Jellyroll Baby Quilt - Quick and Easy!

Sometimes you need a quick quilt for a little one, or maybe you are wanting to work up some quilts for a local charity. This is perfect! You will not use up your entire jellyroll...unless you choose to make several. You could get your friends together and have a little sewing retreat for the afternoon and whip these out!

The jellyroll that I have used for these quilt tops was gifted to me by a very sweet woman who lost her home in a fire. Many folks came together to provide her with fabric to sew on to help replace the irreplaceable. She did not have any little ones to sew for and so she passed this along to me. In the spirit that it was gifted to her, I feel that it should be continued on and gifted to others, therefore I am making several quilts from this one jellyroll and they will be donated locally. 

Sew let's get started!

Pick a jelly roll to work from...

You will need 8 strips. Mix and match or stay in one colorway, the beauty of a Jellyroll is all of the fabrics are already coordinated, you can't go wrong! (if you don't have a spare jellyroll laying around or you don't want to purchase one, you can work from your stash by cutting 8 - 2.5" x WOF strips)

Once you have selected your strips, you will also need enough background fabric to make a 4.5" strip by WOF (width of fabric)
and two 2.5" x WOF strips.

You can add border to the quilt center to make it any size you wish. The quilt center will finish at 24.5" square. As I finish my quilts, I will add onto this post and give you dimensions for my finish.

We are ready to sub cut our strips as shown in the photo below.
From your jellyroll strips cut 

16 - 2.5" squares
8 -   4.5 x 2.5" strips
24 - 6.5 x 2.5" strips

From your background fabric cut:

8 -   4.5" squares
24 - 2.5" squares

This will make one quilt center.

Let's work on the easy block first. For this block you will use 16 of your 6.5" strips,16 of your jellyroll 2.5" squares, 8 of your background fabric 2.5" squares.  I like to lay them out as shown so I can see if I like the way the fabrics look together and to avoid repeats. 

Stitch the center 2.5" squares together first. I like to chain stitch them as it goes faster, so I pick up the top two squares and stitch them together for each set. Clip them apart and finger press them open, pick up the remaining 2.5" square and stitch it to the background fabric. Press your seams to the colored fabric.

Once that is done, chain stitch one of the side pieces to the block, clip apart, chain stitch the other side to the block and press to the colored fabric. You should have 8 blocks when you are finished.

MAKE 8 BLOCKS

That was easy, right? Okay, lets move onto the next block.

For this block you will lay out the remaining fabric that you have cut to correspond with the photo below.

You can use a removable marking pen or pencil to mark your remaining 2.5" background fabric squares on the diagonal as shown. If you don't want to mark them, you can fold them in half and make a finger crease. For new quilters, I recommend that you mark your diagonal. Make sure you are using something that is erasable to mark with. I like the Frixion pens, they iron right out, be sure to test on a piece of scrap first. They also come in a multitude of colors.

Pay particular attention to how the diagonal is laid out in the photo above. If you rotate your background squares as you stitch them, you will not have the result you want.

Again, I like to chain piece. starting with the smaller of the strips (the one at the bottom in the photo above). Stitch right on your line. TIP; to avoid stuffing the tip of your corner into your machine and getting a balled up mess of thread...start your seam as shown below from the long edge of your fabric rather than the tip.

Once you have done this, do the same for the longer piece that is to the left in the layout photo...remember, don't turn your pieces around or you'll have a mess.

Now, trim the corners as shown in the photo below, trim 1/4" past the line that you have marked for the diagonal. Finger press open first pressing to the dark fabric, then give a quick press with your iron. Put your pieces back in the layout show in the earlier photo above.

Taking the short piece first, stitch that to one of your 4.5" squares. Again, I chain piece all of these so it goes fast. Press them open, pressing them to the background fabric this time.

Grab your long piece and stitch to the other side. Again pressing your seam to the 4.5" background fabric. You should now have 8 blocks that look like the photo below.

MAKE 8 BLOCKS

Now assemble your quilt. Lay your blocks out as shown below. Start with four center blocks and four corner blocks then fill in with your secondary block. Don't be afraid to move things around until you have something that pleases you. Also, don't be so critical, baby won't care.

