Diamonds Are Still Not my Best Friend

I really don't do well with diamonds but I am terribly enamoured by them. I love Lone Stars and I love the tessellations that diamonds can create. With the naive idea that there could possibly be a short cut to creating a Lone Star, I followed the instructions on line to sew strips of fabric together and then cut those sewn strips into diamonds that are already, therefore, joined up. The theory is good but the practice is not. Those diamonds still create havoc, twisting and turning and not behaving. Apart from the shortcut not really being a solution to my difficulties, I cut the diamonds so big, that I ended up with a monster quilt! 

I have muddled my way through putting it all together

Added the corners using over 3 meters of fabric and then had to buy more, because it wasn't enough!

And finally, today, inserted the triangle sides.

The quilt is so large, a humble quilter's ruler is not really able to meet the challenge of cutting straight blocks.

Here it is before trimming.

The background fabric is Anna Marie Horner's but is more a charcoal grey than the navy colour in the photo.

I was originally unhappy with the lollypop colours of the diamonds and the charcoal helped negate its childishness but in the photo the background looks a lot happier than in reality. The charcoal helps to highlight the star but dampen its cuteness.
It really was a very haphazard process from beginning to end. I used fabric from the shelf, in an attempt to use up what I had at home and I think I will have to lay the quilt top out in the school hall to get straightish sides drawn on it.
I always wanted to make a Lone Star and I am kind of happy with the result, but it is not as I anticipated.
 I will have to make one of these again one day in the age old method of templates and hand stitching.