300th post: Cut in Triangles

I find that somewhat amazing, but I guess it has been  6 years of blogging.

I thought for this 300th post, and since this is the 10th anniversary of this quilt, I'd share my first ever frame quilted quilt.

I had been walking through the north location of A Sewing Sensation with my hands held up to my face like blinders, so I couldn't see their frame quilting systems, but one day I was weak, and my blinders slipped.  And, I had this large top to quilt, that I had promised youngest would be ready for her birthday....

Came home and discussed with my husband, and we decided it was worth the investment if I did 30 quilts over the next 10 years. And a day or two later... here's my new 9" Husqvarna on a Grace Frame--it truly was an entry level setup.

this is it!  my first quilt on a frame quilting system.  I was naive.  I didn't know that I should do some practice pieces first.  I had a homemade paper pantograph to put hearts in that narrow turquoise border (top half in one direction and bottom half in the other--from the back of the machine, where you cannot see if you're matching your prior point)--I had no idea this was supposed to be hard!   I used contrasting thread on the white!   I had adjusted some butterfly designs to fit into my setting triangles, and my border blocks, and used the laser light from the front to stitch those in.   I had all these new options at my fingertips and I was going to use them!!
 I would have even needed to turn the quilt to do the side borders, and possibly even the bottom border, as my stitching path had probably gotten too narrow by then.

 I would have had to split this design, and stitch it in two passes--it was only a 9" machine, so at most I had a 6" pass right at the very top of the quilt.

Not too shabby for an absolute beginner?     I see I didn't photograph the hearts LOL. 


and wisely I decided to just meander in the center of the quilt

 I found a photo of those hearts after all, they look pretty good.  I even remembered to turn the panto around so they all point out.

 The quilt is called Cut in Triangles, because youngest always placed her breakfast order as follows:  toast, peanut butter and jam, cut in triangles, cold (which meant not toasted at all ).  I stitched the 'label' right on with the font on my sewing machine.

This quilt is still one of my favorites.  I learned how to modify a pattern (I added the on point borders), figured out the math for making the on point pieced border fit, my first time making a quilt that was all triangles, and using setting triangles, and my first frame quilted quilt!

As it turned out, I quilted 30 quilts in the first year of having that Husqvarna Mega Quilter, and before long I was walking through quilt shows with my blinders up while walking past longarms.

After 3 1/2 years I  sold the Husqvarna and about 6 months later I was able to replace it with an Innova in December of 2011,  and the rest of the tale has taken place in the past 300 blog posts.