Jelly Roll Race with All Stars

Trends move fast in the quilt world, and the Jelly Roll Race is certainly one!

A roll has 42 strips that equal about 1600"!

It seems like everybody has a "jelly roll" of 2.5" cut strips....a marketing idea from Moda that passed into common usage almost immediately. And despite a rash of pattern and project books designed to use them (and their cousins of bakery-themed pre-cut squares and other shapes) they seem to hang around for awhile. You probably have one!
The Jelly Roll Race is a fun way to use up a roll, and the All Star Quilters had a competition at their recent retreat.


Several people brought their own roll, but everyone also found a roll in their "goodie bag" upon arrival...truly a heroic effort by the Retreat Committee, who cut & rolled them all!

Featherweights were still stitching on after some computerized machines bit the dust!

The idea is simple: connect all the strips into one long piece, fold and cut in half, then repeat about 5 times.
Of course, it's not quite as easy as it sounds, and those who had helpers to untwist the strips sewed a bit faster!


When it's done, you have a cute quilt, perfect for a child's gift or a charity project.

Traditional picture of taking a picture of another photographer

Strips can be joined with a straight or diagonal seam

If you didn't already click on it above, do check out the Jelly Roll 1600  on YouTube to see a group of ladies showing how it is done.