Orange You Glad Blog Hop

The Challenge: 
Create something inspired by the color orange. Think orange, think citrus, think orange peel, or maybe the joke about “orange you glad we didn’t say banana!” Anything orange.  You decide.

Well……Orange you glad I didn’t say BANANA peel?

When shopping for fabrics, I found some banana fabric and knew that was the fabric I wanted to use for this blog hop project. However, when I was purchasing the fabric, I was still unsure of how I was going to use them.

But finally I chose to tackle the beautiful orange peel. Or in my case I’m going to call it a “banana peel.”

I wanted to find a way to cut them out easily. I have a bad case of tennis elbow and it’s probably due to my favorite thing to do-sewing and quilting. It is in my dominate arm so resting is not that easy to do and I just can;t help myself to keep creating!

I decided to experiment with my Crafter’s Edge and their circle die and I was thrilled that what I was envisioning worked!

Orange peels can come in all shapes and sizes. My orange peels are a bit of the chubby side, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t create too much fabric waste.

To create my banana peels, I used the largest circle die which measures 6 1/2″.

I cut out the circles and then folded them in half. I used the same circle die and placed it on the folded half circle and cut one more time. My banana peel tops were made!

I followed the same process to cut out my fusible interfacing. In no time at all I had 72 banana peel tops and 72 interfacing peels.

  • You can cut 2 folded halves at a time for more time saving!

Once everything was cut, I started the interfacing method of applique. For those unfamiliar follow the steps below.

Interfacing Applique Method:

  1. Lay you banana peel top facing up.
  2. Place your fusible interfacing on top of your peel top, making sure the fusible side is facing down (away from you).
  3. Sew around the entire piece with a 1/4″ seam.
  4. Using scissor or a seam ripper, make a slit in the interfacing )make sure to not catch the top fabric.
  5. Turn you peel right side out and smooth seam with your tool of choice. (Do Not Iron…It is hard not to do this but if you are using fusible interfacing than you peel will begin to stick to whatever surface it is on.)

Now that my peels were made, I needed to decide what to actually make with them. I knew I didnt need another quilt and I knew there are hundred of quilt projects that are quilted but are not wall hangings or blankets.

I finally decided on making a quilted beach bag. My family an I were going on vacation, and a beach bag would be the perfect addition for the trip. I also knew I would be able to take photos at the beach before this blog hop so I could showcase my work at an ACTUAL beach.

The pattern I used was an interpretation of this pattern by SewcanShe. However, I pieced my beach bag and therefore had to add binding to the top opening of the bag. My bag was also a little bit larger, so I added a couple extra inches to the handles. I used the Crafter’s Edge circle die to also make my decorative Yo-Yos.

I made a matching pouch to hold our sunscreen, sunglasses and the seashells we found, so they wouldn’t get lost in the large bag. The box pouch pattern is called “Easy Does It” and is by Patterns by Annie. It is free and you can find it here.

The beach we vacationed to is called Carillon Beach. It is located between Destin and Panama City Beach Florida. We have been visiting this location for some time. We go every other year (I believe this was out 9th or 10th time) with the whole family and this year we had a total of 19 people (We started with 6 and have grown quite a bit!

My banana beach bag did not use all 72 peels. I used my extra banana peels to create an oversized pillow. I have started to really like hand embroidery and this pillow showcases some of my newly learned skills.

Thank you for visiting Inflorescence!

Check out my bonus “Orange You Glad” post for a chance to win a prize!

I am sharing my day with the following amazing bloggers:

Just Let Me Quilt

QuiltFabrication

Inflorescence (That’s Me!)

SameliasMum

Just Sew Quilter

Scrapdash

Karrin’s Crazy World

Starting to bloom by choosing JOY ~ Julia

Check out the rest of the bloggers participating this week:

Tuesday, August 17thMooseStashQuilting
Words & Stitches Quilting Gail Patchouli Moon Studio Den syende himmel   Karen’s KornerMs P Designs USA

Wednesday, August 18thQuilted DelightsElizabeth Coughlin DesignsDays Filled With JoyPatchwork BreezeAlyciaQuilts- QuiltygirlLianne Makes StuffHomespun Hannah’s Blog

Thursday, August 19thCreatin’ in the SticksVroomansQuiltsSelina QuiltsBecky’s adventures in quilting and travel Quilt SchmiltDOMESTIC FELICITYStitchin At HomeEmail ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

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32 thoughts on “Orange You Glad Blog Hop”

  1. This is a really fun bag. Great size for the beach too.
    Love how you’ve created your peels with the circle dies. What a great idea.

  2. Fabulous beach bag. Love the idea of the smaller pouch to fit inside to hold all those little things that always fall to be bottom of a bag.

  6. What an amazing way to create those orange peels…wow. I love that beautiful bag! Your details make it look so professional. The pillow is gorgeous with your hand embroidery, too!

  7. All of your projects are wonderful, Julia! Your creativity amazes me! I love the beach bag, the smaller bag, and the pillow! Your embroidery is awesome, by the way! I need to use some of those different stitches instead of sticking with 3 or 4 basic ones… I love spending time with extended family–we’re looking forward to doing that next year.

  9. As I’ve already said, I love your bags. And isn’t it funny how those wonderful photos make them even more beautiful. I love blogs with great photos.

  10. Oh, Julia, you had me with that cute banana fabric, wowed me with the bag, and on a beach even, and then showed all that beautiful embroidery on the pillow. Love it all! Thanks for joining Orange you Glad and adding the bananas!!!

  11. Colorful, functional bag. Great idea for making orange peels. I am always thinking how to do things differently with the Crafter Edge die cuts too, because it makes them even more versatile. Great beach shots. Hope you had loads of fun.

  12. What a bright and cheery beach bag and using your circle dies like you did, is a stroke of genius! I do love those Crafter’s Edge dies.

  13. I have some banana fabric! This is a very cute idea and I love your bag! P.S. I also have “tennis elbow” from quilting. I’m trying to strengthen it with some wrist/arm exercises.

  14. You did a wonderful job of working around the elbow limitations while meeting the blog theme and creating something useful. The beach photos are great! Thanks for sharing.
    Connie

  19. I love, love, love your banana peels, both the ones that made up the beach bag and the ones used in the pillow with your beautiful hand work. Thanks so much for sharing them with us.

  24. Great bag, and love the banana peels. It looks so roomy, and the boxy bag to go with is neat too. The pillow is fabulous also. Awesome projects.

  31. Love that method of applique and the way that you made two very different projects with it. Loved your post and it is fun to discover a new to me blogger.

  32. Your Orange Slice Beach Bag is so creative and useful. I like the way you make good use of your shapes by repositioning them.

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