Opal - Continuing to Shine!

I personally feel every quilt has a story or tells a story.  The story can be of inspiration, love, loss, celebration or moments of personal reflection as each stitch is sewn in the making of a quilt.

As we continue to Shine a Light on the fabulous women creating beautiful works of art with our Gem Stones fabrics, I waned to share another design Diane Merritt of Story of a Quilt (@storyofaquiltdesigns) created and the story it holds near and dear to her heart.

If you missed the first quilt we shared of Diane's, please visit the blog here to get up to speed; it is so worth your time!

 In Diane's own words, here's the inspiration and story behind Opal designed in Gem Stones fabrics!

Here's Diane:

I loved working with the Gem Stones fabric line!  It was extremely inspirational for me.  I grew up in Idaho - The "Gem" State.  Who knew we were famous for more than just potatoes!.

My grandfather was a rock-hound.  He loved collecting rocks and stones.  While I was a young girl, he gave me an opal.  I thought it was amazing!  My father cut and polished it and later my husband had it set into a ring for me.  My opal ring today, is one of my greatest treasures!

I imagined seeing opals, coming out of the Court House Steps quilt I was making with the Gem Stones fabric.

I used the warm colors in the vertical strips and the cool tones in the horizontal strips to create the illusion of "gems" floating on water.

Discovering the variety of texture, value and temperature of the Gem Stones fabric was my favorite part!  

Opals, Emeralds, Topaz and Rubies all in one line of fabric!

Working with color is one of my favorite things and Gem Stones has it all!  Gerri has created a line of fabric, not with just a few colors but hundreds!  My wish list keeps growing of quilts I want to make from this fabric line!

And she is!  Diane truly has been bit by the Gem Stones bug!  Once you've "played" with Gem Stones, it's hard to stop!

Are you surprised you're enjoying and slowly falling in love with Gem Stones but not quite sure you're ready to commit to a big project? 

Fear no more!  Check out this oh-sew-simple strip quilt tutorial (using the Gem Stones Rolie Polie) for that simple and easy project to "scratch that Gem Stone itch"!

 Until next week - Happy "Gem Stone" quilting!

Gerri