Best Use of a Jelly Roll

My friends know that I dislike the concept of jelly rolls.  Quilters have been duped into buying manufacturers scraps for the equivalent of $20 or more per yard, cut into 2 1/2 inch strips and tied up with a cute ribbon.  How silly is that???

My good friend, Katherine, recently shared a Quilting Arts DVD featuring Rayna Gillman, and I was very interested.  Rayna whacks up jelly rolls into unrecognizable skinny strips and pieces them back together free-form, the results being very appealing art quilts.  I have gobs of scraps and since the skinny strips are mostly 1" or narrower, I pulled out some some of those scraps and got busy cutting.  In a planned-scrappy way, I decided to use blues and greens with a few warm colors thrown in as accents.   Here's my first attempt (approx. 9" x 12").

Where do I go from here?  I don't know.  I have a problem with trying to sew too straight and I need to loosen up.  I also need to be brave and make skinnier strips.  But, that was just a first try, so this morning I cut some more scraps and started putting together more strip sets.

I think I also need to pick up a copy of Rayna's book

Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts!

When I finished the shop sample the other day, I forgot to take it's picture before I hung it in the shop.  So, here it is in it's natural habitat.  I debated doing something more with the borders, but, because it will probably end up being a class, I decided not to complicate things.