Quilting is painting with needles.
Hey there from Nannyland,
What do you do when you have a little touch of Covid and you're stranded at home for a spell? In my case, the answer was easy. I used the excuse to chill in my craft room for a ton of guiltless hours coming up with a solution to a perplexing dilemma I've had for awhile. I tested positive on my birthday, the last day of May, and have to admit, it wasn't the best present I've ever received. But a prescription to sequesterer myself for days amid all my creative paraphernalia is always the one that draws me in, no matter what my malady.
It didn't take long for me to figure out something to amuse me. I have loads of jelly rolls in my stash and I struggle with finding patterns that make a 2 1/2 inch strip look chichi. I had plenty of time to ponder how to combine jelly rolls with my favorite classic quilt block, the log cabin.
I knew my experiment might not turn out perfectly owing to my limited math skills, so I chose some jelly roll strips from a roll that had fabrics that were not my favorite colors, just in case I really messed up. I soon realized that expanding my tried and true bright color palette by using a softer one was not as "blah" as I thought it would be. I actually love the restful colors in my final quilt.
Cutting the strips for the block might seem very straight forward, but there is some precision and math involved when using jelly roll strips and there are lots of different lengths to cut. Because I wanted my quilt scrappy, I combined three or four patterns from books, the internet and YouTube and ended up with the one I thought would give me the best results. Here is a tutorial from Jordan Fabrics that really helped me. She has a free downloadable pattern.
I used the EQ8 program on my computer to lay out my quilt and it provided me with feedback on yardage, block design and border details. It really helps to have a map in front of me when I'm embarking on a quilt journey. This program has saved me countless hours of stress by keeping me focused and charting my progress.
My quilt top was blissfully completed during the week of my confinement and is aptly named "Quick Quarantine Quilt." Now that I have a system, I can whip up a snazzy jelly roll quilt in a jiffy and work on purging my stash in the bargain.
My hubby and I have both recovered very well from our Covid, which turned out to be no more than a slight case of the sniffles due to our two vaccines and two boosters. With a new false sense of hybrid immunity, I have been happy to take off my mask and live like a normal human being again. It will be fun to take my quilt top to my LQS for quilting and meet my fellow quilters face-to-face!
Thanks for visiting Nannyland.
I'll just be here blissfully creating until your next visit.
Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)
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