The Jelly Roll Race

I found a beautiful roll of pre-cut fabric strips at my local big box store and I had to have them. A year later I made my first lap quilt. It took three tries to get the seams to stay straight; I must have watched the videos a dozen times. Finally after giving up for a month, I came back to the project. By then I forgot how the pattern repeated, but finally figured it out. Good thing I have a big floor. Lessons learned: Don't by cheap jelly rolls. Get the good ones. Alternate your seams just like Jenny says but also sew in batches. Put 4 or 5 strips together and do another 4 or 5 strips--then join those. It made all the difference. After all that, I still had to pick out my quilt design. My local quilt shop was amazing. They taught me how to cut my backing and helped me select the perfect design. In fact it turned out so well for them, they marked it with an * in the book. There is nothing like picking up your first quilt from the long arm designer. I will remember that forever. This one is staying home with me!