LAY OUT YOUR BLOCKS AS SHOWN

I like to stitch across in rows and press my seams in one direction for the first row and the opposite direction for the second and so forth. This will let you "nest" your seams for perfect intersections.

There will be updates to this post as I finish the quilt tops...so check back. You should be able to get at least 6 baby quilts from your jellyroll.  I used a combination of 2.5" strips of the white kona cotton around the center block as the first border and the outside border can be any combination of strips that will give you a width of 4.5" This will have your little baby quilt finishing out at a nice 36" square. On the purple quilt below I used a combination of a 1.5" strip of a pretty word fabric and a 3.5" strip of a purple floral. Whatever works for you is fine. You will get 6 quilts out of the one jellyroll by adding an equal amount of Kona Cotton Strips. All have been donated to Project Linus in Grass Valley, CA.  I will be making more of these, they are quick and fun!

Quilt Giveaway! UPDATE Winner Announced

UPDATE: The Winner of the Quilt Giveaway is Ramona Dunihoo. Congratulations!!!

Last month, John and I were in Idaho visiting our friends the Morrows, who live in Rigby. I had to visit my favorite little quilt shop in Idaho Falls, Daydreams Quilt N Sew!  

Annalee Leonard was kind enough to host me for a couple of great days sewing in her shop, lots of folks came out to say hello, it was really fun to see everyone. I love Annalee's shop and since we are planning to move out that direction in a year or two...well, I want to do everything I can to support her little quilt shop. There is something wonderful about being able to walk into your local quilt shop and touch the fabric, to spend time browsing through the patterns and notions and to enjoy the camaraderie that exists between fellow quilters. We recently lost 3 very good local quilt shops near our home in Foresthill, California and so I think I am probably more acutely aware of how important it is to support local businesses.

Last Months Winner, Sue Whiteley

You will remember last month we gave away the Brother Project Runway sewing machine that I had shipped out to the shop to sew on for a couple days. The Winner was Sue Whiteley. Well, this month we are giving away the quilt that I worked on in Annalee's shop! 

The fabric used to make the quilt is Woof Woof Meow designed by Stacy lest Hsu for Moda. Such a sweet jelly roll filled with kitties and puppies, paw prints and balls of yarn. Perfect for anyone who has an affinity for fur babies.

The quilt pattern is called Keyhole from Missouri Star Quilt Company. It's a fun and easy quilt to make, perfect for a beginner and great for a seasoned quilter who wants to do some "no thinking" quilting. The video by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company will teach you how to make this quilt.  The type of fabric you select will dictate the "style" of your quilt. This quilt fabric is whimsical and yet the color palette and the design of the quilt lends it to a multitude of styles. 

I decided to take a few of the remaining blocks and make a standard pillow sham. The quilt finishes at about 65" by 73".

There are so many cute motifs in the fabric designs on this quilt, it really was great fun to put together and I'm hoping that you (the winner) will love it! I used the stripped fabric shown in the photo above to bind the quilt and also you will find it in the pillow sham as well. The quilt will be on display at Daydreams Quilt N Sew, 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Be sure to drop in and say hello to Annalee and check out her wonderful shop.

Daydreams Quilt N Sew located at 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho

HOW TO ENTER: 

1. LIKE the following Facebook pages
www.Facebook.com/SisterOfTheDivide and www.Facebook.com/Daydreamsquilts

2.  TAG a friend in the comments below the giveaway post.

3. LEAVE A COMMENT on this blog.

4. EXTRA CHANCES: 
Go into Daydreams Quilt N Sew located at 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho and you will be given an entry. Or you can request a free entry by sending a post card with your name and address clearly printed on it to the address of the store above and you will be entered. Limit one per day. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

Purchase anything in the store up to $20.00 and you will receive 5 extra chances.

Purchase anything in the store $20.00 - $50.00 and you will receive 10 extra chances.

Purchase anything in the store $50.00 or over and you will receive 20 extra chances.

