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Great Ideas

A lot of quilters use jelly rolls, and I'm no exception. They became a thing when they were first introduced back in 2007, and have been a staple of the quilting industry ever since. Simply put, a jelly roll is bundle of 40 strips of 2-1/2" precut fabric (they're usually 40" to 44" long, or whatever the width of the fabric is.) Jelly rolls are made of fabrics that belong to a collection, or are of the same or complementary colors, or have a common theme, like baby or Christmas. Because they're already cut you can start piecing right away, which is the convenience factor.

I stopped using jelly rolls when I got more into quilting with thrifted fabrics. Precuts are too expensive, frankly. I still have an entire bin that includes quite a few leftover jelly rolls, and even more 2-1/2" strips in my scraps bin. I'd like to use them up, so I invested in Carolyn Forster's Jelly Roll Scraps.

This book features 15 quilts and 15 gift items you can make from leftover 2-1/2" strips (you don't need jelly roll scraps, of course, you can just cut them up from your own fabric.) The quilts in the book are small (most are under 20" X 20") but really stunning, and feature traditional patchwork patterns that I would love to try making. I think because the projects are small I'm encouraged, too -- I really don't have the energy to keep making huge quilts anymore.

The instructions are well-written, and there are plenty of photos for each project to guide you along. I really like this octopus toy, it's a clever way to use up leftover strips.

The projects have a range of difficulty, but most are pretty beginner friendly, which I also like. Stay tuned to the blog to see what I make from this project book.

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