Happy Monday, friends!  It's been a while, eh?  

I haven't posted here since mid-July which is probably my longest break between posts since I started blogging back in 2008!  This blog has been a great way for me to document my quilting journey and I love being able to look back on all the projects I've made over the years!  I also love being able to share my passion for color, print and design with YOU and hope that you've found (and will continue to find) inspiration!  The other day I noticed that several of my latest quilt finishes are not on here so it's time to fix that.  Plan on seeing more posts from me, okay?

One of my favorite finishes from 2014 was my hand-appliqued, machine quilted Orange Peel Mini Quilt.

I posted about the start of this quilt HERE 

with a Freezer Paper Applique Tutorial HERE

but really want to share the finished product with you!!!

This may have been my first play with low-volume fabrics vs. bright fabrics and I looooved it!  I used bright fabrics (that as stand alone fabrics I didn't really love) but as little applique pieces with lots of saturation - were perfect!  And the low-volume background fabrics were a great compliment to them.  They added lots of interest but still fade into the background next to the bright hues of my orange peels.

The straight line quilting was so enjoyable (yet time consuming) to do!

I just followed the edges of my orange peels and quilted lines 1/4" apart in the low volume "diamond" areas.  I don't quilt my projects myself very often but since it finished at 28" x 28" I figured I could handle it.  I love the way it turned out - which is kind of rare for me.  Often times I have a little regret or two but I ended up loving this project and have it hanging in my entryway.

The pattern for this quilt can be found in the book, 

101 Fabulous Small Quilts by That Patchwork Place.

Thank you for coming back to visit after my long blogging hiatus!

See you again soon!

~ Amber

Orange Peel Mini Quilt and a Quilt Along!

Is anyone else obsessed with the Orange Peel design right now?  I have been dreaming of Orange Peel wall paper for my dining room, I just free motion quilted an Orange Peel design on my recently finished Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt (pictures coming soon) and I just started this Orange Peel mini quilt last week!  

I'm obsessed!  Obsessed I tell ya!

So when my boss at Just Sew asked me if I wanted to be in charge of the mini quilt of the month for August and she handed me the book 101 Fabulous Small Quilts by That Patchwork Place and I spied an Orange Peel quilt in it - I knew I just had to make it!  I've always wanted to make one and this was the perfect opportunity.

I decided to do a low-volume, scrappy background with bright fabrics for the leaves.  I've been loving that combo for a while now so I'm pretty excited about finally doing it.

(I had a little helper helping me plan my scrappiness.  She's pretty cute, eh?)

Because I'm on a deadline (this has to be appliqued, pieced, quilted and bound by the end of the month) I've set a goal to applique 8 leaves (or 1 row) every day.  I figure each leaf takes about 10 minutes to applique so it's just over an hour out of my day that I'm dedicating to this project for the next week or so.

I'm already half way done and I'm really loving seeing it come together!

I've posted more pictures of this project on Instagram.  

Feel free to follow along if you'd like.  My username is gigis_thimble.  

When I first posted about this project on IG, my friend Jodi Nelson of the blog, Pleasant Home showed some interest in the pattern so I roped her into making an Orange Peel quilt with me.  Be sure to stop by her blog if you haven't already.  She's posting about her Orange Peel quilt today too!  We thought it would be fun to start an Orange Peel Quilt Along but after a little research we found out that Jessica from the blog, Quilty Habit has one going on as we speak!  So Jodi and I are just going to sit back and enjoy the Orange Peel Quilt Along ride!  We hope you'll join us!

Jessica's got great pattern suggestions, applique tutorials, a schedule and there will even be some great prizes given away at the end!  You can click HERE for all the details. 

 Since someone on IG asked for it, I am going to do a tutorial on my favorite method of applique (the same method I'm using on this project).  So be sure to check back next week if you're interested in that.

So...Orange Peel - are you feelin' it?  

Yes or no?

~ Amber