Online purchases will count as well if you cannot go in person.

DRAWING WILL BE HELD ON AUGUST 22ND, 2018.
THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON AUGUST 23RD, 2018

GOOD LUCK QUILTERS!

#ModaBeeCreative and A Quick Jellyroll Quilt

Several weeks ago, I purchased a bolt of fabric from this line, BEE Creative by Deb Strain for Moda, that I thought would make a really pretty backing fabric. 

It is kind of a cheddar color, which is out of my comfort zone. Sometimes I just like to challenge myself with something different. I had walked by the line of fabrics in our local little quilt shop and nothing was jumping out at me yelling for me to purchase it. Then I saw the jelly rolls. There is something about a jelly roll that just peaks the interest. It has the full line of fabrics and you get a better sense of where the designer was going with it all. They were on sale, so I purchased four to add to my stash. And promptly put them away as I didn't have an immediate project in mind.

Scrolling through pinterest one day, I noticed this quilt and knew immediately that this would be the one that would be perfect for this fabric. It would let you cut the fabric into bits which would play well with each other and actually set off and showcase the designs.

The quilt pattern is Briar Rose by England Street Quilts and the PDF pattern is available here: Briar Rose Quilt by England Street Quilts  Be sure to visit Shontelle's website, she has lots of other quilts to share: England Street Quilts

Having decided on the quilt pattern, it was time to cut! This quilt uses 32 strips from 1 Jellyroll of your favorite fabric, 1.5 yards of background, 1 yard border fabric, a little over a 1/2 yard for binding, 4 yards for backing.  My quilt finished at 72" x 56" just as the pattern describes.

When you have a pattern that gives you yardage in meters and centimeters all you have to do to change that is to go to google: Length Calculator  put in the number of meters or centimeters, select from the little drop down menu below centimeters or meters and then in the next box it will show you the equivalent in the measure that you select from the drop down box below it...inches, feet, yards. You will instantly have your number...be smart round up!

I picked out the strips that I wanted to use and set aside the ones that were very light with white background as they would not show up in the blocks when placed next to my background fabric of Kona Cotton White. You want to have some contrast with this quilt. If you lay four strips at a time on top of each other on your rotary mat and another set of four carefully stacked directly above that, you can make your cut and have 8 done all at once. This will help you speed your process along. Her pattern is clever as it has you cut a 24" strip and then an 18" strip. If your cutting board is 24" long, well, just line your fabric up carefully to the 24" mark of your mat and make your cut at the 0" mark on the other end... and you are in business. Then slide your strips to the 18" mark and make your next cut. It really does go very fast this way.

As she advises, set aside your 18" strips and start sewing your 24" strips together in strip sets of four.  Don't make them all the same...alternate lights, mediums and darks for variety. Think about what the finished quilt looks like. You don't want a strip set of all darks, etc. Press all your seams in one direction. This goes fast.

Once that is done...carefully lay your strip set out on your cutting mat, lay another right sides of fabric facing each other on top and line them up carefully. This is where a particular cutting device comes in really handy. The June Tailor Quarter Cut Ruler, you can find this at JoAnn Fabrics, Amazon, Walmart, they may even have it at your local LQS. Below is a video that will show you how amazing this tool is. It's one of the techniques I use to get my fabric for my quilts cut quickly.

Isn't that great? Somebody was thinking! Okay, so using that ruler and lining up my strip sets I have them cut in no time. And if you are wobbly with your rotary cutter, this will help you get those straight cuts you are after.

Aren't they pretty, all ready to just grab and sew. Now remember I told you to press them all in the same direction...Grab two that you want to put together and the goal is to nest your seams where they intersect so that you will get a crisp clean intersection. Well if your seams are going the same direction, that makes it kind of hard to do.  Don't fret. You can do one of two things, flip one strip or take that strip to your ironing board and just simply press them in the other direction, it takes seconds. I had fun stitching this quilt on my vintage Singer "Rocketeer".

