Jelly Roll Twist Quilt Finished

My One Monthly Goal (OMG) for January 2020 was to complete the Jelly Roll Twist quilt I started using the leftover strips from making the Jelly Glazed Hearts Tablerunner.  I completed it, but it was down to the wire.

Besides January being filled with yearend bookkeeping and issuing W2s and 1099s, I could not decide how to quilt it.  It sat on my design wall for a couple of weeks before I finally came up with a plan. The idea came directly from the Quilters Planner, week of January 19th.

After having a recent disaster with spay baste, I decided to secure the layers with safety pins.  I first stitched in the ditch around all the blocks using the walking foot.  You can see the block outlines here on the back a little better.

Then, I switched to free motion and quilted a grid of some straight-ish and wavy lines throwing in a loop every now and then.  There are 4 lines in each direction per block so I basically quilted down the middle of each jellyroll strip.  Since there are 30 blocks, that makes 20 vertical and 24 horizontal
free-motion quilting lines.

My quilt finishes at about 43" x 51" so that meant I had to piece the backing.  I really liked the print, Water Color Dots in graphite and used it for the backing along with the the same print in Bubble Gum.

For the binding, I decided to sew it totally by machine.  I sewed the binding to back of the quilt first, then brought it around to front and top-stitched in place using the walking foot for both applications. 

I don't know if you can tell or not, but when I turn the corners, I always backstitch right before turning the corner and then afterwards as well.  I feel better with a little extra security.  

From the back, the stitching line is visible as it is about 1/8" away from the binding edge.  But with this method of topstitching from the front, I'm not having to stitch in the ditch on the front while blindly stitching the binding in place on the back.  

For the top thread, I use thread that matches the binding.  But in the bobbin, I use thread that matches the backing fabric.  In this case it's one of my favs, Aurifil 2600 Dove Grey.

  

The Jelly Roll Twist quilt was fun to make and great for using up leftover strips and charm pack squares.  The pattern call for using a charm pack of solid squares, but I used a half yard and cut my own 5" squares.  You can find the Jelly Roll Twist pattern here at the Fat Quarter Shop.

I'll be gifting this quilt to the foster child of my endodontist who met me after hours on a Saturday night when I was having a bit of trouble with a retreatment of a root canal.  It's all better now!

I completed this just in time to link up to the January One Monthly Goal Finish Link-Up at Elm Street Quilts.

And, linking this finish to:

 Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Beauties Pageant 67 at From Bolt to Beauty

Can I get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Jelly Roll Twist Progress

Happy New Years everyone!  I hope your 2020 is off to a great start!

I wanted to show you my progress on the Jelly Roll Twist quilt.  I decided to leave the Kona Splash in as I discussed here in this post.  The blocks are now all sewn together and the top is complete. 

I actually made a couple of minor changes  I thought there was too much of the lightest pink and added in the a little more of the darker salmony pink. 

And I realized there was too much of the brightest green in the lower left hand corner and I replaced one with another strip set.  I've circled the changes here.  It probably didn't make that much difference, but I happy with the little changes. 

This was the original layout.

The quilt finished 43" wide so you you know what that means...one width of fabric isn't wide enough for the backing.  I ended up buying a little more of the salmony pink and inserted a couple of pieced strips into the backing. 

I had the hardest time editing these photos.  This looks more peach than the true colors. 

The binding is also pieced and pressed.  I plan to sew it all on by machine. 

Since I didn't get this finished by the end of 2019, I'm making this Jelly Roll Twist quilt my One Monthly Goal for January  

If you need a little motivation to finish a project, check out the One Monthly Goal linkups with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.  There's some fantastic prizes involved. 

Kona...Splash or Belly Flop

When the 2019 Kona Color of the Year Splash, mostly referred to as COTY, was announced and became available, I purchased a yard and then it sat in my stash.  I had plans to include it my Pantone Challenge quilt but ended up going in another direction. 

Fast forward to now...  I recently finished the Jelly Glazed Hearts Table Runner using just a few jelly roll strips of Day in Paris by Zen Chic and had plenty of left overs. 

I decided to make a baby quilt with the leftover jelly roll strips using another free pattern by the Fat Quarter Shop, the Jelly Roll Twist.   

Here are the blocks on my design wall.  I had left over background fabric from the table runner and cut into 5" squares rather than using a charm pack.  Instead of making 42 blocks, I have made 30 blocks and the quilt will finish around 43" x 52".

Not wanting to use the lightest strips or some of the darkest strips I was a little short on jelly roll strips and when to my stash for some possibilities.  I found the Kona Splash and decided to include a strip of it.  I thought it blended well with one of the strip containing the blooms. 

But when I put the blocks up on the design wall, I felt like the Kona Splash stood out too much.  And, maybe it didn't blend as well as I thought.  But after a few days of being on the design wall, I decided to leave it.

Here's a closer look. 

I added one more fabric, this light aqua micro dot, an older Bonnie and Camille print.  I thought it played very nice with Day in Paris.

Today, I plan to sew the blocks blocks together and I just might get this finished before the end of the year.