I recently finished a quilt top from a kit that has been sitting around my studio for years.  It was a challenging design by Dereck Lockwood that I found intimidating.  I just couldn’t stand having it incomplete any longer, so now it is done and ready for quilting.  Here is the completed top:

China Blue 77 x 77 inches

I thought the piecing of all those diamonds was going to be the hard part, but I used Sally Collins’ technique of making templates for all the pieces.  I punched tiny holes in the templates (see my earlier post about making a circle template for a photo of the hole punch I used) to mark the start and stop points of the seams.  Marking all those little tiny diamonds was tedious but not difficult.  Careful attention to all the seam allowances resulted in the diamonds being all consistent in size, so the piecing part went pretty well.

The applique was more difficult, because the fabric had a tendency to ravel and the litle flowers all have lots of notches.  They just didn’t want to behave!  I used freezer paper  for the applique patterns and a little fray check where necessary.  The result is not perfect but acceptable.  I probably wouldn’t select this pattern today, but I am very fond of blue and white so I am pleased with it – except now it has to be quilted!  Another big job, but I will plan that another time — hopefully before my guild’s quilt show in September.