RSC20 -- The Start of the Jelly Roll Rug

Today I am working on a Jelly Roll Rug.  These pink strips were given to me by a friend who had a daughter that started sewing.  She was just learning to rotary cut.  They are not completely uniform.  I am using batting scraps that I had a 30 gallon tub of that I cut with my Accuquilt strip die.  I am not following the pattern exactly, but I think what I am doing will work fine and help with the strips not being cut to the right size.  I am going to continue putting them together using the color of the month until it is the right size.

I did a Google search and found this formula:  Subtract the width from the length. Example: 36 inches - 24 inches = 12 inches. So if you begin you initial chain of 12 inches your final oval rag rug will be 24" by 36".  I found this info at Rag Rugs by Erin.

I want my rug to be 89" long x 26" wide to fit the area in our bathroom by the bath tub.  I am doing an experiment and making it this size by the first Google search I found.  So I am starting with a center strip of 63".  Let's see where this takes me.

Here's a link to the Jelly Roll Rug Pattern.

I have had this project on my WIP Wednesday list ever since I purchased the pattern and made a small coaster to test out the pattern.  Let the fun begin.

I'm linking up to Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC20.  Check out all the fun projects!



I hope to spend some more time in my garden today and mow.  It look like a beautiful Ohio day!  This is what it looked like yesterday before I got some of my weeding done.  I have waited long enough to see if the old seeds that I had were going to come up.  There was no luck with the old squash and pumpkin seeds.  I still have time to replant.  I don't know if I've ever had a summer where I didn't have fresh zucchini!

Here it is after I finished working yesterday.  I still have some weeds to get rid of and things to plant.  Hopefully I will get it to the place where I can plant the rest of my seeds tomorrow morning really early before I let the organic pest control system chickens and ducks out of the coop.

The cut off pots protect things such as peppers, acorn squash, and watermelon from the rabbits that have been nibbling on the young plants.  The old swimming pool ladders are where acorn squash and cucumbers will hopefully climb.  My tomato cages are old tv antenna that I cut with the cutting torch years ago.  They should last a long, long, time as tomato cages.  I still remember the day I put Owen on the preschool bus and rushed to get them cut before he came home.

June OMG

My goal for June is to finish my SSSSQ (design by Kevin the Quilter.).  The next thing to do is to cut a binding and make a label.  It has been quilted!



I'm linking up at the One Monthly Goal June Link-Up at Elm Street Quilts.

Jelly Roll Rug Prep

I've had a Jelly Roll Rug on my WIP list for a long time.  I decided that it would be fun to start one in the RSC20 colors and see where it goes.  I have a plan for that 30 gallon tote of Warm & Natural batting.  I iron the batting and run it through my cutting die.  I am altering the pattern a little bit.  The pattern calls for a different width, but I have an idea to try.  I'll let you know if it works.

Now that I have my new-to-me table that is huge, my inspiration for projects is just flowing.  I decided to take all of my Accuquilt strip dies and cutter and store them in the longarm room.  Eventually all of the dies will be there (with all of the scraps.)

My other thought that is after I finish longarming one of my quilts and trim it on the big table, I will go to my scrap bins and pick out a binding.  I'll be able to match the binding colors while I am there and cut them with the cutters!  Look at me being productive!

Camera Roll This Week-- Backyard Project, More PLANTS!, the Cocoon HATCHED!

In the background you can see the area behind the "'brick house".  This is where we swim.  This photo was taken on Memorial Day as we started to set up our small pool.

There's a huge pile of logs from the trees we cut down from my old house in 2007 that need to be run through the saw mill.  There are excavator buckets and just "things".  I thought to myself, WOW, my husband has really been busy.

Yesterday I came around the corner on the 4-wheeler with exciting news (to be announced later in this post) and realized this was happening...

Another building is in the process of being built.  Looks like measurements are being taken to figure how much of the hill he is standing on needs cut away.  Looks like a good summer to play with all of his big toys...  That's some of the building material laying on the hill already.

The cement blocks below were just on a big pile.  Now they are neatly stacked and ready to be repurposed.  They are from a very old garage we took down a few summers ago.  Owen is always a happy helper!

The exciting news is that the cocoon we found in mid March and have kept in the kitchen in the bug box HATCHED today!  It is a cecropia moth! 

You can see the cocoon that it came out of on the stick on top of the brick in this photo to the left.

I have a very dear friend.  She lives over the hill from me now.  We met in the pool at the Y about 12 years ago.  We have so much in common.  Our husbands are so similar.  I delivered eggs to her yesterday and commented on one of her plants in her flowerbed.  She is an amazing gardener.  She told me that she tried to get rid of that plant last year and thought she moved them but more popped up.  Before I knew it she had a shovel in her hand and was busy digging and splitting up her plants.  She has been meaning to do this and I guess today was the day.  I came home with ten bags of perennials.

