CRAFTY | I’M ADDICTED TO SHIMMERING SALT WATER

…it’s like the first day of sewing school…

EDIT: Please, do not use the photos in this post to breach copyright and create your own version of Shimmering Triangles (affiliate link). Jenny has released the pattern and you can purchase it on Craftsy (affiliate link) for a ridiculously low price. Click here to purchase pattern. (affiliate link)

Last weekend I attended the Jenny Bowker Shimmering Triangles class at Addicted to Fabric with Michelle (of Buttontree Lane) and it was brilliant. Seriously – brilliant!

I was so excited to be attending this class. I worked it out (after the event), the class was the longest period of time I have been apart from Little Man since he was born 11 months ago.

I had read the course material and packed my sewing machine, fabric and notions – I’d even made my lunch!

Jenny is a great teacher. She walked us through her quilts, her process and how she makes her fabric selection – then she let us loose.

After much umming and ahhing I made my cuts and started to pull together my layout.  I knew which fabrics I wanted to make as feature panels and which ones I wanted to use as blender fabrics.

I wanted to make columns of colours because I couldn’t work out how to mix the fabrics together without having the same colour touching and my OCD just couldn’t comprehend that.

By the end of the day I’d made some blender blocks and started to work out how the fabrics would sit together.

I couldn’t see how it would work until the triangle blocks started to be completed and placed on the design wall.

It was at this point that I started to get really excited.  I could begin to see how it would come together.  Despite the fact that it was coming together I still wasn’t 100% comfortable with how it looked.

I went home at the end of the day spent. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve had a headache and I think it was from all the thinking I had done trying to get this quilt to “sit right”.

I couldn’t leave it alone.

So I put it up on the design wall at home.

I took out the 4 patch blocks and replaced them with solid blocks.  I loved it. LOVED IT!

Only one problem the colour separation layout just wasn’t working for me any more I needed to shake it up.

I spent a good hour or two putting squares up on the wall and trying to work out a layout that felt like it would work.

In the end I settled on the layout above and went to bed.  I slept so soundly – no dreams, no nothing just sleep. (Until Little Man woke up at 6am for cuddles!)

On Sunday I went back to class energized and ready to get some serious work done on this sucker.  I cut squares, sewed triangles and then in one big hit I put them all up on the design wall…

…all the single ladies (Michelle shows off her new block invention)…

BAM! There it was… shimmering triangles.

Image source: Michelle (of Buttontree Lane)

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this quilt – and it’s not even finished yet!

I really struggled with only using one line of fabric, but as it’s coming together I’m loving the effect. With the exception of 2, the entire class was using the big, bold, botanical Kaffe Fassett fabrics and I was uncertain that mine would have the same impact.  And it doesn’t… it’s better. (Well, in my opinion anyway!)

These are colours I would never (never!) choose on my own and it’s killing the OCD in me to have same prints (in different colours) sitting beside each other.

This quilt is addictive.  It’s like completing a puzzle.  The big feature blocks go up and then you have to make them work and fill the gaps. I think this is the first quilt I have spent time agonizing over layout.  It is a delicious puzzle…

I came straight home from the class and the minute I could I put it all back up on the design wall and added more squares to it.  I have all the fabrics cut and ready to make my filling triangles – but first I need to finish my scrap vomit.

EDIT: Please, do not use the photos above to breach copyright and create your own version of Shimmering Triangles (affiliate link). Jenny has released the pattern and you can purchase it on Craftsy (affiliate link) for a ridiculously low price. Click here to purchase pattern. (affiliate link)

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