Diamond Baby in Make Modern

I am so pleased to be finally able to present my latest publication in Make Modern issue 70!

Because there was (eerily) another HRT diamonds quilt submitted just ahead of mine, scheduled for the January 2026 issue, Lara asked if I'd mind waiting a couple of cycles before they released mine, hence four months longer of a wait but that’s okay; it’s finally here.

This sweet little baby quilt travelled 6305 km round trip from my home all the way to the Maritimes and back, looking for some amazing backdrops. I forgot it in a couple of places, and purposely left it in the car when we did our hike at the Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park in New Brunswick, thinking it would be kind of dumb to carry it, but in hindsight I wish I had. Well, Fisherman's Cove in Halifax delivered, and the best part was an error on MacGyver's part in planning our route for that day: he didn't realize on a Sunday they wouldn't be open for a couple of hours once we got there.

Deserted. Perfect!

However, that worked in our favour, since virtually no one was about, and I was able to get several great people-less photos.

Here you can see the entire little cottage, so adorable!

I love that they used this one in front of Kismet Gifts as the ‘cover’ for my pattern; as you all know from reading my blog, there has been a lot of kismet in my life, especially of late.

This design was born during a Project Quilting challenge in February 2025, which morphed into my 65th birthday present to myself, the Diamond Girl runner. I'd originally played with the idea with a soft pastels palette, and decided it was a pretty awesome design to submit. Happily, it was accepted, so the one photo of my PQ progress (below) that had some of the pastel fabrics in it was the last one to see until now.

I ended up making the runner in neutral blocks.

The runner instructions will also be in the pattern when I get the rights back in two months. Yeah, just two months, not two YEARS as a certain major US publication giant mandates.

Here is the flimsy, which I finally finished on May 24, 2025, almost one year ago! I concentrated on the runner for PQ, and then it was SAHRR to focus on, and then my QAL, Glowing Hearts.

In June, I quilted it, and submitted the design, which was accepted, and for reasons mentioned above, had to wait almost a year to be published.

I love the quilting on the runner so much that I repeated it on the baby quilt.

I had just stumbled upon the Canadian-made Soft Loft polyester batting, so that is what I tried out in this quilt, and wow, I love it. Great texture. Great price (especially on sale at Fabricland, sorry LQS.)

I have rarely bought batting from my LQS; it’s just too expensive, unless there’s a terrific sale. I get it: they cannot order it in in the quantities that Fabricland can.

Finished and ready to go on some glamour shoots!

I put a gorgeous piece of Art Gallery Fabrics on the back.

 It works so well with the front!

I took this one in front of another sweet little building.

which they used as a graphic for social media. It’s now on my sidebar with the link to the issue. Sidenote here: I know I do need to write the post about our days on Prince Edward Island; I had put some photos on Instagram before I’d decided to write up the entire trip. I also need to do a trip summary post, as I think quite a few of you are curious, maybe more so these days with the price of fuel skyrocketing (doesn’t bother us in the least—even our lawnmower is battery powered!)

Before I submitted the final instructions to Make Modern, I worked through them using a much brighter palette that began with three primary colours. I played happily in my stash once again. This is a quilt that is made for using stash from leftover short strips or rectangles pieced into large rectangles, which then morph into half rectangle triangles which are paired with solid half rectangle triangles...too. much. fun. You will have to wait until July when I release the pattern to see the bright version!

Once again, this issue is packed with ten quilt patterns, a project bag pattern, features, and articles. Grab your copy today! I am an affiliate so I do get a commission if you purchase a copy or a subscription through my links. Thank you!