Three facts: I started this quilt long, long ago on the first ever LA Modern Quilt Guild retreat. I promised it to a friend shortly thereafter. I’m very bad at finishing and gifting quilts. Very bad.
This quilt was my first time working on the technique for Half Rectangle Triangles (HRT’s) that I wrote up for the Modern Quilt Guild website. I was inspired to sketch a series of quilts based on all my time spent on Los Angeles freeways and loved these great triangles on the transition from the 105W to the 405 N. I saw the Nani Iro fabric and thought that it was the perfect marriage of neutrals and the unexpected pops of colors that helped to capture the organic yet industrial nature of the freeway inspiration. I paired it with linen and linen/cotton blend fabric. I was afraid it would be a problem when it was washed because of the different fabric types but, it washed up great.
Each triangle was quilted individually with various echo quilting motifs in alternating directions.
To enhance the organic nature of this quilt, I added touches of hand quilting around some of the circles and along the width of each solid row.
As a consolation for it taking me SO long to finish it up, I made two little doll quilts and matching pillows for her sweet twin girls. Don’t tell mom but, I sorta love them more than the original quilt. There’s something so perfect about something in miniature. I used leftover fabric and leftover HRT blocks. I found this AWESOME scallop or wave stitch on my Janome 8900 that I fell in love with. It adds the right amount of fun to these tiny quilts. (I love the stitch so much I’ve already used it on another project!)
I backed each quilt and pillow in a different fabric so each twin will know which one is hers. I hope they love them.
