Hello October!

Well, we blinked our eyes and now it's October! Gosh, how is that possible!?

We had a fun and productive September, and just like the leaves that are accumulating around the yard, my mind is swirling with projects and plans for October. I will share the September collage tomorrow, and then soon I will also share some of those ideas for future projects.

Today, though, since it's Slow Sunday Stitching day, I will take a deep breath and work on some binding. I quilted two quilts this week (!) and now have plenty of stitching to do whenever I feel like taking a breather, or when we watch television.
 

Both quilts have the binding stitched on and are ready for tacking down. The one with the blue border is the larger of the two; I am currently stitching the smaller jelly roll quilt with the tan border.

This is a new experience for me as a quilter. One of several, actually. Quilting two quilts in one week is rare; having bindings ready to go for both quilts is rare. I like having the next step ready to go; preparing binding is one of those tasks that I am likely to procrastinate about. Perhaps a new leaf has turned!

I made this quilt in conjunction with Sew a Jelly Roll Day back in the middle of September. In a matter of two weeks, it is now (nearly) finished. Another relatively rare occurrence - finishing a quilt promptly. I'm surprising myself every which way, aren't I?

I will link with the fine seamstresses over at Kathy's Quilts and her weekly slow stitching party. The ladies always keep me motivated to continue stitching. Take a peek at some of those projects and perhaps you will be motivated, too.

Happy October! And Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Jelly Roll Finish

 It goes without saying that I tend to drag out projects way longer than necessary, and that is why I am particularly thrilled to show off the Jelly Roll finish I accomplished this week.

I attempted one of those quilt twists I see some quilters do on Instagram, and all I could think was that I made a jelly roll out of a Jelly Roll.

This time last week, I didn't even have the idea of making this quilt. From kernel of an idea to finish was less than a week. Gracious! I guess these precuts DO have their advantages!

This quilt is called Jelly Filled and the pattern details are contained in this post.  I've been spelling the fabric line wrong, so let me just correct that - it's Susanna's Scraps by Betsy Chutchian. 

I didn't think I would have enough fabric to do the outer border, but I did, so I guess it is ready for the longarm. It measures 66"x72" so will be a cozy couch quilt.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jelly Roll Day

 

To honor the creative genius that is THE Jellyroll, and since I won't be working on a JR quilt this time around, I will share some of my previous creations made with jelly rolls.

Jelly Roll 2019 - French General fabrics

Jelly Roll 2017-18 - French General fabrics

Jelly Roll 2021 = Roman Holiday fabric

1/2 Jelly Roll 2015 - baby quilt

Jelly Roll 2015 - gifted

I still have several Jelly Rolls in the stash upstairs, but I will hold off on getting a JR quilt started for now. If inspiration strikes, though, you know I can do a sharp about-face with little notice. 

Have a great Saturday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Small Jelly Roll Quilt is Quilted

 In the midst of attempting to get all the Christmas decorations and the tree finished, I have another quilting accomplishment that I want to share.

I don't even have it trimmed yet, so I will definitely provide more details as I complete the final steps. But it is definitely noteworthy that I am getting better at loading, at cleaning my machine, at free-motion quilting, and at overcoming my fear of mistakes.

This was made in 2019, started in September when Moda celebrates its Jelly Roll Day, and I finished the top in November. 

The only reason it is done now is that I had both a piece of batting and a piece of backing that was the perfect size for this small quilt. Rather than to stack it up and think about doing it, I just got to it. DONE! That is a very good feeling.

More details to come, as I trim and bind this quilt.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Three Finishes For Sharon

 

It always feels good to have a finish to share, and today I am sharing three recent finishes from Sharon. We have had our usual weekly sewing day the past three weeks, and on each of those days Sharon has finished a quilt. They are beautiful, of course, and I think you will be quite impressed.

The most recent finish is this gorgeous blue beauty. It is the Turning Twenty pattern which is a super-fast finish. Sharon had started it earlier and brought it to finish on Tuesday. Is this some dreamy loveliness or what!?!

The week before Turning Twenty, Sharon finished her version of Scrappy Irish Chain. You may recall that we worked on this pattern together - mine with bright yellow and hers with soft peach. Here is Sharon's finished quilt top.

