Sunday, March 25, 2012

A Homemade Jelly Roll Strip Quilt With Two Borders

You probably recognize this quilt as one of those 1600 jelly roll challenge quilts. I made it a year ago after  I saw a group of ladies in a You Tube video in a race making these quilts.  The ladies in the video used pre-cut rolls of coordinating fabric strips. I didn't have a jelly roll at the time, so I cut strips from my stash. This is the You Tube video I watched before I made this quilt.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EomX7t7to_o
I'll summarize how I made my quilt in the picture. 
I cut 40 strips from my fabric stash. Each width of fabric strip was cut 2 1/2” wide. I sewed the strips end to end into one long strip. The ladies in the video sewed their strips together with diagonal seams. 
From one end of this long strip, I cut off 18″ and tossed it away. This helped  randomize the location of the seams throughout the quilt. If you make this quilt, it is important that you don't leave out this part.
I found the beginning and the end of the long strip, placed each of the ends right sides together and sewed and sewed and sewed. It was a long seam. Right before I reached the end, I cut the newly formed wider strip apart and then finished sewing the seam. I didn't press any of my seams until I finished so they would all be pressed in the same direction.
Again I found the beginning and the end of the strip, placed the right sides together, and sewed. Like before, just before I reached the end, I cut the newly formed wider strip apart and then finished sewing the seam.I did this five times. Each time the seam was shorter by half.  After I finished the fifth seam, I pressed all seams in the same direction, trimmed the sides to make them even and added two borders. Borders are optional.
I used fabrics from my stash to piece together a back for the quilt.  I used thin Warm and Natural cotton batting. After some free motion quilting on my domestic sewing machine, a binding made from 2 1/2" strips from my stash, a wash in the washing machine to remove the spray basting, and drying in the clothes dryer to make it soft ,,, the 67"x59" quilt was finished
This is another You Tube video showing someone making a jelly roll quilt. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEJLnaZQOU 


I found the 2 You Tube video links in this blog entry on You Tube during a '1600 jelly roll quilt' search. There are probably others. I wasn't paid or compensated in any way to mention these videos. I found them helpful to watch. 
On a personal note, the quilt took me a lot longer to make than the quilts made in the videos.
I've seen quilts made from some pre-cut jelly rolls that look VERY nice. I used very bright, bold, colorful fabrics for my strips, bright yellow for a skinny inner border and a bright lime green for a larger border. It looks really nice!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Terri Drafted a Couple Paper Piecing Blocks For Me



Yes, I got Terri's drafts in the mail yesterday and made a couple blocks. My friend Terri's blog is at quiltncards.blogspot.com. 
For each pattern I cut a 5" square and cut each square diagonally. I cut a strip about 1.5" wide and sewed the halves of one of the 5" square on either side which made the center strip finish at 1" wide. I trimmed the block to about 5.25" square. 
For the second block, I cut a strip about 2" wide and sewed the two halves of the other 5" square on either side  of the strip which made the center strip finish at 1.5" wide. I trimmed the block to about 5.5" square.
I like both blocks! I want to make another block, this time with a center strip that will finish at 1.25" wide. 
It will be easy to make blocks larger or smaller. Many possibilities. Though I did not paper piece these two blocks, I may paper piece future blocks.
Thank you Terri :D 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Tag

While reading blogs today, I came across some questions to answer on a blog post by the Empress of the Universe... It looked like fun so here goes...

1.  How long have you been quilting?
I'm been seriously quilting a few years. I've collecting fabric and pretending to quilt for years. 
2.  What quilting/sewing tool to you find most useful?
My rotary cutter, ruler and cutting board.
3.  Do you belong to a quilt guild?
No. I count on my blogging friends to be my quilting buddies.
4.  Do you have a local quilt shop?
There's a couple JoAnn's, a Hancock's Fabrics, a few nice quilting stores close by.
5.  Do you quilt your own quilts or quilt "by check"?
I quilt my own.
6.  How many finished quilts to you have in your home?
Five.
7.  How many UFOs/WIPs do you have right now?
Four or five. The reason is in the answer to question number five.
8.  What's the farthest you've been from home?
Germany on vacation. Such a beautiful country.
9.  I'm going to take you out to dinner and I'm paying... where are we going and what will we have? I like the Olive Garden. Angle hair pasta, meat sauce, never ending salad bowl, bread sticks and ice tea. Sweet tea, just like God intended.
10.  When was the last time you bought fabric?
Yesterday. Enough for a Captain America pillowcase.
11.  Thread... more than 100 spools or less? Less

I'm not going to tag 11 other bloggers HOWEVER... if you would like to join in the fun, please feel free to do so. Just answering the following questions!   Let me know so I can come visit and see your answers. 

