Broken Triangles

Phew! Just under the wire and it's finally done and on it's way to Austin. And I am going to apologize in advance for the crappy photos. I had to take them very quickly to get it in the mail on time. 

This quilt was trapped in my head for a very long time. There was a building, that was actually just a block away from my old apartment, that inspired me. It's funny, I never noticed the broken triangle mosaics at the top of the building until years after I had moved out of the building. Then, two years ago, I was working in the building intermittently and I looked up one day and saw them. The project I was working on at the time was a labor of love. It was a particularly difficult show emotionally, but one of those projects that I will carry with me forever. I was shooting a documentary series about women with severe eating disorders and we followed them as they went into treatment. Those ten women will always be a part of my life but watching them in the middle of their disorder and treatment was extremely difficult. I think, maybe that's why I finally noticed and gravitated to these "Broken Triangles". 

Finally, in November at the LAMQG Retreat I resolved myself to try and bring this quilt to life. I worked on intricately piecing this quilt top over the majority of the four days there. It was just a piece that needed to live, I suppose like many of the women I had been working with when I originally became inspired. Slowly, the top came together. And my friend Alissa encouraged me to consider submitting it into the QuiltCon show. By the time I left the retreat I had a majority of the top done, but the deadline to submit it to QuiltCon was rapidly approaching. 

I decided to follow Alyssa's advice and I worked quickly to try and get it into shape enough to enter it. Time was running out, so I was only able to spray baste the quilt sandwich together and add just enough quilting to make it look put together. Then I tacked the binding on with pins and sent off my pictures. I never thought it would be accepted, so I put it to the side and concentrated on more pressing projects on my To Do List. But during my vacation over the holidays I got the news that it was, indeed, accepted and then I immediately went on the road for work so finishing it was once again put on the back burner. 

But now, I am proud to say it is finally finished and it's in Austin. I wish I had more time, because I see all the little imperfections in the piece that I would love to have been able to fix, but I've let that all go. One of the things I love about quilting is embracing the imperfections so that's what I'm doing. I pieced the back simply, because it was just slightly too large for a whole cloth back. And I straight-line quilted it using random triangles. It's all improv pieced and quilted. 

This was a tough one to send off, but I love it of so many reasons. And each of the girls I was working with two years ago is in this quilt as well. So, if you're in Austin for Quilt Con you can come see it (and me) in person because we'll be there.