My First Triangle Quilt: A Colorful Baby Blanket with Mixed Fabrics

Slowly but surely I am overcoming my intimidation of the sewing machine. Completing a denim blue jean quilt last summer gave me the confidence I needed to tackle other sewing projects, like the fabric name banner for my daughter's big girl room, a crib skirt, and now,  another quilt. 

This time I tackled my first triangle quilt. I chose to make a bright and colorful blanket pieced with mixed fabric types - some pieces are cotton, some are minky. Babies love contrast. 

I thought equilateral triangles (three equal sides) would be easier than isosceles triangles. I cut triangles from strips of fabric measuring 5.5" in height and using the 60 degree marker line on my sewing ruler. 

Piecing a triangle top is a bit trickier than a square quilt, but still very doable, even for a beginner like me. The trick lies in precision cutting of your triangles.

I rounded the corners and then attached the quilt top to a kelly green minky backing. (Right sides together leaving a small opening, invert and finish with a topstitch.)

For the "quilting" I stitched around the inner edges of selected triangles to bind the front and back together.  

The most difficult part of this quilt was sewing the light pink and grey minky pieces. Even though I had worked with minky before, I learned a few new things. First, not all minky is created equal. The light pink and grey pieces are both minky, both with a raised bump pattern, and both purchased at the same store. They appeared to be nearly identical. However, the grey minky stretched and warped to great extent, while the pink was relatively easy to sew. I have no idea why the difference.

And interestingly enough, I also learned that a hot iron can accidently iron out minky's raised bumps. See the two light pink triangles near the right margin of the photo above. Ooops! 

I can't wait to cuddle up with blanket and baby for midnight feedings. Only 9 weeks to go!

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