Jitterbug in Shelburne Falls: A Work in Progress

Shelburne Falls Jelly Roll

A while back I ordered a Jelly Roll  of Denyse Schmidt's Shelburne Falls fabric. It was quietly hiding in my stash until I decided that I wanted to make myself a quilt to take to work.  Originally, I thought it would be cute to make a quilt in the company colors since it was going to hang on the back of my chair and although the colors are fun (navy, aqua and orange), when I was wondering around Fabric Depot, they didn't excite me. So I figured I should turn to my rather extensive stash and make something that was on my very long "Quilts I Want to Make" list. 

Jitterbug

As I mentioned in my post "All Quilts Have a Story", I love the cover quilt from this book:

And I thought that given the vintage feel Denyse Schmidt's fabrics tend to evoke, my Shelburne Falls jelly roll would be a perfect fit!  The only trouble was the jelly roll only had 30 strips in it and the pattern called for 40.  After some hymning and hawing, I decided to pick up five coordinating solids and cut two strips out of each color.  I also decided that I was going to be lazy and purchased a jelly roll of cream colored strips so that I didn't have to cut my own :)

I was pleased with how bright most of the solids were.  There are a lot of darker prints in the line so I like getting that extra pop of color.  Also, I was hoping they would help accentuate some of the colors that are used sparingly throughout.

Getting Organized

It took me awhile to sort the strips into the different groups: squares, flying geese, half square triangles (HST), sashing and border.  I wanted to make sure to get a good variety of light and dark in the different groups.  I used little pieces of paper to identify what piles of strips where going to turn into what.

Cut, cut, cut, sew, sew, sew

There are A LOT of pieces in this quilt.  I was encouraged by my relative success with my Hopscotch blocks so I wasn't too scared to take this on.  The only real trouble I had was with the HST.  The Shelburne Falls strips seemed be 2" to 2.25" instead of a full 2.5".  They were always smaller than the Moda strips.  But I plugged along, cut out and sewed all my HST,  and the squares.  I only managed to get four flying geese sewn and was unable to resist the urge to put a full block together.

Here it is!

Isn't it fun?  This is the kind of gratification that can keep me sewing through the night, but I needed to go to a dog party with the Husband, Elma and her husband, Steve.  The dogs had a blast and Maddie even got to rip open a pinata full of dog cookies!

Once we got  home though, I was back to it!  I finished all my flying geese and chose square blocks to pair them up with.  The only thing left was to sew the HST together and WHAT. A. PAIN.  I keep sewing them the wrong direction, not in the pattern I want, ironing my seams the wrong direction, anything but what I want them to do.  Finally, I got four groups of four together (though not in the layout I intended) and was able to sew together my second block.

It looks so different from the first one!  I can't wait to finish getting the top together and share it with you!