Totally Triangles

May's Island Batik challenge is to play with triangles.  I knew from the moment I read the brief that
I would use Accuquilt’s equilateral triangle die, which I had from Christmas several years ago but
had never used.  The timing also meant it would be a good one as a baby gift for a former coworker
who is expecting this month.  Her first child was also gifted an Island Batik challenge project! 
That one had a teddy bear on it, so I wanted to maybe add an animal to this one, too.  I did
some internet searching and found gold–a pattern called Triangle Friends by Dione
Gardner-Stephen.  The pattern was from Make Modern Magazine issue #26, which I already
owned, and Dione is a former Island Batik ambassador.  Perfect!

 

 

Of the seven playful pals in Dione’s pattern, I picked out the butterfly and the puppy dog.  Both are
made entirely of triangles!  I used scraps of various pink foundation basics left from my precious
pinks bundle for the applique animals.  I actually created the animals first, so I would know how
much space I would need on the quilt background for them.

 

 

Then I set the appliques aside and concentrated on the top.  I loved the colors of Citified, Kathy
Engle’s signature collection for Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting. I thought the gentle blues,
purples, and oranges would work great as a baby quilt for a baby girl and the collection even has
4 different white-ish fabrics, perfect as a background for the applique animals.  I added a few
other fabrics from both scraps and stash builder strips.  I already had Citified out for my Row by
Row quilt and went ahead and got my triangles ready. Cutting the 165 triangles needed for the top
was a breeze with the Accuquilt. Piecing the equilateral triangles was mostly easy, though I did
have to get used to the seams nesting oddly, or at least differently than squares or rectangles do.

 

I did my piecing with Auriful thread, color 1135 pale yellow.  I used two different pinks for the
applique, both from the Sardinia color builder, 2425 Bright Pink & 2530 Blossom Pink.  For the
applique, I absolutely love Schmetz super nonstick needles.  They glide right through the fusible
web and I have no problem with sticky residue.  I used Aurifil 2134 Spun Gold for the quilting,
which I did in straight lines to really emphasize the triangles.  The batting is Hobbs Heirloom
Bleached 80/20 cotton/poly, perfect for a light-colored quilt.

 

 

you can really see the triangle quilting in this photo

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik, Aurifil, Schmetz, & Hobbs.

I used the foundation fabric Banana at the end of the rows, the parts that would become the
cut-off triangles to square up the top.  I also used Banana for the border and binding.  I love
these colors together and feel like they work well for a baby quilt but won't seem out of place
when she's a bit older.

I had a lot of fun with this challenge.  I use triangles a lot in quilts but I don't know that I've ever intentionally only used triangles.  And this really is Totally Triangles!