Triangle Jitters Quilt

I have a bad habit when I start to learn something that I pick very ambitious first projects, then get frustrated when I am not immediately perfect at it or find it more difficult than it is interesting. My first quilt was made with 8-point star blocks and took me about 6 months, working a couple hours here, a couple hours there as much as I could tolerate. My second, made of equilateral triangles, also took months, and I was so frustrated that I couldn't get my points to match up perfectly (because I really wasn't ready for equilateral triangles!). My recent tiny tiles quilt took nearly 8 months. While I realize none of these are complicated, per se, they certainly weren't the most beginner friendly. I'm totally on board with learning by doing and trial by error, but it would've been nice to have been more happy with the results of my first quilts.

Working on the Triangle Jitters Quilt by Suzy Quilts is the first time I've ever quilted half-square triangles. Yeah, I KNOW. I jumped feet first into the hard stuff and wondered why I was getting burned out so soon at the start of each project. I love this pattern and I LOVE half-square triangles.

It took only a few hours to cut all my fabric, and, using the minimally wasteful "magic 8" method for half square triangles, I spent maybe 6 or 7 hours cutting, sewing, and pressing open ALL my blocks. I am a slow sewist, so believe me when I say this is crazy fast.

I started getting a little burned out sewing the rows together, partially because I have been quilting A LOT as of late, and partially because I wasn't super happy with the color choices as it came together and found it hard to motivate myself to work on something I knew I wouldn't totally love in the end. I posted on Instagram about this struggle and you all were so thoughtful! One particularly helpful comment suggested I treat it as a learning process and make each seam, each press better than the last. It made imperfections easier to swallow—I'm still learning, after all!

Like the tiny tiles quilt, this one was also made as a wedding gift. I was super anxious about the quick turnaround I had between the May wedding and this one, so I reached out to Sue Fox (aka Foxy) at Textile Dream Studio in Berkeley to have her long-arm quilt this piece. Foxy saved me time and SO much stress, and I got to sit in her beautiful studio for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon and watch her work. Makes me really want to learn how to long arm quilt! One thing at a time...

Foxy did this beautiful quilting pattern that she calls "bubbles and waves" and it is SO FUN. In the end, I actually am quite pleased with this one. I think the funky fabrics and bold, geometric pattern plus the softer quilting lines are really a lovely combination.

The lovely couple absolutely adored it, and that's all that really matters in the end. I love making quilts for people building a new life, a new family together. Knowing this couple plans on having kids someday, I can't stop imagining cute little munchkins cuddled up in this one. 😍