Guest Post series - Welcome - Christine Weld

Welcome to the 2022 Moda Bakeshop Summer Quiltalong! This summer, we’ll be sewing along to Family Reunion, my pattern from the book Rollin’ Along, available now from Martingale! If you haven’t picked up a copy, check out your local quilt store or your favorite spot to pick up quilt books. You’ll find the pattern in the book and many other fabulous patterns using 2 ½” strips. I’ll share tips on the blog each week as we work through the quilt steps. Our schedule will be as follows:

 

June 27: Great Granny Blocks

July 4: Enjoy the fireworks!

July 11: Granny Blocks

July 18: Sashing

July 25: Mama Blocks

August 1: Baby Blocks

August 8: Finishing and Wrap Up 

 

Rollin’ Along is the third quilts book from the Moda Bake Shop bakers. Each one includes beautifully photographed patterns from the designers you’ve seen in the Moda Bakeshop. Rollin’ Along features quilts using jelly rolls—you’ll be amazing at the variety of projects resulting from 2 ½” wide strips!

Previous books in the series are Did Someone Say Cake? and Best of Moda Bakeshop. 

 

I named the quilt Family Reunion a nod to the generations before and after us. Each round is named for one of those generations and is a different sized version of the granny square block, from the sizeable great-granny block in the center to the square within a square baby block that forms the outer border. 

 

This quilt lived in my mind long before the pattern was realized. I love both granny squares and medallion quilts, so a quilt combining the two was a natural one for me. It was many months of fiddling with sizes and playing around in Electric Quilt before I came up with something that I felt was right. 

 

The version in Rollin’ Along is made in Cozy Up by Corey Yoder. The palette is a beautiful choice for this project, and the softer colors flow so well from one round to the next. 

 

I’ll use Picture Perfect by American Jane for this summer's version. This fun, 30s-inspired line offers many bright primary colors that will make the project a cheerful version.

 

These two fabric choices are pretty different, demonstrating how this quilt works with nearly any fabric style. Here’s a holiday version of Sweetwater’s latest Christmas line. 

And here’s one in Flower Pot by Lella Boutique. 

  

Here is the general framework for dividing up your jelly roll. I suggest playing with your strips before cutting and seeing what will work best for each round. If you have Electric Quilt, it’s pretty helpful at this stage for auditioning fabrics! Handy tip—you can find jpeg files for EQ and swatch pages for all of Moda’s fabric collections here (https://my.modafabrics.com/downloads). You may wish to jot down how many fabrics appear in each color in your jelly roll and see which combinations are possible.

 

Round Name	Strips Needed
Center Block (great granny square)	Seven total jelly roll strips, including two matching jelly roll strips for the outermost round
Round 1 (Granny Squares)	Eleven total jelly roll strips—six of one color family, four of a second color family, and one of a third color family
Round 2 (Mama Squares)	Nine total jelly roll strips—seven of one color family and two-second color family
Round 3 (Baby Squares)	Five strips of one-color family

 

Note that the center block requires two matching strips for the outmost round. Most jelly rolls repeat a fabric or two, so you probably want to grab one with multiple strips for that round. If your jelly roll does not have a repeating print, or you do not want to use that one, grab a fat quarter or buy a bit extra of your binding or backing fabric. 

 

There aren’t quite enough fabrics of one color in your jelly roll? Dig into your stash and add some fabrics! Most Moda designers offer collections that work well together. If you have some leftover pieces from previous projects, add them to the mix!

Don’t feel you have to have the exact number of each color for every round. The quilt looks great, with some rounds done in a scrappy palette. I made a mock-up with a scrappy vibe using Morning Light by Linzee McCray, and I love it. The Mama squares and/or the baby squares are great rounds to consider going scrappy.

 

 

The quilt also works well if you mix shade variations within a round. I plan to use reds and low volume reds in the Mama block round for my summer version of the quilt. Not only does this give you more fabric options to choose from, but it provides more visual interest in the finished quilt. Consider combining light and dark blues, pinks and purples, oranges, and yellows in a round. 

 

Tip—work backward when selecting strips for each round. Separate your jelly roll by colorways, and choose for the rounds that require the most of a colorway first. The center is the easiest to choose for, as it’s primarily single jelly roll strips.

 

Grab your jelly roll, a copy of Rollin’ Along, and let’s get sewing! Keep an eye on this blog, and their social media feeds of Moda Bakeshop's excellent chefs as they put their creative spin on this pattern. I hope you can join us!

 

Christine Weld, IG: @christine.weld

Michele, Crayon Box Studios http://www.crayonboxquiltstudio.com/  IG: @crayonboxquiltstudio

Sharla, Thistle Thicket Studio http://www.thistlethicketstudio.com/ IG: @thistlethicketstudio 

Audrey & Diane, The Cloth Parcel www.theclothparcel.com IG: @theclothparcel

Jessica Dayton https://jessicadayon.blogspot.com/?m=1 IG: @jessicadayon

Susan, The Felted Pear IG: @thefeltedpear/

Jen Daly Quilts http://jendalyquilts.com/ IG: @jendalyquilts

Nicola, Cake Stand Quilts https://www.cakestandquilts.com/ IG: @nicolajdodd

 

  Enjoy- Christine Weld