Research Triangle ~ Curated Quilts Mini Triangle Challenge

I cut this one a little close by entering right at midnight on April 1st, the deadline to enter the Triangle Mini Quilt Challenge sponsored by Curated Quilts.  I was hand sewing down binding as fast as I could and took this photo at 11:39 pm.

I learned about the triangle challenge by picking up a postcard in Curated Quilts' booth where I met sweet Amy Ellis in person.

The first challenge I encountered was not having fabrics with those colors.  In my stash, I had Cotton Couture in Spa and Pluto that matched, but that was it.  I was done with Pluto from making this quilt.

Using the Michael Miller Cotton Couture color card, I picked out Sun and Orchid that matched and ordered on line.

Now to come up with an idea.  I started with some rough sketches on graph paper.  And, I'm even thinking about quilting ideas at the same time. 

Nothing developed there so I turned to a 'triangle' search on the internet.  I kept seeing the same image over and over, an equilateral triangle in a square, and thought I could accomplish it in a day.

This illustration is by Jim Wilson, a mathematics professor from the University of Georgia.  When I emailed him to ask permission to use his illustration, turns out, his daughter, Mary Kerr, is an accomplished quilter and certified quilt appraiser.

When it came to piecing, I cut out the equilateral triangle from Cotton Couture Spa using this 60° degree ruler (affiliate link).  For the background pieces cut from Orchid, I used the same ruler cut out another triangle which I discarded.  This way, the triangle and background pieces were all on grain.  I know, I'm crazy like that.

I'm also auditioning binding, a Michael Miller print, Candy Pointillism.

Because of all the bias edges, I pieced the triangle using my walking foot.  As a matter of fact, the entire quilt was pieced, quilted and bound using the walking foot, except for the hand sewing of the binding.

Now to quilt it.  That was another challenge.  I decided on simple walking foot quilting.  Well, the quilting was simple but the marking took some careful measuring to insure the lines would cross precisely.

Aurifil 2588 Light Magenta matched the Cotton Couture Orchid perfectly.  And, if you look closely you can see where I have marked some lines with the a hera maker.

For the most part, the intersections aligned.

I used Cotton Couture in Sun for the binding and despite my best efforts, I ended up with two joins within two inches of each other.  And, no surprise, it's a bias binding.

As small as this quilt is, 12" x 12", I still had to piece the backing.  I was using up fabric from another challenge, the Michael Miller Spring Cotton Couture challenge.  Members of the MQG can read all about After Dinner Mints here.

Here, I'm about to unsew part of the binding so I can tuck the label inside the binding.

Keeping with the triangle theme, I made the label into a triangle which I quickly added before shipping Research Triangle off to Curated Quilts.  I'm excited it will appear in the mini quilt gallery of Issue 04.

The Research Triangle Park in neighboring, North Carolina, inspired the name of my quilt because I certainly did a little research on triangles to make this mini.

Quilt Stats

• Finished size: 12" x 12" 
• Pattern: equilateral triangle in a square
• Fabrics: Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Spa, Orchid and Sun
• Thread: Aurifil 50 wt. in Light Turquoise 5006 for piecing, Light Magenta 2588 and Medium Butter 2130 for hand sewing the binding. 
• Quilting design: triangle grid 
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Completed: April 1, 2018

My mini, Off the Grid appeared in Issue 02 of Curated Quilts and you can see it here and here.


Linking to...

Finish It Up Friday with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, this week with Izzy at Dizzy Quilts

Off the Grid in Curated Quilts Issue 2 + Giveaway

Surely, by now, you have heard of or seen the new modern quilt magazine, Curated Quilts, started by Amy Ellis and Christine Ricks.  You can read all about their mission here, but one of their desires is to highlight the quilting community in the pages of Curated Quilts.

Curated Quilts issues a mini challenge with each issue based on a theme and and a given color palette.  For Issue 2 the theme was log cabins.  You should know by now I can't resist a challenge and you may remember this mini log cabin quilt, Off the Grid, I made back in September 2017.

