Third Quarter Pre-cut Challenge

Several quilters are new followers of this blog, so at the risk of boring most of you, I’d like to reiterate the details of this year’s challenge and invite you all to participate this quarter. The following is an excerpt from the original blog post in January.

We are all tempted to buy Jelly Rolls (2 1/2″ wide strips), Charm Squares (5″ squares), Quilter’s Candy (2 1/2″ squares), and Layer Cakes (10″ squares), right? And many times they simply become colorful decorations on the shelves in our sewing rooms. This year let’s change our languishing pre-cuts into lovely quilts!

Rather than issue a monthly challenge, I’m issuing a quarterly challenge. Here’s the schedule:

January – March:  Quilter’s Candy or Fat Quarters

April – June:  Jelly Roll

July – September:  Layer Cake

October – December:  Charm Squares

Toward the beginning of each quarter, I’ll blog about my pre-cut choice and explain my intended project. When I finish the project, I’ll share a photo, and toward the end of each quarter, I’ll ask you to email me a digital picture of your challenge project.

Yikes! We are half-way through the 3rd Quarter and I have yet to share a picture of my project. I’ve been busy hosting grandchildren and indulging in other summer activities instead of prolifically sewing and blogging, and I bet you have, too. But summer is fast coming to an end, and back-to-school time is a great time to find time in the quilting room sewing a Layer Cake project.

I used my “Arcadian Garden” pattern to make a fun lap quilt with Benartex’s “Nordic Holiday” line designed by Amanda Murphy. The line features a large scale design of snow white Artic creatures garlanded with wreaths accompanied by beautiful holiday prints. The color palette, as you can see, includes red, white, gray, green, and teal. The quilt is on display at Sew There! Quilts and More in Angier, NC. If you live locally and want to make this quick and easy quilt, call the shop to sign up for the two class sessions in September.

Here is a Work in Progress photo on the “design floor.” Aren’t the elegant prints so vibrant and cheerful?

My friend, Lori, made an “Arcadian Garden” quilt for her daughter with pastel fabrics from Connecting Threads. She achieved the larger bed size by adding a wide border which she quilted with a lovely cable design.

If “Arcadian Garden” would not suit the fabrics in your layer cake, may I suggest “Thrifty Stars”? It is photographed in a beautiful setting at Peace University in Raleigh.

Happy sewing on your 3rd Quarter Challenge project! Quilt shops and magazines are great sources of designs for using your package of 10″ squares, so settle on a pattern, tear off the cellophane, untie the ribbon, and begin. If you would like to order either “Arcadian Garden” or “Thrifty Stars,” send an email to aby.quilts@gmail.com. 

 

 

“Splendid Sampler” Finished!

“Splendid Sampler” is quilted, bound, and labeled! I am excited that this long term project is finally complete, and I can check it off of my Summer Projects list. You can read more about this project by clicking here.

I selected an overall feather pantograph, “Double Plume” by Keryn Emmerson. This is my go-to design for quilts with a Civil War era feel. Choosing thread color, however, was a dilemma. The brown sashing is quite dark; in contrast, the tan block backgrounds are quite light. The paisley border is a busy neutral, and the backing is a sage green calico with tiny red flowers. A dark brown thread would scream against the light backgrounds while blending with the sashing and border. Conversely a tan thread would draw attention to itself on the dark sashing while blending nicely in the blocks and border. I found a muted sage green thread to be the happy medium. It shows the texture of the quilting design unobtrusively across all the fabrics.

I am enjoying such success in whittling down my pile of UFOs this summer, I was tempted to start a new project. (Does this ever happen in your sewing room?) More about the new project in my next blog post.

Second Quarter Challenge – Blog Readers Share

As the month of June slips by, our challenge for the second quarter draws to an end. I’m happy to say that several quilting friends accepted the challenge to make quilts with jelly rolls. I know you will be inspired by their projects!

Stephanie sent a picture of “Plum Pie.”  This layout is a variation of Spiral Strips (found in the book Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam & Nicky Lintott.) Click here to travel to Stephanie’s blog and read all about it!

Maridee made “Crossed Path” by Quiltin’ Tia Quiltworks. It was quilted by her dear friend, Kathie Gore. Maridee writes, “This challenge has really encouraged me to check my stash. Someone cleaned out her stash and passed this jelly roll on to me. The colors  were hard to match so I used leftover strips for the border. I have re-learned to use pre-cuts sooner rather than later if I want any hope of getting matching fabric for borders or binding.”

Cindy made a striking patriotic quilt. ” I made this jelly roll race quilt for my son’s Battalion fundraiser at Ft. Bragg. Happy to say they raised a lot of money for their unit. I found this pattern in Fons and Porter’s Quilting Quickly, Spring 2014.”

Sally shared her “Mexican Stars” quilt. The design is also known as “Stars and Crosses” and was a June Block Party quilt by Eleanor Burns. The tutorial is available on YouTube by Quilt in a Day. Sally also sent a picture of her “Double Four Patch” made with Quilter’s Candy (2 1/2″ squares).

    

Inspired by Thomas Knauer’s book, The Quilt Design Coloring Workbook, Helga made a large table runner. She used a design roll from Free Spirit.

