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Grand Illusion, Part 2!

A Quiltville Mystery

© Bonnie K Hunter & Quiltville.com 2014 All Rights Reserved.

Just in case you are wondering, this is what the Grand Hotel looks like in WINTER!

This photo was posted by Anna Kelly to our Quiltville’s Open Studio on Facebook.

She writes:

“The Grand Hotel in the winter. One of my friends posted this today. He works at a furniture

store and was delivering new mattresses to the island today.”

Come to think of it, it didn’t feel much warmer than this when I was there in MAY!

I can imagine it…how the ferry has to bring the freight, and then the freight is loaded on a horse drawn wagon and carted from the dock up hill to the new recipient.

It’s something to see…how every day work is done by horses and people power on the island.

So are you ready for part TWO!?

Double Diamond Units!

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Something occurred to me…I did a lot of the graphics in just solid colors, because I wanted them to print well, but then people are confused over which is scrappy and which is not. EVERYTHING is scrappy but the YELLOW in my quilt.

So in Part I, in the broken dishes unit, I used two aquas, two pinks, one black and one yellow, with that yellow being the only constant in all the units that was the same – everything else was many fabrics within those color families.

The same thing goes for this unit! The neutrals are scrappy in my quilt, as are the blacks, as are the pinks.

Now before you start thinking this is just like last year’s Celtic Solstice with the chevrons from (@*&#$( this is a bit different! This Double Diamond unit will finish at 4” square which means each rectangle finishes at 2” X 4” which means that each rectangle will measure 2.5” X 4.5” before you join them together.

And I am going to give you THREE ways to do them! This is going to be a long lengthy step, so pour yourself a cuppa and read carefully.

Please notice that the angles on this unit go in only ONE DIRECTION. So it is IMPORTANT that RIGHTIES always cut their fabric RIGHT SIDE UP ONLY. No right sides together. No both with wrong sides out…they all need to be facing up.

LEFTIES…You are going to cut your diamonds with both strips WRONG SIDE UP. You’ll see from the photos below why…I’m watching out for my Righties and my Lefties both!

FIRST. Click to view the Double Diamond PDF template HERE.(If you are on the Printer-Friendly version, please visit the original blog post where the link is clickable.)

Do not PRINT from here. You need to save it to your computer first.

Right click on the page and click SAVE AS.

Save it to your desktop so you can find it easily.

Once you have it saved, close the open pdf page on your browser. Go to your desktop and double click the saved file. It should open in Adobe reader. From here you can select print.

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Alternatively you can open Adobe and then open the file from within adobe to print it in the

size it is supposed to be. You can’t just print it from the monitor view because the printer will

print out whatever your screen resolution is. When printing PDF patterns, always choose

“NONE” as the scaling so that the page will print out the size it was meant to.

Got your templates printed?

This is way #1 to make this unit. Print templates. Cut your fabric to these shapes and sew them together. Boom. Done.

Don’t want to sew that way? How about this way that still has ZERO waste and is cut from 2.5” strips!

First let’s trim up that diamond shaped template!

Test your printing!

The finished SOLID lines on the diamond should be 2 3/4” X 1 7/8”.

Don’t worry about the odd size…we are going to trim keeping the seam allowance intact like this:

Trim 1/4” away from the solid line!

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The seam allowance line will print out also, but it was so faint on my copy I used the 1/4” line on my Easy Angle on top of the solid line to give me the 1/4” seam all the way around the diamond template. I didn’t want to notch my dog ears off ahead of time like on the print out. So ignore those.

RIGHTIES: Tape the diamond in place on the backside of the Easy Angle Ruler, matching the angle.

It will rest right up against the 2.5” line on the ruler.

LEFTIES --- Tape your diamond to the TOP of your Easy Angle Ruler, in the same position, I’ll show you why later.

I cut out two just so I could show you how it is placed…

I used Nexcare tape to tape the diamond to the ruler, the added benefit is…it will slide less when cutting!

RIGHTIES: Now the fun part! Place 2 strips both with right sides up!

You CAN cut from more layers, but just try 2 to start. I like no more than 4.

((I’m getting in the Christmas mood with those Santa Frogs!))

Trim off the excess at the far right end of the strip set.

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Turn your trimmed strip set so your angled end is at your far left and position the ruler with template as shown.

Cut 200 Neutral Diamonds!

LEFTIES:

Your diamond is on the TOP of the Easy Angle Ruler because you are going to use it FACE DOWN!

Place both of your strips wrong sides up and using the easy angle ruler, trim off the left end as shown. Now move that trimmed corner up and around so it is at the right end of your strip set.

Lefties cut diamonds face down from the right end of the strip set! Cut 200 diamonds.

With the ruler this way you can easily cut with your left and your diamonds will be facing the correct direction when you turn them right side up!

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Cutting those corners!

