Adventurous Applique - Round 2

We're at it again...Island Batik Ambassadors are on another challenge and as much as I really don't like applique projects, I'm amazed that I did two this month. #adventurousapplique #islandbatik
Both satisfy interests of mine to finish started projects and to use my co-authored book "You Can Quilt! Building Skills for Beginners" as a jump off point for new pieces. In this case I used Chapter 10's first block -- Orange Peel Block. I also enjoy doing multiple sized shapes in order implement the golden ratio of design. In this case I used 2" peels, 4" peels and 6" peels. Each with a different Island Batik Fabric from the Seas the Day collection being released at market in May.

I traced the shapes onto Steam-a-Seam Lite 2, applied to the backside of the fabric and then cut them out.

I might call this Sea Anemone given the fabric line, but  I'm calling it Orange Blossom in ode to the shape and the colorations.

If using shape sizes that change on the golden ratio, it is easy to just keep building and building the size of your square. In this case I just took a square piece of fabric that I knew would be oversized from my finish size, folded it on the diagonal and pressed it, and did the same for the opposite diagonal. This gave me a guide for placement. Line up the first four peels at the center point on the lines and just keep adding until you are done. Use a long ruler to keep the outer edges in line as well.

Once they were in place and I was happy, then I ironed it down with a pressing sheet between to keep any possible 'fusing' from getting on the iron. Then I stitched a small zig zag with Aurifil thread around all shapes in one continuous path. This helped to highlight the green peels that are similar in value to the background.

I quilted this with one layer of wool batting Aurifil #2340 40 wt on top, A&E Tex 30 Taupe on the bottom. After stitching a continuous path around all peels, I stitched a similar shape using the background fabric as registration marks for the entire background. The largest (green) shapes have a smaller shape stitched into them since they were too large for me to comfortably leave un-quilted. It also gave them a bit of 'leaf' dimension. I then blocked it and used a faux piped binding method (also found in my co-authored book) to complete it.

This is just one way it could have been quilted, but given the busy background I thought it interesting to have the same similar shape as a continuous background texture against the larger orange peel shapes.

Hope you enjoyed today's presentation of this month's IBA challenge. You can see this quilt in person and several of my other quilts at the Odessa, Washington Spring Fling Quilt Show, April 28 and 29, 2017.