I’ve just laid out the second pile of diamonds from the Kaffe Fassett Collective. I’d cut them from the strips I’d cut for Diamonds II and added a few more from fabrics I picked up at Woolworks just outside of Mahone Bay when I was in Lunenburg for my regular bone density scan.
I began by colour sorting the diamonds then sorting again for intensity. I laid out the blocks so I could get a colour flow from the yellows in the top left to blues in the bottom right. I haven’t taken time yet to sit with this array – I did my best to keep the dark diamonds aligned on one side of each “cube”, lighter diamonds on the “light side” with a medium intensity for the “top” of each cube. I now need to spend some time checking that the flow allows each cube to stand out.
In actual fact I began the layout with the blue diamonds (in part because I had more blues than other colours) but once I had the layout I decided the colour flow works better from the yellow to the blue, rather than the other way around.
So now to begin assembling the quilt top.
jmn 
I love how you just keep reworking these fabrics and find the right balance! What a great eye you have and such patience.
I have a LOT of fabric – I have close to 100 pieces of the Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics. No point in hoarding them – even with this third Diamonds quilt I will have enough for another three!
I’ve never figured out how to buy fabric without a project in mind. Seems like you’ve got a few more projects to go before you need to go to the store! Although I suspect you end up buying backing and binding as those are larger quantities. Good on you for using what you have.
I buy fabric in several ways: sometimes I buy coordinated sets – Keepsake Quilting used to sell “Scrap Bags” (twelve 9″ cuts of colour related fabrics/batiks), or I pick up a jellyroll if I like the colours, or a fat-quarter set. The second way I buy fabric is if I find something particularly striking (like the Hoffman “Skyline” fabric) and I know I’ll find a use for it. And I do buy backing and binding as I need them – although I have two drawers in my stash of 1.5m/2m cuts which are backing length for my lap-top size quilts and I’ll look there first to make sure I don’t already have a backing fabric suitable for my current project before I go shopping for something that will work.
Sounds like you have a system. I did buy some Canada 150 fabric as I felt like it “had a shelf life” and might not be easy to find again but I struggled with how much of what. Now going to start a quilt for our camper and hope I have what I need!
If not, you’ll go get what you need!
I love the way this quilt looks. My brother has two quilts made out of wool c 1890 using the Tumbling block pattern. One uses plaid fabrics. The other is red black and purple. Both are hand made with a grey wool backing.
The “Tumbling Block” pattern is an old one. I hope your brother treasures those quilts and has plans to pass them on to people who will understand and appreciate them!