This step is no different than what we did in Part 1, only you are going to keep your strip sets with right sides UP if you are a RIGHTIE, and with RIGHT SIDES DOWN if you are a LEFTIE.

Lefties will cut with the ruler face down from the RIGHT end of the strip so they can easily cut with their left hand. View the Easy Angle Tutorial found under the videos tab at the top of the blog if you haven’t watched it already!

Using the 2.5” line on the Easy Angle Ruler, cut 200 black triangles and 200 pink triangles.

If you are NOT using the Easy Angle Ruler, you will cut 100 pink and 100 black 2 7/8" squares, slicing them on the diagonal to make your 200 pink and 200 black corner triangles.

They will go together like this…pay attention to how that diamond angles!

My pink triangle has the dog ear removed, but that doesn’t matter.

Just align the diagonal and the bottom of the triangle with the diamond. Use your scant 1/4” seam that you worked so hard on in Part One to sew these together.

Trim those dog ears!

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Add the black triangles to the other end the same way!

Press all seams out toward the triangles just added.

Two done! Make 200 total!

These rectangles will measure 2.5” X 4.5” and finish at 2” X 4” after being sewn into the quilt.

**Option #3** The NO TRIANGLE Sew & Flip Method may interest some of you…and I also consider this a NO-WASTE method because I keep all of my BONUS TRIANGLES in a usable size. No sliver-trimming down later!

Cut:

200 2.5” X 4.5” neutral rectangles

200 2.5” black squares

200 2.5” pink squares.

Draw a diagonal line on the back side of each of the squares.

((I am using a white gel pen here…love how it shows up on fabric!))

Optional for you – Necessary for me!

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Cut a 2” square from template plastic or sand paper. Cut that square on the diagonal giving you TWO triangle buddies. Place the triangle buddy in ONE corner on each square and draw a second line. The placement of this line is key in giving you a bonus unit that measures a perfect 2” square and will finish at 1.5” in an extra quilt down the road…or use these bonus triangles as an extra border in this quilt if you so wish!

I always save my bonus triangles. Click HERE for more info on Bonus Triangle Bonanza!

Both squares with lines drawn.

Add the pink squares!

Notice that the second shorter line is toward the “cut off” side.

Place a 2.5” pink square on one end of the 2.5” X 4.5” rectangle as shown. Watch that the angle you are sewing is the same!

Needle to the RIGHT of the center diagonal!

This is a crucial step in getting ANY Sew & Flip method to work. That diagonal line is your FOLD line, your PRESSING OVER line, not your stitching line. It’s a big mistake that many

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make, but trust me. Stitch to the RIGHT of the line into your seam allowance with the needle directly up against the side of the line and I guarantee your units will turn out much better and that folded triangle will reach the edge of your base unit where it is supposed to.

Right up against the line is where you want it!

Now that second line..it was drawn OUTSIDE the edge of the triangle buddy…so the line is already a thread width into the seam allowance. You can sew RIGHT ON the second line. Give it a try! And cut between them!

I’m usually chain sewing, so I just clip my pairs apart with scissors and use the same scissors to cut up between the two lines.

Yes, your seam allowance will be a bit narrower than you are used to. It is 1/16” less than 1/4”. But it is sufficient to hold these pieces together.

Repeat for the opposite black corner on each unit, pressing seams toward the triangles just added.

Double Diamond Units will measure 4.5” square and finish at 4” in the quilt. Each unit gives you 2 bonus triangles…So cute!

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200 Diamond Rectangles will give you 200 black/neutral and 200 pink/neutral bonus units. You decide what you are going to make with these.

Sew the rectangle units into pairs to make 100 Double Diamond Units!

You can choose to press to one side, or press this center seam open. Your choice.

No matter HOW you tackle this step, whether you cut with templates, cut with the Easy Angle Ruler method, or the rectangles, squares and sew & flip – your units will come out THE SAME SIZE if your cutting and seam allowance are where they are supposed to be. These units should be the SAME SIZE as your PART ONE units!

All previous and future mystery parts as well as our Mystery Monday Link Ups can be accessed under the Grand Illusion Mystery tab at the top of the blog.

Did you check out Monday’s first Link-Up?? We have over 300 of you posting your progress photos. SO INSPIRING! Check it out!

And while I’ve got your attention – If you are taking a class from me in the coming year – NOW would be a great time to get any books you need while they are 20% off in my Quiltville’s Book Store! I’m offering flat rate shipping, with FREE SHIPPING on orders of $100.00 or more within the USA. I ship internationally too. Give it a look over, there may be something that Santa wants you to have for Christmas! Sale good through Sunday, Dec 7th only.

Dec 8th will be our SECOND Mystery Monday Link-Up and I can’t wait to see what you got up to with this step!

Be ready for Part 3 to arrive on December 12th!

Thank you for making this time of year the most fun of all for me!

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