Dalmatians and Half Square Triangles

The Dalmatian fabric I used in the "Dalmations and Diamonds" quilt has now been used in 3 quilts and one improv block (see my last post). That fabric is all gone now! Here is the second quilt in the series. I picked colors from the cool side of the color wheel for this quilt.

I call this one "Calm in the Kennel, Chaos Outside"! The blocks in the large diamond are all arranged into small diamonds. The blocks outside the large central diamond are all random.  I had thought this was going to be a totally random HST quilt. But when I saw the central diamond begin to appear, I really liked it so went with it.

In the gallery below you can see some of the process of transforming it from a stack of half square triangles to its final design. I use the black and white photos to look see if the more intense colors are balanced in the quilt. It's easy to go from color to black and white on a cell phone, but the photography program on a computer can do it too. These are quick design-in-progress photos so not "pretty"!

The top two images are the same. The HST blocks had just been put up on the design wall randomly. There is no sign of the central diamond.  You can begin to see it in the bottom two photos. The blocks inside the diamond in the lower photos are still random.

Here's final photo of the quilt. The wind has flipped an edge so you can see the back.

The third quilt in this series of Dalmation quilts features colors on the warm side of the color wheel.  I'm quilting it now so it should be ready in time for my next post.

Charm Square Apple Blossom Quilt

I got the last 2 UFO quilts in my stack quilted last week.  We had a couple cool days in New England and so it was the perfect time to finish them. It's not so fun to quilt when it's hot and humid!

This is my Apple Blossom Charm square quilt, using my "Apple Blossoms and Dots Pink" fabric printed by Spoonflower.com and 2 Kona® cotton solid charm square packs, Warm Sunrise collection. It was quick to sew up and I love the colors.

Here's the back.  My backing fabric is the same "Apple Blossoms and Dots Pink" print but in a much larger scale. Only the smaller scale version is available for sale at the link above.

I keep a "dog quilt" on the foot of my bed where my dogs often end up.  This is the new addition.  They are quick sews--charm square quilts with polyester batting so that they can wash and dry easily.  With these bright, happy colors, I know it will make me smile every time I look at it!