué my berries.  Once the berries were attached I tore off the stabilizer and squared up the blocks.

36 berry blocks all done!

I've also finished all 180 required geese.

The only thing left to do is make the lily blocks.

Since all the pieces and parts are ready to go, all I have to do is lay everything out, sew it together, press, and square up.  It takes less than 20 minutes to assemble one lily block, start to finish.

I think the hardest part is trying to decide which one to make next, so far I love them all.

Just in case you're stopping by for the first time in a couple of  weeks, this is the makings of Coastal Lily by Minick & Simpson.

Finally, something different

Let's talk about those berry blocks.  The berry block in my Coastal Lily block is the block that has the stems and berries coming out of the center of the bloom.  

Since I had to change the thread, the machine stitch, and the presser foot to make this block, I decided I wanted to make them all at once.

First I had to decided what stitch I wanted use.  After playing around with different options, I selected the stitch on the bottom.

I also used Totally Stable by Sulky, an iron-on, tear-away stabilizer.  

After adhering the stabilizer to the fabric, and using my Frixion pen, I traced the berry stems from the pattern provided.  You need to trace the stems after attaching the iron on stabilizer, do it before and your stems will disappear.  Ask me how I know!

I also traced the base of where the berries should be placed to make adding the berries later a breeze, and to make sure I stitched the stems into where the berries will be appliqued.

This foot made lining up and following my traced stem line so easy.

It was a day's work, getting the blocks prepared and stitching the stems, but a good day's work.

Next up, machine appliquéing the berries.

The pattern calls for cutting these squares an inch larger than required, then squaring them up, which I will do after I add the berries and tear off the stabilizer.

Added 6/13

I used a Pfaff Expression 4.0 to stitch the berry stems.  The decorative stitch number is 155 and the presser foot is the straight stitch presser foot.  I don't have a number for the foot but here is a close-up of  it.

Getting Close

I love Mondays, a new week, a fresh start, back to a normal routine after a hectic weekend.  Last Monday I didn't have much hope of making much progress on Coastal Lily.  I had a month's worth of doctor, veterinarian, hair salon, groomer, repairman, delivery man, car, and dentist appointments all in one week.  But since I knew I had limited sewing time, I made the most of the time I had, which turned out to be around the same amount of sewing time in a normal week, when I tend to be less focussed.  

This project is coming together very easily and I feel like I make progress every time I sit down to sew.

I have a few more geese to piece, but I'm almost done with them.

I also have a few more berries to make, but I'm still enjoying the process and expect to wrap them up soon.

All the pieces and parts for the lily block are assembled and ready, all I need is the berry block then I'll be able to start piecing them together.  The stack on the right are the bloom block pieces, the two stacks on the right are the scraps!

If you're still in the mood for a bloom quilt, but haven't taken to Carolina or Coastal Lily, Judi at the Green Fairy has just started a Flower Patch Quilt Along, maybe you would like that, click here to check it out.