Jelly Roll Race Quilt

Jelly Roll Race Quilt, originally uploaded by rkkilmer.

This makes the 3rd one of these quilt tops that I have made. My friend Robin posted about the jelly roll races that she saw on YouTube. She suggested that our friendship group try it out. Well, needless to say, I am more than a little hooked. A jelly roll is made up of forty 21/2" wide X roughly 44" long strips of a coordinated line of fabrics. I think you see them most commonly from Moda, but many others have joined the trend, which makes them easy to find. However, my friend Pam created her first one by using 5 strips each of nine different fabrics that she cut from her stash. I was the lucky recipient of this one! I am putting it together to use as a nap quilt for the babies at school. When using 45 strips, as opposed to 40, I find the finished size to be 60X63, which I really like. That is also the way I put the one pictured above together. I found my fabrics at Fresh Picked Fabrics in Brea. I really do like that shop. So bright and colorful. Plus, they come up with so many finished projects that I find it inspirational just walking around.
So, I am ready to begin pin basting. I decided to write this little blog post first, for a couple of reasons. The first being that I hate pin basting and am no hurry to get down on my hands and knees. Secondly, I know that it's been a while since my last post. This is because my father had a stroke and my grandma died, all in the same week. Thankfully, my dad's stroke was mild. He doesn't recall any of it and seems perfectly fine now. My Grandma was 89 and had come down with pneumonia again. Her wish was to be at home, surrounded by her loved ones when her time came. That is exactly what happened. I was sad to lose her as she really was a very nice grandma. But, I know that her heart was right and that she is in a better place. She passed with all of her children and all of her 39 grandchildren surrounding her bedside. I just don't think one can ask for a better way to go.
We'll travel to New Mexico later in the week to lay her next to my grandfather in the small town she grew up in.
Till next time,
Rob