I'm A Little Weird

 I am going on a quilt retreat next weekend. We are going to do a modified jelly roll race. We will have the long strip of strips sewn together before we begin, and then will make the rest of the top. I bought a jelly roll from Connecting Threads of all solids. They are not all clear colors as I prefer so I was afraid that I would put it together and not like it, so....

I decided to see if I could figure out how it would turn out before I made it. The diagram to the left is my attempt at figuring  it out. I'm sure there is a mathematical way to do it, but this was easy for me.

It made a diagram in Paint with 40 rectangles in two rows. I numbered them, then cut them in half, moved them flipped them two ways and continued to that until I'd done it five times.

This diagram was a bit too messy so I did another one on graph paper that was easier to read . I then used this diagram to place the strips on the design wall to see how I could distribute the colors and make is something I think I would like.

Then of course I had to actually lay out the strips and then label them so I can put them together in the right order.

Here is what I came up with. The white sections are the design wall and the white squares on the strips are the numbers from the above diagram. :^)

 I'm glad I took this photo, because it will be interesting to see if I got this even a little bit right. If I follow the same pattern of cutting the strip in half and sewing it back together it should come out close at least. I think I am going to put squares between each strip. I bought gray, but I think white will probably be better

And then I had to take a picture of my view. It is just beautiful today. The aspens are changing color, the sky is beautifully clear and the air is just a bit crisp...almost Fall.

I haven't been quilting much lately. I don't know why I go through such ups and downs, but I am going to try to quilt a bit each day. We'll see if that works out.

I love it, so I should do it instead of sitting in front of the computer so much!

Some Shopping and Jelly Roll Race Done

We got an Ikea in Colorado this summer. I have many fond feelings for Ikea. I like a lot of their furniture, they have fun lighting options, their food is pretty good and... I went to Ikea first in 1987 on my honeymoon in Germany. My husband's mom is from a small town near Heidelberg, Wiesloch, and not far from there is and Ikea in Waldorf. 

I thought it was wonderfully different then. They have the same type of layout today that they had in 1987. You wander through room set ups, see all kinds of ways you can use their products, then you go downstairs and shop for tschokes and kitchen stuff. I discovered the fabric section before the Ikea was here in Colorado. I have family in California, and when visiting a couple of times, I went to Ikea there, and found some fabrics. I haven't done anything with it yet, but I like it.

Looking at the fabric above, I think I'm going to make shopping bags from the vegetable fabric. The button fabric is actually pillow covers. The bright abstract fabric is a kind of heavy twill, so I might end up making heavy duty shopping bags from it. The black and white prints I think I am going to dye. It would be fun to add color to them. The vehicle print is going to be kid quilts. Either a whole cloth quilt, a backing, or maybe I'll cut it apart and use the different vehicles in different blocks. The green dotted fabric is actually the duvet cover to the right. I love the graduated sizes of dots. It's 100% cotton and when I figured out the cost per yard, it's only about $2. I don't know if I'll use it for a quilt backing, or what yet, but I own it now and can do what I want when I figure it out. 

My eyes aren't as good as they used to be, and sewing can be tiring. I saw this little clip on lamp (at Ikea of course) and thought it might work. It was about $15. It's an LED with a magnifier that makes the width of the beam much better. I was thinking of buying one of those tiny LEDs that you can stick on your machine, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $30. It does exactly what I wanted and should last me a very long time.

This quilt was quick and I think it's a nice one to brighten up someone's day. It is a jelly roll quilt, and I backed it with fleece. The binding is made from some fabric I bought on sale a while ago. 

I bought the yellow fleece previously to back one of the tops I have completed. I don't remember which one, so I used it for this one. I still have about 15 tops that need to be quilted, and I was able to use the same fleece for another quilt, so instead of the one I originally planned (whatever that one was) I was able to finish two tops with this one piece.

The colors on the first picture are a bit more accurate. It is a fun, bright quilt.

Jelly Roll Race Top-modified

Here is the Jelly Roll Race top. I modified it a bit. The idea of putting spacers between the colors came from a blog I read. I think it was from   Wanda at Exuberant Color but I can't remember for sure. I like the idea of sewing the strips end to end instead of on the diagonal, and I like the idea of the spacers. The one that sticks in my brain (that I haven't been able to find again) has fabric with a circular pattern on it--black and white. I really liked it, and decided I would do something like that. I ended up with plain black, because I was shopping at Walmart on my way to babysitting and they didn't have a black and white print I liked.

When I was done, it was much too square for my liking, about 61 x 64, so I decided I would chop some off the short side (5 inches on each side) and sew them to the leftover quilt. I like the way it turned out and now it's closer to 50 x 70, which feels better for a lap quilt. I don't think I'm going to put borders on it, just fleece for the batting and backing and quilt it simply.

A quick happy quilt top. It took me significantly longer than the 35 minutes I saw was the fastest time on the video I first watched, but not terribly long. I have a box of strips, and I think that's what I'm going to do for the next one. I don't know if I'll user spacers or not, but just measure up about 1,600 inches of strips and get going.

I did some sewing-Design Wall Monday

 I took some time to sew this weekend, so got the binding done on two quilts. Here is one of them. This is a QOV and I sent it out to be quilted. It is fluffier than I like, but it's done. Now I need to make the label and pillowcase, and it will be ready to be presented.

The flag fabric is what I used for the Stack n Whack octagons in this QOV. I like the way the whole thing turned out. It was beautifully quilted and I even like the backing. I found it on sale at a local quilt shop, and I think it goes well, kind of restful.

I need to make the label and the pillowcase for this one as well, I think I'll be able to get them done today

 

I was "babysitting" (is that what you call it when you stay with other people's kids who are 17 and 12?) and brought stuff along to keep me busy. They took care of themselves, so not much for me to do. I stopped and bought a couple of strip packs from Walmart on the way there, and am making a jelly roll race quilt. I'll post pictures when I get it closer to done. Here is what I have right now.

I also got the ironing surface done. I've had this cotton curtain panel from Walmart for a while. I made a quilt bag from it abotago, and decided it was a nice bright look (and I had it) so covered the board with thin cotton batting, then the striped cotton. I haven't used it yet. It's not attached to the machines underneath, and I'm not sure about the height. I think it will work, if not, I'll figure out how to make it taller.

Check out Judy's Blog to see more design walls.