1.  How long have you been quilting? 
2.  What quilting/sewing tool to you find most useful?
3.  Do you belong to a quilt guild?
4.  Do you have a local quilt shop?
5.  Do you quilt your own quilts or quilt "by check"?
6.  How many finished quilts to you have in your home?
7.  How many UFOs/WIPs do you have right now?
8.  What's the farthest you've been from home?
9.  I'm going to take you out to dinner and I'm paying... where are we going and what will we have? 
10.  When was the last time you bought fabric?
11.  Thread... more than 100 spools or less? 

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Today I Sewed Paper


Yes. Today I tried paper piecing. I used the tutorial on Terri's blog post at.quiltncards.blogspot.com
Now isn't this block just wonderful! So much fun going on here. A most excellent tutorial, Terri. Thank you.

Please visit Terri's blog today, leave words of encouragement for her, say a prayer for her daughter. Chrissy is having surgery this morning.

Monday, March 19, 2012

I Won A Basket of Novelty Fabrics At The Quilt Show


I got a call at lunch time today saying I won one of the four baskets of fabric given away at the Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Guild quilt show I attended over the weekend! Yahoo! How lucky and timely is that! I think some of this fabric will find it's way into a child's quilt  for Hands2Help!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2012


I'd like you all to consider joining in with the Hands2Help Charity Quilt drive being organized by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Click on the side bar button to take you to her blog for all the information and the schedule. She has options to make it easy for anyone to participate. Go read her blog posts and seriously consider contributing a charity quilt. 

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Quilt Show

This weekend has been a real treat! I visited a very nice quilt show here in Winston Salem. There were vendors, a silent auction and many lovely quilts.
I took pictures of some of MY favorites. Though they were clearly not the most difficult to make ... they caught my eye and made me smile.




The last one was my favorite. So colorful and a great collection of bright, beautiful fabrics. It was a free pattern the lady found in a magazine. The squares looked like they were about the size of charms.


I bought three lovely bundles of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Each Rowan Collection bundle is sitting on a yard of matching Kaffe Fassett fabrics that I bought on sale last year. How lucky is that. I have been looking at these fabric bundles online forever, it seems.
And I bought the half yard of postcard impressionists fabric. I may frame some this fabric.
I don't think I can afford to go to any more Quilt Shows.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Rainbow Challenge Houses

 

A wall hanging of houses in the rainbow challenge colors would look nice in my kitchen. I decided I wanted houses about 7"x7" with a chimney, a door, a couple windows and a flower bed. 
When I started cutting and sewing, I forgot that I would need some seam allowance on the sides. Also forgot I would also need some seam allowance in the roof. So the first pink house attempt will be a pot holder. No problem. I love pink. The flower beds may not be large enough for a seam at the bottom, but I can fix change that. 
Looking at them in this picture, I think they turned out cute. If I decide not to make my house blocks into a wall hanging, no problem. I'll make them into pot holders for gifts. Pot holders do make nice Christmas gifts :D 

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

March Pink Rainbow Scrap Challenge Blocks


Some pink blocks for the 2012 Rainbow Challenge. Showing off my pink 2 1/2" strips. Four or five of these strips will go into a rainbow jelly roll quilt I plan to make in December. I don't make a lot of things with pink.  But I LOVE pink.

I'm still piecing the top of Summer Breeze ll. Because I wanted the quilt to be larger, I added 14 blocks by cutting 16 more 10" squares from 4 different pieces of Summer Breeze ll yardage I had bought for borders, binding and backing. I used 14 of them for a total of 42 blocks from the layer cake, 14 blocks from yardage ... 56 blocks total. Picture is of some of the middle of the quilt.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Summer Breeze ll Quilt Project



I bought a layer cake of Moda's Summer Breeze ll ... on sale! I wanted to make a quilt using the "Double Slice Layer Cake Quilt Tutorial" YouTube Video made by the Missouri Star Quilt Company.
The first slice was easy. I randomized the pieces and sewed them together. The second slice was easy, too. Again I randomized the pieces and sewed them together. I didn't realize they should all be sewed together the same way. No problem. I have a good seam ripper.
When I started to square up my finished blocks, I found they were not quite 9 1/2" square blocks. So I used the rotary cutter and made them all 9 1/4" square blocks.
They are ready to play with on the design floor.
I can't wait to see what they look like when I sew them together. My blocks look great! Beautiful actually! I love, love, love this collection of fabrics!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

