Jelly Roll Race Quilt

Burnice found a youtube video from USA where a very funny lady makes a quilt from a Jelly Roll against the clock. Apparently these are all the rage over the pond so we decided to have a bash for ourselves. I used just about 24 strips left over from my Dogwood Trail rolls. First you sew them end to end at 45 deg. Then you fold that strip in half and machine along the long edge. Then after you have cut it you repeat and repeat folding and sewing until it is the "right" size. This one is obviously skinnier than it would be if you used a whole roll but I am going to use it as a runner to go over the foot of the bed on top of the Dogwood Quilt. I'm sure if you search Jelly Roll Race in youtube the clip will come up; well worth a watch.

Eliza's Quilt top.

Just a few weeks ago I started a quilt using the Moda Dogwood Trail jelly roll. Well due to being rubbish at maths I messed up how much I needed so I had to go and buy another jelly roll to finish it off! That done I did manage to finish it this weekend. Now my next dilemma was "what is generally considered to be the size for a single bed quilt"? I couldn't find it in any of my books so I worked with the fact that a single bed is 3' wide and 6' long and the closest I could get with my 10" blocks was 40"x 70" but it looks a bit skinny to me. This pattern is called Continuous Corner Log Cabin and as it happens there is a kind of central pink medallion as I have put it together so it wouldn't have worked if I had made it 5 blocks wide! I have added a 2" border but I now think I shall add a 4" one just to finish it off!

My next quilt.

At least it would have been if my maths was any good! I have had the rather luscious Dogwood Trail Jelly Roll hiding in my stash , waiting for me to use it! Now my eldest is at Uni daughter No 3 is going to move into her bedroom and I am using this as an excuse to re-decorate the room and make a new quilt! Luckily she like this fabric so I carefully worked out that for this particular design I would only need 22 strips. I sorted them into two groups, darks (green and blue) and lights (pale pink and white) and off I went with this continuous corner log cabin pattern. All would have been fine except I calculated my strips as being 5" long and in fact they are 10"! So I made 16 of the 35 squares needed before I worked out what I had done wrong. However, there really were no more blues or greens that I could get out of the roll so I will just have to buy a second one! Such a shame I will have to go internet shopping! The good news is there will be enough left over to make a second top from all the pinks! I wonder if Jasper would like a pink quilt.....

The finished Quilt!

Ta dah!!! All done! This is the jelly roll quilt all finished, quilted and bound. Looks ok from the distance for a first attempt, just don't look too closely! This is the reverse, a magenta batik. There are a few things I need to learn how to do better; how to keep in the ditch for one, how to tie off my ends properly and how to get absolutely NO wrinkles in it as I stitch.

Still it has been a learning experience, and I am still encouraged to make one for my bed. Maybe I better see what my quilting frinds think of it when they see it IRL before I get too excited!

This is the binding. I think this bit went ok but I am not sure I have done the corners quite right! Never mind, 'tis done and Katy loves it. Just got to do a label for it now before Burn shoots me....

Nearly finished.

As well as finishing my knitted throw last week, I also finished the patchwork top of my Jelly Roll quilt. It is a huge 60"x70".

Now I need to do the wadding, backing, quilting and binding. After lengthy discussions with my quilting pro,s Linda and Burnice, I think I am going for a magenta batik for the back and binding and am just going to quilt in the ditches around the squares to start with.

That isn't going to happen for a while though as I need a length of time when I can spread it all out without people walking through on it! Probably have to wait until the Easter Hols but that will give me time to track down the fabric and save up!

More Quilt...

I managed to get another hour on my quilt last night. Here are all the squares ready to go. I then assembled them into blocks of four and sewed three together, making a strip 6x2 squares. This is as much as I could get in the photo/on the table! I managed another strip too which I attacged to this one so now my piece is 6x4 squares big. It will end up 6x7 so I have only got a bit more to do before I have to tackle the binding and quilting........

Jelly Rolls!

So here it is, begun! The pattern I am doing is called something like post rail fence and you start by sewing the strips into sets of 5 with a lighter one in the middle. Then you have to iron them....I thought I might be able to miss this bit out, but you really can't!

Here are some of my sets of strips...

...and these are the ones waiting to be stitched together. It took me the whole day and evening to get this done and then cut the strips into squares. Didn't take a pic of the squares as it was too late when I finished.

Watch this space to see how it grows. Slowly, I expect as I am back at work now. Six weeks til more hoiday!