What's Under Foot?

What's under foot at your house?  There's something colorful, soft and scrappy at mine! I have always wanted to make a Jelly Roll rug. I have all the components, I just haven't actually gotten around to making one yet. Something about cutting ten miles of batting into 2.5" strips has been enough of a deterrent toward progress on that front that it has stopped me in my tracks. Then, someone smart and enterprising began marketing the jelly roll rug batting pre-cut. Brilliant!! But, I am far too practical (read: cheap!) to NOT use ends and edges of batting piled high in my own closet to buy a roll! And, yes, A Jelly Roll rug is still on my agenda. But, in the meantime, I saw some Fuse, Fold and Stitch rugs earlier this year, they were made from pre-cut 10" squares (Layer Cakes). I caved. What can I say? I can be easily distracted.

I bought the pattern and a 25 yard roll of the fusible, pre-cut foam on the spot (my rationale: I DON'T happen to have any of that lying around!), I knew that I had a Layer Cake languishing on the shelf in my sewing closet. One rainy afternoon last week I laid out all the squares on the floor into rows in a random color pattern and labeled my rows. Then I began sewing and fusing. The foam is fully encased in each stitched row, on two sides, and then folded down the center for double cushioning. 

I kept my rows labeled, in order, as I moved through the process. 

Before joining the rows together they are stitched down the center. I used a walking foot and a Jeans needle (#100/16) and had no problems at all sewing through the extra thickness. 

The labeled rows after joining and trimming. I still need to add conventional binding all around.

Fuse, Fold and Stitch Rug ~ 25" X 38" 

This beauty will live in my laundry room, it is fully reversible too! Doesn't it brighten up the space? Even the most mundane of all chores is now a colorful and cheery experience. And, that Jelly Roll rug? Yes, it's still on the back burner. Now that I have this one done it has spurred me on. I WILL cut the batting for it! It will live in the laundry room, too, in front of the washer and dryer, a companion rug for this little cutie!

Life is Good!

Diamond Distraction

Does anything like this ever happen to you? I  saw a quilt that was shown in our guild's biennial show last weekend and I became obsessed with the pattern. I quickly contacted Quiltkeemosabe to see if she knew the name of the pattern; or, better yet, if she had the pattern. She didn't but she casually said: "if we had some 60 degree graph paper I guess we could figure it out". Okay, I took that as a personal challenge, I knew I couldn't rest until this block was constructed. Not knowing exactly how to proceed after I had drawn it up, I quickly discovered my "Sidekick"* ruler, otherwise unused up until now. Score! Not having any particular size in mind I decided to make the star center scrappy, cutting 2.5" diamonds easily and efficiently with my new-found favorite tool! I also had a bin of 2.5" precut strips. Score again!! This same ruler also allowed the background setting diamonds to be cut from 4.5" inch strips.

A friend once told me that whenever she made up any "trial" block she did them in the same color palette so that, eventually, she would have a collection of sampler blocks that would all go together. My red and white block bin is already burgeoning, but that's another post for another time.  

Half a block done! This was fun and went together perfectly. Oh, I forgot to mention that the quilt that inspired this obsession did win a ribbon at the show for "Best Piecing"; I wasn't going to settle for anything less than perfect points and intersections in my version either. 

Whew! Done. I couldn't be happier. This completed block measures 19" from west to east points, unfinished. Yes! I can rest now. I am adding this quilt to my "must do" list somewhere down the line. Don't forget: I already have all those precut strips! I'm thinking about a scrappy, multicolor quilt with a neutral background batik (one more thing just patiently waiting on the shelf to be used). But, for today, this block is joining all the other red and white additions to my someday sampler in its designated block box. If you are like me, and become distracted and/or obsessed by one thing that requires dropping all else until you can figure it out, I highly recommend succumbing to the challenge, you'll sleep better. Now, to get back on track!

Life is Good!

* For the record: Quiltkeemosabe told me that I needed that Sidekick ruler a few years ago, 

she always knows exactly what I need before I do. I am so glad that, this time, I listened!