The scrappy squares are largely leftover bits of various 3 Sisters fabrics which all work so well together, and of course the peachy-pink plays nicely with them, too. This is a simple quilt to make, yet we both felt that it was quite a ginormous undertaking, mostly because of the size. Those blocks are 18 inches and with all the seams in the pieced scrappy blocks, it is quite heavy.

And, if we go back a week before the Scrappy Irish Chain finish, we have Sharon's jelly roll challenge quilt which was finished in a snap. This was a fun quilt to work on (yes, I made one, too) and it broke the labor-intense focus on the Irish Chain. Sharon used more of her 3 Sisters stash to make this very gorgeous - and very simple - 9-patch and snowball quilt. I love the combination of those two blocks together. What a super finish.

We are getting stuff done around here, aren't we??? I love feeling so productive! It's funny how frequently our conversations always drift around to "what will we work on next?" That eagerness to start a new quilt never fades. Thankfully! I suppose all quilters do it to varying degrees.

What fun we have when we sew together, and we are finishing things! This weekly sewing date has worked out well for us.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Additional Jelly Roll News

The jelly roll efforts around here seem to go on and on. Yesterday Sharon came to sew; she had set aside her Scrappy Irish Chain to work on a jelly roll quilt! Yay! It is wonderful, too!

Sharon used the same pattern I had intended to use, Civil War Scrappy from the Lintott book called Jelly Roll Quilts. She did not veer from the directions as I did. Her snowball blocks look great and the quilt is a true beauty! The jelly roll is Luna Notte by - who else - 3 Sisters/Moda. They truly DO make the most gorgeous fabrics. Sharon has made a lot of quilts using this line, and she reminded me that I'd gifted her the jelly roll she used for this. Sweet!

So she came yesterday with the blocks already made. She'd been busy! Her task for the day was to lay out the quilt and stitch the top, which she did, as you can see above.

 

While she worked on her jelly roll quilt, I continued to work on mine. Yes, I thought I was finished, but I had extra 9-patch units left over, and I thought maybe I could rework them to make more blocks - enough for another row or two. So I spent the day making enough new 9-patches for two additional rows. I have them attached, and now I am considering border options. More on that some other time.

We finished within minutes of each other, and we got DH to take a pic of our quilts together. Same inspiration pattern, but I switched out the snowball blocks in favor of a floral setting block; Sharon followed the directions and made the snowballs. She had the background fabric readily available, whereas I would have had to spend too much time finding suitable background. My floral was right there in my Roman Holiday tub. No brainer.

So, we each have a jelly roll quilt made this month, both using 3 Sisters fabrics from older lines - Sharon used Luna Notte, and I used Roman Holiday. I admit that we were both pretty darn proud to have completed these so fast. Using such gorgeous fabrics makes one excited to see a finish. We decided we are absolute wizards at the sewing machine. Ha! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 
 

Roman Holiday Jelly Roll Quilt

I began my sew-a-jelly-roll efforts early in anticipation of our planned vacation to New England. And yesterday I finished off the quilt top.

Actually, when Sharon was last here on Tuesday of jelly roll week, I dug out my Roman Holiday jelly roll. I wrote a bit about that here. Basically, I matched the jelly roll up with a pattern from the book Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. I chose the pattern Civil War Scrappy, but for the sake of expediency, I decided to use a single fabric for my setting blocks instead of snowball blocks. After all, jelly roll quilts are supposed to be fast, almost effortless, in their construction. With an 8-day vacation interrupting the project, simplifying was a priority. I didn't have time to fuss with snowball blocks; I wanted this quilt done and done fast!

A quilt with a bunch of 9-patches and plain setting blocks doesn't really require a pattern, but I am so glad I studied the directions for Civil War Scrappy. It explains how to maximize jelly rolls when making 9-patch blocks - match up pairs of strips, cut strips into 17" units, then construct 3 9-patch blocks. Two will be 5 dark/4 light, while one will be 5 light/4 dark. There will be one unit left over. That's good knowledge to tuck away for future use.

