Orange Quilt

The fabrics are leftover from a quilt I made for our bed a few years ago. They are all bright orange and yellow with some red mixed in.  The pattern was easy to cut out and it pieced together quickly.  

It would end up in an overall square shape

Batting and backing were added while sitting on the living room floor

The backing was a piece of fleece that had a white and gray chevron pattern.  It would make a very soft baby quilt should it get called into action.  I chose to do the quilting by machine in a variety of concentric triangle shapes.  The triangles are of varying sizes and types and layers between adjacent triangles are varying thicknesses.

Close-up view of fabrics and one triangle drawn on

Most of the quilting was done indoors on my Bernina 801 Sport, but there was one day at the end of the project were I brought an extension cord out to the back patio and completed the last few triangles overlooking the garden.  I could look up at anytime and see birds, butterflies, chipmunks, and flowers. I should sew out there more often.

Outside with a view

In the shade and loving the summer heat

Quilting finished

When I look at the back of the quilt, I'm not completely satisfied with the quilting.  Some of the stitches seem a bit loose.  I don't think the 801 liked working with the fleece backing and it didn't always hold the tension consistent. This quilt is not going to fall apart, but I would definitely want to try something different, maybe a walking foot, if I do another fleece backed quilt. The binding was made from more scraps.  Some of the pieces were getting pretty small, but there was still a good variety of fabrics. The binding was machine sewn on the front and then hand-sewn on the back. After getting washed and then hanging dry in the sun, the quilt radiates oranges, golds, and some reds.  I like how the quilting turned out, there are triangles and parts of triangles facing nearly every direction.  This was a good project to finish in July, the colors are very summery.

Finished quilt

Closeup of triangle quilting

Hanging above the climbing baby butternut squash