I planted them the same day and made sure they got a lot of water.  It rained early today and that helped as well.  Look at all the curious chickens gathering to see what I brought them.  You can also see the two new piles of wood/dirt that is in the chicken yard.  It was left over from when my husband was cleaning up the log pile.  The chickens LOVED it when he dumped it out on Monday.  There are all kinds of yummy bugs and worms and beetles and larva in there!

Here's another view of the dirt pile.  The cats are very interested in it too.

I planted this perennial and covered it with a crate.  I'm thinking the ducks and chickens will eat the lettuce like leaves before it gets established.

I added to this group of plants by planting dwarf iris plants.  These will be blue.  The flock hasn't bothered any of the iris plants thus far so I planted some clusters without protection.

My dear friend gave me three different types of sedum.  One has a silver leaf.  I LOVE sedum!

There are three sedum plants on the right of the below picture.  I also planted some more hens/chicks.  The chickens totally tore up the one I got a Lowes a couple of weeks ago.  All of these plants are protected by the dog kennel.  Usually this area is for new chickens or newly hatched chicks with their hens.  I don't have anybody that wants to be broody this year yet.  Normally by this time of year I am in the process of hatching more chicks.  I really don't need any more chickens at this time, but you never know when a fox attack will happen.

The plant below is a gorgeous striped leaf lily of the valley.  I planted this one unprotected to see what happens.  I planted others in the fenced area.

 I forget the name of the plant below.  I know it gets a yellow flower.  I think it is the same plant as the one in the pink milk crate above.  I can't wait to see what it is!

I can't believe how long my hair is getting!  For years it did not grow.  Once my SIL started cutting it for me about five years ago it has gotten amazingly healthy.  Owen wanted a pic of my on the 4x4.

Farm Panel Quilt on the Frame

I loaded my friends farm panel quilt onto the longarm frame.  For some reason I had a small tension issue on the swirl on the end.  I'm so glad I caught it before I stitched much further!

I am quilting it with the Circle Lord giant template called Swirls.  The apple fabric on the quilt is directional.  They are going all different ways in the quilt.  You really don't notice it if you just step back and look at the colors of the fabrics.  At first I thought they were strawberries vs. apples.  It's still a great quilt.  I love the scrappy rows.

WIP Wednesday 6.3.20

It's Wednesday already.  It's time for a weekly update.  I didn't start anything new this week.  YEAH!

I had a BIG finish this week.  The Ohio quilt comes off of my WIP list!  Man I love this quilt!



I decided to continue to work on my SSSSQ (Kevin the Quilter mystery quilt) to play with green scraps for the RSC20.  Oh to my delight to find out the color for June is PINK!!!  I'll just keep working on this quilt until it is complete.



I finished all of the quilting on the SSSSQ!  Now that I have this nice, repurposed table in my quilting room I decided to move my cutting mat and rotoary cutter to this area as well.  Now when I pull one of my quilts off of the longarm, I can trim it right away instead of taking it down to the other house and letting it sit on a pile.   I was also able to go to the scrap bins and pick a binding.  I may have to move my Accuquilt cutting dies here eventually.

Since I have been sorting and organizing I have this 30 gallon tote of Warm and Natural batting trimmings.  I try to keep similar batting scraps together.  SSSSQ has a pieced batting in it.  My plan is to cut strips of batting from what is left (they are very long and narrow).  I have had the Jelly Roll Rug on my list of things to do for quite a long time.  I plan to cut strips of the color of the month for the RSC and batting to add to the rug until it is the right size.  "It will be fun" -- I'm saying now...

I added the sides to the Unity QA (design by Bonnie Hunter.)  Now that it's warm enough to quilt on my longarm I have a few other priorities right now.  I'll save Unity blocks for when I am in the house in the early mornings or evenings.  I am still seriously loving all these soft neutrals.



Owen has a fun hobby.  He learned how to use one of Dad's sandblasting tools.  This is a great activity for him!  There's really nothing to lose (unless he sandblasts something he shouldn't like my phone...).  Everything is contained.  The sandblasting sand can be reused.  It's pretty safe because everything is contained.  He likes to sandblast "treasures" he finds while digging in the yard.  It uses electricity--bit deal...  Why didn't I think of this?  It's great for using fine motor skills as he puts his hands into the big rubber gloves and has to handle the object being blasted and the trigger on the sand blasting gun.  It requires eye/hand coordination and WAY better than just video games.

And yes, we are still riding our go kart.  He is getting much better at using the brake as a brake and not holding it on all of the time.  He can make it around the gravel track faster than I can on the four-wheeler now.  

Yesterday we picked up the last of his things from 6th grade.  This is our curbside pick-up with his teacher.

