Stitching and DeStashing--Week 5, 2020

The stash totals for the first month of 2020 are looking good, with 5.5 yards used and no new fabric added so far this year! Last week's usage is .75 yards on my light/dark green Square Dance blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Most of the usage so far this year was on the Jelly Roll Zigzag quilt top. Since I showed the parts for that quilt last week, here is a photo of the finished top. You can read more about it in my blog post HERE.

Jelly Roll Zigzag
59" x 75.75"

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            0.75 yards

Used year to date:                        5.50 yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        0.0 yards

Net used year to date                5.50 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. There was one day that looked like I wouldn't get any quilting time because we had evening plans, but I was able to do some stitching on the train ride home that day. I'm holding on at 100%!

15 Minute Challenge:  

1/26 - 2/1                  7 of 7 days

2020 Total               32 of 32 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scraps-Along Challenge

There are always so many different quilt-alongs, challenges and mystery quilts that sound like tons of fun, but there's no way to be able to participate in all of them. I try to limit the number of new projects I start, especially at the beginning of the year, but sometimes an idea comes along that is just too irresistible. That was the case here.

On January 1st, Sherri at A Quilting Life announced that she is starting something new, a Scraps-Along Challenge. Every month she will announce a different challenge focused on sewing with scraps and stash. Each challenge has two components, scrap sewing and scrap organization, and you can participate in one or both of the challenges. The theme for January's challenge is jelly rolls.

I haven't done a lot of sewing with jelly rolls, preferring to put together my own combination of fabrics than use a single collection. However, that doesn't mean I don't have any jelly rolls. I've bought a few over the years and also received them as gifts. My Scraps-Along jelly roll quilt started with a jelly roll that I was given almost ten years ago. It is a Bali Pops roll of Hoffman batik strips called Green Tea. Here I have sorted the strips into similar color groups. 

I searched through many options for jelly roll patterns. One good source of ideas was the blog Quilt Inspiration. They had two posts from 2018 with links to many different patterns for jelly roll quilts. You can see their posts here: Part One and Part Two. One warning on the Quilt Inspiration links: not all the quilts they show on their jelly roll posts are actually written for jelly rolls. Some are patterns that call for yardage, but their primary piecing uses 2.5" strips. 

The pattern I decided to use is called Just Around the Corner by Melissa Peda for Free Spirit Fabrics (but I couldn't find it at the Free Spirit website.) If the link in the pattern name doesn't work for you, go to the Part Two post at Quilt Inspiration, about 2/3 down the page. Here is Melissa's quilt from that post.

Just Around the Corner, pattern by Melissa Peda

This was one of the patterns included in the post that was not written for a jelly roll, but it was easy to adapt. The pattern calls for 17 pieces cut at 2.5" x 4.5" of 20 different fabrics. One jelly roll strip (2.5" x 42") can be cut into 9 pieces of that size, so two strips are enough for one set of pieces. My jelly roll didn't have any duplicate strips, but I was able to match up most of the strips in pairs that were very similar, plus I added a few more strips from my stash.

The piecing was very easy, strips sewn together in pairs, then cut into 4.5" segments. I had blocks up on the wall in no time, and within a week, the center of the quilt was assembled. The quilt in the original pattern finished at 46.5" x 57". To make my version bigger, I added extra rows, setting triangles around the sides, and a matching border. My quilt top measures 59" x 75.75".

Jelly Roll Zigzag
59" x 75.75"

I love the mix of fabrics and the subtlety of each row using a combination of two different prints together. I will definitely be making this pattern again. I think it would be especially fun in bright novelty or kid's prints.

Many thanks to Sherri at A Quilting Life for the inspiration to pull out this jelly roll after all these years and make something with it. I look forward to finding out what her Scraps-Along Challenge will be next month!

Linking up with:

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 4, 2020

It feels so good to report 4.5 yards of fabric used for the Jelly Roll Zigzag quilt top that I finished last week. It was made from a jelly roll pack of batiks plus some additional 2.5" strips from my stash and a yard for the setting triangles and border. Here's an in-process photo; I still need to get photos of the completed top.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            4.50 yards

Used year to date:                        4.75 yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        0.0 yards

Net used year to date                4.75 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I've had a few evenings at home by myself over the past week, which means even more quilting time than usual.

15 Minute Challenge:  

1/19 - 1/25                 7 of 7 days

2020 Total               25 of 25 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/13/2020

My design wall is currently full with some of the blocks for a new quilt that I started over the weekend. The blocks were made from a batik jelly roll that I received as a gift about 10 years ago, plus a few extra strips from my stash. The colors are not quite right in this night-time photo.

The next photo gives a slightly better view of the colors. The sandy/tan shades are not as peachy as they look in the photo above.

I hope to get all of the blocks joined together this week, then decide whether to add a border. I may have a finished quilt top before this time next week!

I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Check them out for lots of great inspiration.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA