Monday, January 11, 2016

4 – 2 = 4 : (

Read the Tutorial: Less-Work Patchwork Hearts

If you’re new around these parts, you need to know that I’ve declared war on my jelly rolls. Back in November I took inventory and decided to sew with my four stashed jelly rolls, which resulted in this quilt and this quilt.

Two noteworthy events have happened since those triumphs. First, I found that I had another jelly roll, an all-white Bella solid roll, lurking in my fabric storage. Bah! And then, lured by the promise of 50 percent off, I bought this jelly roll at a New Year’s sale. In other words, I have exactly the same number of jelly rolls I thought I started off with back in November. Double bah!


To chip away at those white jelly roll strips, I started playing with pixelated hearts. For the record, I am not a fan of heart anything, but using a mini-charm pack of Jen Kingwell’s Gardenvale as the inspiration for my palette, I had a lot of fun planning these blocks.


The sewing was fun, too, because I used the super-sneaky way of piecing simple patchwork. I discovered this shortcut years ago on Posie Gets Cozy. (A friend said she first learned of it on Elizabeth Hartman’s blog.) The idea is simple: You iron your squares to a piece of fusible interfacing, fold along a long seam, and sew.

In the past, I used Pellon’s featherweight interfacing and pressed my seams to the side. It worked fine for, say, a pillow, but there was too much bulk for me to try it on a full quilt. In my latest foray into this technique, however, I used Pellon’s ultra lightweight fusible interfacing. It made all the difference.


Want to give this shortcut a shot? Check out the accompanying Tutorial: Less-Work Patchwork Hearts.

If you have played with fusible interfacing like this and have some advice, please share it with the rest of us in the comments. I won’t be posting any more about these blocks until they’re in final-quilt form. (My deadline, of course, is Valentine’s Day!) For progress reports or to post your own pixelated hearts, join me on Instagram. I’m @frombolttobeauty and will be posting to the hashtag #lessworkpatchworkhearts.

Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday, WIP  Wednesday, Let’s Bee Social, and Scraptastic Tuesday (because almost all of these squares that aren’t Gardenvale are scraps!) ...

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17 comments:

  1. Ah, those 50% off sales get us every time, LOL!! Like those hearts, very modern.

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  2. More jelly rolls = more beautiful quilts and quilt blocks so it's not all bad :)

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  3. Great math. LOL I've used the fusible interfacing for this type of project, but I didn't know there was a lightweight version. The stuff I used was very bulky, and I didn't like it. Good luck finishing on time.

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  4. That's how it goes! Those pesky pre-cut always end up in the stash no matter what. Also peer pressure and a 50% sale price don't help either ... bahahahahaha

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  5. I lookd at your finished yelly roll quilts: beauties. Your heart blocks are so fun. I never worked with ultraweight interfacing, so I can not help.

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  6. All the cool kids have a Franklin jelly roll... :D I have also seen this interfacing technique used at Cut to Pieces, but she did it with wash-away interfacing so no bulk at all in the end... I've never tried it myself though. I like where this is going!!!

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  7. Love your jellyroll math.
    I never buy jellyrolls because of the math. If you calculate what you are paying per yard it is astronomical! Even more so for charm packs, layer cakes etc.
    Also, I only sew with pre-washed fabrics so it is awkward to wash all of these pre-cut darlings--although I have done it on occasion.
    And a jelly roll of white? Why not just cut it yourself?

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    1. Well, it depends on how you look at it. I buy precuts because they give me a sampling of an entire line, and buying a jelly roll is cheaper and easier than finding a place that carries an entire line and (depending what the minimum cut is) buying quarter-yards or half-yards. The Franklin jelly roll, pictured above, was $21 for 40 strips, not a bad price however you look at it.

      My bigger issue with precuts is that even the best technology can't cut them perfectly. Moda precuts, prepared by the manufacturer, aren't bad, but I've purchased bundles by online retailers that were cut by the retailers themselves and the cutting was far from precise.

      BTW: I have no idea how I came into possession of that all-white jelly roll -- I agree that a solid jelly roll is unnecessary! -- but I'm going to put it to good use nonetheless!

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  9. Pretty blocks - not tried that method but the result looks great! Thanks for linking up to #scraptastictuesday

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  10. Unlike you I love hearts so of course love this pixelated version!!! I have seen this technique before but never tried it ..... although was laying in bed the other night wondering how small your scrap squares could be using this technique ......

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  11. Love you hearts and your jelly roll quilts. Isn't it wonderful to work at destashing with such pretty results.

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  12. So....I just picked up that jelly roll on sale online last night and thought of you as I purchased it. Is that weird? I really dig those hearts I had a patchwork heart on the brain right now from sketching during meetings. I bet those were fun to plan out and make *just right* :)

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  13. Jelly rolls are your nemesis, mine are layer cakes. I've somehow acquired 7 of them and I'm determined to use some of them this year! Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

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  14. The hearts are super cute, and I love that you are using them as a stash buster. Sometimes it just feels good to use what you have. . . so that there is less guilt when your next purchase comes along. Now I'll have to keep tabs on you to make sure that next purchase isn't a jelly roll! ha!

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  15. Pretty blocks! I like this technique but I don't think I have any advice to give, sorry.

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  16. Would you believe that I have never bought a jelly roll?
    If you have any ideas for using up the charm packs that have followed me home over the years ... :)

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