Racing towards spring

My friend over at Yarn All Over gave me a couple jelly rolls.  Likely in the hope that I would make them into something wonderful.  I'll have to see how that works out.

During the week, I had a little time to sew a bunch of them together into the beginnings of a Jelly Roll Race quilt.  I did a bunch of math (quilt math is... special) in the hopes that I could make the quilt larger than you'd get with a single jelly roll without being the monster two would make.  I sewed up 55.5 lengths of 2.5" wide strips.  This is the part that takes the longest, in my opinion.  Here it is, pressed and ready to go into the machine for the first pass.

Since I used so many pieces, it seemed I was sewing forever with that first pass.  Onto the second pass, where my strip is 4.5" wide and will soon become 8.5" wide. 

I like these quilts for a couple reasons. 

• easy to sew,
• something that doesn't require more cutting (a rail fence is great with jelly rolls, but doesn't have the same amount of randomness to it)
• all the pressing comes at the end, so your top is almost finished when you first put your iron to it
• I end up with a bunch of little half-square triangles (not that I'm entirely sure what to do with them)
• relatively quick
• and with amazing results.

I wanted this quilt to be longer than the standard 32 strips (64 inches) so I cut a chunk off when I got to four strips wide.  This will allow me to add this piece back in making the overall length 72 inches.  Much better if the quilt is about 60" wide.  This should come out as a generous lap quilt.  My favorite size, next to the crib size.  (Also, about the limit of what the long-arm can handle without having to break it down, buy new rails and set it back up, not to mention the part where it won't fit in my house at that size.)

At 16 strips wide, I paused and added the piece I cut off at four strips wide.  Now, one more swipe and all that's left is the pressing and trimming... oh, and the side borders.

Pressed and bordered.  See how easy that was?  This one needs a great name.  Something that celebrates spring.  The days are getting longer and I look forward to the warmer weather and all the wonder that spring brings.

I hope to get this one quilted on the long-arm by next Wednesday.  We'll see how well that goes.