Quilting

Jelly Roll Check Quilt With Fat Quarter Shop

Happy National Sew a Jelly Roll Day! OK, so it may be a totally made-up holiday, but if it sounds like dessert and features fabric, I’m certainly not complaining!

I’m so excited to be a featured blogger for Fat Quarter Shop’s Project Jelly Roll sew-along. Fat Quarter Shop has several awesome (and FREE!) jelly roll patterns available for download; you can find links to those patterns on their blog HERE.

I made my Project Jelly Roll quilt using FQS’s Jelly Roll Check pattern and a couple of Eliza’s Indigo jelly rolls. I just LOVE how it turned out!

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_1

Eliza’s Indigo has been on my fabric wishlist for a while now, and I felt like this was a great opportunity to get to use it! The colors are perfect for early fall (even if it doesn’t exactly feel like fall yet here in Dallas).

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_2

The pattern calls for yardage in a background fabric and an accent fabric. I chose a print from the Eliza’s Indigo collection for my background fabric, but I decided to use Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun Linen for the accent fabric. Mostly it was because I’m a little obsessed with Essex Linen fabrics and I try to use it as much as possible. But I also loved the idea of using a solid to balance the busyness of the pattern and fabrics.

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_3

The Homespun Linen adds a nice texture to the quilt top!

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_4

I sew on a ’70s-era Kenmore Singer and for the life of me, I can’t successfully freemotion quilt on it, so I used a decorative machine stitch for the quilting. The stitch design is like a little vine and echoes the pattern of my background (and quilt back) fabric nicely.

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_5

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_6

Does anyone else ever machine quilt by using a decorative stitch? I’d love to know if you do!

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_7

I used more of the Essex linen for my quilt binding, and I think it’s the perfect finishing touch!

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_8

I really loved this pattern. It’s simple and straightforward enough, but the design gives the finished quilt a lot of movement. It’s perfect, I think, for more masculine fabrics too. The pattern calls for using a Creative Grids square ruler for cutting your blocks, and I definitely recommend that! I’d never used a Creative Grids ruler before, and it was so nice to not worry about my ruler slipping as I was cutting out my blocks.

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_9

Y’all! This is such an exciting post for me because this is the first quilt that I have made to completion, start to finish, all on my own! I feel like I should be whispering that—I mean, I’ve been sewing full-time for over a year now, I’ve started a bajillion projects (I counted!), and I’ve made several small things (pillows and pouches, mostly). I’ve pieced two other quilt tops and had one of them quilted by a longarmer, so that’s something.

But this is the first quilt that I have pieced, quilted, and bound all by myself, and I’m so happy and proud that I could shout it from the rooftops! I made a quilt!! Now I feel legit. 🙂

FQS_Jelly Roll Check_10

I hope you are inspired to break out a jelly roll and make a quilt yourself! Be sure to check out all the other awesome bloggers who have made quilts using FQS patterns—they’re all gorgeous! And thanks again to Fat Quarter Shop for including me in this sew-along!

blog post sig

Sources

Jelly rolls: Eliza’s Indigo by Betsy Chutchian for Moda Fabrics
Background fabric: Eliza’s Indigo, Cocoa Santee River
Accent fabric: Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun Linen in Indigo
Backing fabric: Eliza’s Indigo, Cocoa on Café Au Lait Wappoo Creek
Batting: Hobbs Batting, Tuscany Collection Unbleached Cotton
Notions: Creative Grids 6.5” Quilting Square Ruler

5 Comments

  1. Tracie

    September 16, 2017 at 10:25 am

    What an awesome quilt, start to finish! I also use a decorative stitch for some of my machine quilting. I want to try mixing some stitches on a sample to expand my repertoire.

    1. Anna Dineen

      September 16, 2017 at 11:07 am

      Hi Tracie! Thanks for the comment! Mixing stitches sounds like a fun idea. Let me know how it goes!

  2. Pat

    September 16, 2017 at 10:27 am

    Lovely colors. Beautiful quilt. Thanks for sharing … 🙂 Pat

    1. Anna Dineen

      September 16, 2017 at 11:07 am

      Hi Pat! Thank you so much for the sweet comment!

  3. Ivy Rhys

    September 16, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    Your quilt is beautiful I really like the fabric you chose, and your pattern, too its such a cozy looking quilt. But what is a Kenmore Singer? I have 3 vintage Singers but no Kenmore Singer

Leave a Reply