Triangle QAL - the final show-off

And here is the end of a very fun QAL: the Triangle QAL by Paula @ Sassyquilter.

This is my finished baby quilt

And here are some thoughts about this QAL

1. I was not planning to participate because I hate triangles :) but they I won a triangle ruler in a giveaway and a friend told me that she is pregnant so I listened to the sign of the Universe and I decided to give it a try

2. I have been rewarded by the Universe because I won one of the gift cards in the weekly giveaway!! yeeee... and I used the gift card to buy the backing for the quilt... a sooooooooo cute piece of fleece with australian animals (my friend is crazy about Australia, so I thought that was just the perfect fit, thanks Universe). 

I bought a yard of that without even measuring my quilt (how crazy is that???)... but again, the Universe made it work... it was exactly the size of the top... I have 1 inch of selvage left from that piece... how cool is that, no leftovers, no waste, just perfect...

3. remembering the basic thing about geometry helps not to panic: I cut all my triangles with the ruler I had... and then I wanted to follow Paula's instructions about aligning the pieces to put together the rows... but then I realized that my triangles were not equilateral (so they were not perfectly overlapping one another... paaaanic)... but then I realized that my ruler is simply isosceles (which means that the bottom edge is 6'' and the height of the triangle is 6'', but this means that the other two sides are NOT 6'' :) )... however they are all the same size, so once I understood what I had to align and where to put the pins, everything went smooth

4. I still don't like triangles much... I love the overall look of the quilt... but let's face it: I cannot align all the points... and I am not going to obsess about it... it is a cute quilt, and since it's all scrappy, the misaligned/chopped corners do not show that much... 

5. since it was all an experiment, I tried to finish it with a different technique... so I quilted the top with the batting first (just one "straight" line next to one of the edge of the triangles) and then used a pillow case method to attach the backing. I turned it inside-out and then top-stitched the sides with a scallop decorative stitch (love it). Then I wanted to quilt another "straight" line next to the other edge of the triangles (on the three layers now), but this was challenging at the beginning because I didn't realized that it could create huge puckers... and I initially panicked... but then I drank my coffee and then told myself: "if I just cover the quilt with pins (to distribute the excess fabric uniformly) and I use my regular foot (instead of the walking foot), things may work out better". And actually they did!! no excessive puckering, just a soft fleece back with uniform quilting lines!! I really like quilts that are "not interrupted" by the binding... so I may use this technique on other projects too... probably is better to use it only on small projects... but I was happy to try it!

6. triangle quilts have so many fun layout opportunities, if you plan your colors in advance... I saw many great ideas during the QAL, so if I will ever going to make another triangle quilt, I may try one of those fun designs... go there and check them out yourself!!

So as a final thought, Paula was a great host for the QAL and I am very happy that I overcome my hate for triangles!! ;)