I was excited when Off the Grid was chosen to be included in the mini quilt gallery for Issue 2.

I even met Amy while at QuiltCon in Pasadena, CA.  Behind us are the minis for the Minimalism challenge featured in Issue 3.

When your quilt is featured in Curated Quilts, you are generously provided copy of that issue.  I am already a subscriber, so that means I have an extra copy of Curated Quilts Issue 2.

GIVEAWAY  

To celebrate my return from Tax Land since April 15th, well this year, April 17th is finally over, I am giving away a copy of  Curated Quilts Issue 2.  Due to shipping costs, I am limiting this giveaway to US addresses only. And, if you do not live in the US, but have a friend who does, I will be happy to ship to their address in the US.

Photo by Curated Quilts

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter by answering a couple questions about challenges. By entering, you acknowledge that you are 18 years of age or older and that you have a US shipping address. The giveaway is open through Saturday, April 21st at 10:00 pm PM Eastern, and the winner will be selected randomly and emailed within 24 hours. Winner will have 48 hours to reply to the email to claim their giveaway or a new winner will be randomly selected. Good luck!

CONGRATS! The winner is Beth S. in FL!  Thank you all for entering and your thoughts on challenges!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And, now, I finally have time to enjoy Issue 3 that I just received!

Off the Grid ~ Curated Quilts Mini Log Cabin

Off the Grid is my mini log cabin quilt made for the Curated Quilts call for entry into their second issue. Curated Quilts Issue 1 has been printed and shipping has begun.

Not only was coming up with a design a challenge, working within the chosen color palette was a challenge within itself.  The pink at the top is not one I would have normally used and almost left it out of the mini quilt altogether.  In the end, I decided to incorporate it into the binding.

First, finding the right fabrics... Was that dark all gray? Or did it have a hint of navy? I ended up using an unknown cross weave from my stash.  For the background, I would describe it as stone and I used a Moda Bella solid in Zen Grey.

I added two different golds, a Free Spirit Designer solid in Solar and Cotton and Steel print, Cross Dots in yellow.

For the coral, I had a Carolyn Friedlander print from Carkai, Grid Diamond in Creamsicle Metallic.  The fabric name inspired the title of the quilt, Off the Grid.  And I know some people would like to live off the grid in a cabin in the woods.  Not me, I can't be too far from a fabric shop!

Piecing would have gone much faster if I hadn't decided to cut the Carkai Diamond Grid on the bias and match the plaid.  So I was extra careful with the bias edges and starched it well to minimize the stretch.

I pieced the top a little large, about 17" x 17, so I could trim it down to size.  I just took photos with my phone to try to audition the desired size.  I wanted less of the creamsicle grid to show and be more of a rectangle, but my overall size would have been much smaller.

Here you can also see more of the piecing.  I started out with a square center which finished at 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" and from there added various size logs around the center.  I extended some of the logs out into background.

Now on to the quilting... I decided to quilt crossing angles like the gold and charcoal logs.  Maybe you can see what I mean here.

For the thread color, at first I went to the grays on the Aurifil thread chart, but found a new to me color, 6724 Moonshine, and it matched perfectly.  At first I wasn't sure until I stitched it out.

I thought it needed something more and I added more angles using Aurifil 2630 pewter in the 28 wt. for emphasis.  I still used 50 wt. in the bobbin.  Pewter was one of the colors used in Positively Transparent.

I used a Kaffe Fassett print, Aboriginal Dots in Taupe for the backing which matched perfectly with the Bella solid.

For the label, I used my freezer paper method of hand writing the text but added a border using up the bias I had cut from the Carkai print.  As you can see the finished size of Off the Grid is 5 1/2" x 15 1/2".

Update 9/30/17- I was able to stop by my favorite gray wall today for some photos of Off the Grid on the painted brick wall.

So glad I was able to get Off the Grid finished as the deadline to enter is October 1st.  You can see the other entries HERE and on Instagram #curatedquilts.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday and Sew Can She for Show Off Saturday .