Hanging Diamonds {Penny Sampler}

My Penny Sampler quilt is nearly halfway done!  With this month's blocks the momentum is building.  I've just completed my Hanging Diamonds, which create a dramatic left-side boarder in dark Kona Coal with gray and blue diamonds. 
 

I've also pieced my Penny Candy blocks into the sashing, another out-of-order step that makes me happy.  If you are using the complete coursebook, you'll find the Penny Candy/Sashing step under Assembly One.

Here's my whole work-in-progress.  Just two more blocks to go on the March sampler assignments.  So far I am mostly managing to restrain my color selections to dark colors for the borders.  I'm looking forward to making some of the paper pieced blocks that belong in the center to add more color to the quilt.

After putting in the Penny Candies, I worked on this section of the quilt a bit, designating fabrics for some of the other blocks to fill in the holes.  I like what's happening here!  The rich blues are creating a lovely contrast to the greens, peach and burgundy.  I've never created such a dark quilt before, but once the center is enlivened with color, I think It's going to be nice!

In other news, I'm nervously waiting for my domain to be transferred from Blogger to my new website!  I've created a new home for Stitched in Color and can't wait to show it to you!  Transferring a domain is scary stuff, but it's got to be done.  I'll still be at StitchedinColor.com, so you shouldn't need to make any changes on your end.  Crossing fingers all goes as planned!