The Diamond Devil

Have you ever had a quilt that was out to get you?  A quilt that might jump off the frame at night and strangle or smother you in your sleep? Well guess what…this quilt was out to get me.  I’m sure it was plotting against me the whole time I was trying to quilt it.  Hence, it’s name…the Diamond Devil.  I can think of much worse names for this one but I’ll be nice.

This is one of my original designs.  I put the top together several months ago but just got around to quilting it.  This quilt is a prime example of having a plan and then throwing said plan out the window.  I would’ve thrown myself out the window but it wouldn’t have helped end my misery.  We have a single story house.  What’s that saying?  “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

The first thing you might notice is that it’s super hard to see the quilting.  I discovered black thread on black fabric sucks {in my humble opinion}.  Don’t worry, it’s much easier to see on the back.

Ahhh…much better.  You can actually see all the hard work I put into this devil!  You might be wondering why it’s a mish-mash of a million different quilting designs.  Remember those lemons I talked about earlier?

I originally wanted to do lots of straight line quilting to help define all the diamonds.  That didn’t work so well.  Turns out Roscoe hates to make straight horizontal lines, especially from right to left.  Who knew? Not me.  My top thread kept shredding and fraying.  I was on the verge of a major melt down.  For real.

Hence, the change of direction.  No more straight lines.  I went with a mix of a million different designs and this quilt will now live in my home and serve as a sample for customers.  Lemonade.

I’m loving the peacock feathers that I quilted in the diamonds.  I think they are a new favorite.

I was also going to quilt these lovely peacock feathers in all four corners of the black negative space.  But I was having so much trouble I forget to do them on one side.  Duh!  I figured that out after I had already quilted a bunch of stuff where the feathers were supposed to go. Rip it all out?  Heck NO!
I love this design.  I have no idea how it happened.  I just started quilting and this is what happened.  Not too shabby for a filler.

These little wavy flowers are another pretty cool filler.  And who doesn’t love swirls?

Here’s another new favorite of mine.  I love the look of these lines.  It could almost be woodgrain or water.

Isn’t my helper handsome?

You know what else I figured out about black fabric?  It’s hard to photograph and it shows every little piece of lint.  Yuck!  I tried to go outside my box but it didn’t work so well.  I really like white or other lighter colors better.  Not sure I’ll work with black again any time soon.

So what can we all learn from this post?  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  Because although chopping the quilt up into a million tiny pieces might be gratifying {very gratifying!}, we can learn something with each difficult project.  I learned ripping out black thread from black fabric sucks!

What have you learned from difficult quilts?

13 thoughts on “The Diamond Devil”

  1. First, I think your quilt is amazing. I love the multiplicity of designs on it.

    I have learned that you just have to keep going when one is giving you fits. But you can put it down and work on something else.

  2. Oh my gosh your post just made me laugh! I think the quilt is beautiful and the quilting is phenomenal! One you are able to step away from it for a while, you’ll appreciate it much better. I’ve had some quilts “get me” and they always get better with age! 🙂

  3. Our LQS has Gammill that they let customers use who have gone through the training class. I was told Gammills do not like to go left to right or backwards.

  4. It sure sounds like this quilt was challenge for you!! I love all the different quilting stitches you did on it and…..I think the pink side should be the right side so it can show!!

  5. Love this quilt and the quilting!!! About your machine not wanting to stitch a straight line from right to left…try turning your needle to “7” position on the clock, instead of “6”. That allows the hook a better chance of snagging that top thread when you are going ways that pull the needle away from the hook. Because your hook comes at the needle from the right, by turning the eye 5 minutes to the left, you give the hook a larger window of opportunity. I’d love to know if this helps you!! Are you going to publish a pattern or do a tutorial on how you pieced this beauty???

  6. I find quilting white thread on white fabric just as difficult as black on black. I bought an extra light to clip on and it goose necks down to my quilting space. Much better!
    Barb@Witsend

  7. I learned, while trying to finish binding, that black binding, on a black backing, with black thread is nearly impossible. The joke is “I like to challenge my eyes.” I said that about every fifteen minutes of the hours it took me to finish the binding. I will never do that again!

    Your lemonade looks amazing! Thank you for sharing all your trials on this one. I’ll admit, I have a tendency to match my top thread to my bottom after I’ve picked the bottom to match the backing. This isn’t always true, but if you at least consider it, you may find a thread color that still compliments the front but doesn’t make you wonder if you’re going blind.

    Your quilt is great! For the record, swirls are amazing. In my opinion.

  8. I have had trouble with black on black, too. I do love the drama of black fabric, though. It is much easier if you use a colored thread, like a charcoal gray or a dark purple. On my last one, I used rainbow variegated. It was beautiful with the bright Tonga batiks in the quilt. Don’t give up on black fabric!

Leave a Reply