Since arriving home from Yellowstone last weekend and reuniting with my sewing studio, I have been focused on Jelly Rolls and quilts for the upcoming National Sew A Jelly Roll Day (you can read about it here) on Saturday, September 16th. One of my favorite jelly roll quilt patterns is the Jelly Roll Race which is a great quilt to make when you just want to sew easy especially after working on a mind-numbing project like maybe a Gypsy Wife Quilt. (It's been almost two years since I made mine and I'm still in recovery mode). I designed a variation of the Jelly Roll Race Quilt called Jelly Roll Charm Chase which combined a Jelly Roll and a Charm Pack of the same fabric line together and it was chosen to be a Moda Bake Shop pattern back in June (you can find the pattern here).
Prior to this pattern being published, I already made two Jelly Roll Charm Chase quilts several years ago and the Autumn Woods was the second one I made. This quilt is different from the Jelly Roll Charm Chase quilt pattern being I did not use a charm pack for this quilt but instead 4.5" cut squares of the same fabric from the same line of Kate & Birdie's Autumn Woods fabric. This quilt measures 60"x68" which is a little shorter than the pattern because only two additional strips were added for the border instead of four strips. I made this top several years ago and for some reason I didn't like the way it turned out which can happen when you make a Jelly Roll Race Quilt. But sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder, because after finally quilting and binding it, I really like the quilt now. It's perfect for the season and will look nice on the living room couch.
Autumn Woods was lightly quilted with only quilting on each row so it's very soft and cuddly which I like. It's the first large quilt I machine quilted on Hazel, my new Juki HZL F600 sewing machine. I'm not too happy with the way Hazel handled the quilt, there was some drag and fabric pushing resulting in some re-basting, but I sure do love the serpentine stitch. I'm also not use to quilting on a small harp space and maybe Hazel would do better with just baby or smaller quilts.
One of the reasons why the quilt top languished in the studio is I couldn't decide on the backing which for me sometimes takes longer than picking fabric for the top because of my indecisiveness if the fabric used for the backing might be needed for a future top--it's sort of like a commitment issue. After agreeing and commenting on a blogger's post that making pieced backings was not one of my favorite things to do, I found myself making a pieced backing, in fact, I ended up making three pieced backings that week. It's still not one of my favorite things to do although it is a great way to use up the fabric stash.
Here's a sneak peek of a new Jelly Roll Charm Chase Quilt I'll share on next week's post. I've already finished the top and should be ready to start machine quilting this weekend. The backing is ready to be sewn and this time there was no commitment issues.
Last week I shared some photos of my Backseat Sewing Studio project and thought I would post photos of all the blocks made which were two small runners and 18 blocks. Just a reminder these were sewn driving to and from Yellowstone and not during because I did not want to miss any of the scenery. Sadly, I think we're done traveling for the year except maybe for visiting my son and his family who live four hours away. We may be traveling with our two dogs: Dewey will be sitting in the front seat next to Hubby and Sophie will be in the back seat with me and there is no way she is going to let me sew, my arms are meant for holding her.
I'm still not ready to update my Minus 100 Yard Challenge but I will say after the next calculations, my total is going to look pretty good finally. I still can't believe I did not visit one quilt shop during vacation.
I'm linking up with:
My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday
Crazy Mom Quilts: Finish It Up Friday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict: Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?Busy Hands Quilts: Finish Or Not Friday
I've been following this business of your back seat project. You certainly got quite a bit done. Those blocks are colorful and it appears that although rotary cutters are out, scissors are okay in the vehicle.
ReplyDeleteI brought some hand work on our trip and had a great time with that. Like you I put everything away while we were in Yellowstone so I could enjoy the park. What's your favorite thing from Yellowstone? I loved Old Faithful, but seeing our first bison walking on the road and, later, spotting a bear were some highlights. In the end, there are almost too many things and events to choose one favorite!
Hi Mary! I love Colorado and that's where we spent more of our vacations, I just love the mountains. I went to Yellowstone thinking that I was not going to love it as much as Colorado and thought five days would be too much to spend there but happily I was wrong. I would have liked to have spent another two or three days. We did visit most of the parks and loves the openness and all the water falls and streams we saw. We were stuck in several Bison traffic jams and sew a few bears from a distant. My favorite part was visiting the Roosevelt Arch and I fell in love with Ravens of all things. We did not do as much hiking like we do in Colorado, stayed on the main trail, didn't like the thought of meeting a bear. We were in Yosemite several years ago during the drought and wildfire so we didn't experience the green trees and water like we did at Yellowstone. Our National Park Systems does a great job and I hope it continues maintaining the parks, our national treasures, like they do now.
DeleteYes Rose, our NPS is definitely the national treasure of the U.S. Thank goodness people had sense 100 years ago! My big hope is that our young generations come to see and appreciate the beauty of our park system and fight (if necessary) to keep them safe and thriving.
