Orbit Quilt Sew Along - December!
- Cass Merrigan
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
This update is a little late, and scouts honor it was not because we three diligent sewists hadn't complete out quilts! Truthfully, I am only starting to remember what day of the week it is after two weeks off from work. The design studio hit the ground running last Monday so its taken me a little minute to re-orient myself. I am so proud / happy / thrilled (well, all the good feels) that Jenny, Lee and I all finished out quilts on Dec 31st! A block a day is a mammoth undertaking and we made it through. So here are the finished quilt tops as sent to me in the first week of January. Jenny first, mainly because she is the only one who decided to not add a border to her Orbit quilt and keep to the OG pattern. I can't wait to see what backing she decides to go with, choosing a backing fabric is one of the hardest parts of finishing off your quilt I think.
I won't lie, I am a little jealous of the Northern Hemisphere right now... winter and kids being back at school. Sounds like bliss.
Next up, Lee and her one and only temperature quilt! I am low key obsessed by this quilt it is absolutely incredible. Having a sister living in the same city as Lee, so its been nice to keep an eye on the weather in that part of the world.
It is incredible, I think I love the band of winter across the middle best. It just adds such a dramatic break from summer and its vivid colours.
Lee has also opted for adding a little framing to her pieced top, white with multicolour dots, perfection for this quilt I think. Lee is also the only one of us with a good direction for backing, I will not spoil it for y'all, and I am so excited to see it finished up.
Now for the first studio sample of the Orbit Quilt ( yes, horse before the cart with this quilt... but I was upfront about it). Yes, we also need rain, look at my poor paddocks!
I will confess to having my quilt top finished Dec 30th... I knew exactly the fabric I wanted to finish this quilt off with so I did cheat a little. Jan 1st 2025 was scrap from my Stargazer Quilt - Liberty Carnaby so I finished off this year with some RSS black and gold Starry, which will be featured heavily in this years Starfall 2026 quilt. As a little gift to myself I spent January 1st and 2nd sequestered in the studio adding borders, social battery was non existent after Christmas and a hellish end to 2025. I had meant to make borders that were 4" finished... well I had a brain fart and they were cut at 4". Wabi Sabi moment, I still think they look incredible.
Yes, I do sew my borders by hand. Two fold reasoning for it, I love the process. It's a nice calm activity, you don't need to think hard and its quieter than using a machine, perfect for an audio book and chill session. Second... some of the seam allowances were not a standard 1/4", lets chalk that up to lessons learned. Adding borders by hand gave me more control over some of the tricker pieces that had frayed or the seam line had rubbed off. That really brings me to the "what did I learn" portion of this project:
I LOVE hand sewing, more than EPP, 10 / 10 will make another handsewn quilt.
Iron off markers suck if you are a compulsive ironer like I am. I do love the clover white pen, but not for a project like this - unless you are OK not ironing your top for 12 months. I am NOT that chill.
Sewline chalk markers in white worked best for the chambray. I tired a few and these were the slowest to rub off.
I am never using silk dupion in a quilt again without over-locking edges first. My daughters hand reared chick passed and she used to carry it around in a pouch made from scrap silk, so thats what she wanted for that days orbit... it was in January so it saw some movement over the year, which lead to fraying. I was creative while adding a border to that piece.
If you follow my stories on the 'gram you will see that I am indecisive about backing fabrics as well. I ended up ordering the Magenta speckled in wideback, I scored a great end of bolt deal. I am not 100% sold on it, so if its not for this quilt its in the stash and I will get the navy speckled. Seems thats my "safe" backing as it is on three of the quilts in my house... trying to be brave.
Nic from Craftpalooza suggested both pink and yellow as options, thank you Nic for helping me be brave! I love the yellow so much, so I may had added a little to cart as well, BBBUUUTTTT I am set to use it on the Orbit Cushion sample. Squeeeeee. I am brave enough to try it on a cushion... not a whole quilt just yet.
I had quite a few miss-cut pieces left over. The number of times I cut a small triangle and not a large, and vice versa, so I now have a cushion top! This will also be my way of testing out quilting threads, this time around I was thinking 12wt (not my standard 8wt) and in the same blue as the Chambray. I want textural drama, not colour, will see how this works out though. I also have a FANTASTIC 8wt in berry, its gorgeous and the same colour as the proposed backing.
Aaannnddd I think that's it! I will be updating as each Orbit is quilted and bound, they deserve to be splashed across the internet and preserved to inspire everyone to try a block a day quilt at least once.
Shameaka has let me know she has ever intention of getting back to her Orbit once life settles, so stay tuned for that. I really hope she is still planing to use the wax print fabrics, it will look incredible! Thank you again Lee and Jenny for sewing along with me this year, it's been so special to me. Thank you to those who lurked along, I know there are a few of you, and maybe seeing a Orbit cushion may inspire you to try it out small scale? Cass xx
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