How my second orange quilt became my first...

Orange Twirl won't set records for my fastest finish for a quilt, but it's setting records for how happy it makes me. 
 
 
 
 
I'm loving all those delicious orange fabrics, which comes as a surprise - until a year ago, I honestly had next to no orange fabrics in my stash (I'm more into blues, reds or pinks).  Then, I found out that orange is my hubby's favourite colour (oh, the things you can discover after 20+ years of marriage! lol) and I decided I NEEDED to make him his own quilt.  In his favourite colour.  A quilt that would be a gift for him and a colour challenge for me (...however, this isn't the one for him...progress on his is being made ;o).  So began my quest to collect some orange fabrics. 
 Here are the first fabrics I gathered for his quilt....
 
 
 
Now, Orange Twirl was started  as a way to use up the leftovers from making the blocks for my hubby's quilt ... and well, I got so carried away with this design, I needed more orange fabrics to make a bigger quilt.  Funny, how that happens. ;o)   My orange fabric quest wasn't over! I stalked fabric sales online and in real time, looking for more orange fabrics and on and off I added more blocks over the course of the year. 
 
 
 
 January 2013  I added this quilt-in-progress to my Finish-A-Long list.  After mentioning in a post that I still found myself needing more orange fabrics, so I could make a twin-sized quilt, several lovely blog friends stepped up with offers to send me some orange fabrics from their own stashes. 
 
Without their help my finished quilt wouldn't be this lovely.  Many thanks to Nicolette, WendyCarol and to Maria.  My finished quilt comes with a global spin of friendship -beautiful orange fabrics came from the Netherlands, England, USA and Sweden, making this Canadian girl's heart swell with emotion.
 
Without further ado, here is my finished quilt!
 
Orange Twirl Quilt!

I wrote previously that I was going to rip out my free motion quilting - I was stuck on the fact that all those swirls disappeared on the printed fabric.  After taking a step back from the quilting (without breaking out the seam ripper first), I decided that the fabric was the real feature of this quilt and to not sweat the quilting.  I think I just had the memory of using this same quilting design on a solids only project and how the quilting just "popped".  Realizing that unless I chose a contrasting thread to quilt with, the quilting would only show on the solids in this quilt and disappear otherwise, meant I could see it for what it was - a fun FMQ design that adds lots of texture and I was fine with that.

 
For the backing, I decided to go with a stripe that has orange and the other touches of colour found amongst the variety of fabrics used in the quilt top.  It's bright, happy and playful, while allowing a better look at the quilting.
A dotted binding comes as no surprise, right?  ;o)
Seriously, choosing a binding fabric was the toughest part - I auditioned about a dozen options, but in the end went with Robert Kaufman's Spot On (I love this happy dot fabric!).  There's one corner of the quilt where you can see that the binding and block are the same fabric, which I usually try to avoid doing, but since I love dots, I ignored my usual rule.  ;o) 
 
 
Now that this quilt is crossed off my FAL list, I can make some headway on the other quilts still languishing as WIPs (such as the one I started for my hubby ...which was supposed to be my first orange quilt ;o).
 
I'm linking up with Amanda Jean's

Comments

  1. absolutely stunning. It looks awesome. you should enter in Heritage Park Festival of Quilts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. At the moment this is my favourite ever quilt of yours, but I am sure that you may come up with a new favourite in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It’s an absolute stunner Katherine! Your husband is a lucky guy! But he probably knows that already!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Absolutely amazing!!! I love the snail trail pattern (one of my fav's) and these oranges make it really dynamic!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So fine!!!

    So much woork you´ve put in to this great piece of art.

    I love your quilt and is proud to have been to some help!

    kram//Maria

    ReplyDelete
  6. You've just made me realise that I rarely work with orange either! It's a lovely happy quilt :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is one of my favourites!!! I love everything in your sunny quilt! Colours, fabrics, pattern, binding and backing! Thank you for inspiration! x Teje

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great quilt, Katherine! I love the orange and the design! It happens all the time that one project will speak louder to us than others...that's the one gets the immediate attention. Now that one's out of the way, you can get back to where you started. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow,, a beatiful quilt ,,and the material from Maria and Sweden is so great!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love all of the orange! I think it is a seriously underappreciated color. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the way you have worked those orange fabrics - no wonder it makes you smile!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great selection of oranges makes for a quilt with a lot of visual movement.

    ReplyDelete
  13. it's beautiful Katherine! I love it so much. I'm also very happy there's a piece of me in that quilt - well ok, not a piece of me, but a piece of my stash (and possibly some blood - did you check? I do cut myself a lot...)

    ReplyDelete
  14. It is a very beautiful finish. All the work you put in is well worth it. Great shade choices in your colors.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is really great!! I have a friend here in Turkey who is making an orange quilt too. I love them both and may have to start collecting orange fabrics. Your pattern is stunning too.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm loving the orange and your quilting is gorgeous, what you did is perfect...but the best part is the orange polka dot binding!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Spectacular! OK you did it...I am no longer anti-orange! So lovely, beautiful and fresh!

    ReplyDelete
  18. love this quilt! you did a spectacular job putting all these fabrics together.

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a fantastic finish!! Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  20. It's gorgeous!!! Wow, I could look at this for a long while. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The finished quilt is stunning, even though I'm not an orange person! The quilting and binding really tie it all together.

    ReplyDelete
  22. congrats on the finish! I, too never liked orange until I made my orange quilt a year ago. Love your polka dot binding and that little spot of fabric (with the black background, upper right) that's perfectly 'out of place' from the other fabrics. He's saying "i don't care, i belong here too!"

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm not, and never have been, much of an orange person, but this is so pretty! So happy and inviting. Really beautiful finish.
    E xx

    ReplyDelete
  24. This quilt inspires me to make an orange quilt as well. I never would have thought of an orange quilt coming out that great but your quilt has changed my mind. Very inspiring and I love the binding as well!

    (by the way this is my first time visiting (through Finish it up Friday at crazymomquilts) and I will definitely be following in the future to see what other inspiring quilts you post!)

    ReplyDelete
  25. This quilt is amazing. First of all, like your husband, I love orange. It was the Pantone color last year and I never realized how much I like it until then. I also like your philosophy about the fmqing, but I think it looks great! Even though it doesn't stand out, the design goes along with the overall feel of the quilt so well, I think it's perfect!

    Thanks for linking up:)

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm not much of an orange person, but this quilt is amazing! You have all the colors just right,your points are exactly where they should be, and your quilting is perfect for the design of the quilt! It is amazing how all the twirls seem to act together, interlocking and give it movement. Fantastic!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead...say something! Got a question for me? Ask it! I can't wait to hear from you... so start writing... and thanks in advance for letting me know you're sharing in my online adventures. Hugs and happiness to you!