Friday, July 24, 2015

MQG Challenge Quilt Finished

I am excited that today I have a finish to share with you!  Here is my finish (just in time) for the Riley Blake Challenge from the Modern Quilt Guild.  



The rules for the challenge were as follows:
  • Make something fantastic that is quilted.
  • Make something you’ve never done before.
  • Challenge yourself to learn something new.
  • Use only Riley Blake Cottage Garden fabrics and coordinating Riley Blake basics and solids.
An equilateral triangle quilt has been on my to-do list forever and after I saw that some of the fabrics had a repeating triangle print, I was sold.  In addition to making a triangle quilt for the first time, this was also the first time I had ever bound a quilt without 90 degree corners.



I figured out how to design a triangle quilt in EQ and started playing with ideas. (Here is my tutorial on how to design triangle quilts using EQ7.)  The quilt actually came together much easier than I thought it would, I was always so afraid of sewing non-square or rectangle pieces, but it turned out that my fear was completely unfounded.  (Here is my in-progress post.)

I knew that for the quilting in the background areas, I wanted to echo the hexagon shape formed by the print fabrics and then fill in the remaining space with a dense back and forth quilting.  I also wanted to mimic the quilting from the print areas in some of the background triangles.

Figuring out the quilting for the print areas was more difficult.  I first started to quilt a star pattern within the print triangles but the quilting was difficult to see and not dense enough compared to the background.  I put out a call for help on Instagram (@MeadowMistDesigns) and got some wonderful suggestions.  I wound up using a ribbon candy design that not only looked good, but took much less time and had less threads to bury than my original plan.



I used Lorna's @ Sew Fresh Quilts tutorial on binding inside corners to figure out how to bind the quilt and while it is far from perfect, it turned out pretty decent.

The quilt finished at about 48" x 48", a perfect size for a new baby.  I have a new niece or nephew due this December and if the baby is a girl, I will be sending this quilt off to her.

Here are just some more pictures, including the pieced back, to celebrate the quilt's finish.
 



I am linking up to Link a Finish FridayWhoop Whoop FridayThank Goodness Its Finished FridayFinish It Up FridayFabric Frenzy Fridayand Show Off Saturday @ Sew Can She.




The MQG challenge quilt was also my July goal for ALYOF. (my goal setting post was here)




28 comments:

  1. A very beautiful quilt!!! Will there be nominations for this challange or is it "just" a challange for yourself? :)
    Greetings, Rike

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  2. I like the play of triangles and the way you left the borders. Outstanding quilt.

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  3. I have really enjoyed following your progress and am super impressed with the fantastic finish. The quilting is amazing and compliments the design perfectly. What are the finished dimensions of this sweet quilt? Hoping you get a new niece for Christmas!

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  4. Georgeous, great choice on the quilting and brilliant that you tried so many new things.

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  5. It turned out beautifully, Cheryl! Congratulations on trying something new and finding it to go a lot smoother than you feared; that's pretty awesome. I really like that you kept the side edges uneven; it adds a great touch of interest to the quilt.

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  6. Wow! This is gorgeous. You definitely met the challenge.

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  7. Hi Cheryl, I love this quilt! That really isn't a surprise though because I have loved all of your designs. Congratulations on finishing in time for the challenge.

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  8. Love the uneven edges!!! My husband keeps trying to get me to finish quilts with uneven edges -- we have one, but there hasn't been any others that really called for it. Here, though, a straight edge would have really detracted from the design. Well done!!!

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  9. Fantastic! Those edges are really fun.

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  10. Beautiful quilt and I love how it's quilted

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  11. Beautiful quilt and I love how it's quilted

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  12. Oh it's so pretty and I love the wiggly edges!

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  13. Great finish!! The quilting is awesome. Congratulations.

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  14. Cheryl, it's beautiful! Your quilting is really nice and adds to the design. Love the edge finish too!

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  15. This is stunning Cheryl! I love all that negative space and the quilting is just perfect. Beautiful finish!

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  16. This is a favorite! Love the triangles, the quilting is amazing and the edges...genius! What a sweet surprise!

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  17. Oh I love this Cheryl! I love the zigzag side borders, and as far as I can see, the binding is awesome! Angela Walters is right: you only see your own mistakes!

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  18. Great use of the fabrics Cheryl. I love the way you left the edges - my grandmother used to do that a lot and I think it's super effective!

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  19. Beautiful! I think you might find triangles addictive. They really do go together nicely. I also used Lorna's binding tutorial on a quilt and found it to be really helpful. It took the intimidation out of a task I was a little concerned about. I really like how your quilting stands out in the background.

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  20. I just love this finish. I was terrified of triangles until I made my first one and then was hooked! I just love the layout you chose for this. Another triangle quilt is definitely on my list and this makes me want to start cutting for the next one.

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  21. Beautiful quilt, Cheryl! The added rows really made a difference. It will make a wonderful welcome gift for the new baby.

    -Soma

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  22. Lovely quilt - love the zig zag binding!!!

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  23. What a beautiful quilt! Congrats on your finish.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!