Delighted Jelly Roll Quilt Top

I love pre-cuts. I love the neat little squares and rolls they come in, all tied with a cute ribbon. Every time I buy one I feel a little ripped off, but I buy them anyway. I'm all about easy quilts, and it doesn't get much easier than all the cutting being done for you.

A few weeks (months? probably months ago--where is the year going, by the way? It's almost June!) I saw some sweet fabric over on Katie's blog. I bugged her for the details, and she informed me it was an older line called 'Delighted' by Riley Blake. Why do I always get turned onto wonderful fabric lines when they're almost gone forever? Luckily I was able to find a couple jelly rolls (they're the half-sized rolls where you get 21 strips instead of the usual 42) and I promptly snagged those. I have always wanted to try one of those jelly roll quilts like Kris made here, so on Monday night I had at it. Three hours of stitch time later (plus a bit for ironing) I had the top complete.

I trimmed the selvages and cut 18 inches off the first strip, and then just sewed and sewed. Due to there being duplicates of each print there isn't as much variation as you'd see with a full-sized roll, but I adore the fresh and sunny, yet vintagey, colors and the way they all bounce off each other.

Even from the back the colors are still so rich and fun! I stuck the strips into a plastic bag and just kept reaching in and sewing them together. It'd be close to impossible for anyone to figure out where the strips are going to ultimately end up (or that could be me and my lack of a functioning math part of my brain). If I could have predicted it, I certainly wouldn't have had all this pink hanging out together:

But then the happy accident of this--

--and this--

--might not have happened. They're my favorite sections, by the way :)

This ended up being a nicely sized quilt top--not big enough for a bed (maybe a smaller kid bed?) but perfect as a decent sized throw. I think I'm going to do simple straight-line quilting on this one, but I'm going to give cotton batting a whirl (I usually use polyester). That will have to wait a bit, but I'm just so happy I finally got this stitched together. Those jelly rolls have been taunting my sub-conscious.

I needed that quick, bright interlude after miles of aqua and brown, and all those red cushions on the porch. This was just what my soul was craving.

It was back to the cutting board tonight, and I was happily slicing into a few fabrics that were delivered this afternoon:

It's for a good friend of mine--I felt like I hit the jackpot when she said she liked orange and plaid, and the fabric on the left hit stores this week. Serendipitous, indeed. I've already got the outside of the bag finished, and it's looking pretty sweet! I'll be showing you this one this weekend for sure :)