Monday, January 4, 2016

Another Jelly Roll Bites the Dust

Back in November I declared war on my jelly rolls. They had been “aging” in my stash too long. Use them or lose them, I said!

Toward that goal, I finished this Christmas gift, my Christmas in Bold Colors Quilt. It’s the complement to my Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt, which featured more muted fabrics.


It’s a different kind of quilt for me, with lots of saturated color and patterns and none of my favorite Kona Snow. (The solid I did use was Kona Parchment.) Most of the fabric is from Basic Grey’s 25th and Pine line, left over from some mini quilts I made. I also got to use a bunch of scraps—some from my standard scrap bin, some from my Christmas scraps. Man, it felt good to use them up.


As always, I tried some new techniques to further hone my standard quilt-making procedure:
  • After spray-basting my quilt sandwich, I ironed it on the front and back, on Chelsea’s recommendation. I’ll do this on future projects. It helped address any wrinkles before they became problems during quilting. I did have an issue with the pieced back shifting at some point in the process, and I didn’t realize it until I had completed the quilting. Perhaps in the future I’ll attach the back with spray, iron it, and then attach and iron the front? Hmm ...
  • I’ve had problems in the past with puckering while quilting, so I started quilting with my walking foot and set the pressure to zero. There was too much play between the walking foot and quilt, though, and my quilting lines were wiggly. Then I set my pressure to 0.5, and everything went much more smoothly. I still had a lot of control over the quality of the stitches, however, so I had to be attentive to maintain a consistent speed.
  • I quilted this project with straight lines. I’m not a fan of an all-over grid with lines that intersect at 90-degree angles (I don’t know why—it’s just me!), so I omitted some of the lines, which resulted in a pattern that echoes the diamonds in the piecing. It reminds me of the quilting I did here, yet another Basic Grey project of mine.

This diamond pattern is the result of my not-quite-all-over-grid quilting.

Here the quilting creates echoes around the diamonds in the piecing.

I do my bindings differently for each quilt. For this project I sewed the binding
to the quilt front and finished it from the back. The bobbin thread is visible
from the front but blends in well with the holly border.

I didn’t follow a pattern for this quilt; I figured out my own way to cut the fabric and construct the quilt top. I did, however, take the design from Thimbleblossoms’ Jellybean Quilt. If you’re into this quilt, that’s the best place to go for advice on making your own version. : )

Linking up to Let’s Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Finish It Up Friday ...

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18 comments:

  1. Oh no, how you are going to do it next time is actually how it do it :( Direction fail. I didn't notice the quilting details, but I like them!

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    1. Translation: What Chelsea is saying here is that the way I ironed the quilt sandwich for this project is the way she usually does it (minus the shifting I experienced!). : )

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  2. Oh, I love the quilting detail and how it echoes around the solid diamonds and intersects in other locations. It looks fantastic. I have stopped buying jelly rolls because they always just linger in my stash...

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  3. Very beautiful...I very much like this quilt💕

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  4. This looks great and what a bonus to use up scraps. I don't tend to buy many precursor and I can only think of one jelly roll I ever purchased. This is a quilt is great to use up strips. A little extra interest with the triangles added but not too time consuming. Excellent.

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  5. Lovely! I know you said that you usually use Kona Snow, but despite that element missing, this quilt is still very much a Michelle Cain quilt. Your signature color combination puts your stamp on it! Great finish!

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  6. Very nice, I really like the detail and texture the quilting adds.

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  7. This is my favorite Christmas fabric ever, love what you made with it. I really like how the diamonds break the quilt up, that works really well. Great quilt.

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  8. Beautifully done. Very fun and pretty way to use up those jelly rolls and scraps.

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  9. I love that it's Christmas-y without being overly themed. Great finish!

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  10. I love this quilt. The colors and the design of your quilt are lovely. Perfect for the Christmas season without being over the top in your face Christmas. I would keep this quilt out all winter long. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. I have but one jelly roll in my stash, but I think this (The Year of The Stash) might be the year to use it. I'm very intrigued the jelly roll quilts you've been making... especially that so-called ridiculously easy one! :)

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  12. This is a beauty and such a great use of those Christmas fabrics. The border is super sweet and so is the quilting. Really enjoyed reading about your experiences!

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  13. It came out beautifully Michelle - I like that the parchment square is omitted int he quilting - it is just the right little extra to it. BTW that jelly roll had no takers on my destash if you're still in need of one more, haha!

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  14. good for you getting those jellies off the shelf and into something cozy! i love the binding choice.

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  15. I think it looks fabulous and I love the top tip to iron after spray basting, I shall have to try that next time :)

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