Rotating quilt, an orange peels quilt

This quilt started as my first real appliqué project — and also my first queen-sized quilt.

We were about to leave for a month-long vacation, and naturally I needed a new portable sewing project.

Appliqué had been sitting on my quilting bucket list for years, and an Orange Peels quilt felt like the perfect place to begin.

From the very beginning, this quilt was always meant to become a gift, so I wanted to do my absolute best with it.

I gathered some of my favorite fabric lines, started cutting fat quarters and scraps, and slowly the quilt began to grow.

Quilt Process

Hand appliqué, machine pieced, hand quilted and hand-bound by me.

Hand Appliqué

For the appliqué, I used Sarah Fielke’s needle-turn appliqué technique, using nothing more than my fingers and either a silver or gold gel pen.

I first discovered this technique through the Material Obsession book, and Sarah continues to use it in many of her later books as well.

I also used her brilliant trick for creating perfect appliqué circles with tin foil.

Honestly? I absolutely fell in love with appliqué. Almost as much as I later fell in love with hand quilting this quilt.

Hand Quilting

For the hand quilting, I used several colors of perle cotton no. 8 thread for the blocks, and white thread for the circles.

The back of the quilt turned out absolutely stunning. I genuinely could not stop staring at it.

I started hand quilting in October 2017 and finished in February 2018 — which honestly isn’t bad considering the quilt size and my limited sewing time.

At first, I tried quilting a few blocks without a quilting hoop, but it felt completely wrong.

Ironically, I had already hand quilted my entire Dresden Plate Quilt without a hoop, and it had worked perfectly fine.

Still, I immediately begged my quilting friends for a hoop, and a lovely friend from Athens lent me hers.

Total revelation.

I honestly cannot believe I quilted without one before. Though I guess it probably depends on the quilting design.

Then came the needles.

I needed something large enough for perle cotton no. 8 while still working with my regular needle threader.

So I turned to my favorite UK quilt shop, Sew and Quilt. Jessie was incredibly helpful and actually tested different needle options for hand quilting.

In the end, I chose the Tulip Chenille no. 24 needles.

Without exaggeration: they are the best needles I have ever used. You should absolutely try them.

And so the hand quilting journey officially began. I loved every second of it. Almost as much as piecing a quilt. And honestly… I think I may finally admit it: I really dislike machine quilting. Maybe hand quilting is my true quilting language.

In the image below you can see the quilting design I used. I wanted a quilting pattern that required absolutely no marking — because I truly hate marking quilts.

So I free-handed:

• four circles around each block
• outlined half the peel shapes
• outlined the center circles

Using a simple 3-inch paper template, I also quilted circles between the blocks. Easy, relaxing, and repetitive in the best possible way.

My very well-used paper template for quilting the side circles. My very well-used paper template for quilting the side circles.

Quilt dimensions: 97” x 85” (247 x 216 cm).

Quilt Pattern

The main inspiration for this quilt was the Fruit Dots free pattern by Melody Miller for Cotton + Steel.

Using the classic Orange Peels block as a starting point, I designed the entire quilt layout in Illustrator.

Each block measures 12 inches, and there are 56 blocks total.

Every block contains four 6-inch orange peels, bringing the total to: 224 orange peels.

I also managed to cut 12 orange peels from each fat quarter, which made this project surprisingly scrap-friendly.

You can download the FREE pattern template for the block here.

If you ever happen to make this block or quilt, I would absolutely love to see it! Please tag me on Instagram @zarkadia and use the hashtag #rotatingquilt.

My son — now already 30 months old. He was only 10 months old when this quilt journey began. And now he is posing proudly beside it.

Materials Used

All materials are 100% cotton.

Quilt front: Fat quarters from:

• Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt
• Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey
• Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler
• Modernology by Pat Bravo
• Hyperreal Garden by Pat Bravo
• Pear Tree Partridge by Thomas Knauer
• Swoon by Melissa Averinos
• Liberty Lifestyle
• Central Park by Kate Spain

combined with a rich purple solid background fabric that truly defines the entire quilt.

One small appliqué note: while I absolutely adore Art Gallery fabrics for machine piecing, I honestly did not enjoy using them for needle-turn appliqué. They felt slippery and difficult to control.

Backing: Solid yellow cotton.

Binding: A navy stripe and gray stripe combination — both bought locally here in Greece.

Batting: 100% cotton.

Date made: July 2016 – February 2018

Washing the Quilt

And then… came the disaster.

The purple fabric bled everywhere after the very first wash. The yellow backing became covered in purple stains, some blocks turned pink, and honestly? I cried. A lot.

Thankfully, after advice from my Greek quilting friends and an amazing blog post about fabric bleeding, I managed to save it.

The quilt took:

• 5 bathtub washes
• 3 washing machine cycles
• and THREE entire boxes of color catchers

But somehow… the quilt survived.

Only a few blocks kept a soft pink tint, and thankfully the final color catchers came out clean.

Quilt saved.

And the worst part?

I backed my Swoon Quilt with the exact same purple fabric.

Bollocks.

Pantone Color of the Year Quilt Challenge

This quilt is also my entry for the Pantone Color of the Year Quilt Challenge.

Since the color of the year was Ultra Violet, I thought this purple hand-quilted monster would be perfect.

You can read more about the challenge at: Bryan House Quilts and No Hats in the House .

Thank you so much for reading. Have a wonderful weekend, and don’t forget to stop by my Instagram account  @zarkadia to see what I’m currently working on — or simply say hi once in a while.