Rough Around the Edges Quilt

Monday, April 24, 2017

When the Modern Quilt Guild announced their 2017 Riley Blake Fabric Challenge was going to be red and aqua fabric, I became a member that same day! Red and aqua is my absolute favorite color combo!


Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

Once the fabric was available for the challenge, I signed up immediately! I then had to wait patiently for the fabric to come. The fabric I received was just a few fat eighths. 

Creative Rockstar Fabric by Rad and Happy for Riley Blake Designs

I drew up a design on the computer. I wanted to emphasize the triangles in the fabric, so I came up with an equilateral triangle quilt with scattered paper pieced blocks that feature a triangle inside a triangle. One side was left "rough," and the other side "smooth." I aimed to represent the internal tension within an artist between chaos and order, over-stimulation and focus, unfinished and finished.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

After finalizing the design, I knew if I stuck with just the fat eighths, I'd be micro-piecing 1" triangles. Not what I had in mind! I wanted to make a quilt in a size that would be more useful than a mini, so I decided to aim for a crib size.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

I began to hunt for more of the challenge fabric (Creative Rockstar by Rad & Happy for Riley Blake Designs). Unfortunately, I could not find any locally. Once I found the fabric online, I bought enough to keep some in my stash too. I mean, can one have enough red and aqua fabric?!

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

For the solid white fabric, I purchased Riley Blake Confetti Cottons in Cloud. It is not a pure white, but a tad more of an off-white. I stuck with it for the challenge, but I'll switch to a more pure white next time. Even though the color wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, the feel (or hand) of the Confetti Cotton fabric was lovely! The weight of the fabric is heavier than most cotton fabric, and it feels velvety soft. It's a very high quality solid, and I'd love to be able to find more colors more easily.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

I drew up the paper pieced templates on the computer and printed them on regular printer paper. The triangles are 4" tall (finished). I used the same template to cut the regular triangles that didn't need to be paper pieced.

I chain pieced when paper piecing to try and make quick work of all 48 triangles.

I have a temporary design wall (it's actually a felt backed table cloth) that I can pin up on the wall when I need it. I arranged all the triangles using my original design as a guide. I've started using numbered pins (I put tiny numbers on the plastic heads of my pins) to help keep the rows organized when I sew. I just stick the pin in the first block of each row. Then I can easily keep track of which row is which, and which end is which, as I add blocks. I like to try and chain piece as much as possible, so this really helps me stay organized.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

Once the top was together, I made a quilt sandwich with the main Creative Rockstar print as the backing fabric. I used 80/20 cotton batting and pin basted. (Does anybody else use every room in their house when making a quilt??)

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

Before starting the quilting, I used a Hera marker to extend the seam lines into the white fabric so I could quilt the same design in the open space.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts
Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

I used the walking foot on my Juki TL-2010Q to stitch 1/4" on either side of each seam. I'm still getting to know my Juki, and I'm not very happy with the walking foot. It squeaks where the arm goes over the needle set screw. I've added a lubricant, which really does help, but it's still wearing off the metal there. This is just the second quilt I've made with it, and it's causing real damage to the set screw. I'm hoping my local Juki dealer will have a solution!

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts
Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

After quilting, I trimmed up the edges and cut straight of grain binding from the Confetti Cotton Cloud fabric.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

I've never bound inside angles before (yay for trying new things!), so I watched a YouTube video and made a couple practice runs before starting on the real thing.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

I don't feel I was very successful with the inside angles, but the stitching did catch on the back when I stitched in the ditch to machine stitch the binding down. So that's a partial win! I definitely want to try it again! I think I'll try bias binding next time just to see if it allows a little more wiggle room.

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

I'm also quite happy with how closely the final quilt resembles my original design! The quilt has a nice crinkled look to it - it's just begging for some snuggles!


Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi QuiltsRough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

I submitted my quilt for the challenge earlier today. Now I just wait to hear the results (winners announced sometime in May)! There are some fantastic quilts under the #mqgfabricchallenge on Instagram!

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts
Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts
 Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

"Rough Around the Edges"
40" x 48"
Fabrics are "Creative Rockstar" by Rad & Happy for Riley Blake Designs and Confetti Cottons Cloud by Riley Blake Designs
Batting is Fairfield 80/20 cotton
Thread is a mixture of Aurifil 2021 Natural White and Aurifil 2024 White (I had to mix in order to have enough!)

Rough Around the Edges equilateral triangle quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

This is my 14th quilt finish for the year!

12 comments:

  1. What a pleasing design and I love the triangle edges. That is a hard binding to do; I believe the rule is to stop at the 1/4" mark in the point, fold to line up the raw edge with the next edge you are going to sew, and then fold the strip back down. I did this a long time ago and have helped people in the past, but not lately. Always good to try something new.

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  2. Gorgeous! quilt! I love the Creative Rockstar collection, subtle yet modern and beautiful. The binding looks really tough ... I've been afraid to try, but I think you did a great job. Did you use bias binding or straight binding?

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  3. What a fantastic finish! It's a winner in my book. I had to laugh out loud when you asked if anyone else used every room in the house when they make a quilt. Maybe not every room, but I definitely use three rooms, my sewing room, dining room, and living room each have a part in the process. You did a fantastic job on aligning all of those triangles.

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  4. I was just reading something earlier about someone having trouble with their Juki foot. I had to go back and look for the blog but it is here if you want to connect with her and see if you are having the same issues.
    https://somethingrosemade14.blogspot.com/2017/04/saturday-night-sighs.html

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  5. Great design!!! I love how the backing carries out the theme. I love this color combo, too.

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  6. Another great quilt, I love aqua and red also. I think you're going to like the using Janome Walking Foot with your Juki.

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  7. I really enjoyed watching your progress on Instagram, and this is a great post explaining your design process with the quilt. Inside angles are tricky, and I think it looks great. Bias binding will probably help a lot in your next version. Beautiful finish!

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  8. This is a great quilt.I really like the triangles within a triangle.

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  9. You did a nice job on the binding - I don't think I could've done those angles that well! Your design is so interesting and I love that you stretched that fat eighth bundle into a baby size quilt!

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  10. I'm loving this quilt so so much! I really enjoyed reading about your process all the way from design to finished quilt. My favorite parts are the combination of pieced and solid blocks in the colored area, and that you continued the quilting design in the negative space. Thanks for sharing!

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  11. That's a great design and such inventive edge treatment! You really made the best use of the fabrics. Thanks for sharing the process!

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