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 preorder 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:

• That’s a Jelly Roll Quilt?
• Strip Sets for the Win!
• Two Pixelated Quilts 
  

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.

Two Pixelated Quilts / Beauties Pageant 288

Hello! And welcome back to my look at all 14 projects in Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts ...

A few weeks ago, I shared two quilts that I designed to use one of my favorite time-saving techniques: strip sets. By sewing jelly roll strips together along the long edges, cutting those blocks of fabric into smaller units, and sewing those units in different configurations, I made both butterflies and a set of stars in a striped-hexagon sky. The two projects I’m sharing today take that technique one step further, into the realm of pixelated projects.

Pod Patrol

I love the look of pixelated quilts. In fact, I had made some in the past, including a pixelated fire truck and pixelated hearts. Once I set my mind to designing a whale quilt for my book, I saw an interesting opportunity to incorporate pixelation: In Pod Patrol, pictured below, I sewed 2.5-inch squares together to create bands of waves. 

I could have randomized the placement of the fabrics in the waves here (and the instructions provide advice on that front), but I really love the diagonal color gradient of these waves. It optimizes the jelly roll I had to work with and creates a fun sense of movement.

When I finished this sample, though, it seemed so very blue. To up the cuteness factor—and provide a splash of color—I gave one of my white whales an appliqued spray of red hearts. I have to admit, I love this last-minute addition so much that I’m tempted to give the second white whale his own heart spray, too!

Jelly roll: Water from Ruby Star Society 

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Smoke

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 56.5" x 66.5"

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

Pixelated Herringbone 

Pixelated Herringbone takes strip-pieced pixelation to the extreme. Almost all of this quilt’s 1,280 squares are strip pieced, allowing me to assemble the top in a fraction of the time.

And this design is so versatile. I recently sewed a version by using two blue-grays as the solids that corral the herringbone segments and by pulling the necessary prints from my scrap bin. With all those individual 2.5-inch squares, this approach required more fiddly sewing, but I still managed to strip-piece the solid-color units. I’m sending that project to a longarmer soon and will follow up with a blog post as soon as it’s bound. : )

Because my stash can easily fulfill Pixelated Herringbone’s fabric requirements, and because I can always dive into my bin of 2.5-inch scraps for a fabric pull, I foresee making this project many times in the future.

Jelly roll: Stay Gold by Melody Miller for Ruby Star Society

Accent fabrics: Moda Bella Solids in Mediterranean and Blue Raspberry

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in White

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 64.5" x 80.5"

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

* * *

Read more about Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts:

That’s a Jelly Roll Quilt?

Strip Sets for the Win!

Big and Bold, Cute and Sweet 

 

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.

Scrappy Rainbows / Beauties Pageant 287

I’m interrupting my deep dive into all things jelly rolls and the upcoming book release to report on some squirrel chasing. Early in the process of writing patterns and sewing samples for Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts, I made a quilt for my older son because, I figured, what’s one more quilt when I had already committed to completing 14 of them?! But one more quilt is one more quilt, and I quickly resolved to focus solely on the book projects. There was simply no time for squirrels. 

All of that changed once the book was put to bed at the end of last year. I found some big, rainbow-colored squirrels to chase. What you see here is the result: one of the four rainbow colored-pencil rolls I made in the past few months.

I’m convinced that everyone loves a good rainbow* and that anything rainbow is a worthwhile sew. These projects supported that theory! 

Finding 24 fabrics that match perfectly with the 24 colors in a box of Crayola colored pencils, however, is no small feat, so I never sew just one roll—I always make multiple.

I originally made a set of these pencil rolls over 10 years ago, keeping one for myself. I suspect I’ll return to this pattern again, so Future Michelle, these notes are for you: 

• Use a little spray baste to keep all the layers stacked up nicely
• Remember to sew a scant quarter-inch seam, especially if you plan to press seams to one side
• Give yourself some extra wiggle room on the two end colors

The pattern can be found in Joelle Hoverson’s Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, one of the first quilting books I ever bought and one that’s now out of print. The standalone pattern is available from the designer, Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studios, here.

* Back in February, and on a lark, I made a reel of my disembodied hands putting the colored pencils in the slots of a completed roll, and it went viral. 

Last I checked, it had been viewed more than 600K times. See? People really are crazy about rainbows!

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.

Strip Sets for the Win! / Beauties Pageant 286

This post features projects from my upcoming book Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts!

You’ve heard me waxing on about jelly rolls, and you may be wondering why I’m not compelled to work with a different precut, like layer cakes. I love a good layer cake, and a few of the patterns in my book can probably even be made with a layer cake’s 10-inch squares instead of a jelly roll’s 2.5-inch strips. But there’s one thing a jelly roll can do that no layer cake can, and that is produce big, time-saving strip sets.

You’ve likely made strips sets for other patterns. It’s the process of sewing jelly roll strips together along the long edges and then cutting the resulting set into smaller units to resew in different configurations. When I’m working with jelly rolls, I leverage the power of strip sets whenever I can—it’s simply a more efficient way to sew. 

Two quilts from my book that employ this technique are Butterfly Season and Myriad ...

