Jelly Rolling

How did it get to be Thursday again so quick?!? The only thing I have to show for myself the past couple of weeks is a few more rows of the dress I hope to wear to church one day. I'm doing my best; days just don't seem long enough!

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Legends of Calypso

Confession: I was totally seduced by the blue Color Calypso fabric line (that isn't even available anymore). I don't think I even waited for a sale to snag my fat quarter bundle. I loved the colors and the individual designs from the very first time I saw them in a magazine ad. I didn't unpackage my June 2018 bundle until late 2022. I still am not sure what I should do with it, yet I love to look at the gorgeous hues when I need creative inspiration.

I adored the "color-kissed" flower print so much, I decided I need a dress made of it. I bought four yards. Again, I didn't wait for a sale. But I also still haven't gotten around to selecting a pattern for the fabric. (I have so many blue floral fabrics for which I haven't yet chosen dress patterns!) I can't decide if I want this particular dress to be a jumper I can wear in all seasons or a summer-sleeved frock that will get put away in winter.

I didn't expect to see any of the collection go on sale ever, but more than one year after I bought that initial bundle, a handful of the jelly roll strip packages landed in a popular online sale bin. I wasted no time in adding one to my collection.

I knew from experience one package of 40 or 42 jelly roll strips is not quite enough strips to make the entire skirt for a dress I designed with my own Spoonflower fabric designs back in 2014. (Man, I can't believe it's been that long ago now!!!) I knew must supplement. When I buy a set of jelly roll strips I intend to fashion into a dress, I typically buy a yard of my favorite fabric in the collection or in a coordinating solid to add half a dozen or so more strips to the skirt and to create a dress bodice. Pockets typically are made from whatever I have in my scrap bin that goes along with the dress fabric as close as possible. After all, my deep side pockets don't show.

I modified my strip skirt design just a bit with blue floral fabric leftovers from other projects and cut from worn-out dresses I made about as far back as high school.

The Color Calypso fabric line was so dated (most fabric collections - except for Moda Grunge and various solids - don't tend to be on the shelves longer than a few months), I knew there wouldn't be much yardage selection anywhere to add to my dress, so I thought a coordinating solid might be a nice addition. I used an online store's color matcher tool and bought a couple of yards of the recommended blue.

I wasn't impressed with the solid shade when it arrived. In 2021, I used the solid in my Painterly Charms quilt, then used the leftovers in a table topper for my mom for Mother's Day.

I haven't had enough time to make anything for me for so long, I'd set aside all my planned dress projects. I hoped a better Color Calypso coordinating solid option might materialize one day. At the end of 2019, I needed a tiny bit more of one specific fabric to finish an unrelated quilt. I got online to find the fabric, and there in the daily highlights was what I considered the perfect match for the Color Calypso dress! Moda Grunge, of course.

When this new fabric arrived, I couldn't wait to sit down to my sewing machine! I could not wait to wear this new dress! I cut the strips I needed several months later, and the following year or so, I cut out the bodice, lining and pockets. The unfinished project has been on my dining room table-turned sewing table since March of 2020. I never touched it again until now!!!

It likely will take a while to finish the piecing, and then I'd like to topstitch each seam with row of fancy embroidery. I went through my thread stash and don't have anything but a blue solid for the topstitching, but I guess I have a while before I have to make that decision. Each skirt panel will be at least 24 strips wide, and I'm only 9 strips into the first of two panels. Sadly, this isn't a dress I'll be wearing to church this coming weekend. How I wish I could finish it that fast!

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Making Progress

Sometimes, I just have to walk away for a while.

I started my green batik leftovers quilt-as-you-go project two years ago this week, back when we thought the "two-week" Safer At Home was going to last just a bit longer... This quilt was something to do I could look forward to each day after working at home. We were waiting for doctors to be able to see patients in-office again. Lizard had taken a real downturn, and we discovered in June of 2020 he would need another surgery. I finished the main 12 blocks quickly, and then the project got put aside because one of the blocks was too short, which I didn't realize until I'd stitched the rows together. When I learned Lizard would require another surgery, I couldn't even look at the quilt. Too many painful memories. Thank heavens this cheery project doesn't give me bad vibes anymore!

I finally figured out a way to fix the too-short block last week using a scrap of green that almost matches the original block. I also extended the back of the block using a matching piece of leftover binding, which is all I have left from that fabric. Once I evened up the quilt, I felt free as a bird! I began using more of my leftover green batik strips to piece a QAYG piano key border. One border is finished and attached, although hand-sewing still needs to be done.

Last night I finished the second border strip, and I'm currently in the process of quilting it as I go so I can attach it. I've also started the third border. I'm hoping to have the third and fourth borders completed and sewed into place by this weekend so I can do all the hand-sewing while we visit my mother-in-law. And then, just the binding will need to be done, which I can finish in a couple of hours when we get back home. I expect this quilt will be done soon!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

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Home on the Range

Mother's Day gifts are DONE!!!

This project (and the two practice pieces) taught me I can indeed successfully build a 60-degree diamond project without a template, and it also taught me how to properly machine-stitch Y-seams. My Y-seams on the first project were sad and frustrating. The Y-seams on the second project are not frowning. The Y-seams on the actual kit I bought at the beginning of this year are smiling! And that makes ME smile!!!

This project is (much) bigger than the kit I bought earlier this year was supposed to be, and I ended up having to buy three more yards of fabric in order to finish the background, backing and binding. (I didn't need a full yard of each, but I wanted leftovers.) I was able to make the diamonds with the fabric provided in the kit, even though my strips are nearly double the size the pattern called for. I was almost an inch short on one strip, but I was able to salvage the tiny triangles I whacked off at the top of each six-piece strip to finish that last diamond.

