Sunday, September 7, 2014

I've Embraced the Jelly Roll

      One of the big trends in quilt shops for a few years has been the jelly roll. I see them and walk by because the quilts I see made with them are really not my usual style. I'd see the selection of fabrics from a line of fabric and I'd like them but hadn't jumped in.
AC Moore Birthday jelly roll
      Well, last week I took the plunge. I had a $10 gift certificate from AC Moore for my birthday and instead of buying scrapbook stuff I found myself in their little fabric section. They had 5 or 6 sets of jelly rolls. One sort of called my name so I bought it with no idea what to do with it. So I Googled images of jelly roll quilts and scrolled through hundreds of images until one quilt jumped out at me because the fabrics were so similar to the ones I had. I confess I printed up the picture and went with it (please don't tell the creator!). This is one quilt my daughter likes because she likes things realistic and graphic, and this one looks like a stained glass window. I haven't done a border yet because I used all the fabric. Emma thinks it just needs a black border and she is probably right.She is the art major after all!
JoAnn JellyRoll
Not really a jelly roll but is made with
2 1/2" strips left over from another project
      Then the other day I was in JoAnn Fabrics looking for red,red-violet,purple fabric and ran into a bargain bin.There I found this sad, bedraggled jelly roll for $6. The fabrics were fun and wild and nothing I would ordinarily buy so I went for it. Then I went to the pattern books and found a couple jelly roll books and browsed for ideas. The one I came up with is sort of done like a huge log cabin and I have been doing a round of this in between the steps of the 4-patch blocks. It is fun and bright and won't even need a border when it is done.

 This last picture is a quilt I just finished quilting. It is made from 2 1/2" strips left over from another project and the border is the end of the triangles and border fabric. (Recognize it, Cindy?) I kind of like the way I separated the strips randomly with pieces of the pinks.

I apologize for the quality of these pictures. Took them with my camera and it is too much trouble to do them over with the camera right now. Next time..... Oh, just remembered the incandescent setting on the camera and was able to retake the blue one. The other are too much trouble.

Red to Purple- a different color triad

     A few years ago I did a quilt using just the colors from green to purple on the color wheel. That included green, turquoise, blue, blue-violet, and purples. I went through my entire stash and cut strips off each piece of fabric in these colors. For this project I cut 2", and 3 1/2" strips. I used this basic block and did 4 quilts in different layouts. One of them was even a maze with a mouse hunting for cheese at the end. After I cut a couple ziploc bags full of strips I was surprised to see that the level of fabrics in the totes didn't even go down! After a couple years using these pieces they finally were used up.
       Now I have decided to do this challenge again with red, red-violet, purples with light pinks and lavenders. I found a pattern that I love so went through the totes again and pulled out every piece. For this project I cut 1 1/2", 2", and 3 1/2" strips. I had piles of fabric all over the room for about a week!
       This quilt will take me forever to finish--no kidding. The 1 1/2" strips are cut into squares and made into 4-patches. I need hundreds of these 4-patches. Then they go with the 2" squares to make a double 4-patch, and then these blocks make a triple 4-patch. I love this kind of challenge with lots of scraps because it is fun to combine all the different fabrics. I always make myself a rule with scrappy quilts and this time the rule is the same as usual--don't repeat a fabric in a block and use each color in each block. To be honest, the triple 4-patch blocks by themselves aren't too pretty, but put them all together and it is beautiful. I can't wait to do this pattern.
I found a border fabric but can't decide
on the inner border. I kind of like the stripe. 
       I do have a problem though. I didn't think about a border fabric to tie it all together. I have perfect fabrics in the stash but they are years old, and about the size of a fat quarter. WHY didn't I think of this in Spokane while I was visiting 8 shops?!
       If anyone knows of a great fabric, please post a picture or send a link. I did find one fabric and and am using it right now but I would like another, since I will probably end up with several quilts from this pile.

Well, it is less than a month since I started this project (and this blog page) and the top is finished! It is bed size and I thought I would never finish squaring up those 4 patches but I did it! Now it needs a border. During the cutting process I found this border fabric in the local fabric store and it is scattered throughout the quilt  and I like it. I didn't find a single other fabric in this color combination in the 4 stores I visited!  Now I can't decide on the inner border. I think I like the stripe but there is not really any white in the quilt. Actually considering dying it a pale pink. What do you think? It just seems fun and less boring than a red or burgundy. So for the moment it is hanging on the wall waiting for a final decision.
    I actually didn't have all that much fabric left over. Probably enough for a small quilt but I want to find another border fabric to finish that one. You know what that means--FIELD TRIP!