Monday, April 20, 2015

Soar: A Finished Orange Peel Quilt

This quilt has sucked me into its grasp and hasn't let go. It seriously makes me giddy. Just an experiment with color and different sized orange peels turned into something much more precious (isn't that the reason we sew?). May I introduce you to Soar, my third orange peel quilt and the inverse of Scatter (here's Breeze, the king-sized beast, too).


My favorite part, the ghost peel. All the petals are drifting off from this corner:


The orange peels were made using my additions to Emily Herrick's tutorial. It is a fun and addictive stitch and flip machine applique method. There is so much you can do with orange peels (I've proven this on Pinterest) but I don't think I'll soon tire of pairing them with improvised backgrounds!

I use my planned improv technique, which involves giving myself stipulations (here, it was one white piece and a gray piece per block). I'm teaching this technique a few times over the next couple months. Basically, I build the quilt from the bottom up, using strips, and I just keep adding where needed. I made sure to sneak in scraps of the next color into the piecing (mostly Anna Maria Horner - can you believe I'm actually using my precious AMH stash?). There is a bit more to it but you'll have to take the class to find out. ;)

Grainy nighttime progress picture. Improv is messy and so totally awesome!

Quilting it was an absolutely joy. I left the orange peels unquilted as I always have so that they stick out a bit more. I have a lot of respect for long arm quilters but after all the quilting I've done, I don't think I'll ever be able to hand one of my quilts off to be quilted. It's my favorite part!




 Baby orange peels!





 The back was a joining of several of my favorite large Anna Maria Horner prints. Usually I piece backs in a pretty complex way, but for this quilt, simple seemed best.


 

 Here's one last picture of the texture. It's funny how the quilt shows up differently when tilted in the sun.


And here's Scatter, for comparison's sake. :)


You can read more about Soar here.

I can't wait to show both of these at the Mid-Atlantic Mod retreat in three days! I've been taking lots of pictures of all the projects I've been working on lately, so hopefully you haven't given up on me as a blogger these last couple of weeks. ;)


13 comments:

  1. The swirls capture your description of the petals "floating off from the corner" vibe so perfectly! It is a beautiful quilt, and congratulations on the finish! :)

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  2. Oh, how I wish I could see this in person. I'd love to check out the texture from all your awesome quilting myself. Have a fabulous time in Lancaster this weekend!

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  3. Soar is your best yet! Love, love, love all the colors & different orange peels!

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  4. This one is so pretty! I like how you put Scatter next to it though, it really shows their differences. Love all the fun quilting motifs you chose, and the back looks so pretty--love those prints!

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  5. Wow, fantastic. I love everything about it. The bright rainbow colors, the white petals, the improve piecing. I understand what you mean about the quilting. I am working on a queen size quilt and as much of a wrestle that is I would never take it to be quilted by someone else.

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  6. Wow, fantastic. I love everything about it. The bright rainbow colors, the white petals, the improve piecing. I understand what you mean about the quilting. I am working on a queen size quilt and as much of a wrestle that is I would never take it to be quilted by someone else.

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  7. That quilt is wonderful! Colours and all those quilting mixed together. Wow!

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  8. That quilt is wonderful! Colours and all those quilting mixed together. Wow!

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  9. Well done - that looks like a complex quilt with lots going out. Great result. Thank you for linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday.

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  10. This is an amazing quilt. I love the colors and pattern. Seems you had a lot of fun. Your quilting is beautiful!

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  11. This quilt is SO GREAT. I love your use of color and it's so fun that it's the inverse of Scatter. The quilting is fantastic as well!

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  12. I love the colours in this!

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