Another finished quilt!

In my last post i mentioned how my sewing machine was going in for a service...although I felt a bit jittery at the idea of not having my machine I had a list of things that I wanted to sort out (mainly re-organise my sewing room) and near-completed projects that I wanted to finish. Sadly I was wildly over-ambitious both in terms of the size of my list and the time:inclination ratio. I did make a start though - moving slightly closer to my goal of being able to fit all my craft books in my desk!

One of the projects I really wanted to finish was my jelly roll quilt which I started way back in April.

After that post I did rip out a couple of the seams and reposition the rows which wasn't entirely necessary, but did reduce some of the pooling and makes me feel happier with the quilt. I then added a border around the outside and added some brown fleece for the backing before quilting with wavy lines down each row of the blanket. I had my age old problem of not using enough pins and having some puckering but this was quickly rectified, and having done two quilts now I am learning that Pins Are the Key!
















In the second photo (taken in May!) you can see where I've pinned the binding before I started to slowly sew it in place. But it took me a-g-e-s and eventually got interrupted by a quilt order and holidays and then sat neglected in the corner. 

So this weekend - being one of the hottest the year and all that! - felt like the ideal time to finish this off. The binding was completed last night and I have to say that having this draped over my lap whilst it was so hot was not my best idea athough it did give Mr f&f a laugh! All the ends were woven in today and it's even been washed and dried already!

So here it is, finally finished...
Jelly Roll race quilt by fabric&flowers

The colours and patterns still make my heart sing, I love that they dance on the retro/modern line. In case some of you are wondering why I went for a beige/brown border and backing it was mainly because Mr f&f was not too keen about having something "pink and flowery" in the living room which is where I wanted to put it so I tried to subdue the girliness just a little!
Jelly Roll race quilt by fabric&flowers

What I really like with this quilt is how when it's artfully draped  all scrunched up in a chair it has real character and that you get a glimpse of all the different fabrics that were used. I particularly love all the paisleys.
Jelly Roll race quilt by fabric&flowers














So, details;

Fabric ::: October Skies by Verna Mosquera for Freespirit jelly roll (40 strips); STOFF for edging; Brown fleece for back

Pattern ::: jelly roll race quilt - although I cut each of the jelly roll strips in half so that I would have more variation in each row

Time it took ::: I wrote down how long it took me to do each row and annoyingly I can't find the piece of paper anywhere. Grrr!!! If I find it whilst tidying my space I'll update this, but from memory I think it took around 45mins to join all the strips together and around 30mins to sew into the quilt top
ETA - I found my times! Just in case you're interested they were;
   Joining strips together - 44mins
   1st row - 36mins
   2nd row - 22mins
   3rd row - 14mins
   4th row - 8mins
   5th row - 4mins
   TOTAL - 3hrs 25mins (or 0.3 strips per minute!)

Finished size ::: 61" x 48"

I'm really pleased with it and will probably do another one at some point as they're quick and effective to make: an ideal present! And I'd definitely recommend it to someone thinking of having a go at making a quilt top - it's a great introduction to quilting.

For now though, I think I'll have to fold my blanket and tidy it away until the weather turns a bit cooler - although I'm already looking forward to snuggling underneath it!
Jelly Roll race quilt by fabric&flowers

I hope you've all been enjoying the sunshine and had a lovely weekend?!

Sx

Todays sky ● blue with clouds but very hot!

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