I'm with you - if the directions say that it takes just this many minutes, I know that it will take me twice as long or more. Oh, well - I'm in it for the fun!

jelly roll race
 

Hi,
I have participated in the jelly roll race.
Came in 2nd sewing by myself, and have taught it to my quilt guild.
The winner had 2 13year olds helping her.
Please be fair in judging yourself.

First-the race does not start until all the strips are sewn together.
There are two ways to sew the strips
End to end-straight across- be sure you put the right sides together (called the jelly roll)
or sewn on the diagonal as if you were joining binding (called the lasagna quilt)

Always remember to cut off 18 inches from one end before you start to sew
so that all your seams do not line up in a row

From this point when you bring the ends together you can sew the quilt in 45 minutes
but you must be able to sew a quarter inch seam without pinning and sew quickly.
No stopping or snacking.

But quilting is suppose to be fun so just put the ends together and go for it.
It will finish quickly as each row of sewing the project gets shorter.

There is no magic way of sewing without the last end tangling.
Estimate where the end would reasonably be and cut. When you get to the end just
put your ruler down and square it off and start all over again.
Enjoy it--don't try to compare your sewing to speed sewers.

The reward is the quilt

Great post (and quilts)...I would love to try this, but like many others, speed and me (at least in quilting) just doesn't happen. As soon as the words "quick" "easy" or "10 min." bob up I'm done for:)

LOL Earthwalker- I definitely won't win any races but it was fun and makes a nice quilt top- Especially when you have some solids and dress it up with applique

For the first one I made (red & black), we sewed in a group and it took us 3 hours from start to finish. When I made my Christmas one (no picture available) it took about 2 hours, just sewing alone and not chatting.

Yep I made one and nope it was much longer then an hour even though the stripes were all sewn. I had run out of ideas for new designs for my soldier quilts so I watched the video and figured it would be a great easy one to do. NOT!!!! LOL
First I had to re-figure the length of fabric strips needed to accommodate the 54" x 78" quilt size. Not to hard.
Just take the width of finished strips (my was 2" finished) and divide it by the length, then multiple that by the width of the quilt. Although it came to an uneven number of rows, I just dropped one row off and then deducted that from the the width so I could add a small border.
Then I decided to use up as many scrap pieces as I could from all the soldier quilts I've been doing, again not hard. I think it took me all afternoon sewing them together because I was doing the binding method and of course you know I screwed up a few so I had to take them apart. Who knew I was going to sew backwards and upside down, just to form a long strip. Oh well teaches you to do things a bit slower or become good friends with Mr Ripper, Seam Ripper that is.

Any who, When all that was done I was to tired to start the "Race" so that had to wait until the next day. I got all excited about getting it done in an hour. Got up first thing in the morning and jumped right into it. It was the LONGEST hour I have ever spend on my machine.

No! seriously, that strip of fabric wrapped itself around me and held me hostage for at least 2 hours. I battled it with all I had but there was no controlling it's never ending hold. At one point I think it had a Nelson's strangle hold on me. I'm sure I fought it for 2 hours before I emerged the winner!

So here is what I tangled with. Hope you enjoy it.

Both very nice quilts ! Never thought of doing just a couple colors like the black and red hhhmmmmm.... Keep sharing I love seeing them all :)

[QUOTE=sharon b;5104675]I have seen on Utube the women who do the races and get them done in an hour :shock: so silly me thought hhhmmmmm if they can do it in an hour maybe I could get it done in about 3-4 hours , right ???


How long did it take? Once I got them all sewed together, it seemed it took most of the afternoon to sew the folds.
How do you stop the twisted knot before you get to the end to cut? I started from the fold and got my friend to help me hold it and worked my way to the two loose ends. When we got those even, I went back to the fold to snip and begin sewing. hope this helps.

Also please post pics so we can see them all :) I don't have it with me but when I get it quilted, I will post.

The hardest part for me was the pressing. If I have the strips mitered together I can make the top in about 35 or 40 minutes. BUT....The ironing takes forever and is awkward. I now get up and iron after each seam. It is so much easier on me.