stunning lone stars, split diamond piecing,advanced piecing ( )

From the author
Blocks to Diamonds came to be because I couldn't stand the thought of making a Radiant Lone Star quilt just like the ones my friends were making. So I tried skewing a traditional block into a diamond and using that block as one arm of the star in the quilt. Since I hate picking out the paper in the traditional paper piecing method--too much like hand work--I used an easy freezer paper piecing technique that simplifies the whole process. The results were instantly spectacular and very satisfying.

Blocks to Diamonds by Cheryl Malkowski is a new book with very interesting blocks inside. Malkowski takes square blocks and distorts square by stretching them into diamonds. I had always considered the possibility of doing this, but Malkowski uses fairly complicated square blocks and enlarging them to large quilt sizes. The diamonds that she has made into patterns are beautiful, but not really made for beginners. Instead of using paper foundation-piecing, Malkowski shows how to use strip sets and freezer paper templates. If you would like to make a large quilt in a non-traditonal pattern, this book will give you plenty of ideas!
http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1981 ( )