what i did on my summer vacation

By Patricia Belyea 

WAUCONDA WA  Oh, the ambitious plans I made for seven glorious days at our Cabin. I brought the fixin’s for making a sample quilt top for an upcoming Fall class.

Two weeks earlier I had seen a photo of an Orange Peel quilt in a used book. It was an older book filled with many traditional quilts that did not interest me. But there was one stunning photo of an orange and white quilt that completely captivated me.

Instead of forking over $12 for one inspiring image, I just looked up Orange Peel quilts online and built a Pinterest board of what I found. Click to see: Orange Peel Quilts.

My idea was to make a quilt top that was a riff on the classic Orange Peel design—not the tightly repetitive pattern but one that was more organic and improvised.

On the six-hour drive east Michael mentioned that we might do a cabin improvement project together. Day One,  we were at Home Depot buying hardwood flooring for our downstairs hallways. Day Six, we had just finished reinstalling all the trim and shortened doors. Day Seven was supposed to be pack-out-and-drive-home day.

We stayed an extra day so we could truly enjoy why we have a home in the woods. I had noticed that the sounds outside of bugs buzzing, clicking and chirping were noisier than street sounds in Seattle. So I starting photographing the little creatures with my point-and-shoot Canon Elph 310 on the macro setting.

My quilt top? I was so exhausted each night that I made little headway. I got the pattern designed, the pieces cut, the fabrics auditioned (there were problems with the original colors I choose) and three blocks made.