One of the many styles that we see in quilts is diagonal lines. I don’t know what it is about blocks set on point and bold stripes that cut across the field at an angle that is so appealing, but they are. The following longarm renters brought in some lovely quilts filled with diagonal blocks that I hope you’ll enjoy. Some are classic designs, but others offer more bold innovation.

Rena's Irish chain

Rena made this Irish chain with tiny little nine patches. Isn’t it lovely? I love scrappy quilts. The large triple border frames it all so nicely. I especially like the pop of red in the middle border. It really draws the eye, but keeps it contained to the interior.

Rena used a freemotion design on this that may look familiar to our Clubhouse members. She used Terry’s Twist which is a variation of the very classic Orange Peel or Continuous Curves. All this year, Angela is exploring different grid based designs, any of which would have looked amazing on this quilt. To finish it off, she put piano keys in the border. What a great job Rena!

Jennifer's Modern Design

This is a nice bold design that Jennifer made for her friend. Look at how clean all her points turned out. Wow! The orange in the center corner stones brings your eyes to the center of the quilt. She also quilted this with continuous curves, but this time with the aid of a design board. I like how the grid nature of the pattern sets off the bold diagonal of the quilt design. It adds a great texture to the quilt. What a lovely gift!

Sandra's Diagonal Lines

As bold as Jennifer’s throw was, Sandra just made one bigger. All the pieces of this quilt are large, so it would seem to be a simple thing. But it just looks complicated. One of the dangers of quilts like this is the bias edges. I always recommend stay stitching around the outside to help make sure the edges don’t stretch when you are quilting them. She used an edge to edge pantograph design called Periwinkle. This design added a little light hearted whimsy to the quilt that I find charming. You can really see the pattern on all of that solid fabric. She did a great job quilting it!

So you can see that diagonal lines can’t be classified as classic or modern, they are found in both. And why pick only one direction, do a little of both. Once you’ve completed your next diagonal quilt, share it with us. We’d love to see what you are up to. And check out the Quilted Joy Clubhouse, the first Wednesday of the Month at 1PM Eastern. You might find yourself inspired by the great grid designs we’re exploring this year!