Spiraling Triangle Mini Quilt (MQG Mini Quilt Swap)

This was my 4th year participating in the annual MQG Mini Quilt swap! My partner was Janice, who lives in Maine. As part of the swap, you’re asked to share likes and dislikes. Janice mentioned that she likes blue and bright colors, geometry, solids, and gradients — all things that I enjoy in quilts too! That made it easy and fun to come up with this spiraling triangles design for her.

This is the latest of several quilts I have made based on “sacred geometry” motifs. I drew my triangles in Adobe Illustrator and printed foundation paper piecing templates. I had to tape a few sheets of paper together which was a tad unwieldy, but I made it work.

Each third of the triangle is made of 6 wedges, so I needed 3 sets of 6 fabrics. I had to pull quite a few to find just the right gradient! I was originally working on an aqua/teal section, but couldn’t find quite the right progression of tone/hue/value. I was able to swap the greens instead, and I think that worked quite well.

When I went searching for a suitable backing, I was excited to find this old triangle print! I think it’s from an older Rashida Coleman Hale collection when she was still with Cotton + Steel. It was perfect for this mini.

I quilted this mini with 80 wt Aurifil thread. I’ve now experimented with using 80 wt thread in my machine on a few different quilts, and I really like it! I’ve noticed no difference in stitch quality from my usual 50 wt, and I like the subtlety of the thin 80 wt thread one a piece like this where I want the piecing to shine.

My mini arrived in Maine a couple weeks ago and I’m happy to report that Janice loved it! Another successful swap!

The stats:

• Measures 18″ square.
• Fabrics were all pulled from my stash. The front is Kona Cotton and the backing is an older Cotton + Steel print.
• Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt thread in #2024 (White).
• Quilted with Aurifil 80 wt thread in #6722 (Sea Biscuit).