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 ...

Can I Steal Your Ideas?

When I started blogging, I was on the search for community. I wanted to connect with people who were just as crazy as I was about fabric and sewing and quilting. I found what I was looking for (thank you!), but it wasn’t quite enough. I needed some in-real-life quilty friends.

What’s a blog post without pretty pictures? These fat quarters
have nothing to do with this post, but my mom got them for me
for Christmas. Aren’t they pretty?

Then the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild entered the picture. Joining that group gave me the in-person connections I was looking for. And we have a blast. In addition to our monthly meetings, we have workshops (see my posts here and here), retreats (see here), and other fun events.

I received this Lola Pouch for Christmas from Patch the Giraffe,
another NHMQG member.

My guild is planning for the year ahead, and we’re considering how we may choreograph our meetings differently. Workshops and retreats are great ways to get to know fellow guild members, but they happen just a few times a year and not everyone attends. How can we encourage new friendships and teach new skills each month? Here is what’s on my mind ...

• Ice breakers. What activities can we do just to get people talking?

• Block of the month. The BOMs we’ve done to date have been sizable commitments, and that has deterred a lot of people from participating. What can we do on a smaller scale that is still rewarding and that encourages new skills?

• Challenges. I’m pretty sure we haven’t done any challenges within our guild. (We have, however, participated in some as a guild through the national MQG organization.) What are some fun ones?

• Collective knowledge. There is so much experience and knowledge in our guild! How can we share it with other members?

  

I scored this awesome mug, sold by Patchwork Threads, during the Yankee swap
at the NHMQG’s Christmas party.

If you’re in a guild, I’d love to hear what has worked for your group, what you’ve found compelling, and what you’re likely to do again. Please share your best practices in the comments. Thank you!

If you’re not in a guild, I recommend trying one out. Each one is different, but after visiting a few, you may, like me, find a group of supportive, talented sewists who make your quilting hobby even more fun.

The Best of 2015? That’s Debatable.

Earlier this month, Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs put out the call: Compile your best posts of 2015 and participate in an end-of-year linky. Sign me up!

If I look at the numbers, my best posts—those that received the most traffic or garnered the most comments—are easy to spot. They’re the ones that featured giveaways or received some third-party seal of approval, like my post for the Fat Quarter Shop Jolly Bar Blog Hop or my tutorial for the Moda Bake Shop. Not surprising, right?

In my non-quantifiable personal opinion, this is the best of From Bolt to Beauty from 2015 ...

Best Personal Confession
Transformation Complete: I’ve Become My Mother

Best Evidence That I’m a Quilting Bad Ass
What Happens on Retreat Stays on Retreat?

Best Excuse for Writing about a Family Pet
Rose, Textile Enemy No. 1

Best Rationale for Justifying a Large Fabric Purchase
Behavior Modification for Quilters

Best Way to Use Up Jelly Rolls … So I Can Buy More Jelly Rolls
Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt

If you’re feeling creative, I would love to hear what you would like to see on next December’s best-of list. Best Embarrassing Moment in Front of a Quilting Celebrity? Best Non-Sewing Use of a Sewing Notion? Best Single-Day Purchase of a Staggering Amount of Fabric?

I have a full year to make good on your ideas. I hope not to disappoint!

Linking up to ...