Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Saltwater Jelly Roll Quilt


16 Patch Stars & Diamonds
Full/Queen at 76" x 97"

My goodness, am I glad to have this quilt top together! Whew. Talk about a project going on for-ev-er. This is Tula Pink's Saltwater line, and was the first jelly roll I EVER purchased or worked with!

Yesterday was devoted to cleaning off my work table as I have my monthly group coming in this week. With the ironing surface freshly vacuumed, I pressed all my recently laundered fabrics and backings. I sat to rest when this caught my eye from the Pink Doxies' PUPs table...Pile of Unloved Projects. (Big wink!)




And the block pattern is from...? 

Your guess is as good as mine, but I was really into Jenny's tutorials at Missouri Star Quilt Co. back then. The quilt design was the only reasonable layout I came up with to use the majority of the blocks. 





About those missing points?

I made these blocks as a brand new quilter, and was thrilled  I had only a few missing points. No shame here, and we should all be proud of even our first work looking back at it. Everyone learns along the way. 

I made a lot of modifications while figuring out the issues with a jelly roll, and found I could also make HST from one.

Making 2.5" Unfinished HST from a Jelly Roll





Side Borders Run in the Same Direction

An Honorable Mention About Fabrics


Shrinkage: Jelly rolls are a precut that cannot be prewashed. You'd be left with threads. So all the fabrics that went into this quilt top were unwashed. The Kona White yardage came directly from my bolt, and this fabulous octopus border was cut from a 2 yard chunk I had the presence of mind to order years ago. Don't mix washed and unwashed yardage as there will be a difference in the percentage of shrinkage, and that may make you very unhappy.

Matchy-matchy: Normally I would say I'm not someone who uses one exclusive line of fabric or is even funny about matching up patterns exactly when piecing borders. But this fabric is a different animal all together, and I wanted those sweet faces to be all that caught your eye.

Precisely Joining Prints: Esther Aliu's Blog is one of the greatest sources for precision technique I've come across, and I'm fascinated with all I'm learning following her free Queen's Garden BOM with applique. This year for me is about upping my skills and techniques, and standardizing how I do things. She has a Most Popular Posts box on the lower left side of her page, and How I Bind My Quilts link showed me how she uses glue to join a mitered seam before sewing. My mind went to work after seeing her process, and I used a similar method to butt my border seams for an exact line up here.


Top and Bottom Borders Are Mirror Images

I folded under one fabric where I could get a fun reflection of the pattern, and pressed with an iron. I lined the pattern up exactly, flipped the pressed side back, and ran a very light bead of Elmer's Washable School Glue along the pressed edge. Then I gave it a good press until it was dry. Then I opened the fold to the crease, and sewed just inside the seam allowance to the side of the crease. Trimmed, pressed again, and sewed on the borders. Oo-lah-lah!

Time to finish my clean up, and get ready for sewing with friends. I hope you get to stitch today, too. It's good for us all!

Come on, Doxie girls.


15 comments:

Barb Neiwert said...

What a lovely project to finish up! Your matching seams are perfect. I entertained thoughts of doing that same BOM project just this week. But I think when I get home and reality strikes me, I'll realize I have many more projects that are ahead of that one. Maybe later this year.

chrisknits said...

What a gorgeous quilt! I love how you did the borders, great use of a non-quilty item to solve a problem. Filing that for future reference.

Susan said...

Glue is my secret weapon! It seems to get a bad rap, but it sure makes some quilting processes so much easier. And love the PUP term - good one!

Linda Swanekamp said...

A very calm quilt. So glad you persevered and finished it up!

Sandy Panagos said...

Oo-lah-lah is right! You did a beautiful job on that. The pattern is really cute. A smaller version would be a great baby quilt.

Angie in SoCal said...

Gorgeous work, Julie. You should send the link to this post to Esther - she'd be thrilled with what you've come up with her technique.

KaHolly said...

It’s quite lovely, Julie. The border really jazzes it up and adds a little 'you' to the quilt! Aren’t you glad you finished it up? It will really come to life when it’s quilted and bound.

Leanne Parsons said...

How wonderful to have finished something from the PUP (love that term, BTW!). I haven't yet used glue to match a pattern, but I have used it for applique a few times.

Lorna McMahon said...

This is such a beautiful quilt top! Good for you getting at that PUP pile. And thanks for sharing all the great tips!

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Really like this quilt and the fabrics.

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Well done! I like this pattern.

SandraC said...

I love the quilt....I think the diamonds really make it extra special. I forgot that I'd found out about Esther's Queen's Garden quilt thru' your blog! I actually contacted her to see if I could present it to one of my guilds as a BOM! I will be going in a completely different direction on my version which has me a bit nervous.

Rebecca Grace said...

Congrats on finishing a PUP project! You know, I was amazed when you showed the missing triangle point photo. Naturally in the photo of the entire quilt you don't notice that at all --which is a good lesson for those of us who freak out about things like triangle points (cough, cough, giggle, giggle). Beautiful finish!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Hooray for embracing those cut off points!! We all start somewhere and your quilt turned out beautifully.

dq said...

Cute Jelly Roll quilt with fun fabrics! I don't buy jelly rolls because I rarely make patterns that would use them.

Deana from http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com
The google account I am currently using would not otherwise identify who I am.