ferrbie.com

I am not a trendy person. I never have been and probably never will be. I saw these “jelly roll” and “charm pack” things at a quilt show a couple of years ago, kind of scoffed to myself, and carried on. (A jelly roll is a collection of forty or so 2.5″ strips, stacked up and rolled up. The resulting flat spiral looks somewhat like a jelly roll pastry. A charm pack is a collection of forty 5″ squares. Moda offers jelly rolls and charm packs for many of their fabric collections.) I figured that, given the size of my stash, I would be able to whip up a bunch of 2.5″ strips or 5″ squares. I suppose that idea was good in theory, but I haven’t had the time or inclination to follow through on it.

Recently, I found a fun and easy pattern designed just for two charm packs and one jelly roll. Right now, it is the only quilt pattern available from French Fantasy Designs, and it’s called “1 Jelly Roll, 2 Charm Packs…”.

So far, I have started one top (blocks are done and the setting triangles are cut, but the top is not assembled), and purchased fabric for a second interpretation of this pattern. It should be pretty clear that I like the end result of this pattern. Of course, that doesn’t keep me from having some opinions about it…

• I had some difficulty with this pattern at first because I’m really not much of a scrap quilter. Truth be told, I tend to feel upset and/or stressed if I work on a quilt that has dozens of different fabrics in it. (The end result is usually too chaotic for my taste.) The layout of the blocks is similar to other quilts I’ve made, though, so I decided to give this pattern a try.
• The instructions themselves are pretty well done. I was pleasantly surprised to find information for cutting your own fabric as a substitute for using the jelly roll and charm packs. Later, I discovered that this information (sans cutting instructions) appears on the pattern’s back cover. So much for RTFM!
• The cutting instructions themselves are presented in text only. Given how visual an activity that quilting is, I am surprised that there were not also diagrams.
• The assembly instructions are also presented only as text. Even though I am a good reader, I like to have pictures included with the written instructions, especially for pressing and assembly. (In the end, the pressing of the blocks’ seams did not matter, as long as the orientation of the blocks in the assembled top alternated between a vertical orientation and a horizontal orientation.)

If I were to do it all over again, knowing the above items ahead of time, would I still buy the pattern? Possibly. Not long before finding, purchasing, and using this pattern, I created a similar pattern on my own. It’s not a stretch to think that, if I were sitting around and wondering how to use jelly rolls and charm packs, that I would have eventually determined the measurements provided in the pattern. However, I do recommend the pattern for beginning quilters and for quilters who are not prone to designing their own patterns.

(Note that I am not in any way associated with French Fantasy Designs or any other company or individual who creates, designs, or publishes quilt patterns. I’m just an opinionated quilter.)

In the last several months, I’ve started a new job, had a major car accident, recovered from that, and helped my husband find a new job. Suffice it to say that while all of life was happening, my quilting projects took a back seat to everything else. Now that I’m finally getting life back in balance, I’m getting back to the fun stuff of life, including my quilting.

On Saturday, I decided that I would join in a mystery quilt at my local quilt shop (Cotton Cupboard Quilt Shop in Bangor, ME). Between now and April 11, I’m making a quilt! I don’t know much except for how many fabrics are used and the yardage of each. (I’m usually not much for giving up control over my quilts, but there’s a first time for everything!!) I hope it turns out pretty.

I’m not posting the name of this mystery quilt or the patterns (either would be a big no-no), but I will post pictures of the final project.