Now, back to the background fabric. The pattern called for a neutral, and I didn't have one that suited me. I did have, however, a good 2- or 3-yard length of Roman Holiday floral. It is my supreme goal the older I get to follow the path with the least amount of thinking. Quilters are sometimes notorious for overthinking things like matching. I knew that this Roman Holiday fabric was pretty enough to work in any combination.

Floral setting blocks it would be; no looking back.

I think I made the right choice. Here are some additional pictures; see if you agree. The large floral makes for a very busy quilt, but I am not overly bothered by this. I have loved Roman Holiday fabric for so long, I am happy to use it in all its beautiful glory! Let the profusion of blocks and flowers jump to life in this easy quilt!

 

I always say I will skip jelly roll day next year, but I seem to have a weakness when it comes to ignoring new and fun projects. I will take a day this week to review all the jelly roll quilts I've made in previous years.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

 

 

It's Jelly Roll Time Again!

Every September the fine folks at Moda Fabrics celebrate their ingenious creation - the Jelly Roll. I remember when these first came on the scene. In my totally-missing-the-mark way, I determined that this idea would never catch on. 

Yeah. I admit to such narrow-mindedness. 

A more successful marketing brainchild may not be found in the quilting world. Precuts surely are some of the best of the best sellers in the industry.

A few years back, I bought these lovely JRs from an Etsy shop. Roman Holiday by 3 Sisters is my all-time favorite fabric, and finding it these days is quite difficult. 

Two of the JRs have been used, but one remained in my stash, and so, in preparation for the big Sew a Jelly Roll day coming up on Saturday, I have begun a new project.

Few things are more thrilling that beginning a new project, yet beginning a new project with THE very prettiest fabric ever created sure makes me a very happy quilter! Look at that RED!

Yes, I have started early on the Jelly Roll celebration. DH and I will be traveling on Saturday, so I will not be in the sewing room. If I am to participate, I need an early start.

The easy part of this jelly roll pattern is making 9-patch blocks. I am very close to having them all done. Next will be to locate some background fabric for making Snowball blocks. I have plenty of scraps in the Roman Holiday tub to use for the corner squares. More on that as I get to them. I will also share the pattern I am using.

Hope you are finding fun things to work on!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Jelly Roll Quilt Top

Before I get into sharing the latest finish out of JQR, allow me to say here that your enthusiasm over my previous post has been most appreciated. I have never had such heartfelt messages, comments and encouragement as I have had since this post. The wonderful world of quilters and the way we cheerlead for one another provides such a boost. Thank you, thank you.

Now, on to the Jelly Roll quilt. Back in September, I began a JR quilt in honor of National Sew a Jelly Roll day, sometime in the middle of the month. Using two partial JRs of a French General fabric, I just randomly began sewing a block. After awhile, I had a nice little thing going, so I made blocks until I ran out of jelly roll. To finish up the last few, I even had to dig in the French General remnant bin - all good.

And here is my finished quilt top. I have no name for this, and no pattern. I could do a tutorial because it was super-easy, fast, and fun. Maybe I will.

Any interest in that sort of thing?

My only real objective, besides using my partial jelly rolls, was to create diagonal red chains and off-white chains. Mission accomplished! I now have a nice throw-sized quilt top. I am considering a border, but maybe I will just be done and move on. Stay tuned.

This quilt was one of the contenders for my sewing day with the Frienzies at Sherrie's. I opted not to take it because I was unsure of how best to set it together and knew I needed to concentrate on what I was doing. That was a good call, for I would not have been concentrating that day, and this layout is definitely one I like. Worth waiting.

Now, I am ready to return to the longarm room to begin quilting a t-shirt quilt - the first of three I have lined up to do. All are for others, and two are for paying customers who want them for Christmas gifts. Gotta' get going on them.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Works In Progress

I think I start too many projects. Emphasis on START.

On Monday I had a full day set aside on which to sew with Frienzies, and when I went to the sewing room ostensibly to get my stuff ready to go, I had a heck of a time deciding which project to work on.

Aaahh!

I could not make myself focus! I truly want to work on them all, and of course that is impossible, so how does one pick? If I would finish one before starting another, I wouldn't waste so much time deciding.

