For the Love of Triangles..... and a Giveaway!

Being new to the world of creating quilts..... I believe that there may be a technique, a pattern, a template or a shape that has each of us befuddled....  (I like that word).  

For me it is a shape.....  a funny little three-sided guy.  It really shouldn't get us into too much trouble, right?  I love, love, love quilt tops where the blocks are on point.  I have made two now and I really do love them.  And what shape is a must-have for an on point design?  You got it..... triangle.  

So in all honesty - even though this is my first ever mini-tutorial..... it is more for me than anyone else.  And it is a no-brainer for the more experienced quilter - that is for sure.... but I must get my feet wet somewhere - so it might as well be with triangles.  

It all started when I was sewing these lovely triangles to a square.... I put the iPod on Pandora - tuned it to the Billie Holiday station and off I went. 

By the time I was pressing the second set that I had sewn.... my fears were confirmed - something was wrong....very wrong.  

Can you see it in the picture above????  I did not center the triangle so every single one of the squares had the triangle in a different spot - so no matter what I do - this quilt top was going to go together pretty wonky!  Not in a good wonky way either!  At this point it was too late to use my best friend in the whole world - seam ripper - because I had cut my corners off!  (lesson number 1 - do not cut corners off until you are sure!)  The funny thing is that the whole time I was humming away, I knew that I should probably find the centers and match them up - but Billie just carried me away and I got into a rhythm. No, I am not blaming Billie either!  (lesson number 2 - go with your gut!)

So when it came time to sew on the second set of triangles.....  I confirmed with my instructor - what I knew all along - center it before you sew.  

The best way I could do this was to finger press the square to find its center and finger press the triangle to find its center..... 

Then match your creases up.  At this point, you can pin.  I usually do not pin until I am assembling rows and I need to match seams and so forth - but that is another post!  


Now you go take your matched creases to the sewing machine....    Needle placement will confirm that you have found the centers and most likely you will have a successful triangle experience.  

Hopefully you can see in the picture that your needle is flush up against the 45 degree angle created by your bottom piece and top triangle.  If your needle is there - all is well!!!  

Let the singing begin!  

Yay - my first ever tutorial!  Now it is time for a real celebration........ GIVEAWAY!  And this is not just my giveaway - you can go see a list of all the other blogs by clicking on the blog button to the right of this post that looks just like this one: 

or you can click here....... and see all of their giveaways too!  How awesome is that?  You know where I will be spending some time this weekend. 

So what am I giving away?  Well, how about a book and a tool? 

This is Marsha Bergren's book called "Let's Twist.... Again" published by CS Designs at www.country-schoolhouse.com/ and the Lil' Twister tool....  The book has great projects and the twister quilt blocks are ADORABLE!  I picked these up during a Quilt Shop Hop last fall......  

So, how do you enter?  Just two little steps:   

1.   Become a friend (follower) of my blog.

2. Leave a comment to this post sharing your own befuddling technique, pattern, shape......  

Easy as pie!  

(And we will learn from each other!!!!)  

I will ship internationally!  

The Giveaway will stay open until March 14th.**  Then we will put all the names from the comment section below into a hat.  My hubby will pick the winner.  I will share the winner's comment on Friday, March 15th - and ask for contact information! 

A tutorial and a giveaway - all in one day!

**Just an update - the giveaway will stay open until 8:00 p.m. Arizona time on March 14th.....  Mr. Tally Man will need a little time to set up the very high tech name selection!  (And yes, there will be pictures!)