Jolly Bar Jazz - A Fat Quarter Shop Quilt Along

Hi everyone!

I'm back with another Fat Quarter Shop quilt along quilt!

This is a new pattern by the Fat Quarter Shop called Jolly Bar Jazz and it is part of their Shortcut Quilt Series. It's super quick, super easy! There is even a Jolly Bar Jazz YouTube video to help you with the basic construction. All you need is two jolly bars, some background yardage, and a 6 1/2" square ruler.

I used Little Miss Sunshine by Lella Boutique and I'm so happy I did! I think this fabric looks great with the Jolly Bar Jazz pattern.

A few words about basting...

I don't love it.

Show me a person who loves basting, and I'll show you a unicorn. I had an epiphany though. After I finished basting this quilt I realized that even though I don't love basting, I LOVE handling a freshly basted quilt. It's like the quilt comes alive in that moment. It's not just a quilt top and some batting anymore, but all the components have come together to make something greater than themselves. That, my friends, is pretty cool.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to quilt this one with a serpentine stitch.

So, yeah. Serpentine stitch. I love you, and I hate you. I knew that this particular stitch has been known to cause "shift," that annoying tendency for a quilt top to move as it's being quilted. "Shift, schmift," I said. "I'll take my chances," I said. "Can't be that bad," I said. Hahahaha. Seriously though, I baste really well and I didn't think it'd be a problem.

It was.

For that reason I'm thinking about naming this quilt "Shift Happens" or maybe "Trapezoids Are Cool Too."

But, oh! Serpentine stitch you are so pretty. I love the texture it created. Even more than that, I love how it looks. I used white thread and navy backing, and the contrast is oh so good!

I mean, c'mon! This might be my favorite back of a quilt ever!

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QUILT STATS:

Name: TBD
Pattern: Jolly Bar Jazz by the Fat Quarter Shop
Size: 65" x 84" (or roughly thereabouts)
Fabric: Little Miss Sunshine by Lella Boutique, Kona White and Storm
Thread: Connecting Threads Essential Thread in White
Quilting: Serpentine stitch, horizontal lines every 1 1/2"

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Linking up with:

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation
Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hand Quilts

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Until next time!
- Sarah

National Sew A Jelly Roll Day!!!

Hello all you beautiful people!

You know what I LOVE? I love "National" days. Seriously. National Pizza Day. National Doughnut Day. National Cheesecake Day. Um... Those are all food related. (I really like food.)

But wait! Moda Fabrics has designated the 3rd Saturday of every September as National Sew A Jelly Roll Day!!! (#NSJRD) I swear I can hear legions of quilters cheering and hootin' and hollerin' every time I say that! So, now I have a new favorite "National" day. :) You can find out more info by checking out the website Project Jelly Roll.

This year I teamed up with Fat Quarter Shop to celebrate NSAJRD. I don't know if ya'll know this but FQS has tons of free quilt patterns on their website. Just go to their Free Quilt Patterns page. For NSAJRD, I chose to make their free Jelly Roll Slice pattern. Because really, how else do you celebrate National Sew A Jelly Roll Day other than to make a jelly roll quilt??

You guys! This was such a fun, easy, and QUICK project to make! I couldn't believe how fast this top came together. I started with a gorgeous jelly roll of North Woods by Kate Spain (kindly provided by Fat Quarter Shop.)

It seems like before I could even say "National Sew A Jelly Roll Day" three times fast I had my strip sets sewn and cut up, or sliced and diced as I like to say. ;)

Then I put together my Jelly Roll blocks and my Slice blocks...

 Then, like Emeril, BAM! I had a quilt top. (Lots of food references today.)

So yeah, lightening fast.

I was feeling adventurous so I decided to try out a new binding tutorial. Sarah over at Sarah Goer Quilts recently posted this great tutorial for machine binding quilts. Sarah's method is pretty similar to mine but there were enough differences to keep me on my toes.

I really love how it turned out. Isn't that striped binding so fun?! I want to bind everything with stripes now. Lol.

Oh! Bonus! Because I used a holiday themed jelly roll, I've already got a holiday quilt for this year! Yaaassss!

So there you have it! My jelly roll quilt for National Sew A Jelly Roll Day! I highly recommend that you check out the Fat Quarter Shop Blog to see the other projects from the NSAJRD quilt along. FYI, I've seen some sneak peeks and they look awesome!

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Until next time!
- Sarah