The Past 2 nights Cutting with my Rotary

1 Charm Pack and 1 Jelly Roll to be made into something.  Needed ideas so to the internet I went.  

Moda's website has ideas for quilts using Pre-Cuts.  It's a great way to search by what pre-cut you're using.  

A Layer Cake, Turnovers, Charm Packs, Jelly Rolls -- Hope you aren't on a diet, they have such delicious names don't they?

Another good "idea" place is you-tube.  You can get lost in space there for hours and get side-tracked. 

Better than spending time online, I dug for more fabric (much more enjoyable time).  After I found part of a black tone on tone leftover Jelly Roll, I had an idea of a Book Case looking Quilt.  

I know this can be sewn like the Chinese Coins, or Coin Quilts.  If I add 1 black rectangle at the bottom of so many blocks or xyz number of coins, I bet it can be made into what I want with the fabric I have.  Now it's coming together so I got started.  

One Charm Pack called *Tranquility* Click on the link to see it, or buy one

1 cute Striped Jelly Roll (can't remember where I got these, but cute enough to nab 2!)  

For the Sashings and "Book Ledges", I'll use black tone on tone Jelly Roll strips.  

Cut the Charm Pack in 1/2 -- So they are 2 1/2" by 5" rectangles (Toss into a box)

Cut the 2 1/2" Stripped Jelly Roll strips into 5" lengths (Toss into a Box)

Cut the Black tone on tone 2 1/2" strips into 5" lengths (Don't Toss into a Box! Lay these by the side of your Sewing Machine)

Reach in and mix the rectangles in the box up.  Make sure to pick out any hunks of colors that want to stick together hahaha "Scrappy" not my style?  Well this needs to be to scrappy to get this look, imho.

Chain pieces these together by grabbing any 2 out of the box (but not 2 that actually match), and sew along the Long side.  Remember to make 2-Sets using a black rectangles sewn to the bottom.  If I had one that appeared cut a bit longer, put that piece and feed it through the bottom so the feed dogs help keep it more even.  Make sure 1 side of each Column stays the "most" even, the other side you can trim a bit but begin each Column with 1 side straight.  

1/4" seam allowance Yadda yadda 

Chain piecing is so relaxing because I love to cut and get right to sewing.  After piecing all the pairs together it was a good time to lay them out and design each Column. 

You should probably COUNT how many sets you made and then figure out how many you want in each Column, and how many Columns with sashing you want this across.  You do have to plan where you want the Black bookcase "shelves" to sit - How many sets of 2 before you sew in a Shelf black set.   

That said, I noticed my 1st Column was on the carpet before I stopped piecing... Cool, so I made 6 of those to match that length.  Measure?  Me?  Hmm Well that is when I had my *light bulb over the head* moment.  You should really count how many you want in each Column and plan this part out 1st hahaha!

My six columns measured out to be 110" long.  I chose to begin each one with a Black rectangle sewn onto the top so I won't have to sash the top of this Bookcase.  Then I used three of the 2 sets down the column before I added another 2 set for the Shelf.  This shelf had one "normal" piece with a black rectangle sewn on the Bottom of that pair.

When I measured a spare bedroom queen mattress, it was about 74" long.  So back to the design table to lay out each column.  I moved them around to get a varied placement of the colors and stripes.  Un-picked my columns at 72" so I can add a small border later and made sure the black is the last rectangle at the end of each column.

After my six originals were un-sewn and measured, I used the left-over sections to make 2 more columns across.  I picked out a few strips to make sure the black book "shelf" stays in the same place every Column, but that worked out well.  

Iron all the seams.  Since I'm going to sash between each Column (and not sew them together), press them by alternating which direction for each column should keep this from getting wobbly.  

After pressing, number the top rectangle of each column to remember the order that looks good.  I use a Frixion Pink Highlighter by Pilot.  I love the bold bright ink and the best?  It removes with heat, so the next pressing it will disappear :-)

I personally need to look at things and kinda "step" back to see it.  Today I took photo's with the sashing strips just placed on the columns so I can check again  to make sure it has the look I want.  

The great thing about having a 96" race track table is to be able to lay out designs and have a room to move them about.  

(That red Box top has Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery Quilt Clue pieces cut and sewn ready for today's clue - It has been posted, but I'm kinda tied up the next few days until I can SEE my rotary mat under this :-)

Two Columns were moved because colors came together that looked too matchy.  This is easy to see after you look at the photo's online.  So if I cut the stripes the right direction for these, it should lend to the Books on a Shelf look I want.  How do you think I did?

Top 1/2

Bottom 1/2

 This is before I noticed Column 5, 6 and 7 all "appeared" to have the orange/purple/yellow stripe too close and moved them.

Alright, my Grandson's flight arrived and he is here!

Tonight we're drying the cherries with stems on to prepare to make our annual Mice Candy.  We both take these to the local Animal Shelter to surprise the workers.  You can bet there are not many folks that THANK them for the impossible job they have.  Well, we appreciate the work they do for our large city.  This is what my oldest grandson and I make together and Don't tell the Shelter who I am *shhh* This is a secret between you, my grandson and myself!

Happy Friday all