Nest your strips together and run a set of two through your machine I like to place a little pin in the seam allowance as shown above...now repeat that with another set. Clip off your first set and pick the next strip you want to attach to it...nest your seams and stitch...clip off the set behind it and repeat. Do this until you have four strips sets sewn together for your block and snip it from behind your machine. 

Press all your seams in the same direction. Start another set of two strips and as you stitch that through your machine, snip the next finished block off the back and press. If you will do this, you will have 17 beautiful blocks finished in about 1 hour. 

TIP: set your sewing area up for efficiency. I have a cutting mat on the right and left of my machine, I sit in a desk chair on wheels that rotates easily and I set my ironing board up so that it's right next to me at table height. I only need to rotate my chair to accomplish all of the tasks required, no jumping up and down to press or cut, it's all right within arms reach. This helps me get my quilts done quickly without a lot of effort.

The next block in this quilt requires that you take 27 of your 18" strips and cut them into 2.5" squares. Again, I use the June Tailor Quarter Cut Ruler to make this a snap. See the photos below. Stacking four strips at a time and two rows of four strips.

Make your cuts at the 2.5", 5", 7.5" and 10" marks and then move your mat.

Use a sharp blade in your cutter and make sure you have lined up your fabric strips carefully...it just takes a second to insure accuracy.

Effortless, quick and accurate. It's one of the most worthwhile investments you will make in a quilting tool. 184 pieces cut in just minutes!

Set those aside and cut your background fabric 4.5" squares the same way...first cut your strips of 4.5" background fabric, then lay them on your rotary mat and placing your June Tailor Quarter Cutter on top, make your cut at 4.5" and 9", then move your mat to continue making cuts. Done in just a few minutes. 120 pieces!

In her directions she tells you to mark the diagonal on your 2.5" squares...You can do that, I just take them to the ironing board and press them on the diagonal. Just as quick. Do what works for you.

You will stitch these on the diagonal line or crease, lining up one square on each corner. TIP: to make this go quickly, sew one corner on each block and just continue until you have made all 68 of your blocks. Clip them apart and stitch your square onto the opposite corner in the same manner. Take to your cutting mat and using your rotary cutter, cut off the corner leaving a 1/4" seam allowance beyond your stitching line as shown below.

Don't toss your corner clips...you can run those through your machine as leaders and enders and have enough to create something else fun. No Waste! 

Press open your seams, pressing to the corners and lay them out to create your X block. Flipping the blocks on the right over and placing them on top of your blocks on the left, stitch the top two together and then the bottom two together.  I stitch all of my sets together like this first and then I clip them apart by twos to keep my sets together. This helps it to go very fast.

Take one of your "sets" at clip it apart, place your pieces so they look like below and press your seams to lay to the left as shown on BOTH pieces. Now when you turn the bottom piece around to create your X block, they will nest.

You have turned your 1/2 block around to create your X block, now flip that block up, right sides facing to stitch the center, notice how your seams will nest in the center now. See Below.

I have off set these just a little so you can see the nesting effect. You will line your fabric edges up exactly. Again, Place a pin in your fabric, not in the seam, but right next to it, as shown below, and stitch along this edge to create your block.

I like to spin my seams, to do this you will lay your block on the ironing board with the seam side up, take your iron and press the right side of the seam to the bottom and the left side to the top. In the center where they intersect, you will clip a few threads, sometimes you can just wiggle them apart and finger press your pieces in opposite directions as shown below.

This creates a little windmill effect for the seams and a tiny four patch in your center if you have done it correctly. It will help your block lay nicely. See Below.

Follow the pattern instructions to create the 1/2 X blocks that will create the perimeter of your quilt.

Time to assemble! If you have a Quilt Wall, or a piece of batting hung on the wall it helps to lay out your quilt before you stitch it together, making sure everything is where you want it. The floor will always work too. Here is your opportunity to move thing around. This close up shows you how the blocks come together to create a secondary design.

Happy with the lay out, start stitching your quilt together, one row at a time. I like to stitch a row and then pin it back to my wall...get another and so on until I have all of them stitched, then I start working from the top down keeping them in order, stitching one to the next. Add your border fabric and you have your quilt top completed.  

