Wednesday, July 14, 2021

When You Think the Top is Finished ... But It Isn't

 Over the past couple year I've rummaged the stash and scrap bins, hunted down, scrounged, and was gifted some  fabric scraps of black on white, white on black, and as it turns out more than a few with added colors.  All to make a long envisioned black and white triangle quilt using my 60 degree triangle ruler.  

I started cutting the 8" triangles as a reward for working on the quilting of Ruby each afternoon, and by the time she was completed there were enough triangles cut to begin laying them out on the design wall.  My envisioned quilt was to be around 72 inches square, requiring 16 triangles for each horizontal row, and 10 vertical rows.  The design wall is 48 inches wide by about 80 inches high.  Which of course required designing and piecing in three long diagonal sections.   After I had everything stitched together I laid it out on the guest bed.


Oops. You can probably already see the problem, the quilt is wider than it is long.  Apparently in creating the sections I ended up making it 18 triangles wide.   In the scheme of things it ended up to be a fortunate mistake as there were plenty of extra triangles left and it was easy enough to add an extra row to the bottom of the quilt and call it good.  It now measures somewhere around 83x83 inches.  Still deciding whether I'll add a narrow border before machine quilting later this year. At this point the outer edges are stabilized by stitching 1/8 inch from the edges, many of which are on bias.  


I really enjoy working with these large triangles, easy piecing and a fun way to use scraps of  large scale focal, "whatever can I do with this" fabrics. 

 Matching the seams is easy if the seams are pressed open and the little triangle dog ears are left in place to match up. 

I think this quilt will go to one of the grandkids eventually, and there are enough leftover pieces to cut more triangles for a throw size donation quilt or two.

In the garden, the near constant rain over the past two weeks has ruined some of the crops, too late for replanting some of them, the ground is saturated, and the weeds are flourishing.  The blueberries are just beginning to ripen and we're hoping for a couple sunny weeks with much lower humidity so they don't mildew before they ripen completely.  Not too many flowers blooming right now but there are a few lilies


and a little purple poppy - thanks Barbara!

Til next time, happy stitching.



11 comments:

Lizzy D said...

Wonderful triangle project. Those diagonally pieced designs seem to baffle me, yours is delightful.

Love those deep red lilies. Mine were ruined in a storm last week, so disappointing.

love

lizzy

Kyle said...

Love how all your B&W pieces came together. You acquired so many wonderful scraps to give the quilt lots of interest and variety. It's fun to finally put a quilt together after collecting for a while.

Barbara said...

Hey, look at you getting the purple poppies to go! Don’t be surprised if they turn red after this. Your quilt is beautiful. Does it make sense to just rotate it 90 degrees? Maybe I’m missing something.

Hill Top Post said...

I love black in a quilt. Lucky will be the grand who ends up with this beauty! I have a really old one with lots of black that has always been one of my favorites.

Quilting Babcia said...

Thank you! I love black in a quilt too, though they are a bear to machine quilt. This one should be easier than the last one since it will all be straight line quilting, no FMQ.

Needled Mom said...

Those triangles are absolutely beautiful! I love a good black and white quilt, but the added colors make it really pop. That red lily is a stunner too.

Nancy said...

That's a great quilt. Sewing triangles like these has always baffled me and I imagine lots of trouble aligning them. I like your tip for how to sew them together

Robin said...

Lovely quilt. I was imagining something more sharp and crisp when you told of collecting black and & white for a quilt but this is very lovely and dreamy. Nice choices of fabric.

FlourishingPalms said...

Oh how I like a triangle quilt. There's something about the geometric shape that's so appealing. You've done well with this top, though I know it didn't turn out the size you originally intended. Time for a larger design wall? Still, the quilt will be a very nice, useable size. Good for you to think of quilting it yourself too! No small task, for sure. Sorry to hear about all the rain you've had this summer. Goodness! Enough to wash out vegetables? Not even any tomatoes?! That's sure disappointing. Still there's hope for blueberries, and you have some lovely flowers to admire. Enjoy these summer days.

Chantal said...

Wow! You sure did cut a LOT of fabric if you can still make a quilt or two from the leftovers. Love how it looks. It would be great for a teenager. They usually love black at that age. Love, love, love your flowers. Never saw a purple poppy before. Enjoy! ;^)

Ruth said...

The triangle quilt is so cute! So many interesting fabric pieces. Great idea to make a black/white + some color quilt.