Six years ago, I was just coming off releasing my most epic pattern, Our Song, Your Reflection — based on a traditional lone star quilt. I wanted to share the skill of diamond piecing with the world, so I came up with the design for Altitude as a quick study on diamonds for the 2019 Summer Sampler. I’m happy to release this block as a stand-alone pattern!
Altitude, a 12″ finished block, features a mountainous landscape with the most beautiful sky you can imagine. This quilt block uses two sizes of diamonds side by side. The dark contrasting colour at the bottom creates a jagged landscape with unlimited possibility up above — the sky’s the limit! Multiple blocks can be put together to form a changing and dynamic sky.
My process is often rooted in testing, so if you have ever wanted to try your hand at diamonds, but don’t want to commit to something like a lone star, Altitude is a perfect way to start. And better yet, it is designed to use scraps. I organize my scraps into three general colour categories — Warm (red, orange, yellow), Cool (green, blue, purple), and Neutral (white, cream, black, grey). For my series of Altitude blocks, I just grabbed what I could from these bins.
I have always wanted to make a quilt that was inspired by the Northern Lights and have been yearning to make multiples of these blocks but never had the time. But this summer was the time! I started making one and then I didn’t stop.
Here are some other colour scheme suggestions:
Summer Sunset: Pastel shades and a small range of colours — just pink and purple/blue above.
Daytime: The gradient sees the lightest at the top.
Northern Lights: A mix of greens, blues, and purples.
Scrappy: Both the sky and mountains use scraps.
I used a bit of my favourite Liberty Quilting cotton from many years ago in this sample block!
If you live outside Canada/USA, check out Altitude over in my Etsy shop.