I currently have 66 on-going projects.   

Pieces Still Need to be Cut & Sewn

1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern from Mama Spark's World 

2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)

3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt

4.  Picadilly Circle

5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)

6.  Go Four It! -- Scrappy 4-patches started as leader/ender June 2017

7.  Patriotic Folk Animals (from Americana Quilts Book) -- hand work-- found the book 8/8/19!

8.  Parallelogram Strings -- 2019 String Along at Humble Quilts, started 1.31.19
9.   Leah Day Building Blocks QA
10.  Jelly Roll Rug
11.  Classic Meets Modern BOM
12.  Mod Mod QA (turning this one into a baby quilt) (from block Lotto, mostly circles w/lines)

13.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1.26.19)

14.  Kevin the Quilter's Sapphire Stars Mystery (started Summer 2017) 

15.  Temperature QA (2019 block-a-day according to high and low temps--changed to table topper.)

16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)

17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)

18.  Cabins at the Lake (from Fons & Porter Magazine) (only one house block complete.)

19.   2.5" Scraps from Dani making "cracker" blocks

20.  Sand Castles -- Bonnie Hunter string quilt started January, 2019 -- an RSC project

21.  Little Houses (3.5" blocks)

22.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a second quilt.)

23.  Set of note cards and envelopes

24.  Simply Summer Sensational QA with Kevin the Quilter 2.5" blocks (started 6.27.19)

25.  Slabs with White Rectangle (RSC14 started -- need blocks each month)

26.  Bonnie Hunter Box Kite class from March, 2017 (Will make baby quilt.)

27.  Kevin the Quilter 2019 Mystery Quilt -- SSSSQ, 1.5" squares

28.  2015 Orange, pink, grey kite blocks (from Accuquilt die, RSC17)

29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt

30.  Gypsy Wife QA (started again with Angie at Gnome Angel, August 2017) (2019 QA)

31.  Kathleen Tracy’s 2019 Mystery Quilt -- Facebook QA started in March, 2019. 

32.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching blocks)

33.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds

34.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019) RSC19

35.  Unity Quilt Along with Bonnie Hunter,  (started 4/1/2020.)

36.  Gingerbread Men pattern by Edyta Sitar started November, 2019

37.  Linen & Threads Mystery SAL, Started 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go bag.

38.  Dresser Scarf (my grandma's printed WIP from the 70's) 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go bag.

39.  Veggie Patch (from Katie Mae Quilts)

Blocks Still Need to be Made

1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt

2.  Scrap Crystals (working on blue pieces for RSC15)

3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler

4.  Drunkard's Path Variation baby quilt

5.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt (my seams don't match Julianne's seams...)

Blocks are made but need to be sewn together (and/or some sashing)
1.  Block Swap Adventure Orange/Yellow Sampler (2011-2012)
2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby
3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks (that I won)
4.  Split Stars (blocks won from Block Lotto; October, 2012)
5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)
6.  Tall Fly (blocks won from Block Lotto, February, 2013)

7.  Fortune Teller (RSC14 started)--It's not long enough...needs 4 more blocks

8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt 

9.   Block Swap Adventure (2013) Churn Dash Blocks 

10.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (New QA starting 5/7/17 Gnome Angel)

11.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18

12.  Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May, 2018 sew-to-go bag)

13.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17.)

14.   Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN.  It's the Dot Dot Dash Bag. (new to the list April, 2018)

Quilts back needs to be made (tops are done) 

1. Card Trick (pink and blue) HUGE charity quilt for local quilt guild
2. Hunter green large (bubbly -- will be a challenge to longarm) charity quilt for the local guild
3. Bubble Gum pink and navy charity quilt for local quilt guild
4. Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Quiltville Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018
5.  Soul Searching -- Julianne sent it to me 8/29/19!!!

Ready to longarm

1.  Farm Panel Quilt -- CM
2.  Wings of Spring -- Block Lotto win 3.31.19

Binding Time
1.  Kevin the Quilter 2019 Mystery Quilt -- SSSSQ, 2.5 " squares

I'm linking up with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

SSSSQ on the Frame -- RSC20

I'm still working on my predominantly green quilt.  It's even on the longarm frame.  I'm so glad I decided to work on projects that have already been started instead of starting new projects for the RSC20 this go around.

This is SSSSQ.  It was a mystery quilt designed by Kevin the Quilter!

I am quilting it with my Circle Lord giant template board called Swirls.

I have to brag on my little helper (that isn't so little anymore.)  He'll be 13 soon.  He just LOVES to work.  I taught him how to use the attachments on the shop vac.  He really went to town cleaning the unfinished floors.


I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC20.  Looks like pink is the color for June.  I'll just keep working on this quilt.  Perfect timing!