I'm Gonna Show You My Jelly Roll

See this thing?

This is a Jelly Roll.  Someday I am going to turn it into a quilt.  I started working on it today.  I would have photographic evidence had I thought to put a memory card in my camera.  My Sweet Mama is teaching me how to make this into a quilt.   We worked together for hours today and not once did either of us throw a Duree Fit. She showed me how to sew the strips together, set the seams, cut the blocks. And she introduced me to my new best friend the Seam Ripper.  I do not care for the Seam Ripper at all, but it looks like we are going to become very well acquainted. 

I was never very interested in making a quilt until recently.  I think it just never occurred to me that I could actually do it.  Quilting was always my Mama's thing, and she is very gifted at it.  I think she is just about the best quilter whose work you ever laid eyes on, and I'm not just saying that because she's my Mama.  People who know her always ask me if I quilt or when I'm going to start.  For years I have told them that I don't want to make them, I just want to own them.  And that's the truth, I would own as many as I could fit in my house.  They are beautiful and warm and cozy and comforting.  And my Mama's are the best. 


Here's proof.  She made this for me:

                                                  


















And this:

And she made this for herself and Dear Ol' Dad but I stole it:

One day on a recent trip to Missouri, we stopped in a little quilt shop just south of Joplin.  I've been in a gazillion quilt shops with my Mama, and while I have always loved the fabrics and the way they feel on the bolt, the different patterns and how they coordinate, I had never considered looking into making something out of them myself.  Then I saw the Jelly Roll.  This particular roll was comprised of the most beautiful fabrics.  All perfectly coordinated.  And it looked like someone had handpicked them to match my living room décor.  I picked it up and loved the way it felt in my hand.  The fabric was silky to the touch and it seemed so elegant!  I wanted to buy it and just keep it all rolled up in its perfect little bundle, just set it on the coffee table and look at it. 

I told Mama that I loved it and asked her what it was for and she explained to me that it was a roll of fabric strips that you sew together and then cut apart and sew together again to make a quilt.  And then she told me that I could do it.  I COULD DO IT!  It was like a revelation.  How had I not realized this before?  I can make a quilt.  So she bought me the Jelly Roll and told me I can do it. And I'm gonna.  And she is going to teach me because she is the best Mama in the world.