It came down to choosing out of five options - three needed the sewing machine; two required hand-work. I will tell you what won out after I show you the five contenders.

First, I thought about taking the jelly roll squares - a red pile and an off-white pile. They would have been fun to sew together into the quilt top. Above, the individual blocks are laid out on the bed creating a pleasing red chain one direction and an off-while chain the other. Here's when I started it.

Next, I considered taking Diagonal Madness. It is always fun to sew Kaffe Fassett fabrics with the Frienzies, as so many of them have their own Kaffe stashes and quilts. The diagonal placement of the colors and squares requires attention; could I muster that with the Freinzies? Here's when I started it.

Another contender was the Quilter's Planner sew-along quilt. All the individual blocks are made and now the quilt top needs to be constructed. The background comes together in long strips. The directions have lots of numbers/measurements. I knew I would be talking and visiting - not concentrating, in other words. Again, could I muster that? Here's when I started it.

I have been working diligently on my Roman Holiday table topper with my big-stitch quilting. I have every intention of finishing it before Christmas, so it was a definite contender. I did take it along with me on Monday, but I did not take a single stitch on it. Here's when I started it.

The winner was Lake Effect, the 10-year project that I have basically avoided for about 3 months now. I was at a place where a break just seemed right. I am currently all revved up to do some back-basting, and this was how I spent my Monday. And, happily, several pleasant evenings since. *smile*

While I do seem to lose a lot of time spinning my wheels with indecisiveness, eventually, I manage to focus.

Of these five WIPs, I honestly think I can get Roman Holiday completely finished, and quilt tops for Diagonal Madness and Jelly Roll completed this month. I will allow myself to save the Quilter's Planner for December, and of course, this Lake Effect will take years. I have called it a 10-year project; I am just two years into it, so I have plenty of time left. No hurry, for sure. The fabric was purchased in April of 2017; here's a 2018 post about hexies for Lake Effect.

How do you overcome indecision in the sewing room? Help a girl out with suggestions!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Well! THAT'S finally done!

Gah!! The first big assignment of the semester is the biggest one of the entire semester, and at last, I have finished grading it!

That big whooping noise you might have heard yesterday just after 6pm likely was me beginning my celebration.

I purposely build my classes to get this intimidating assignment out of the was first - both for my students and myself. From here on out, grading will be a cakewalk compared to this one.

Because of the school work, I have very little to share on the blog today. I did spend Saturday sewing here with Sharon, and I have all my jelly roll blocks finished as a result of that. We laid them out on the bed to see the final effect. Click here for when I began the JR quilt.

This picture looks busy at first glance because I have a star quilt on the bed with a large patchwork pillow. I placed my red and white jelly roll blocks right on top -- and of course, Gracie had to get involved.

At this point, I'd made 20 red blocks with white chains and 20 white blocks with red chains for a total of 40 blocks. Where Gracie is standing is a perfect spot for two more blocks, one of each, so I have now made those for a current grand total of 42 blocks. The quilt will be 6 blocks wide and 7 blocks long.

I have made a change -- correcting those 4 blocks in which I'd put the 4-patch part in the center. (click here for the pictorial of that) I was thinking it wouldn't make any difference, but as I laid out the blocks, it did interfere with the (very) subtle secondary pattern that emerges. Unsewing and making them right didn't take too much time, and I'm glad I did it.

By the final few blocks, I was running out of the original partial jelly rolls of La Vie en Rouge by French General/Moda. If you know French General, you know that all their lines play so very well together, so I dug into my FG remnant tub for suitable additions. That tub is quite full, and I could end up making more blocks, but then my quilt would not qualify as a "jelly roll" quilt. I think I will stop here, ending up with a nice-sized lap quilt - a true jelly roll quilt, in other words.

I tell you, the weirdest thing - when both Sharon and I looked at this quilt we could not see those diagonal lines at all. The blocks just looked like a big mess. But through the camera, the diagonals were so pronounced. Isn't that strange? How can a camera view change a quilt so much from a direct eye-view?

I am glad to be back in action here on the blog. Hopefully the rest of the semester will be easier to manage.

Happy Quilting, Friends!