Friday, January 6, 2012

Jelly Roll "Race" Quilt

What...a second quilt top in one week? I think I must be dreaming!!! This never happens. Let me back up....I was at my LQS about a month or two ago and while I was browsing the owner asked me if I had ever heard of the "jelly roll race quilt?" I of course hadn't and in fact had never bought a jelly roll before. She said if you like strip quilts then you could make this quilt top in about an hour (well, I took a little longer but it was only an evening)! She said you could find the technique on youtube (just type "jelly roll race quilt"). Essentially all you do is sew all of the jelly roll strip ends together to form one ginormous (nice word!) strip (make sure you cut the first 18 inches off of your first strip so that it will form a nice brick effect). Then making sure you do not twist the giant strip, match your two ends together and sew your long seam. Once you come about two inches from the end of your seam, you cut the strip and then repeat the process once again (join two ends together and sew 1/4 inch seam). In literally no time at all, you have an entire quilt top in an evening. What took a little bit of time is initially joining your strips into one long one but it was easy peasy! Talk about speed sewing once you sew that first long seam.....totally mindless! The finished product should be around 48x64 which is a nice lap sized quilt.

What I learned:
1. Make sure you don't twist your long strip because you need to match up those ends, right sides together.
2. This project is perfect for non-directional prints or solids. I used a Sherbet Pips jelly roll and I do have the prints in two different directions but since it's for my little girls, they can both enjoy the quilt at the same time and have something to look at right!! (at least that's what I tell myself:)
3. Makes a quick, satisfying quilt/gift.




Hope you're having a cozy Friday night!

3 comments:

  1. I saw those quilts about six months ago, but the ones I saw had diagonal joins. I like the vertical joins better - they look nicer and so much easier: no stopping to cut ends, etc.

    Yours is lovely.

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  2. Thank you so much Lynne...I always really appreciate your comments!

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  3. This is the second time I've seen a post about these quilts. It's on my list for sure! Yours turned out super cute!

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