Triangle City - Ta Da!

This is Triangle City - her name is courtesy of my friend Helen who blogs at Archie the Wonderdog, and isn't it a perfect name. Triangle City was made from 6 fat eights provided by Riley Blake Fabrics as a Modern Quilt Guild fabric challenge. I added Kona White on the front (it is white, the pictures were taken after much of the light had faded this winter's day) and Kona Charcoal on the back. The binding is Kona white.



I entered this Modern Quilt Guild fabric challenge as an individual member, before my local EMQG joined the MQG.  The challenge I set for myself was to make a useable baby size quilt. Triangle City is 41.5" by 41".

The quilting is straightish lines about 0.5" apart with my usual industrial modern approach. You can see right at the top that I used that top blue gingham triangle as the start of the quilting lines and let them cross over at the top, and I filled them in under that triangle as well.



These detail photos look so puffy as this is after two trips through the washer and dryer. Quilting a quilt this large with a triangle of quilting lines in the middle makes a quilt pucker and stretch a lot. So before I bound her I washed her to see what would happen to those puckers.



The washing sorted out much of the puckers and so I trimmed her and added the binding by machine. Then the edges were all wavy due to the fact that quilt was washed and the binding was not, so back into the wash she went. The second wash sorted out all the wavy binding and made her so bumpy and soft.



Triangle City might well be a quilt with two fronts. I love the back as much as the front, even the part where I did not line the back up straight and the improv part is at an angle.  You can really see the quilting lines nicely in this photo, which is distorted due to the camera angle, as those edges are now nice and straight.



I used the same creamy white Superior Threads King Tut thread on the front and the back of the quilt. I thought the white lines on the back would add detail and soften the dark charcoal colour a bit.



I love the little improv bits on the back. You can also see the edge of the machine stitched binding - I do think hand stitched looks more even but machine stitched binding works well with my industrial modern theme and is far faster to complete.



After all the matchstick quilting I have been doing lately, these lines seem miles apart. But I did resist the urge to add more quilting and the quilt is soft and puffy with this level of quilting.



These last two photos are of Triangle City hanging up, not flat on the ground. You can see the quilting and the texture a bit better.



I am totally smitten with this improv quilt, and I just want to make more. Looking at her, I am reminded that she is really also be part of a series of my quilts, I seem to enjoy exploring similar themes a lot.



Remember atmosphere.



And Triangles. Notice the similar quilting, which did not distort the mini quilt nearly as much as it did Triangle City.


Triangle City is my first finish off my Q1 FAL list (the list is here), yahoo for a finish finally. Triangle City is also my February finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes, my link up post from the beginning of the month is here.
In other news, tomorrow there will be a giveaway here, sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop, so come back to enter.

And Christa, from Christa Quilts sent me this lovely photo of Cycles 2 with her ribbon. Look at that gigantic ribbon, I'll be hanging it with pride in my sewing room.  Christa is going to share her news of her visit to the America Quilters Society's Phoenix show, so check out her blog too. Tomorrow is the day for the big long arm delivery - part of the boxes were on a second truck that was stuck in bad American weather, so no delivery last Friday. Instead it is looking good to turn up Monday, on my actual birthday, which will delay assembly due to that pesky day job. Anyway, cross your fingers and your toes, I am really tired of waiting. 

ps. I am going to link Triangle City up to Aylin's Monday Maker group and maybe I will add some other links later too.  And yes, the machine arrived today (Monday late afternoon), assembly will proceed over the week. Best, Leanne