January 2017 Meeting Reminder & Jelly Roll Race

Just a reminder that our first meeting of the year is this Saturday, January 21st at the Mulqueen’s Clubhouse at 1:00pm. If you haven’t been to the clubhouse before, it is just to the west of the main building on Main St., across the canal. There should be plenty of parking directly in front of the clubhouse. You won’t want to miss this meeting – we have some very special things in store for our members!

Did someone say Jelly Roll Race? If you have one on hand, or if you can scare 40 2-1/2 inch WOF strips out of your stash, we’d like to help you complete a quilt top to start the year off right. This might be a great one to get the creative juices flowing and donate to charity! Read on for our take on what might be the fastest quilt top you’ll ever make.

Materials:

• Your sewing machine
• 1 Jelly Roll or 40 – 2 ½” x WOF strips
• Coordinating thread and a couple of pre-filled bobbins
• Fabric Scissors
• Thread Scissors/Snips
• Enthusiasm and a little bit of friendly competition!

If you’ve never done or seen a Jelly Roll Race quilt top done before, check out this great video to see all of the fun you’re in for!

How the race will work:

1. Set up your sewing area for success! After the business portion of the meeting concludes, competitors will set up their machines and get ready to race! No irons needed for the race, but if your personal preference is to use one, you certainly may.
2. All competitors will rev up their engines and count out 40 strips (some rolls come with 44 or 42, and we want to make sure the competition is fair).
3. After the official call of “1, 2, 3, go!”, competitors will chain piece their strips together at the short ends, either at 90 degrees, or on the bias, to make one long strip. Once all of the strips have become a mega-2 ½” strip, the two ends should be brought together, RST, and sewn down one edge, effectively halving the length of the strip. If your strip is twisted at the end, stop sewing at a comfortable point, and use your fabric shears to cut the strip (or strips, later on) straight across to the point that you estimate will be the bottom of your seam. This will get easier and less twisty as your quilt top grows.
4. Continue folding your mega-strip in half and sewing RST until your top reaches approximately 50” x 64”, and make sure to stand up and shout out if you’re the first one to finish, because tah-dah, you’re done, you speedracer sewist! Take your completed top home, press seams in one direction, make that quilty sandwich, and quilt as desired!