Quilts We’ve Made: A Study in Triangles

Years ago, our local quilt shop offered the pieced blocks of this quilt as a block-of-the-month project. The deal was this: if you came back each month with your block finished, you got the (Moda) fabric and pattern for the next month, etc. It was a good introduction to piecing triangles in a variety of combinations, as well as instructive in figuring out how to clip the points and press them flat.

The red and yellow palette fairly screamed “kitchen colors” to me, so I made the blocks into a square table quilt by adding small checked sashing, corner blocks and set triangles from the same line of Moda fabric. I was one block short, so I found a piece of woven fabric that matched perfectly and used it for the center block.

The border fabric I found in a shop while traveling, and I was knew it would be the perfect final touch for which I had been searching. I loved how it added that French Provencial hand-blocked look. It was quilted on my short-arm Bernina sewing machine with a variegated thread in the same colors as the fabrics. I mitered the corners and finished it with a red tonal binding.

Some people are completely scandalized that I use one of my hand made quilts as a tablecloth, but I believe quilts should be displayed, used and enjoyed. The best thing about this quilt is that most food spills blend right in anyway– not a problem.