Thanks, ladies for sharing photos of your wonderfully inspiring projects!

 

 

 

 

2nd Quarter Challenge Call for Quilts

Hello Quilting Friends,

The end of the second quarter of 2017 is fast approaching, and I am calling on you for photos of your projects made with pre-cuts. Blog readers gain inspiration when you show and tell! If you remember, our year long challenge is using pre-cuts, actually making something out of our hoarded packages of pretty fabric. January -. March we focused on Fat Quarters and/or Quilter’s Candy (2 1/2″ squares). April – June we are working on Jelly Rolls. July – September it will be Layer Cakes (coordinated 10″ squares), and October – December we’ll crack open packages of 5″ Charm Squares.

Stephanie and Maridee have sent pictures of Jelly Roll quilts which I will soon post. But I’d like to add a photo of your project to the blog post. If you have sewn the top of your Jelly Roll quilt, but haven’t quilted it yet, no problem, send a photo. If you have finished your (1st Quarter) Fat Quarter or Quilter’s Candy project, likewise send a photo. aby.quilts@gmail.com

Thanks so much!

Aby Dolinger

“JR Mosaic Tiles” Top Complete

Hooray! My “Jelly Roll Mosaic Tiles” quilt is finished . . . except for the quilting. And “the quilting makes the quilt.” Any suggestions on a compatible quilt design?

If you remember from my previous post, I was one blue strip short of a happy quilt (for an inner border). A search through two tubs of blue fabric yielded one and only one blue print that would blend with the blue hue of my jelly roll strips. How can one blue be so different from another? After completing the inner border, I added the navy print for a 5″ outer border. The 1 1/2 yds. I purchased for the border is thankfully also enough for binding.

I have two favorite blocks in this quilt:  upper right corner and third row center block. I think the shading provided by the medium prints appeals to me especially in these two blocks.

Just a little reminder to work on your Jelly Roll project and send me pictures of your progress to share with blog readers. (aby.quilts@gmail.com)

Jelly Roll QAL

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted about progress on my Jelly Roll Mosaic quilt. (Remember that our Second Quarter Challenge is for Jelly Rolls. Are you working on your Jelly Roll quilt?)

All twelve blocks are made and on the design wall. I used half a strip of leftover yellow to make the 6 cornerstones. Since my jelly roll contained 10 medium blue strips, I determined from the beginning that these would become sashing strips. I used 6 strips, cutting three 14 1/2″ lengths out of each. If only I had one more blue strip, there would be enough for an inner border. Arrgh! Time to raid the stash of blue fabric.

More later, as the project unfolds!

Jelly Roll Quilt Along, Step 3

Have you started on your Jelly Roll Second Quarter Challenge? If you need an idea, why not quilt along with me? I’m making a “Jelly Roll Tile Mosaic” with easy-peasy units: strip-pieced rectangle units, strip-pieced Four Patches, and strip-pieced Nine Patches. Granted, the fabrics and colors in my jelly roll (“Figures” – an older line from Moda) lend themselves to this design. If your jelly roll has lots of colors and busy prints, you may wish to search for a design that is better suited.

We are up to Step 3 in the Quilt Along. I was able to strip-piece some of the Nine Patches using remainders of the dark print strips with light background strips. However, I had to piece some of the Nine Patches from leftovers the old-fashioned way, sewing nine  2 1/2″ squares together. I made a chart to help me evenly distribute the colors of each block. I wanted the center 2 1/2″ square to be the same color as the dark print in the Four Patches in each block. And I wanted the four dark squares in the Nine Patch to be a different color than the dark print in the rectangle units. With this plan, I can use all three of the major colors of my jelly roll in each 12″ block.

CHART

                     Rectangles     Four Patch    Nine Patch(4 sq.)    Center(1 sq.)

Make 4           Coral               Yellow             Navy                           Yellow

Make 4           Navy                Coral               Yellow                         Coral

Make 4           Yellow             Navy                Coral                           Navy

Strip-piecing directions are as follows:

For the 1st and 3rd rows of the Nine Patches, you need 20 1/2″ long strips. Sew a light background strip between 2 dark print strips. Press seams toward the dark fabric. Cross-cut at 2 1/2″ intervals. This yields 8 units, enough for 2 blocks.

For the 2nd (center) row of the Nine Patches, work with 10 1/2″ long strips. Follow the chart and sew a dark print strip between 2 light background strips. Press seams toward the dark fabric. Then cross-cut at 2 1/2″ intervals. This yields 4 units, enough for 4 blocks.

Sew the 3 rows together to make a Nine Patch. You need 12 Nine Patches, 4 of each of 3 color combinations (in my case).

Follow the chart above and group the pieces needed for each of the 12 blocks: a set of 4 rectangles units, a set of 4 Four Patches, and 1 Nine Patch. Lay out the components of one block and assemble in 3 rows of 3 units each. Press the seams of the 1st and 3rd rows toward the center. Press the seams of the 2nd row away from the center Nine Patch. Pin and sew the 3 rows together.

Hooray! Twelve “Jelly Roll Mosaic Tiles” blocks completed!

Step 4 will be sashing and border(s). Stay tuned!