I’ve had an idea in my mind for a while now – something about diamonds embedded in other shapes. It’s not fully formed in my brain… so I’ve been playing around a bit in EQ8 with diamond shapes.

This isn’t the idea I had in mind…! But I liked it enough to pursue it for awhile. The main shape is a bit like the triangle-in-a-square block from Sunday sketch #243 (and subsequent weeks), although the tip of the triangle doesn’t reach the top of the block here. This block has the same versatility though, and the addition of the thin border and sashing provides another spot for using colour.

I had to use acid yellow again! I mentioned on Instagram lately that I think it needs to be in every quilt design from now on….

So there are loads of ways to rotate and colour these blocks. Lots of layout options!

And the same layout can be coloured in different ways, leading to a quite different look and feel.

It can also be pared back in terms of palette, with only 4 colours instead of 5.

And the shapes can be grouped in different ways (using colour again) to give the impression of larger blocks.

Lots of options! These designs would all be pretty easy to make – I think freezer or foundation paper-piecing would be the way to go. (That’s what I’d prefer, to get the thin sashing nice and straight and even.) And one benefit of a design with lots of the same block is that you can save lots of time by chain piecing.

So, this doesn’t solve the problem of the other diamond design I need to work out…! If I can get the vague idea in my head into , you’ll be the first to see 🙂