Totally Distracted by a Jelly Roll Race

You know how in Friday's post I listed all the things I wanted to accomplish sewing-wise this weekend?  Well, that's all well and good, but as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men (and quilters...)

I don't know if you're a Pinterest fan, or if you've been surfing quilting blogs around the net lately,  I spend too much time doing both lately, and still feel like I don't have enough time to really know what's going on out there.  Anyway, I was at church last night for a special event and my friend Lisa, who is an accomplished seamstress and aspiring quilter told me she had purchased her first jelly roll and asked me if I had seen the Jelly Roll Race quilts flittering around Pinterest.  Well, I hadn't, but since she mentioned it, I came right home and checked it out.

Here's the You Tube video.  One of these women made her quilt top in 35 minutes (not including sewing the strips together). 

Well, this video grabbed my imagination.  I just happened to have a Boutique (by Chez Moi) jelly roll sitting on the shelf feeling all lonely, just waiting for the right project, and I thought, "What a cool concept.  I just have to try it."

Mine took a bit longer than 35 minutes, but I was still finished in less than 2 hours.  Not bad, I think.  That lady must have a machine that goes a lot faster than mine.   Or maybe I took too long getting the strips organized.  I might have been able to do it that quickly on the serger.  I used to do a lot of quilt tops on the serger, but lately, I haven't been doing them that way because the seams are a bit lumpier than I really like.

If you read the tutorial, you notice that you "randomize" your jelly roll strips, sew them into one long string, fold the two ends to the top, and sew the entire length of the 1600 inches, or whatever it is.  When you come to the bottom, you cut the strip apart, finish the seam, and then fold the bottom to the top and do it again.  The first couple of seams take for-e-ver,  but the last ones are done in a jiffy. 

It's interesting how the fabrics kind of clump together.  I didn't have any two of the same colors or fabrics together, but the bottom center in the photo above show all the really bold fabrics in the line all in the same area.  And there were a couple of places where there were several strips of blue or green right next to each other.  Weird.  But overall, I like it.

Quirky Granola Girl had a different take on the concept.  She sliced hers in quarters put a square in the center and it turned out really cute.  I actually thought of doing it that way too.  It would break up the long strips of one fabric.

My LQS still has some Boutique yardage, and I have a hunk in the stash, so I'm thinking about adding borders  - maybe similar to  Sugar Rush (probably without the scallops) so that it's not so - well - square.  The finished quilt is kind of an awkward size for me.  I'm not really fond of square quilts, and I like them to be long enough to cover my feet and shoulders at the same time, so I think borders might just do the trick.  I have some extra strips I got from BD#1, and I'm thinking of doing a scrappy binding.  I think that will go with the overall feel of the quilt.


I'm sure we'll be seeing this little guy again.