Butterfly Season

Quilts take a long time to make, so I take advantage of every shortcut I can. In Butterfly Season, that means strip piecing the wings of each butterfly and strip-piecing the butterflies’ bodies. 

Plus, setting the time-saving benefits aside, there’s something super satisfying about sewing together these strips and then cutting crisp, pristine units from them.

Butterfly Season requires a full jelly roll and produces a twin-size quilt.

Jelly roll: Beautiful Day by Corey Yoder for Moda

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Off-White

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 77.5" x 90.5"

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang 

Myriad

Strip sets are the foundation of Myriad, a generously sized throw quilt that I sewed with a line of Kate Spain batiks. 

Again, relying on the strip-set technique here makes the quilt-making process go faster. It also produces less waste than if the pieces were sewn into rectangles and then cut into the necessary half-hexagons.

Myriad may look difficult, but in the end, it requires sewing columns of equilateral triangles together. Easy peasy!

Jelly roll: Confection Batiks by Kate Spain for Moda

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in White

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 64.5" x 83.75"

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang 

You can preorder my book here!

 

* * *

Read more about Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts:

That’s a Jelly Roll Quilt?

Two Pixelated Quilts

Big and Bold, Cute and Sweet 

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.

That's a Jelly Roll Quilt? / Beauties Pageant 285

This post features projects from my upcoming book Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts!

I love jelly rolls. Those beautiful spirals of 2.5-inch strips get me every time. Bundled together, they’re just the right amount of fabric—often enough for one quilt, maybe one quilt and a small project. Plus, they’re available at a good price point, and they’re super stashable.

As I set out to design a collection of jelly roll patterns, I knew I had to do something different. I wanted to push the envelope with what I could create with 2.5-inch strips, offering quilters truly unique options for using their precuts. I think I succeeded! In fact, the collection of designs I created is so different from others on the market that I gave it the name Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts.  

Over the next month and a half, I’ll show you all 14 of the samples from the book. I hope doing so will have you reaching for the jelly rolls in your own stash and inspire you to make something beautiful with them.
 
Some of the patterns keep those long strips as long strips in the finished quilt top. Others sew the strips together lengthwise and then cut them into smaller units, like rectangles or half-hexies, to resew. Still others strive to use as many of the square inches each 2.5-inch strip offers as possible, and those are the quilts I’ll highlight today. I think you’ll agree that they live up to the title Not-Your Typical Jelly Roll Quilts.

Tag Sale Floral

The patterns in my book span the spectrum from wall hangings and runners to bed-size quilts. I wanted people to be able to pick up the book and find something that suited the fabric they have on hand. Because sometime you might have an unopened jelly roll to sew with, and other times you may have part of a roll leftover after sewing something else.

Consider Tag Sale Floral. It’s one of those projects that doesn’t require a full roll. I’d go one step further and say you don’t need a jelly roll at all. If you enjoy assembling fabric pulls on your own, you could dive into your stash and cut the 22 width-of-fabric strips this pattern requires. 

The result is a small quilt, perfect for draping over a table or hanging on the wall.

Photo copyright © 2025 by C&T Publishing

Jelly roll: Lady Bird by Crystal Manning for Moda

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Porcelain

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 43.5" x 43.5"

Pieced and quilted by Michelle Cain

Step Dance 

I consider myself a modern-traditional gal, and I enjoy putting a new spin on the classics. Step Dance is my tribute to an Irish chain quilt. Like my Irish Twist, this pattern focuses on the space between the chains. I love how it plays with directionality, placing some of the jelly roll pieces horizontally and others vertically. I think it’s a pattern that can suit modern fabric collections as well as more traditional lines.

Styled photography by Melanie Zacek; photo copyright © 2025 by C&T Publishing

Jelly roll: Vintage by Sweetwater for Moda

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Porcelain

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 50.5" x 62.5"

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

Lucky Medallion

I don’t think anyone would look at Lucky Medallion and guess it’s a jelly roll quilt, but every bit of it  can be sewn with width-of-fabric strips. The result is a generous throw. This pattern requires more than the 40 strips found in standard jelly rolls, but I go into detail how to augment your strips with selections from your stash. I also imagine going all-out scrappy with this design, raiding the greens in my stash for all those four-leaf clovers and the yellows for the stars. Maybe there’s another Lucky Medallion in my future!

Photo copyright © 2025 by C&T Publishing

 Jelly roll: Country Rose by Lella Boutique for Moda

Background fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Off-White

Batting: Warm and White

Finished size: 80.5" x 80.5"

Pieced by Michelle Cain; quilted by Ophelia Chang

You can preorder my book here!

* * *

Read more about Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts:

Strip Sets for the Win!

Two Pixelated Quilts

Big and Bold, Cute and Sweet 

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.

Knot and Thread's All the Things Tote / Beauties Pageant 284

The past few days have been all about re-entering life as usual after an amazing QuiltCon in Phoenix. I had the best time at the conference, looking at quilty works of art, reconnecting with faraway friends in person, enjoying so much good food, and doing my fair share of shopping.