I hope these tips will help you with your quilting and let you BEE Creative! My favorite part of this fabric is the selvage! SWEET! Whether you go out and buy yourself a pretty Jelly Roll or you put together some scraps of left over fabrics, I hope you'll give this quilt a try.

Ruby Goodness Table Runner - Free Tutorial

I received a pretty little Moda Mini Charm Pack of Little Ruby that was included in my order from Missouri Star Quilt Company. Who doesn't love this fabric line? And who doesn't love MSQC? What to make? What to make? So I started off just playing and making some little four patches.  

                   

Now, I could have taken these little 2.5 inch squares and stitched little four patches, but I wanted tiny four patches. Now you could cut these into four pieces and try to wrangle that through your machine but who wants to do that? Not me!  Here's an easy way to make tiny 2 inch four patches that we will work into a table runner.

Using a 1/4" seam, stitch ALL of your little squares together in ONE long row. That was easy, right? Now measure 1" from your seam and make your first cut, just like above.  Continue cutting 1" from your seam allowance along your entire row.

You should have a pretty pile like the photo above, that was easy!

Lay your pieces end to end as shown in the photo above, mix it up, have fun and sew these pieces together by twos as shown in the photo below.

Now sew these together by twos as shown in the photo below.

Continue in this fashion until you have one long strip as shown below.

Pretty easy so far! Now we are going to cut again, the same way we did before. You should be able to lay your ruler between your seams and they should measure 2". If they do, then you will cut as before 1" from your seam and continue across the entire row as shown in the photo below.

Quick as a bunny you will have a nice pile of tiny 2" four patches and you didn't even break a sweat! AWESOME Right?

Now, let's take these tiny little four patches and lay them out in a 9 patch configuration as shown below.

We have enough tiny four patches to make 4 of the 9 patch blocks. Take a moment and look at how your scrappy bits are and make sure they are mixed up good. Now take them to your machine and sew up your four 9 patch blocks as shown below. It helps to place a little pin beside the seams as you match them up. 

Your completed block should measure about 5". It will depend on the accuracy of your 1/4" seam allowance and your cutting. Now cut a 2" x WOF strip of Kona Cotton White. You will cut this strip into five 6" pieces. Stitch these to one end of your 9 patch blocks as shown below. You will have one piece left over. Trim your strips to the width of your blocks as shown.

Lay your blocks out as above and stitch the raw end of the block to the strip that is already attached to create one long strip. Sew the remaining strip to the end of the block, see below. Press to the white.

Cut Two 2" x WOF strips of your Kona Cotton White. This you will stitch to the sides of your strip set. Press to the white, making sure to open your seams with your fingers to make sure you have them fully opened before you press. Trim even with the ends. 

Now measure the width of your runner.  It should measure 8" or so, again depending on your seam allowance. What ever the measurement is, cut two strips that are 2" wide x that measurement. Mine is 8" so I cut two strips 2" x 8". 

You should have 6 tiny four patches left...pick four for your corner stones.  Stitch one to each end of your two strips. Press to the white and set aside.

Cut 2 strips that are 2" x WOF and stitch one to each long side of your table runner.  Press them open and cut them even with the end of your table runner, Press to the white.

Your end pieces with the tiny four patch will be sewn on now. You will find that the seams will nest nicely as they are pressed in opposite directions. You can place a pin if you need for accuracy and stitch these end pieces on.  

Now measure the width of your runner again and cut two 2" strips that width and stitch them to the end.  Press them open and then cut two final strips 2" x WOF and stitch those along both long edges, trim to square up. YOUR Done!  Cut your batting 2 inches larger than your finished runner and same with your backing fabric. Quilt as desired.  I just did a simple straight stitch where I liked it. 

Bind as desired. I have a pretty little red and white polka dot that I'm going to use as my binding. I'll update the photo later. Hope you enjoyed this little table runner tutorial and if you make one, please send me a photo, I love to see your work! This table runner finished at 32" x 13". You can reduce the number of squares to 2 or 3 for a shorter table runner and reduce it to 1 for a sweet table topper!