Orange Peels

Everywhere I look these days I see Orange Peel quilts. They're sometimes also referred to as Melon Peels, Lemon Peels, Pumpkin Seeds. Some are made with curved piecing, some applique. The pattern has been around a long time but when I made mine they weren't really very popular at all. If you did see any they were almost always two-color quilts. It's nice to see so many quilters making them now and incorporating them into different designs.

Back when I was writing Remembering Adelia and a few years before I began my Dear Jane quilt, I noticed that Jane Stickle had used a lot of peels in her famous quilt. Since Adelia also lived and sewed during the Civil War, I decided to include orange peels in the book and weave this quilt into Adelia's story. It was fun poking through my reproduction scraps, making the peels and then hand appliqueing them over that summer. I made them a few at a time in between working on the other quilts and when I had made enough blocks I put them together into my quilt. 

A blue and white table runner I made with a peel design. 

Yesterday, I taught an Orange Peel workshop to a bunch of sweet ladies from the Battle Creek, Michigan, area. I had quite a lot of fun and I think they did too. I had the most fun walking around and looking at all the different fabrics everyone was using for their peels.

Natalie, making some "Orange" peels

Sally, looking like the lady who lived in the shoe -  she had so many gorgeous peels she didn't know what to do.

Nancy used a variety of pretty shirtings for her backgrounds.

It's always an awful lot of fun to make a quilt in a group with like-minded quilters. If you belong to a guild and would like me to come and talk a little bit about my quilts and teach this one (or any other) in a workshop to your group, contact me for details. I'm always up for making Orange Peels!