16 Triangles

Yes, I have been working on my Secret Garden applique quilt! But very slowly.

16 triangles have been occupying me, off and on for several weeks now. Doing applique means that there will be a repetitive section somewhere in the design. For SG, the 16 triangles is that component.

I have a confession…I got bored. I was okay picking out the colors for 48 sets of leaves, and even making miles of stems, and 48 leaves. Gluing stems got a bit dull and then there was the stitching around the same motif over and over and over, and over and over.

I decided to use a multi colored approach to the leaf sets, whcih echos the melons around my center square. And I also repeated the deco stitch leaf centers that I used in the center square.

For these triangles, appliqué stitching is done using a single thread color in each triangle. I waffled between the brighter blue/purple/aqua variegated thread used for the melons and the more muted peach/tonal greans used elsewhere. In the end, I split it, in the end, making 8 triangles with each thread. Maybe I will alternate them, or perhaps alternate four of one color on each side.

Now it was time to put the entire quilt-to-date up on the board. The reveal! Because this quilt is “on pointe”, it cannot be sewn together until all the central components are completed. But I needed to see it in its entirety before choosing the colors for the corners. Note: I have not cut the blocks to their final size as I like to hedge my bets. In addition, I reduced the pattern to 75%, which makes mathematical rounding errors unavoidable. The edges can also fray over the months of work on the piece, so I am waiting to make the final trims to the sewing size.

Once the corner blocks are constructed, I can trim, sew it all together and then work on borders to the finished size. Originally, I planned this as a wall hanging and reduced the size. Now I have a friend very interested in this piece, but she wants it as a queen size, so I will fill it out with borders. The appliqué work will fit nicely on the center of her bed. And I can use leftover fabric in the borders and avoid scraps! I am thinking rectangles with solid sashing repeated several times.

Appliqué is a slow go, and even more now for me as I work slower and cannot do as long a stretch with my machine as I used to. But slow is still going and I am loving Secret Garden.

Happy quilting, Lennea