I finished this summer picnic quilt last week but haven’t made it onto the blog to write about it until today. This was number 9 on my Q2 Finish Along list. I’ve had this jelly roll for about four years and I put it up on destash over on Instagram but no one bought it so I decided if I couldn’t destash it (which I didn’t really want to anyway) then I needed to get it out of my stash by sewing it into a quilt.
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| This is my favourite thing to do with a jelly roll. I’ve seen quilts like this in two of the books in my quilt book collection. I didn’t really follow any directions this time around because this is the fourth time I’ve made a quilt like this. You just start sewing your strips together in pairs. It helps if they are a light and a dark or contrasting colours in the pairs. Then you cut them with a quarter square specialty ruler making triangles. Then start sewing triangles together to make squares and then sew the squares together into rows alternating the direction of the centre seam. It looks much harder than it is when you’re done and you can space out at the sewing machine and chain piece most of it. |
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| I used IKEA fabric for the backing and it was wide enough that I didn’t have to piece it! White is not the best choice for the back of a picnic quilt but let’s get real… I’m probably never going to take this out on a picnic and risk getting it dirty. It’s on the couch right now as I type. |
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| Despite the fact that I bought the jelly roll four years ago one of my favourite fabric shops in St. Albert, Alberta “Quiltessential” still has quite a lot of the cherry yardage on the bolt. After having them cut a metre of blue I spotted the black but it was too late. It’s a good thing I love blue. 🙂 I quilted large feathers in the border and stitched in the ditch on the main top. (This fabric is “Recipe for Friendship” by Mary Engelbreit for Moda.) |
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| A closer look at some of the fabrics. My favourite is the paisley with the tea pot in the middle. |
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| The lilacs smelled so lovely as we were out taking the photos. They are gone already! Such fleeting flowers. |
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| One last look. It completely covers my husband here and he’s a pretty big guy so it’s great as a lap quilt in the living room. |
Thank you for coming over to see my quilt today. This week has been very busy with volunteer work at my kids’ school but I hope to have more finishes to show you soon! 🙂 In the meantime you can check out my Instagram and Facebook pages for more frequent posts of what I’m up to including some outfits I have sewn this week for myself and my middle daughter. (You can click the icons in the mason jars on the top right of my button bar.)
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I really love this quilt…maybe if I had known what that jelly roll had the potential to be, i could have bought it! 🙂
Love the idea. I have a jelly roll in a tin I bought a couple of years ago. I might forgo a 'big' quilt and do something like this instead. And mark that off my 'to-do' list.
Thank you so much Buffy! 🙂 These quilts are pretty quick to make. You are no-reply on my email so I hope you see this message here. Thank you for your comment!
Love your beautiful quilt and the backing is so pretty. I'll have to check out the fabric at Ikea during my next visit. Enjoy your picnics and thanks for sharing.
Woohoo! You're a machine at the moment. Wanna come work on my WIP pile? 😉 I love that Ikea fabric – I just used some of it on a quilt finish last year (that's going to be in a magazine next month or I would have been sharing that fabric ALL over IG as I love it so!). Lovely finish! <3
Very nice finish. Love how the jelly roll turned out.
cherries! Tea and paisley! Aqua blue! And that backing fabric!! Such a perfect summertime quilt 🙂 XX!
cherries! Tea and paisley! Aqua blue! And that backing fabric!! Such a perfect summertime quilt 🙂 XX!
Such a beautiful quilt and a great way to use up a jelly roll!
*Visiting as a member of the official 2015 Finish-Along cheerleading squad.*
Do you have a pattern you can share? I just bought this jelly roll and love the pattern.
Hi Susan,
The pattern I used is in the book “Strip-Smart Quilts” by Kathy Brown.