Monday, June 16, 2014

Triangle Quilt Along - Making Progress

I finally had some time to work on my Triangle Quilt Along quilt.  Paula has graciously given us slow pokes and overachievers until July 31st for one final link up party and I'll tell you, I'm determined to meet that deadline.  I decided to spray baste this quilt since I've had trouble with pin basting on the last few projects I've done.

getting ready to baste

I picked up this fantastic Homegrown Bicycles on Cream fabric for the backing last time I was over at Keepsake Quilting.  It's the perfect amount of colorful and whimsy.  I had to piece the backing to make it large enough but I think I did a pretty good job of matching up the pattern.  From far away you won't even see the seam.

seam on backing fabric
The spray basting went really well too.  I started out by taping my backing fabric to the floor in our living room with painters tape.  Then I carefully spray basted the batting down to the backing, making sure to smooth out any wrinkles in the batting.  I used a nice, thin cotton batting that will make this quilt perfect for use on the sofa.


I always work from top to bottom in about 6 to 8 inch rows when spray basting.  It allows me to go slowly and correct any mistakes as they happen rather than getting the whole thing down and realizing there's a big wrinkle in the middle of the quilt.


In the past I've had difficulty with the quilt becoming sort of wonky and stretched as I worked but I was very careful with this one to only press and stretch top to bottom.  All those bias edges could have made for a nightmare!



I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt this one.  Most of the ones I've seen are just following the lines of the blocks to create a diamond or triangle grid.  I wanted to do something a little different though.  I printed some isometric graph paper from this site and started sketching.  This is also where I print all of my graph paper when I want to draw out blocks or quilt patterns to visualize them before I start.  I still prefer good old graph paper over all of the fancy design programs when working out block designs.  I decided to go with some echo quilting, but in what will hopefully be an unexpected way.  

skteching designs

I got some pretty variegated purple and magenta thread to use for the quilting but neglected to capture a photo of it before I started.  It's a Coats & Clark cotton thread called Plum Shadows.  It will blend nicely in the darker ends of the quilt but really pop on top of the white, orange, green, and yellow blocks.  I'm hoping it will be nice.  My goal is to finish this quilt up this week while my husband is away on business.

quilting!


I'm linking up with Stitch by Stich for anything goes mondays.

8 comments:

  1. Love the backing fabric you chose - it matches so well! I haven't tried spray basting yet, but I keep thinking it might be about time to try it out...

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  2. This quilt is so eye-catching. I just love the colors! Do you have to have one big flat area for spray basting or can you do it in sections on a table? I'm limited on floor space!

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  3. Great job on your backing. I have been using Sullivan's Basting Spray for years, and I love it. I m happy to see someone else using it, too.

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  4. I know how challenging matching bicycle prints can be. I was doing the same before Christmas with bicycle-print pyjama shorts. I look forward to seeing your quilting design. I think it will look really good.

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  5. The fabric for the front and back is wonderful! Not sure if you know any longarmers! I do allot longarm basting for people--it is very resainalble and can be done very quickly!

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  6. The quilt plan looks great! I need to try spray basting, it sounds so much better. Can't wait to see it finished :)

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  7. I'm another late Triangle quilter. Only half done so will never meet the deadline. This should be a great finish in time.

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  8. It's looking great! Your quilting design does look more interesting than plain echoing the lines. I used to order fabric from Keepsake Quilting all the time when we lived in the Arctic, far far far away from any quilting stores. They were my lifeline.

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