Since the last time I reported progress on my Diamond Quilt I have finished off areas 1, 2, 3, and 4.

I started by creating a bridge unit two hexagons wide.  The purpose of the unit was to span the area between the tips of the large diamonds.  I had to make four of these units.

These bridge units were then stitched into place creating the shape where I would add the solid hunter green fabric.

I knew that getting the solid fabric to lie flat and pin the hexagons into place was going to be challenging enough, so I decided to cut large rectangles instead of triangles.  I’m glad I did.  Even though I cut them a few inches larger than necessary in each direction, it turned out to be a big challenge to handle such a large quilt top.  The weight of the piece made it difficult to get a small area of it to be flat on my dining room table.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed sewing the solid fabric into place.  I like the look of the double row of hexagons next to the solid fabric.  I am going to enjoy coming up with quilting to enhance the difference between the hexagonal areas and the solid areas. It took three hours per area to create the bridge, cut and pin the fabric, reinforce seams so papers could be removed, and sew the solid fabric in place.  So that makes twelve hours of work this week. One of the reasons I didn’t mind cutting rectangular pieces to go behind the triangular areas is because I knew I would be able to cut squares for hexagons from the scraps.  Below you can see the squares on the right and the remaining scraps on the left.  I’ll think of something to do with them, I’m sure.  Hunter green is my new favorite color.

Here are a few photos of the quilt top on the queen sized bed with areas 1, 2, 3, and 4 added.

 

 

On the agenda for next week is the addition of areas 5 and 6.  These areas have been designed, but those details will wait until the next post.