Diamond Traditions Blog Tour, Brilliance

Thanks for joining me on my featured day of the Blog Tour to celebrate Monique Dillard's new book, Diamond Traditions.  This is the quilt I decided to make - Brilliance.  This is the version of the quilt that you'll see in the book.

Before I show you the one I made, Monique asked all of us some "getting to know you" questions, so here are my answers.

1.  When did you start quilting?
I started quilting in 1993 (gasp - 20 years ago!) after watching a PBS show called Quilting from the Heartland, hosted by Shar Jorgenson.  I'd always liked fabric and quilts, and the idea of rotary cutting really appealed to me.  My first quilt taught me that rotary cutting and cardboard templates do not mix, and also that I never wanted to use templates again!

2.  What was your first project?
Ambitious for a first project, I chose a quilt from Quiltmaker magazine called Winken, Blinken and Nod.  I had all manner of trouble with shaving off just a sliver of the cardboard template with every cut of my rotary blade, so in my first attempt at assembly, nothing fit together.  I was determined, though!  I had to buy more fabric and I bought a template kit that included a laminate type material and special scissors that allowed you to cut through it.  This worked out better for me, but I still wound up with a quilt where nothing matched in the center!

3.  What is your favorite movie?
Wow - so many to choose from!  I choose Dirty Dancing which has a wonderful love story, great music and Patrick Swayze - yowza!

4.  What is your favorite book?
Another tough question.  I'd have to say She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb.

5.  What is your favorite tv show?
My favorite classic show that I can watch again and again is Friends.  I have all 10 seasons on DVD and watch them often while I'm sewing.  My favorite current show is Grey's Anatomy.

6.  Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Seattle, Washington.  When I was in junior high, my parents moved us just north of Seattle, near where I live today with my husband and 3 children.

7.  Dog lover?  Cat lover?  Neither?  Both?
I love dogs and have been trying to adopt a French bulldog for years.  Maybe someday I will actually have one!

8.  If you didn't quilt, what hobby would you do?
Blasphemy!  I can't imagine not quilting - I love it so!  But I'd probably do something with yarn - knitting or crocheting - if I couldn't quilt.

9.  Sports - participant, spectator or neither?
I'm not much of either, but I do enjoy watching high school girls' basketball, especially when my son is playing in the band.

10.  Least favorite part of quilting?
My least favorite parts are anything having to do with the finishing - assembling the rows, adding borders, piecing the back.  I'd much rather be sewing blocks!

11.  Most favorite part of quilting?
My favorite part is cutting out a quilt and bonding with the fabrics that I am going to use.  That's the part that feels the most creative to me - choosing the perfect fabrics to go with a pattern, then making that first test block to make sure I like how the fabrics play with the pattern.

12.  Person who is your quilting inspiration and which designer/quilter would you most like to meet?
I'm lucky enough to have met two of my favorite designers that I now consider friends - Carrie Nelson and Monique Dillard.  I would very much like to meet Kim Diehl and Kaffe Fassett some day.

13.  Salty or Sweet?
Definitely sweet, preferably with chocolate!

And now back to the real reason you're here, to find out more about Monique's new book!

When Monique asked me to participate in her blog tour, I wanted to help, but found myself really short on time.  So my choice from the book was Brilliance.  It's a very simple quilt with snowball-ish blocks and it really shows off the fabric.

I used the fabric collection 2wenty Thr3e designed by the folks at Cosmo Cricket for Moda.  I used a cream Bella Solid for the sashing and Moda Essential Dots in Dove for the border.  I quilted it using straight lines about 1/4-inch apart.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and now I have a cute table runner that measures 16-1/2 x 27.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the Blog Tour.  Please leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 23 and I will select one lucky person to win a copy of Monique's fabulous new book!  Good luck to all.