Twinkler Quilt Finishing Instructions ~ Jelly Roll Quilt

Quilting the Twinkler quilt is underway at last!

Today I'm going to share how I set my blocks and some basic quilt information to help you recreate the quilt.

The first thing you need is a Jelly Roll or (42) 2.5 x 42 strips of fabric.  You can get by with 40" strips or a tad smaller because there's a little scrap leftover from 42".  

I used a Lori Holt Flea Market Jelly Roll plus (2) fat quarters because there were only (40) strips in this roll.  The background fabric is solid white.  I did not do the math for how much I used or what will be needed.  I let EQ8 do the work.  EQ8 says the quilt will need 6.75 yards of background fabric.  If I wasn't working from a full bolt of fabric, I would buy at least an extra half yard for human and computer errors.  So that would be 7.25 yards of background fabric.

Each Jelly roll strip makes one block.  There are (42) blocks.  (6) blocks across and (7) down.

From each jelly roll strip you will need.

B (4) 2.5 x 2.5

C (8) 2.5 x 3.5

Background cutting for the blocks only 

A (546) 2.5 x 2.5

D (168) 3.5 x 3.5

E (168) 2.5 x 3.5

You should have a small piece of scrap left over from each strip.  This is enough for one sewing or cutting error per block.

The star points were made using the flippy corner method.  Place Fabric A and C, right sides together, sew from corner to corner, then cut 1/4" away from stitched line. I pressed to the dark.  Pay close attention to the direction of your diagonal seams, we only have enough scrap fabric for one error per block.

For my quilt the blocks were set without cornerstones.  If you prefer cornerstones, you will have enough fabric leftover from the jelly roll to add them to your quilt.   Below is the sashing and border cutting for my quilt.

Sashing a quilt with no cornerstones isn't hard.  Here's how I make sure the blocks line up perfectly.  Below is row 1 and the first (G)sashing sewn in place.  Now that they are sewn together, you'll need something for making a small mark. I prefer a blue water-soluble pen, but anything will work as long as it doesn't show through your background fabric.  We will be marking on the backside of the fabric.

 

Make a mark in the seam allowance at the sashing seams.  Do this at the sashing between each block.

Here I've pressed the long sashing towards the sashing and added row 2 below row 1.  You can't see the marks because they are on the back of the long horizontal sashing.

Now flip row 1 onto row 2.  Line up the pen marks with the sashing seams between each block on row 2.

Of course you want the edges of the fabric to line up before pinning in place.  Pin at each sashing and each mark.  And anywhere else you would like to pin.  I'm a pin-aholic so I added several more to the area with blocks.

Sew the rows together, press to the sashing and TADA perfectly lined up blocks and sashing!  See that's not so hard and it's much quicker than cutting and sewing cornerstones.

Continue adding each long sashing in the same manner then add your borders.

For the backing I chose to use (3) yards of 108 wide backing from my stash.  Since this quilt is only 86" wide, I trimmed off the excess on the sides.

Here she is on the frame and patiently waiting.  There's a lot to do around the house today but I hope to get at least one more row quilted and make a few more Bow-Tie blocks.