Friday Finish - A Challenge!

You know how I love a challenge... especially one with free fabric! When the Mothership throws down the gauntlet, I take it up (well... sometimes!) This quilt, 668 Triangles: A Redux, was made as part of the MQG's 2015 Fabric Challenge with Riley Blake Designs.

The challenge was controversial in the MQG world. The available free fabric was gone VERY quickly and it was tough to find more of the prints since The Cottage Garden line is not a new one. I was one of the lucky ones who signed up quickly.

  The rules?

- Make something fantastic that is quilted. CHECK!

- Make something you have never done before. CHECK! Well, sort of.

- Challenge yourself to learn something new. Hmmm... maybe.

- Use only Riley Blake The Cottage Garden fabrics and Riley Blake coordinating basics & solids. NOPE. (We'll come back to that)

We received fat eights of Cottage Main Grey, Cottage Aster White, Cottage Birds Grey, Cottage Newsprint Teal, Cottage Wallpaper Teal, and Cottage Wallpaper Grey. 

 I opted to vote the little birds off the island... their fuschia legs & eyes just didn't work in my palette!

I subbed in Kona White, Aqua, and Lemon. I would have preferred to play by the rules and use Riley Blake solids. But they're just not readily available. I wasn't able to find any Canadian on-line shops that carried a full range and with rate of exchange, duty, and shipping, I wasn't ordering from the US. So I'm officially a rule breaker!

I cut as many triangles as I could from the challenge fabric using my trusty Hex n' More ruler. This is the second time that I've opted to use it on a pattern that isn't by Jaybird Quilts (the ruler's creator). Boy, if I had one of these back in the day, my (many) Thousand Pyramid quilts would have gone much more quickly!

I even used the blunt ends of the ruler to trim the tips from my triangles... it made accurate piecing so much easier. I won't say there aren't any blunt triangles, but there are far fewer than in past projects!

 Careful matching of those blunt corners gave me the seam allowance needed to sew the rows together!

I didn't sketch this one out ahead of time... it grew on the design wall. I knew I wanted an asymmetrical design and that the finished product should be a functional baby quilt.

It's a little strange for me to have so much of the process in a Finish post, but I started this piece on Friday and finished it on Tuesday. That just doesn't happen often around here!

For the quilting, I used a medium teal (Gutterman 670). I quilted a ¼ inch on either side of the triangle seams and carried the lines of stitching into the negative space, creating ghost triangles. I used a similar technique when I quilted Honey. This was my second time using a Hera marker to mark lines instead of my trusty Frixion pen. I could get used to this!

I opted for a scrappy binding in the triangle section and a white binding in the negative space. I wanted the binding to blend and not stand out on either section and this seemed the only way to go about it. This side even played along and matched up well! We won't dwell on the other side...

I used as much of those fat eights as I could... even including a few leftover triangles and my offcuts in the pieced back. I also used a big chunk of Kona Ash and Riley Blake In the Ocean print (Ocean Bubbles Teal) coordinating basic that I managed to rustle up at my LQS.

Whilst strollin' the neighbourhood with DT (and snapping quilt pics), we passed by some of our urban art. Our city commissioned artists to paint all sorts of utility boxes that were prone to vandalism. Love em!

The colours of those fishies would make a great quilt. Oh wait... I think I've already made a few quilts in those colours!

Since it's springtime in Nova Scotia, there are lots of lovely things to see (and smell). Apple blossoms.... mmmm.

And because I am shameless, I encourage you to pop over to the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild's blog and vote for your favourite in our Viewer's Choice Awards. It doesn't HAVE to me mine! Unless you're related to me... ☺

The Deets

Title:  468 Triangles: A Redux

Size: 28 by 35½ inches

Konas Used: Aqua, Ash, Lemon, White
Prints Used: Cottage Main Grey, Cottage Aster White, Cottage Newsprint Teal, Cottage Wallpaper Teal, and Cottage Wallpaper Grey from Riley Blake's The Cottage Garden
Quilting: Straight line in medium of teal (Gutterman 670) 
Binding: Kona White and scrappy section, Hand stitched with matching threads 
Backing: Kona Ash and Riley Blake's Ocean Bubbles Teal

Favourite Part(s): Creating something from my imagination and making it up as I went along, using only material from my stash, knowing that this quilt will travel halfway around the world to keep a special little girl warm

Since it's Friday, I'm linking up with Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, as well as TGIFF, hosted this week by Quokka Quilts.

J