Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Quilt-a-Long Begins

The winner has been chosen and contacted, so if it wasn't you, I'm sorry!

Here is the schedule for the QAL.  I've planned the schedule so you can have your quilt finished by the holidays, but not feel rushed.
  • Week 1  9/25    Schedule and supplies, thoughts on choosing fabrics
  • Week 2-3 10/9  How to use the braid template and cutting
  • Week 4  10/16  Piecing braids
  • Week 5  10/23  Measuring and cutting sashing, assembling rows
  • Week 6  10/30  Measuring, cutting and attaching borders
  • Week 7  11/6    Basting and quilting ideas
  • Week 8  11/13  Binding and sharing Finished quilts
  • Fabulous Finish:  December 1, QAL Giveaway!
If you haven't been able to find your own copy of the pattern locally (I can get EB's patterns at my local JoAnn store), you can order it directly from Quilt in a Day.

One great thing about this pattern is, you only need one Jelly Roll to make any size from Baby to King!  The Baby size (41" X 48") takes only 9 strips.  The King size (113" X 114", wow!) takes 39 strips.  Most commercially sold Jelly Rolls have 40 strips, so you can wait to see how you like the technique before deciding what size to make.

I think the fun part of any quilt is deciding what fabrics to use.  For my purple "Braid in a Day," I used a Tonga Treats Jelly Roll (sorry, I tossed the wrapper so I'm not sure which colorway) because I was in a hurry and didn't want to fiddle with choosing fabrics.  But this would be a good project to use your own scrap strips.



You might consider doing a monochrome quilt.  Orange is the color of the year, and my grandaughter's favorite color!


If you add blue-green and violet to orange, you get a split complementary:


Or go with scrappy!


One important thing to remember is: have some contrast in value among your strips.  In other words, don't use all medium value or all dark value.  If you do, the strips will blend together in your braids and result in a muddy look.

If you struggle with choosing fabrics, buy a jelly roll.  All the fabrics in a jelly roll play well together, so no worries for you!

Now, go forth, find the pattern and choose your braid fabrics!  Next week, cutting instructions and how to begin!



From the desk of your auntmartisignature

3 comments:

  1. I AM GOING OUT THIS WEEK TO LOOK FOR MY PATTERN AND MY FABRIC!! WOOHOO. THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN!!

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  2. Hooray!!!! I'm am so excited to start this with you! :) And I am relieved that we get while to to the QAL. Thanks!!!!

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  3. I wanted to do a quilt with jelly rolls but I'm a year late! I can't find in your blog where the finished quilts are and where the instructions are. Can you help me?

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