bloggers’ quilt festival – Persimmon + Pear

We have a finish, friends – it’s an orange peel quilt in a range of orchids and pink. And a little mustard. Front to back, it has so many of my favorites in it. Yep, I made this quilt for myself.

Progress stalled for awhile as I tried to improve my free motion quilting skills. It…wasn’t happening. In the end, I took a suggestion from one of my Instagram friends, and quilted diagonally though the petals. I also quilted along all the straight seam lines, which makes a cool, loose crosshatch design (more visible on the back). I’ve been loving the crosshatch quilting lately.

On the front, I used my favorite silver metallic fabric, Cotton + Steel’s Netorious in Cloud Silver. The backing is one of my all-time number-one fabric favorites, Anna Maria Horner’s Social Climber. This fabric makes me so happy, and I like the contrast with the cool, silvery front.

The orange peels were fused on, and then I zigzagged around their edges. I used a matching thread so that the zigzagging is not very noticeable. I didn’t want to detract from the simplicity of the design, but I wanted them to stay on! I might try a different method next time I work with orange peels. This type of appliqué was a little bulky.

It’s ready just in time for the autumn snuggle weather.

The Bloggers’ Quilt Festival is still going on over at Amy’s Creative Side, so I’ll be linking up to the small quilts category. This quilt is about 53″ X 58″ (222″ around). Lots of lovely quilts to see — do go have a look.

I have to say, I feel my camera is not quite accurately documenting the colors here. They are a little bolder, like in the photo I took with my iPhone below. In this photo also, the binding is more visible — it’s 40 Knots in Orchid by Rashida Coleman Hale (more Cotton + Steel). You can just see its tiny features, bringing in a bit of an orangey-mustard color.