DIAMONDS ON THE DOUBLE PLUS BONUS FREEBIE Posted on 2 Aug 15:14 , 0 comments
Every summer I host a retreat for my sewing group, The Scrappy Sisters. We meet on Friday night for a "Come One, Come All" BBQ Potluck. We bring, hang, and share quilts and quilt tops from retreats from previous retreats. We have the announcement and awarding of prizes to the winners of the Finishing Club for the year. And then we have the EXCHANGE!
Some years we trade strips of a chosen color sheme cut at 2 1/2" by width of fabric and 4 1/2" by width of fabric. Other years we trade bundles of fat quarters packaged up in a variety of themed containers like a picnic basket supper auction. And after our exchange we are ready to fondle our fabrics admiring our "new" stash before we start cutting and sewing. We stitch until the wee hours in the morning, grab a couple hours of sleep and then come back Saturday and Sunday for even more stitching.
This year Kathy chose fabrics that fall into the 1800's category and many of the gals decided they would like to make a pattern of mine called MQS 112E DIAMONDS ON THE DOUBLE. As a special treat for all the retreat-ers I decided to give them a couple of new layout possibilities and additional cutting instructions for a finished 3" block unit. I couldn't leave my loyal blog readers out of the fun, so I'm including those instructions for everyone here, too.
How did the retreat go, you ask? Postponed due to our record breaking HEAT WAVE from which we've been suffering over the last week! We came to consensus it would be best and most comfortable for all (since most of us here in the PNW do not have AC in our homes - me included) if we waited until September to get together. Just to keep things interesting, I added another twist to our little event.
Since everyone was all primed and ready to sew this weekend, I decided we need to go ahead and start cutting into those beautiful fabrics we've been collecting over the past year. Instead of exchanging fat quarter bundles in September everyone is to use their collection to create a set of thirty-six 3" block units for all who want to trade when we want to meet for our retreat. I've been sewing up a storm this weekend getting my units all squared up and together in stacks so I'm ready for September 11th. Can't wait to see what I get from the other gals and I know I'm going to absolutely love how scrappy my new quilt top will be!
Please note, you will need the original pattern for instructions on how to make the block unit.