Friday, April 25, 2025

Release Day and a Thank-You / Beauties Pageant 291

I’ve been waiting to say this for—quite literally—years ... My first book has been released! Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts is in stock at Amazon, the C&T site, quilt shops everywhere, and my own online store. Yahoo!

I would not be the quilter I am today without the support and expertise I have found in the blogging community. For those of you who have been reading From Bolt to Beauty all these years, thank you! Your support and encouragement have meant the world to me, and I would not have taken on this latest endeavor without you, my small army of quilty cheerleaders.

There’s more to come ... a virtual book tour, sew-alongs, giveaways. As always, stop back here on Fridays for more information and inspiration. 

I cannot wait to see what you create with this collection of patterns!

For a closer look at the quilts, see:

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  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
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Friday, April 18, 2025

Three Scrappy Quilts / Beauties Pageant 290

Over the past five or six weeks, I have been introducing you to the quilt designs in my book, Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts. Today we’re looking at the last three projects, which have one important thing in common: They are conducive to busting through scraps!

When working with jelly rolls, I consider scraps to include leftover bits from cutting projects as well as entire unused strips ...

Five Little Ghosts

I often have low-volume strips leftover simply because they don’t work with my preferred white and cream backgrounds. I had a lot of fun thinking about what I could do with those light-colored leftovers. One solution I came up with is Five Little Ghosts. These silly little ghouls wouldn’t scare anyone, but they sure are cute in white-on-white strips from various jelly rolls I used in the book.


Jelly Roll: White-on-white prints from various fabric collections 

Background fabric: Spooky Darlings from Ruby Star Society

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 52.5" x 64.5"

Pieced and quilted by Michelle Cain

Meow Mates 

Another project that incorporates full leftover strips is the sample quilt for Meow Mates, pictured at the top of the post. The pale green background fabric provided the perfect backdrop for those low volumes. Then I mixed in smaller scraps for the kitties’ ears and muzzles. I also repeated a few prints multiple times throughout the quilt top to tie everything together.

Jelly Roll: Prints and solids from various fabric collections 

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Hometown Sky 

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 52.5" x 64.5"

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

Neighborly

My version of Neighborly was sewn from a single fabric collection, but its fabric requirements could easily be met by my scrap bin. I am plotting a super-size second version that’s all black and white.

Jelly Roll: Flower Pot by Lella Boutique for Moda 

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Off-White 

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 30.5" x 30.5"

Pieced and quilted by Michelle Cain

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You can order my book here!

Thank you for joining me in this first look at all the quilts from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts! If you missed any of the posts, you can read them at the links below:


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The pageant rules are simple:
  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Friday, April 11, 2025

Big and Bold, Cute and Sweet / Beauties Pageant 289

Hello, quilty friends!

I hope you’re having as great of a week as I am ... I had six to eight hours of glorious alone time in my house on Tuesday and Wednesday. That is a rare occurrence, and I cherished every quiet, uninterrupted minute. And then, at last night’s guild meeting, I won a fat quarter bundle of Melody Miller’s new Carousel collection. (Insert happy dance here!)

But what has really made life fun lately is getting to share projects from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts. It is a thrill to see people’s excitement about my designs and hear which one they hope to sew first.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this collection of 14 patterns spans the spectrum of project sizes. It also spans the spectrum of my design preferences. In the pages of the book, you’ll find everything from big and bold quilts to cute and sweet ones ...

Five-Star Experience

The collection’s cover girl, Five-Star Experience, is one of my favorites. The stars finish at 34 inches because, sometimes, big blocks are best! 

According to the book’s skill-level guide of one spool (for quicker, more straightforward sews) to three spools (for more fiddly sews), it comes in at one spool. I would take that assessment a step further and say that Five-Star Experience is the easiest project in the entire book.

I adore the colors in the sample I made, and that chartreuse binding is the perfect pop of color to frame those giant stars.

Jelly roll: Meadow Star by Alexia Marcelle Abegg for Ruby Star Society

Accent fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Black 

Background fabric: Speckled in Sweet Cream by Rashida Coleman Hale for Ruby Star Society

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

All the Xs 

Although Five-Star Experience features big blocks, the biggest quilt in the book is All the Xs. Here it is, below, pictured on a queen-size bed.

I consider this pattern my quilty mic drop because All the Xs requires just one jelly roll, a background fabric, and an accent fabric to produce a huge project. 

All the Xs is a little trickier than Five-Star Experience because of its size and the bias edges created when cutting the setting blocks, but its over-the-top Xs make the extra effort worth your while.

Jelly roll: Strawberry Lemonade by Sherri and Chelsi for Moda

Accent fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Dark Teal

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Gray

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

Buoyant Hearts 

Buoyant Hearts was the first project I designed for Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts. Its fabric requirements are easily met in my stash, and there’s no background fabric—just a jelly roll, an outer heart fabric, and an inner heart fabric. 

I think the trick is to use a fabric line that has lots of different colors in it, and Fancy That Design House’s Songbook delivers on that front. In fact, I purchased a jelly roll of Songbook: A New Page, a follow-up to the original Songbook collection, to remake this pattern.

Jelly roll: Songbook by Fancy That Design House for Moda

Heart fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Off-White and Burgundy

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

I Heart Rainbows

Whereas Five-Star Experience may be the easiest pattern to sew from my collection, I Heart Rainbows was the easiest to design.

I have another version of this pattern planned, too. I think this time I’ll start with the backing fabric (for real!) and pull fabrics from my bin of solid 2.5-inch scraps. This will bust through one of my long-neglected fabric cuts for backings and chip away at those scraps.

Jelly roll: Rise and Shine by Melody Miller for Ruby Star Society 

Heart fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Pomegranate 

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Off-White

You can order my book here!

And if you missed my previous posts about the quilts from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts, you can read them here:

Follow Me On ...  


 
* * *


The pageant rules are simple:
  • Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
  • Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
  • Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter