Summer Jellies Jelly Bean Quilt

In May we again enjoyed a Retreat Day at Rookwood School. This was organised by the Committee of Sprat & Winkle Quilters, led by our Chairman, Lizzie Rudd Clark. We had been asked to bring a Jelly Roll and be prepared to make up one of the suggested designs that Lizzie and her team had prepared. I had two “Jellies” purchased from Create and Craft TV in lovely Summery colours which I thought would be ideal to make a “Summer” quilt for my husband’s grand piano.

The block design that I chose was called “Jelly Bean” and incorporated “snowballed” corners to the individual blocks of 4 strips of jelly roll.

jelly bean pattern

Pattern inspiration

I took my “Jellies” to New Threads, Weyhill Fairground for some advice. What colour should I use for the accent? Meg initially suggested Grey but we settled on a Dark Lilac. I bought a metre of fabric – I do not want to run out and I knew that I would use some of the accent fabric for a narrow border.

I spent the Retreat day sorting and stitching my strips into sets of 4. We also had a competition and joint block race. The Christmas-themed blocks were then raffled off to a lucky winner, who we hope will put them all together and “show and tell” at the Christmas social. (I really would have liked to win those blocks – oh well, guess I will have to make my own),

I finished stitching my blocks at home and then laid them out on the bed. Photographs helped to decide the arrangement and they were all stitched together.

jelly roll under construction (2)

Under construction

I added a narrow border (1” finished) of the accent Lilac and then completed with a border of 2” (finished) squares using the remainder of the Jellies plus some Fat Quarters I had bought at Franklins in Salisbury. The binding is the Lilac again. I used a 2 oz polyester wadding as I wanted this quilt to be lightweight – it is for the Summer after all. The backing is a Dusky Lilac sheet from Dunelm Mill and the quilting is simple “stitch in the ditch”. I managed to get the quilt completed and able to display on the piano in time for my husband’s return from retreat. He noticed it immediately! As soon as I can, I will post a photograph of the completed quilt but meantime, onto the next project – new curtains and soft furnishings for my bedroom.