Robins, Chickadees and Triangles

Red Red Robin and Chickadees in the Pines are my most recent finishes for the #bouldermqgufos challenge. Both quilts were pieced a couple of years ago but then nothing. No quilting. No finish. The UFO challenge this year has been really good motivation for me to actually finish several projects and I'm so happy to have both of these quilts totally done.

Both quilts are the result of wanting to try a new tool. Do you ever buy a quilting tool and then never use it? The right tools can be so important for accuracy and good results, but in general I don't tend to buy very many tools. I'd rather buy pretty fabric. : )  Every once in awhile though I give in and buy a new tool and most go unused. Especially rulers. So after owning an equilateral ruler for some time I thought I'd give it a try. My friend Elizabeth just posted today about rulers and the essential ones to own. Check out her post here.

I found it quite easy to use this ruler. There are sooo many design possibilities with equilateral triangles. I definitely foresee more triangle quilts in my future so can safely say this was a worthwhile purchase.

For Chickadees I wanted a modern, clean look to the triangles so I chose mostly solid greens and off whites in a variety of hues. Then I sprinkled in a few fussy cut chickadees from a very old bird print. 

This is my winter family room quilt. I considered throwing in a tiny touch of red for Christmas but decided on a more general winter theme instead. After the holidays are over I strip away the red touches from Christmas and use a simple, white and green palette for a few months. There are even a few chickadees here and there so this quilt fits in quite nicely.

Chickadees was quilted by Karen at The Quilted Moose using an all over tree motif with a few stars and moons in the mix. The motif adds a serene feeling of a quiet walk in the woods under the moonlight. Perfect for a cozy night of reading by the fire on a cold winter evening.

Shortly after piecing Chickadees I started another triangle quilt after buying a fun robin print called Birdland by Alexander Henry. It was an impulse buy. I love birds and the colors just spoke to me. I started with a few fussy cut triangles of the robins and arranged them on top of the pine top. I thought this would help me distribute the robins and also help with color placement. In retrospect I would never do this again because it just meant I had to move all the pieces off the base quilt top. It did help me decide that I wanted a more blurred color placement rather than the green/white contrast of the pine quilt.

I cut the fabric a few triangles at a time by pulling coral/orange/pinkish prints from my stash. Once the robin areas were filled, I cut greens and lighter values to blend out to the edges. By cutting a few at a time I was able to gradually build-out the layout.

Once all the triangles were arranged, I needed to puzzle out the quilt top piecing. Due to the three larger triangles I couldn't piece the whole top in single triangle rows like I did for the pine quilt. First I figured out how to chunk sections so they would come together in wider rows. You can see below how those sections came together. It's not hard. You just need to think it through before you start piecing. Grouping them on the design wall helped me see how they fit together.

Red Red Robin was quilted by Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting using the Trillium motif which is one of my favorite quilting motifs. It features leaves . . . what more can I say.

Red Red Robin is my springtime family room quilt. It's way to hot now to use a quilt inside but it certainly adds a cheery spot of color. I think during the off season I'll keep it in my bedroom where it fits right in with the bird decor.

Have you ever made a quilt with equilateral triangles?
Do you have a favorite specialty quilting ruler you would recommend?
I'd love to hear about them.

Linking up with Kelly at NTT and Wendy at the Peacock Party


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