Research Triangle ~ Curated Quilts Mini Triangle Challenge

I cut this one a little close by entering right at midnight on April 1st, the deadline to enter the Triangle Mini Quilt Challenge sponsored by Curated Quilts.  I was hand sewing down binding as fast as I could and took this photo at 11:39 pm.

I learned about the triangle challenge by picking up a postcard in Curated Quilts' booth where I met sweet Amy Ellis in person.

The first challenge I encountered was not having fabrics with those colors.  In my stash, I had Cotton Couture in Spa and Pluto that matched, but that was it.  I was done with Pluto from making this quilt.

Using the Michael Miller Cotton Couture color card, I picked out Sun and Orchid that matched and ordered on line.

Now to come up with an idea.  I started with some rough sketches on graph paper.  And, I'm even thinking about quilting ideas at the same time. 

Nothing developed there so I turned to a 'triangle' search on the internet.  I kept seeing the same image over and over, an equilateral triangle in a square, and thought I could accomplish it in a day.

This illustration is by Jim Wilson, a mathematics professor from the University of Georgia.  When I emailed him to ask permission to use his illustration, turns out, his daughter, Mary Kerr, is an accomplished quilter and certified quilt appraiser.

When it came to piecing, I cut out the equilateral triangle from Cotton Couture Spa using this 60° degree ruler (affiliate link).  For the background pieces cut from Orchid, I used the same ruler cut out another triangle which I discarded.  This way, the triangle and background pieces were all on grain.  I know, I'm crazy like that.

I'm also auditioning binding, a Michael Miller print, Candy Pointillism.

Because of all the bias edges, I pieced the triangle using my walking foot.  As a matter of fact, the entire quilt was pieced, quilted and bound using the walking foot, except for the hand sewing of the binding.

Now to quilt it.  That was another challenge.  I decided on simple walking foot quilting.  Well, the quilting was simple but the marking took some careful measuring to insure the lines would cross precisely.

Aurifil 2588 Light Magenta matched the Cotton Couture Orchid perfectly.  And, if you look closely you can see where I have marked some lines with the a hera maker.

For the most part, the intersections aligned.

I used Cotton Couture in Sun for the binding and despite my best efforts, I ended up with two joins within two inches of each other.  And, no surprise, it's a bias binding.

As small as this quilt is, 12" x 12", I still had to piece the backing.  I was using up fabric from another challenge, the Michael Miller Spring Cotton Couture challenge.  Members of the MQG can read all about After Dinner Mints here.

Here, I'm about to unsew part of the binding so I can tuck the label inside the binding.

Keeping with the triangle theme, I made the label into a triangle which I quickly added before shipping Research Triangle off to Curated Quilts.  I'm excited it will appear in the mini quilt gallery of Issue 04.

The Research Triangle Park in neighboring, North Carolina, inspired the name of my quilt because I certainly did a little research on triangles to make this mini.

Quilt Stats

• Finished size: 12" x 12" 
• Pattern: equilateral triangle in a square
• Fabrics: Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Spa, Orchid and Sun
• Thread: Aurifil 50 wt. in Light Turquoise 5006 for piecing, Light Magenta 2588 and Medium Butter 2130 for hand sewing the binding. 
• Quilting design: triangle grid 
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Completed: April 1, 2018

My mini, Off the Grid appeared in Issue 02 of Curated Quilts and you can see it here and here.


Linking to...

Finish It Up Friday with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, this week with Izzy at Dizzy Quilts