May For Me - BINGO Card


B   BLUE - bear, fish, pail, truck, fireworks
I    YELLOW - ladybugs, dots, dog, daisies, hydrant
N   RED - plaid, car, free space, paws, stars
G   GREEN - penguin, frog, people, shoes, vines
O    PURPLE - bubbles, paisley, rabbits, dragonfly, butterflies

My BINGO Card is ready for MAY FOR ME! I have noticed BINGO CARDS showing up on several quilting blogs. The cards are fun and easy to make. Sharon Vrooman has an excellent Bingo Card tutorial here.
http://vroomansquilts.blogspot.com/search?q=Bingo+tutorial
Edit N should have listed CAT and not CAR. oops

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pom Pom de Paris Quilt Finish




I'm pleased with my finished Pom Pom de Paris quilt. After going through the washer and dryer, posing for a couple pictures outside, she now lies all soft and warm in my favorite rocking chair. Feels so good when a quilt comes together nicely.
For this small 58"x64" quilt I used a jelly roll, a charm pack and 4 yards of fabric from Moda's Pom Pom de Paris collection by French General. It was close toward the end as I have just enough scraps left to maybe make a pot holder or two.
Pom Pom is quilted with diagonal straight lines using 1 1/2" painter's tape to guide the lines. This is a most excellent quilting idea that I saw the "Empress of the Universe" use in some of her recent blog post entries at imperamagna.blogspot.com. Glad I bought a large roll of tape as I'll be using her quilting idea again.

Monday, March 5, 2012

A Package in the Mail!


I went to the mail box and there was a package! It was from my good friend, Sharon of vroomansquilts.blogspot.com
The box was full fabric and a note. Sharon knows how I love to play with bright, colorful fabrics and she wanted to share some of the lovely things she won. So thoughtful and generous!
While I arranged the contents of the box on my cutting table for a blog photo, I was already thinking of some things I could make with this lovely, SOFT fabric collection. It will make some sweet baby and children donation quilts for Project Linus.
Thank you, Sharon.

The Liebster Award

I'm sorry to say I have been away from my blog for awhile. Company from out of town, family obligations, you name it, you know how it is sometimes.
However, while I was away from my blog, something wonderful happened to me THREE times. I was awarded the Liebster Award!!!

Terri, my friend over at her sewing and quilting blog, quiltncards.blogspot.com, gave me the Liebster Award! Awesome! I have followed Terri's blog for a long time. We have exchanged many emails. I call her my good buddy from California! She freely shares her paper piecing ideas. Love you sweet Terri.
Mariana over at her blog, cowboycountryvegetarian.blogspot.com, also gave me the Liebster Award! Double awesome!! She is a new friend. Her blog is full of food ideas.
And, my friend "The Empress of the Universe", over at her quilting blog, imperamagna.blogspot.com, also give me the Liebster Award. Triple awesome!!! I have followed her blog for as long as I have been blogging. She freely shares wonderful quilting ideas. Love you Girl Friend.

Now, about the Award.
This award is given to favorite blogs with under 200 followers. The Liebster Rules are:
1. Post about your win on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.
3. Copy and paste the award to your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have less than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.
5. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

I had a hard time picking only 5 blogs to pass on this award. I follow so many blogs.
These are my fav five, in no special order:

1. Linda at http://roscoesma.blogspot.com/
Love her fabric choices. Love her quilts.
2. Blue Ridge Boomer at http://brboomer.blogspot.com/
Oh My. Such wonderful pictures of the mountains of NC, her pets and her sweet quilts. I have followed and enjoyed her blog a long time!
3. Flo at http://butterflyquilting.blogspot.com/
Lots of great sewing ideas! Beautiful quilts.
4. Donna at http://donnaslavendernest.blogspot.com/
I love purple! Need I say more!
5. KatieQ at http://saltmarshpath.blogspot.com/
More lovely, sweet, wonderful quilts. A kind generous lady.

And I want to say to the three sweet bloggers that gave me this Liebster Award, thank you very much, again. It meant so much to me, put a lift in my step and a smile on my face for days.
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