alternating diamond quilt- Written and pictoral directions!!
 

I've had a few requests to post on how I made the black and white quilt for my Aunt Gracie. It's really easo so I figured a quick tutorial was in order.... did you know it's not that quick to make one of these:shock: I just about have an entire new quilt so I could explain each step and to be honest I LOVE it!!:thumbup: So here it goes and I'm starting with basics so even the newest quilter can follow.

There are two ways to make the triangle so I'm explaining what I did origionally and a quicker method I learned to do ...........after I had done the long tedious process........ which made me a bit crazy for a bit lol:p

Step one:Pick your fabrics. I chose a Fall Batik Charm Pack from Connecting Threads and a White Charm Pack from Walmart for this tutorial. For the Black and White Quilt there was a half yard each of 12 fabrics that I sorted into a mostly dark and a mostly light pile.

Step two: If working with yardage or scraps this is where you cut them into the size of squares or triangles that you need.
For the black and white quilt I used the Easy Angle Ruler and my long ruler to cut individual triangles. You would need to cut each fabric into the size strip indicated on your easy angle ruler, I believe mine where 6.5 in. Then you can cut those strips with your ruler to yeild lost of triangles, be sure to keep them seperated. The method I am using this time with charm packs is easier but makes smaller half square triangles. If you would like to do that then cut your light and dark fabrics into squares of your choice. I think 7 in should yield a similar sixe to the black and white quilt. if in doubt cut them bigger and trim them down to size when finished.

Step three: If you cut triangles then here is where you match them up one light to one dark right sides together and get them ready to sew, .If you cut squares then I want you to grab all of your light squares and decide if you want to mark a line down them or follow me and grab an iron!
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Just fold em in half and iron a crease down the middle.

Step four: For those of you that did the square method layer dark to light right sides together and I pin each side to keep them from shifting in a big stack.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]362349[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]362350[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]362351[/ATTACH]almost there!

Step five: Now we sew! If you made triangles this is where you chain piece them through the machine. If you made squares put your 1/4 in foot right on the crease or drawn line and chain piece down one side of all your squares, I took the pin out on the side I had sewn down as I went.
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After you finish the first side, flip 'em around and start down the next doing the same thing.
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Step Six: If you made squares this is where we use our ruler and cutter to cut our squares into triangles.
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Word of warning!!! Don't get in a hurry and do what I did! :mad: It's ok I sewed back over it with a very scant 1/4 in..... It ended up being ok after it was squared up which is two steps down :thumbup:
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Now we are closing in on the fun part! Since I can only attach 10 pictures per post please be patient while I finish this tute :) Hopefully it will only take 2 more posts to git er done:thumbup:

Step Seven: Iron them all to the dark side, don't forget to set your seam or the QP might show up!:shock:
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Step Eight: Square up your blocks. To be honest I skipped this step when I made the black and white quilt :eek:.... but it came out fine and my seams matched up perfectly. For the squares I don't suggest skipping it because of possible shifting. I squared down to 4 in. with mine but that's because I don't like the pinked edges. They could have easily been 4.5 when squared down so the size is up to you ;).
[ATTACH=CONFIG]362360[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]362361[/ATTACH] Now that that's out of the way, here is the fun part!!! :D

Step Nine: Pick 4 of your favorite squares to begin with.
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Now Put them together creating your middle diamond
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Step Ten: Next we make our next set of points. Just put the light sides creating a triangle above the dark point.
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Now do that on all 4 points
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Do you see how our pattern just kind of shows up? Easy Peasy!

Step Eleven: Now we fill in those corners, the easiest trick I know of is to remember we are making straight lines so we match up our dark sides and let it make itself.
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Step Twelve: Now we put dark points on top of our light ones, we'll go ahead and do all 4 since it's just a repeat of step ten.
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Step Thirteen: Now just like before match white to white to create your straight line.
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Step Fourteen: Match dark to dark to make your corners. Now rinse and repeat steps 10-14 until you have the size you want! :thumbup: Easier than you thought wan't it :D
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Step Fifteen: (Optional) Don't forget to pick out borders!
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I had to size it down to make it fit on the table! :p

I know I kept referring to the black and white quilt so I'm going to post a finished picture or two so you can see what started this whole thing! Thanks for checking out my first ever tutorial, I hope you like it and it makes this quilt simple and quick to create!
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WOW wonderful job both on your quilt and your Tute... Thank you :)

Judy in Phx, AZ

thanks for taking the time to post a tut

Thank you for sharing. Very nice job. :)

You did a very good job of describing how you made the quilt. Thank you so much!

Colleen

very nice love your iron

That is great!! Thank you, I will do this one for sure!!

Beautiful!