Friday, February 9, 2018

Cool Regatta

This has been an odd week around here, but it's also been a great week for me to get things done. Many of the the things I normally do in a week got cancelled this week, so I had a little bonus time on my hands.  I did a lot!  Let's see. . .I wrote a couple of paper proposals for conferences, worked on learning the ins and outs of graphics software, did a bunch of laundry, and one more thing I can't remember.  Oh, yeah-- and I finished this happy little quilt!


This is one of the smaller versions of the Regatta quilt that I've been making to use up a solid jelly roll that had been hanging around here for far too long.  I'm making two, one in cool colors and one in warm colors.  Obviously this is the one in cool colors, but I had to throw in one red stripe, just because.  Don't worry, the warm one has a blue stripe, too, just because!


I made this quilt in quilt-as-you-go style, which made it very easy and very fast.  The only problem I had was the pinked edges on the jelly roll strips.  Those are a pain in the butt, aren't they?  That's one of the reasons why I don't buy these any more. I've actually started cutting the pinked edges off of the warm strips:


This makes them a little smaller (about 1/4 inch) which will make the warmer quilt a little bit smaller, but it will be a bit easier to construct.  One tip I have for the quilt-as-you-go process is to use a couple of dots from a glue stick on the edges of the strips to hold them still while you stitch the next strip on.  You'll still need pins, but fewer of them.

I like this little quilt and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I think it could use a little more quilting.  It's not going to come apart or anything, and it's very cuddly, but I think it might look better a little more densely quilted. For the next one I plan to stitch down the centers of the strips as well.  I think that should help a lot, at least to my eye.


This quilt finished up right at 40 by 50, which is exactly where I wanted it to be.  For the binding I used some more of the strips from the jelly roll.  I think that this means that I'll use up all but about two strips, which means that the jelly roll will be gone and almost all the parts will be in a quilt!  Yay!


This little quilt is destined to be donated to Sarah's Hands to Help drive a little later this year, along with its warmer-colored counterpart. I have a couple more ideas for donation quilts, too, but they're going to wait for just a bit.  I'm excited about the Monet's Wedding Ring quilt that I just started and another quilt I'll be starting this coming week.  That one is a free-pieced quilt, which I find quite relaxing.


Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm not sure what we're doing, but I'm hoping it involves something fun and some chocolate, too!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazymomquilts, and Finished or Not Friday.

19 comments:

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

I like the idea of making a smaller version, I wanted to make it but my jelly rolls have only one strip per design, I will take another look, thank you. Your colour ways are great and I love the pop of red, works well in my book.

Libby in TN said...

I agree about the pinked edges! Cute quilts.

Danice G said...

Regatta is a darling quilt. Cheerful and bright. I also don't like pinked edges. Now I know I am not the only one, lol.

Anonymous said...

It's Danice. Regatta is a darling quilt. Cheerful and bright. I also don't like pinked edges. Now I know I am not the only one, lol.

Vicki in MN said...

Beautiful Regatta. I hate the pinked edges too, one never knows where the true edge is.

compusword said...

I love how you were playful with the color scheme. Good job!

Bernie Kringel said...

Ditto on the pinked edges of the jelly roll strips. Makes me crazy too.

This is lovely Mari!! I want to contribute to Sarah's Hands 2 Help this year. I missed it last year.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I feel the same way about the pinked edges - I never know quite where to measure from! Your Regatta quilt is fun - the background fabric is so perfect for it.

claudia said...

I love this quilt!!! I have a few (maybe more than a few) Jelly Rolls hanging around that I keep thinking I should use. I have to finish a ton of other projects first though...

Dorothy said...

"They" say to measure from pinked point to pinked point, and it "should" measure 2 1/2". My problem with jelly rolls is that they seem to have a "curve" in the strip. I know how to do that on my own (bad cutting), so don't need to buy it all ready done for me. :-) And really, don't we "all" have a big enough stash to cut our own jelly rolls ????

piecefulwendy said...

I agree with you on the jelly rolls. One of the ones I used for my Regatta was in varying widths, from 2.5" to 2-5/8". Not a really big deal, but a bit of a pain. It all came out okay, but still. Another thing that bothers me about the pinked jelly rolls is all the lint. It gets all over everything!

piecefulwendy said...

Okay, I hit publish too soon. Your quilt is lovely, and making it smaller for Hands 2 Help is a grand idea! I like the red stripe!

scraphappy said...

Congratulations on a finish. Using up almost all the jelly roll sounds like perfect planning.

grammajudyb said...

I have been drawn to all the Regatta quilts I have been seeing in Blogland. Yours is fun with the "accent" strip. I have had trouble using jelly rolls too....so no more in my space!

JanineMarie said...

I love how you put that hot strip in the middle of the cool ones! I like the size, too. Makes it economical to back for a donation quilt. I'm with you about jelly rolls. I'd rather cut my own strips--although it is probably harder to get cohesive colors that way without buying a ton of fabric. Not that that's a bad thing, either. :)

The Joyful Quilter said...

Congrats! on a "cool" finish. I'll be looking forward to seeing the "hot" version, too!!

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Your quilt turned out very nice!

Louise said...

Dorothy's comment made me laugh! I agree, why pay money to have someone else cut strips badly when we all know how to do that?? And yet, jelly rolls of a nice line of fabric are soooo tempting. I love the idea of having one strip of 30 or 40 different fabrics. Sigh.

Your cool quilt is...cool! The QAYG method turned out so nicely, everything is very neat and tidy and parallel. Great idea to donate it for H2H this year :)

Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty said...

We all have a jelly roll "aging" in our stash like that. Good for you for putting yours to use! Looking forward to seeing the warmer foil to this lovely finish!