The Shabby Fabrics pattern called for (2) 1.5-inch strips to make the diamonds. I misread that for my first practice table topper and used previously self-cut 2.5 inch strip leftovers for a table topper for my mom for Mother's Day. I cut 1.5-inch strips from my snowflake stash for my second practice piece, which I love so much, I may end up keeping for myself. I decided to make the actual kit in the larger size in order to show off the adorable western prints in the Home on the Range collection. Even though the final project turned out much bigger than it should have, I think my mother-in-law might love it. We will be taking it to her in person next month during some much-needed rest and relaxation/rehabilitation.

I changed up the color order as shown on the pattern because I wanted to alternate the boots, plus, I thought making the teal strips the centerpiece would really make the coordinating binding pop. Plus, my mother-in-law's favorite color is teal.

I also unintentionally put the horseshoes on upside-down in relation to the pattern, probably because I have a snowflake-themed brain. The upside-down placement looks somewhat like snowflake points to me. Ha ha!

I quilted and appliquéd with King Tut Cedars, the first time I've ever used the colorway. It's been in my stash for quite a while, and I think it looks pretty darned coordinated, considering I haven't shopped for thread at all for more than two years except when I ran out of YLI Alaskan Skies while finishing up my Lizard Toes.

All three projects are quilted in the ditch because that's what the pattern recommended. I enjoyed this pattern so much, I might make another one, perhaps rainbow colors, to audition a different quilting design.

I waited until all three pieces were done to throw them in the wash. The background fabric on my mother-in-law's table topper unraveled from beneath the binding on one side, and all six horseshoes needed to be appliquéd on again as they, too, had frayed. I did a wider zigzag on the appliqués this time around and frogged the binding on that one edge and redid it. Resulting in 26 more ends to weave in!!! But all should hold firm now. And I'd rather have them grow fuzzy on me than the first time my mother-in-law washes it. Lizard suggested we wash that one again, just to make sure. This time, it held up beautifully. I think it will last a good, long time.

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

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Not Quite Christmas

Second practice table topper is done, and it went much smoother than the first one, which is for my mom for Mother's Day.

When I first started the ocean-themed table topper for my mom, I intended to use a wider variety of self-cut blue jelly roll strips from my leftovers. My blues include snowflakes, butterflies, flowers, batiks and solids. Once I got going, I decided sticking to one theme would be nicer if she ever has company for dinner. I'm hoping the family can gather again one day...

One of the reasons I made the first practice table topper was to see if I could complete the kit I bought for my mother-in-law's Mother's Day gift without purchasing the 60-degree diamond template the pattern says is required. I was glad I worked a practice table topper not only so I could give one to my own mom, too, but also because I made a few mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes was misreading the pattern. I saw (2) 1.5-inch strips as 2.5-inch strips. Pretty huge mistake! And what a tremendous size difference!!!

I did the second practice piece with my snowflake leftovers in the correct size because many of them have small print. I wasn't so sure the kit would look as good in the smaller size, but I didn't want to have to buy more fabric if I didn't have to. I feared I might lose a lot of the print detail if I cut the western-themed fabrics that narrow.

When I tried to visualize the Home on the Range strips half the width, I decided that was just too small. The lovely fabric designs would be lost. The illustration on the front of the Shabby Fabrics pattern actually shows fairly accurate placement of the print designs in the narrower strips, but I hadn't looked at that as closely until after I made the decision to go with the larger size. So I ordered more of the background, backing and binding fabric so I could complete the kit in the larger size. Any leftovers will be added to the quilt project I intend to help my mother-in-law with next month when we visit again. While I wait for the fabric to arrive, I finished whipping up the smaller table topper, which went SO much faster because it is SO much smaller!!!

Of course, I had to appliqué snowflakes onto the smaller table topper. Initially I thought I'd have to make a few new snowflakes because I wasn't sure I had six small enough to fit on that tiny table topper. But going through my Moda Blockheads 2 leftovers, I found a stack of unused but already-shaped flakes small enough to add to this project.

The backing of my second practice project is from my blue snowflake stash. I've now used up almost all of this particular fabric.

I also decided after pinning the second side of the binding in place, because the topper is so much smaller and because I didn't have the new fabric for my mother-in-law's table topper yet, that I had time to hand-sew down the binding on the smaller topper. I really like the way that turned out. I think in this small piece, top stitching on the binding would have detracted from the self-cut jelly roll snowflake leftovers I used in the binding. I did NOT use up all my blue snowflake leftovers for this project, and for that, I am joyfully content!

For the two blue table toppers, however, I did use up almost all my batting remnants. This is all the quiltable remnants I have right now. That will change the next time I finish a quilting project.

I do have a bunch of skinny batting remnants I use for stuffing amigurumi and pillows. I'm anxious to dig into my hand-dyed crochet thread stash once again so I can start making more amigurumi. It's been WAY too long! I used to crochet snowflakes and amigurumi on the bus and train during my daily commute. Now that I'm mostly working from home, I've been trying to establish and set aside a new block of dedicated crochet time. Not successful yet, but still looking for opportunities.

I also used up the snowflake diamond remnants to make a couple of new quilt blocks I can add to my Moda Blockheads 2 project, which, as I recall, needs a few more smallish blocks to complete the layout. Making these remnant blocks was SO fun, I really want to get back into block-a-week mode now! Just maybe not any new projects quite yet. When I get my WIPs down into single digits...

Moda Blockheads 4 started last month. I was SO tempted to dive in! I finally decided to save up this year's Blockhead patterns for after I whittle away a few more of my existing WIPs, including Blockheads 2. I don't know if I can finish my Blockheads 2 quilt this quarter, but this year might be doable. I am trying to finish SOMETHING on the project each week while others are making new blocks. I'm planning a rather spectacular and dramatic finish, so I think it will definitely be worth the wait!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

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