Rock Candy Quilt- FINISHED!

I just could NOT wait to share my most recent finish with you guys!!!! I'm not trying to "toot my own horn" but I'm so darn proud of myself for this one! I had A LOT of firsts with this mini quilt! Okay, I'll share those along the way!

Y'all remember this picture? Well, I finished my Rock Candy Quilt!!!

I just love the way it turned out!!! This was my FIRST time (EVER) sewing diamonds and or triangles, I have to admit, I was TERRIFIED! Which, I think is the reason I kept putting this project off. But, I really was scared for no reason!
The pattern is called "Rock Candy" by the amazingly talented Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts! It was released to go with her newest ruler, The Sidekick Ruler! (Which makes cutting all these shapes a COMPLETE breeze!)

I'll give y'all my thoughts on the pattern....
 It is very well written and easy to follow. Her cutting diagrams leave no guessing work! I love the way she has her ruler set up so the triangles match the diamond sides (if you have the ruler and or pattern you will know what I'm talking about) I love the fact that there is an extremely small amount of waste when cutting out the diamonds and triangles! Her directions are easy enough to follow if you know what you are doing. I did get frustrated at first though. I could NOT get my diamonds to line up for anything! After I ripped what seemed like my thousandth seam I googled "How to sew diamonds" after watching a few tutorials I went back at it. I did find a few of the tutorials helpful, but I'm stubborn and have to do things my way, so it took me about an hour more of playing around before I finally had my "DUH" moment! LOL! I did end up having to use a slightly larger seam allowance than I'm use to. (I use a scant 1/4" usually, for this I'd say I used a rather large 1/4" allowance) Once I figured those pesky diamonds out, this project came together extremely fast!
I would recommend this pattern for a confident beginner and up. It's really fun to watch come together!

This was actually made for a shop sample for my FAVORITE quilt shop EVER!!! (Bernina In Stitches) and Teresa (the lovely shop owner) picked out this fabulous print for the backing! (If you are ever in Johnson City, TN and have the chance to go to In Stitches, which I HIGHLY recommend, tell them Kelie sent you and I promise you will have a blast there!)

Back to the project.... lol! I was also nervous about the binding, the only binding I've EVER done is squares and rectangles! So, off to this wonderful tutorial by Julie, and a with a little trial and error I got it done!

See there? A perfect miter!!! (Not all the corners look that good though!)


This pattern reminds me of a star burst so I decided to do a little straight line quilting, just echoing the inside of each triangles (trying to mimic the star burst I was seeing). I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

You can't really see the quilting lines too good in my pictures, mainly because Aurifil thread melts into fabric like butter, but if you look close enough I hope you can see it!

Here is another pic, trying to show the quilting, again, not doing a good job of it. But it's soooo pretty to look at! LOL!

All in all I really loved the pattern and am plotting my next one! I think these would make a GORGEOUS quilt too! (Maybe one day!)

Quilt Stats:
Pattern- Rock Candy by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts
Pieced and Quilted on my home machine by ME!
Fabrics used- Madrona Road by Violet Craft for Micheal Miller

P.S. if you don't already follow me on Instagram you really need to! I'm going to be having an "Insta-sale" there later this week! All kinds of mug rugs for a great price! They make great gifts! (especially for teachers!)

Linking up with Amanda Jean's Finish It Friday! Also linking up with  Link A Finish Friday!

~Hope y'all are having a GREAT day!!!~