Halographic Hexigonal Triangles - It's a Wrap!

First, I'm doing a Fat Quarter Bundle giveaway, open to international entrants and all you have to do is comment over HERE! Check it out - this is a GORGEOUS bundle! No rules, just fabric :)

I cannot believe it, I have reached the finish line of The Sassy Quilter Triangle QAL!!! Holy WOW I didn't think this day was going to come prior to the end of the link up!!!  I can't tell you how many hours exactly this took to quilt (many to be sure) BUT I can tell you I used an entire cone (yes, that says CONE) of Superior Egyptian Princess (#974) thread!! First, pictures.  And then I am going to recap all of the lessons I learned with this quilt.  They were many and varied throughout.  I learned a lot about my process. More on all of that later.  

I can't tell you how afraid I was to put this quilt in the wash.  I had visions of a mangled gnarly mess.  I had visions nightmares of having to block and never getting it to look right.  I was very pleasantly surprised to find that ALL of those fears were unfounded.  Whew!

AHH that lovely crinkle after the wash :)

Just love how the dense quilting makes those unquilted spaces just pop right off the quilt :)

I used flannel wide backing.

The quilting looks SO cool on the back!!

Last one I promise :) All of the angst I put myself through in making this quilt was SO SO worth it :)

Quilt Stats:
Finished Size: 68.5" x 68.5"
Fabric: Kona Cotton of various colors for front.  Kona Magenta for binding and flannel batik for the backing from Sew Batik.  I believe it is the Petunia backing that is linked. . . I bought it at a quilt show and don't remember that it was marked.  If you are into batiks and like using wide backings - this is the site for you!
Thread: As mentioned, Superior Threads, Egyptian Princess (947).
Batting: Wool of course :)
Inspiration: The layout inspiration came from Adrianne's (On The Windy Side) post over at Lily's Quilts.  Quilting inspiration came from Judi Madsen's blog Green Fairy Quilts. Not one thing in particular. . . I spent hours looking at EVERY picture on her blog. . . I'm not kidding, every.last.one.  She is amazing, her quilts are amazing.  I know she uses a long arm (NO computer) and I am quilting on my domestic but the inspiration is endless. 

The biggest lesson I learned? I do not do well under pressure.  I admit, that pressure was self induced.  I kept thinking I had to get this quilt done by the link up.  As soon as I decided that it didn't really matter, things went smoother and faster.  Amazing how that happens huh? Will I do another QAL? Maybe.  It was fun to see what everyone did and how differently fabric choices and layout can make!  I don't think that will ever cease to amaze me.  I worked ahead initially and then put it aside to work on another quilt.  I can't put something aside.  It just doesn't work for me.  I find I get a mojo going for a quilt and if I stop, that mojo goes away.  I don't have any UFOs.  It's just not how I work.  They make me nervous. grin It's just how I roll.

What did I learn about dense quilting? OK, I admit it, I LOVE it! I know there were previous posts wherein I might have sounded negative about it.  That's really not the case.  Part of that tone had to do with the pressure I was putting on myself to get this quilt done.  I will be doing this again. . . I'm thinking about adding more quilting to the fractured log cabin blocks! LOL

As I was quilting this quilt, I had several thread breaks.  I have NEVER had this issue with my Janome 7700.  Bad thread? No.  Wrong needle? No. Two things, the machine should must be cleaned at some point in this process.  I had just cleaned the machine and changed the needle prior to starting the quilting.  OMG, I took the needle plate off about half way through and I was amazed shocked DISGUSTED! Second, sometimes when the bobbin thread gets to the end, you just have to take it out and change it.  I guess it is the way it is wound but there were a couple times at the end of the bobbin that the thread broke, I changed the bobbin and voila all was good again.

I decided I was going to use a double bat with this quilt, wool and 100% cotton.  I did a practice piece.  I didn't like it.  With dense quilting, it seemed hard to me.  One of the biggest reasons I like using wool is that no matter how dense the quilting is, the quilt is still soft.  I don't find that with cotton, but that's just me.  

I had an aha moment while quilting this quilt.  My sewing machine has a convertible free motion quilting foot.  There are several different FMQ feet that can be attached to it.  It has a screw on the side that adjusts pressure the foot puts on the quilt.  I typically set this at the beginning of quilting and then never think about it again.  I felt like I was fighting a good amount of drag about half way through the quilting. . . lessened the pressure on the FMQ foot and voila problem solved.  Note to self, there are things that can be done to reduce the amount of drag beyond making sure the quilt is not hanging off the table :)

One last thing, I did not rip in places where I might have forgotten where I was going grin or lost concentration (seriously folks, this quilting thing requires a major amount of focus!! At least for me, I can't think about other things and the minute I do, I go off track).  After washing, seriously, I can't even find most of those mistakes.  YAY for the crinkle effect :)

I am now off to finish the Fractured Log Cabin :)  

Linking up with the final link up over at Sassy Quilter and Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday.  

Until next time, keep on quilting!