DeleteBison traffic jams are fun and thrilling the first few times, but I'll admit the 5th or 6th one was laughable. One cost us an hour, at dinner time. Not so funny. The ravens are strangely beautiful, aren't they. Two visited our truck and I took pictures of them chatting and sharing some sort of food. I didn't investigate whatever that food was!
Two things I purchased at Yellowstone was the book, Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich and a Raven puppet doll (his name is Archie and he's beautiful). So only after reading a few chapters in the book I'm thinking the food involved might have been some form of protein or just a cheeto.
DeleteLove the Jelly Roll Charm Chase pattern! I'm looking forward to Sew a Jelly Roll Day.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite place in Yellowstone (just read Mary's comment) is the Morning Glory Pool. Did you make it there? I remember looking at the Morning Glory Pool through a ViewFinder when I was young and my grandparents brought a ViewFinder slide of Yellowstone back from their trip. I didn't get to see it in person until just several years ago, so it brings me back to childhood memories.
Thanks Nancy! I don't think we saw the Morning Glory Pool, but we did go to the Artist Paint Pots. I have to check it out on the website. There were so many side trips and places to go and unfortunately didn't. Next time, we have to check it out.
DeleteWow, you are on a roll (no pun intended) with these two. I like these better than just the jelly race one. It has much more eye movement. Fun! And, I can't believe you didn't stop at one shop. What restraint!
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy. I did buy some Yellowstone Quilt Panels at the shop to make a small hanging possibly with some batiks which I bought at a quilt shop in Arizona last year. I guess I am finally showing some restraint, just got to meet my Minus 100 Yard Goal.
DeleteI just saw your Back Seat Sewing post and wonder where you call home? I live in Wyoming and you probably drove right through my town, but maybe not. Sooooo glad you did not try to put a quilt on a bison(buffalo). You would be surprised to learn that some tourist are weird like that! Maybe you wouldn't be surprised...but it always makes me shake my head as I read about those incidents. Glad you enjoyed your visit to my state and hope you come back sometime.
ReplyDeleteHi Judy, I live in Illinois and we were barely in Wyoming when we were in the Grand Tetons. The only other time we were in Wyoming was almost twenty years ago when we were at Devils Tower. I did fall in love with your part of the world, there's something about the big sky. I'm pretty cautious with wildlife and know not to mess with the bisons or bears. And yes, we do plan on visiting Yellowstone again.
DeleteLove your back seat project! You really got a lot done! The jelly roll charm pattern you designed looks like a fun one to work on. I will have to go look that up!
ReplyDeleteThanks Diann. There's something about working with 2.5" strips--I think it might be my favorite size.
DeleteRose I love these colors. This turned out beautifully. I am trying to decide what to do for jelly roll day. I have several jelly rolls. Just need to decide on which of the many patterns.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jan! There are so many great jelly roll patterns. There is one I like that was designed by Christa Watson, I think it's called dot dot dash and Laura Piland, Slice of Pi, did a version of it, you could find it on her blog. Can't wait to see what you decide, it's easy once you untie the jelly roll.
DeleteThe colours are just beautiful - what a lovely Jelly Roll race - it's one of my favourite patterns for just straight relaxing sewing!
ReplyDeleteNice job, combining jelly rolls and charms. It does break up all those straight lines. I find I have to ease off the tension when I'm using my walking foot for quilting with Hazel. My girl is off for a service, so I'm itching to get back to my stitching soon. All those places you visited ( I read all the other comments) sound fabulous! I wonder how many things I can cram on to my list of places to go?
ReplyDeleteThanks Suz, I did ease the foot pressure but that didn't help too much--I went down to 3 but I think maybe if Hazel was set up in a larger space it might have helped. I'm willing to try again but maybe with a smaller quilt because like I said before I love that serpentine stitch. And if you ever come to the US, I think Nancy I. and I will definitely meet you.
DeleteThis makes a nice change to the typical jelly role race. It's interesting how we can dislike a quilt when we finish it but at a later time in a different mood we can appreciate it for its beauty. I love the fall like colours in this quilt.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa! The colors in this quilt are the same colors I have in my living room and didn't realize it until I started the binding. It was a nice surprise to have a new quilt for the living room couch.
Delete"indecisiveness if the fabric used for the backing might be needed for a future top" LOL TOTALLY what I go through and why I have uh several 3-4 yard cuts of fabric on my stash shelves. Love the image of you holding Sophie in the back seat! And I now know what pattern to make on the 16 with a jelly roll or cut strips from my stash. Yours!
ReplyDeleteI love jelly roll race quilts. I have even made several with wider strips. I love how you have added the charm squares.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilts!
ReplyDeleteThanks Myra!
DeleteHi-- I am wondering if you sew your strips together in the order they come off the roll or do you mix them up a little? You have such a nice distribution of colors!
ReplyDeleteThanks. The Autumn Woods quilt is the second Jelly Roll Charm Chase I made and was not made according to the pattern which was written after I've made the fourth one. I do not sew the strips in the order they came off the roll and I tend to sew the strips in a color or pattern rhythm, i.e, blue, red, yellow, light, repeat. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
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