diamond jack: part one

my sister's baby shower is coming up and in an effort to settle on the perfect quilt, i've been wading through endless blogs and flickr accounts and magazines, waiting for something to jump out and inspire me.

then i found jess at urban patchwork's diamond quilt and knew that was the direction i should take.

cue hours of measuring, cutting, er- mis-cutting, re-cutting, arranging, changing, pondering, walking away, returning, blood, sweat and tears (well, no tears yet, but i haven't even started sewing) and here's a look at what i've come up with:

here's how i got there:
cutting about million strips of fabric. 4 inches didn't create a balanced diamond, so i went back and re-cut them all to 3 inch pieces. much better.

working with what seemed like a million strips of fabric gave me - surprise!  - a billion diamonds.

i began laying them out on the floor in a random pattern.

and ended up with this:

something about the scattered-ness and the color combinations and the disorder of the first attempt didn't work for me. i started removing fabrics and trying to create a more balanced feel to the quilt top.

i thought adding more white could give the bold colors and design a little room to breathe.

i feel so accomplished and i haven't touched the sewing machine yet! i have come to terms with the thought that this might be the best the quilt top ever looks. i don't really even know how to begin to approach the sewing - i imagine it will be quite a challenge - but i'm up for it and will post the result - whatever it may be - as soon as it's ready.

wish me luck!
-kim