Crazy quilt stitch along Tumbling Block 20

Tumbling block 20 sits in the middle on the bottom row of the Diamonds are Forever quilt.

You can download the patterns for the three diamonds that make up the block. Here is the light tone diamond, the mid tone diamond, and the dark tone diamond.

Just to remind you that the PDFs have NO seam allowances but the patterns are to scale. Set your printer to print to the actual size. Do NOT use the ‘fit to page’ option as it will reduce the diamonds by half an inch or so. When you print them out, they should have 6-inch sides. I advise you to use Adobe Acrobat™ as a PDF reader (it’s free).
When embellishing, feel free to follow what I have done, OR adapt my ideas to your liking. Embellish the blocks as you see fit and have fun and there are no rules in Crazy Quilting!

Tips for Tumbling Block 20

As you stitch keep beads away from the edge of the diamond and give yourself a generous seam allowance. When you piece the diamonds into blocks you will break your sewing machine needle if it hits anything hard. Trust me, we’ve all done it!

I have linked Stitches mentioned in the article to tutorials. You will usually find these in the stitch dictionary so you can learn how to do them if you don’t already know them.

When foundation piecing your diamonds try and make sure that you don’t have a seam ending at one of the points of the diamond. When you come to piecing your diamonds into blocks you don’t want to be dealing with bulky diamond tips or corners.

If you need a tutorial on curved piecing take a look a tutorial written by Allison Aller. You can find Curved Foundation Piecing here

Light toned Diamond on Tumbling Block 20

The PDF for the Light toned Diamond is here.

As readers can the Light toned Diamond does not have individual embellished seams. The pattern illustrates where I’ve placed French Knots, Fargo roses, Woven roses, and Chiffon flowers. I made the chiffon flowers by gathering chiffon ribbon ( about 2 inches in length) in a circle. And then I added a bead to the middle. To make the woven roses, I used 7mm silk ribbon and worked Woven wheel stitch.

Mid toned Diamond on Tumbling Block 20

The pdf for the Mid toned Diamond on is here.

At the bottom of the diamond, I first embellished the small seam along the edge of seam 5 with laced Herringbone stitch. Then I worked Herringbone in blue cotton perle #5 and then laced with red cotton perle #3. In red 4mm silk ribbon, I worked Fargo roses, in spaces along the top, middle, and bottom of the row. I then added 3 Detached chain stitches in a fan shape along three of the roses. I alternated these with three straight stitches worked in bone thread. Beads came last.

I covered the seam that joins patches 3 and 4 in a braid I hand-dyed. Using a perle #8 thread I added groups of 3 Detached chain stitches arranged in a fan shape. I tucked two straight stitches worked in a metalic thread. I added beads to the base, and to the ends of the straight stitches.

You can see two seams in this photograph. They are between patches 1 and 2 and patches 2 and 3. The first is a line of buttonhole with the arms topped with French Knots, 3 Detached chain stitches arranged in a fan shape using Rayon Ribbon Floss. I tucked two straight stitches topped with seed beads, between the detached chain stitches.

The lower line of stitches are made of a line of Beaded Oyster stitches worked in silk thread. For the spiked arms of the stitch, I treated the oyster stitches like a Slipped Detached chain stitch. I added beads last.

The last seam embellishment on the Mid toned Diamond consists of two lines of Chevron stitch worked face to face. I added a line of copper-coloured domed-shaped sequins to the gaps down the middle.

Dark toned Diamond on Tumbling Block 20

The dark-toned block is a simple block of 4 patches. The pdf for the Dark toned Diamond is here.

The first line of embroidery is an alternating Feather stitch worked in a hand dyed thread. I further decorated it with Fargo roses, and Detached chain stitches.

The second line of embroidery is made of two lines of Running stitch that I laced with a fine metallic braid. In the gaps, I added small metal beads shaped like flowers. After this, I secured these with a seed bead.

The last seam is Chevron stitch worked in cotton perle #5 topped with 3 Detached chain stitches. Tucked in between the detached chain stitches I added Leaf stitch, which you can find on page 133 of The Visual Guide to Crazy Quilting Design. I added Straight stitches in metallic thread last before adding beads. After this, I laced the chevron stitches with a fine ribbon.

If you are stitching along please share what you do in either of the Crazy Quilt Divas and/or Crazy Quilt International groups on Facebook.

The quilt is on the front of two of my books: The Visual Guide to Crazy Quilting Design and my new book Crazy Quilting for Beginners Handy Pocket Guide. You do not need my books to join in on this stitch along, but I strongly recommend that you have at least the pocket guide, if not the full Visual Guide to Crazy Quilting Design.

Previous blocks in the series

Guidelines and general information about the series:

Tumbling Block 1;

Tumbling Block 2;

Tumbling Block 3;

Tumbling Block 4;

Tumbling Block 5;

Tumbling Block 6;

Tumbling Block 7;

Tumbling Block 8;

Tumbling Block 9:

Tumbling Block 10:

Tumbling Block 11:

Tumbling Block 12:

Tumbling Block 13:

Tumbling Block 14:

Tumbling Block 15:

Tumbling Block 16:

Tumbling Block 17:

Tumbling Block 18:

Tumbling Block 19:

Tumbling Block 20:

Tumbling Block 21:

The Last tumbling block in the series will be on September 12th. And then we are done!

Thread Twisties!

Experimenting with different threads can be expensive. You would normally have to buy a whole skein of each type of thread. My thread twisties are a combination of different threads to use in creative hand embroidery. These enable you to try out stitching with something other than stranded cotton. For the price of just a few skeins, you can experiment with a bundle of threads of luscious colours and many different textures.

These are creative embroiders threads. With them, I hope to encourage you to experiment. Each Twistie is a thread bundle containing silk, cotton, rayon and wool. Threads range from extra fine (the same thickness as 1 strand of embroidery floss) to chunky couchable textured yarns. All threads have a soft and manageable drape. Twisting them around a needle makes experimental hand embroidery an interesting journey rather than a battle.  Many are hand dyed by me. All are threads I use. You may find a similar thread twist but no two are identical.

You will find my thread twisties in the Pintangle shop here.