The All the Things Tote that I talked about in my last post was with me every step of the way. The pattern, by Knot and Thread, provides instructions for three sizes. I made the large one, skipping the suggested sturdy base, which I thought might be cumbersome on the plane and in the convention center.

I can’t say enough about this pattern. The adjective that I keep using to describe it is “slick.” I was a bag maker before I was a quilter, and I’ve sewn some elaborate bags. This is not one of them. I am confident that a quilter who’s embarking on a first bag project could get great results with this pattern.

The instructions are geared toward yardage, with a workaround if you’re sewing with a directional fabric. Of course, I complicated the situation by piecing my exterior panels with blocks from my upcoming book. It was 100% worth it! The bag was a great conversation starter as I walked the show floor last week, and everyone who commented on it was rewarded with a sticker sheet featuring other blocks from the book.

The pattern calls for machine sewing every step of the bag-making process, and I did that up until I had to finish the binding on each end of the bag. I knew I wouldn’t be able to top-stitch through that bulk as neatly as I wanted to, so I used a 12 weight Aurifil thread to hand-sew a chunky stitch on that section of the binding. I’m calling this decision the “the path of least swearing”!

 

All of the fabric selections are from Ruby Star Society except for the Bella Solid I chose as the lining. I particularly love the black Starry featured on the binding. If you take a peek in the pockets, though, you’ll see that I also used the small-scale white Starry. I went with the white Starry here mainly because I didn’t have enough of the Bella Solid for the pocket linings. I love the juxtaposition of the two Starry fabrics, though, so let’s call it a design decision!

If you’ve made an All the Things Tote, I want to see it! Link it, along with your other finishes, in the linky below!

You can preorder my book here!

 

Even if you weren’t at conference, you can take advantage of my QuiltCon special: Preorder the book, and receive 2 PDF patterns free right now.

 

The preorder listing includes these instructions: To get the free patterns, add the book preorder to your cart. Then, navigating to the PDF Patterns page, add 2 PDF patterns to your cart. (You must add 2.) Upon checkout, use the discount QUILTCON.

Your patterns will be available for immediate download from an email that you’ll receive momentarily (check your spam folder if it doesn’t appear in your inbox after a few minutes). The book is slated to ship at the end of April 2025 via USPS.

* * * 

Quilters outside of the US: The cost of international shipping is ridiculous! As a result, this preorder is limited to US mailing addresses. Just because you live elsewhere on this planet, however, doesn’t mean you should miss out! Drop me a note (frombolttobeauty@gmail.com) after preordering or purchasing the book locally, and I will hook you up with your free patterns. : )

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.

Rainbows, Butterflies, and Kitties / Beauties Pageant 283

One of the joys of attending QuiltCon is seeing the practical handmade items other conference goers are wearing or carrying and having your own garment and bag projects appreciated by other sewists.

The past few years I’ve attended QuiltCon toting my Cargo Duffel bag (pictured below in early Amy Butler fabrics) and two infinity scarves (with Anna Maria lawns). The bag is roomy enough to carry all the necessities around the show, and the scarves are a great layer to add when the convention center gets chilly.

This year is was time for something new, so I’m sewing an All the Things Tote by Knot and Thread with blocks from my upcoming book release. The instructions in my book use jelly roll strips to create sizable block. Although the All the Things Tote is a generous 18 inches long and 11 inches tall, I still had to cut all the block dimensions in half to make them fit. Here’s how things are looking so far ...

I have a rainbow and butterfly ...

 

The sweetest kitty and flower ...

 

And a horseshoe? Yes, one of the projects in the book, named Lucky Medallion, is a medallion quilt that features a variety of good luck charms. The center of that quilt is this horseshoe.

I have less than a week to wrap this up, and I’m starting to sweat it! If you’ll be at QuiltCon, be on the lookout for me and my bag—I’d love to meet you in person! In fact, I’ll be talking about my book, showing off my bag blocks, and demoing how I use PreQuilt to visualize my designs in different color palettes. Head to the PreQuilt booth (#229) on Friday, February 21 at 11 a.m. to get in on the action. : )

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.

Book Preorders Open! / Beauties Pageant 282

 

 

I am pleased to announce that I’ve launched book preorders in my new Shopify store! 

 

The preorder listing has all the details—with a bunch of styled pictures of the sample quilts, taken by Melanie Zacek. (Even if you’re not in the market for a new quilt book, the pictures are spectacular and worth a look!) 

 

* * *

I invested a lot of time and effort to assemble this collection of patterns in book form, and I wasn’t alone in the endeavor ... Gailen Runge, the creative director at C&T Publishing, helped me make this book-writing dream a reality. Moda fulfilled my fabric-y dreams by supplying so many jelly rolls and so much yardage—the samples are all the better for it. And the Warm Company shipped me a big old bolt of Warm & White. As a quilter who loves light backgrounds, that’s been my preferred batting for the past 10 years. : )

 

* * *

Read more about Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts:

That’s a Jelly Roll Quilt?

Strip Sets for the Win!

Two Pixelated Quilts

Big and Bold, Cute and Sweet 

 

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.