Diamonds (50 x 60 ")

I finished another scrappy quilt.  It's very gratifying to use up some small pieces of fabric I knew would play well together.  I had more scraps and considered another border, but this small throw size is perfect.

And low and behold, I have the perfect piece of fleece in just the right size for the backing, so I'll be quilting this one myself.

Free Pattern Friday

This week's free pattern highlight is The Long Beanie by Wooly Wormhead.  Although it's blazing hot in much of the west, the fall will soon be upon us, and hat season will return.  This is also a great time to knit up a few hats for charity.  There's a constant need for hats at programs that serve the homeless, at women's shelters, and at schools with large numbers of impoverished children.  I'll donate my hats to a school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation though the "For the Children of Pine Ridge" group  on Ravelry

I love this pattern because it knits up very quickly in superbulky yarn.  If you don't have this yarn weight in your stash, you can hold 2 strands of worsted together to make gauge.  This pattern fits a range of sizes from child to adult, and you can use up small bits of yarn by knitting stripes.

Although Bunny the Cat doesn't look very impressed by my handiwork, I think these hats will make some children's winter a little warmer. 

Scrappy Diamonds

 

I'm on to my next scrappy project, using up some dark reds and golds I'd set aside to use together.  I decided to make a simple one-block quilt and let the colors and fabrics do the work.  

I love half-square triangles.  They're easily constructed and can be set in many different ways.  For this quilt I decided to go with a setting where the darks and lights form alternating diamonds.

I cut 7-inch squares in each color, only because that's what my scraps would yield. 

My tip is to press one of the colors in half along the diagonal--it doesn't matter which color you use, but I chose the lights.  This is the guide line I use to stitch a 1/4 inch seam along each side--no marking needed.  After they're sewn, cut along the pressed line and you get 2 HSTs that can be trimmed to 6.5 inch squares.








 

So far the top is 36 x 48," but I've got more scraps for the border to make this into a generous-sized throw.