Wednesday, May 1, 2013

My "Go To"

Many of my favorite quilting books contain patterns using jelly rolls.  I love the beauty of those little bundles!  The way you can crack one open and have a gorgeous quilt top in a few days without over-thinking fabric choice is wonderful.

But here's the thing.  I need to make a confession.  I am a washed fabric kinda gal.  I prefer to launder fabric as I decide to use it, then press it until it's ready to behave nicely.  So that really rules out precuts for me.

So, since I want to enjoy the ease of jelly rolls AND I want washed fabrics, I have a box in the closet that serves as my supply of 2.5" strips.  And there are piles of coordinating loveliness in there.  As I finish a quilt, I slice up a few strips and add them to my "go to" box.  When I want to get to work and skip a few steps, I pull out a favorite book of patterns and a bunch of strips and get busy!

I love looking at blogs like "Quiltville" to see ways to manage my scraps.  But I do limit myself to just one box of 2.5" strips.  I know my own limitations - if I cut up more of my fabric I would be paralyzed with indecision.







The two photos above are of the same box, just with different fabrics shown to illustrate the variety in there.

How do you set yourself up for success?




2 comments:

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

I also wash my fabrics first. My hands do not like the dyes, etc. in new fabric. I try to cut some of it up as soon as it gets here and have "puzzle pieces" ready to make into a pattern I'm likely to use. I am organized (sort of) or it would be a terrible mess. Fortunately I make a LOT of quilts and I have a couple of friends who are helping me sew, which also helps.

Thank you for stopping by and commenting on my blog! Happy Mothers Day!

Nancy said...

I wash my fabrics, too. I have 2 1/2" strips but but I rarely use them. It seems that the quilts I most want to make use some other measurement. I'm sure they'll come in handy one of these days!