A New Quilt in the Making

Recently I have discovered a wonderful website with dozens of tutorials for any number of quilting methods. Most are free, but they also offered an online course for half price that is permanently available and has eight or nine different lessons. This wonderful place is the Missouri Star Quilt Company. In addition to the tutorials, they also sell material, pre-cuts, and just about any notion you might need for quilting.

One of those notions is a little ruler that is primarily used for cutting your binding fabric when you are binding your quilt. But one accidental find for this little tool is helpful for cutting strips to make what is called a Friendship Braid. This really caught my eye and all the possibilities for using this pattern are endless. I just googled "friendship braid" and got a handful of patterns from all over.

Another thing the Missouri Star store has put me onto are "pre-cuts." These are either strips of various widths or squares of various sizes, already cut and including many fabrics that are complementary all bundled into one package! And the names they are given are fun too. There's the Jelly Roll, Honey Bun and Dessert Roll - lovely strips from 1 1/2" to 5" wide. Then there are Charm Packs, Layer Cakes and Turnovers - again squares of various sizes or in the case of Turnovers, pre-cut triangles. Oh these are lots of fun. And Missouri Star has a Daily Deal on the pre-cuts of up to 70% off.

I used a Charm Pack to make Andrew's rag quilt (see it here) and a Jelly Roll for Graham's quilt that I made last year (here). I picked up several little Fat Quarter packs the other day and decided to use one of them to make something with the Friendship Braid. I have three braids completed  that measure 27 " x 10". I think I will use four braids and "sash" them with a contrasting fabric. Then I'll just start adding borders until I get it the size and shape I like. Anyway, here is where I am on it.

I like the soft colors in the braid. I have to decide whether to use a dark or light color for the sashing (strips that will frame each braid.) This has been a fun diversion to all the hammering and sawing going on in the room downstairs. It won't be long before we have a brand new media room and can enjoy some movies in there. Meanwhile, I'll just keep on braiding!