This is the beautiful fabric I was given for this month’s Home Decor challenge by Island Batik. It was many of my favorite colors, and they were vibrant and just stunning. At first, I just designed a quilt to go with the fabric, because that’s what I do: I see fabric and see a quilt in my head… to think Home Decor was a stretch. I have wanted to try the Jellyroll Rug by RJ Designs, so that was my next direction. As I was headed there, my fellow Ambassador, Gail Sheppard, posted her Jellyroll rug. Must be how “Gail’s” think. I almost stopped, but our fabrics are so different, I thought it would be a nice comparison. We each did very different side projects too.
I used my Accuquilt Go to cut 2 of each of the 20 fabrics from the Wonderland line by Kathy Engle. The die I used was the 2 1/2″ strip die. You can cut 6 layers at a time, so the cutting went fast.
I arranged my strips from light to dark. I wanted the light strips on the inside of the rug and the dark for the outside. I took a picture using my phone for a black and white image to help me arrange my fabric. Sometimes I get lost by color; the black and white picture makes it simple.
I held my strips together with Wonder Clips and sewed them with a Schmetz 70 Mictrotex needle. As I sewed I rolled my strip into a ball.
From there, I sewed it together with a zig zag stitch. It was a lot of fun and turned out great.
When I was finished I had some batting left and lots of fabric, so I made a couple of smaller ones to use for trivets . And then since I was in the kitchen, I made a couple of towel toppers for hand towels using my embroidery machine and In The Hoop Designs by JuJu. I used Hobbs batting and Aurifil thread to quilt the towel toppers.
I hope I was able to inspire you to think out of the quilt only box, to consider some Home Decor projects… now back to quilting!
This is the end of the Blog Hop, but not the end of the Give Aways! This week, Island Batik is givin
g away a FQ pack of Wonderland.
Thank you to Island Batik, Accuquilt, Schmetz Needles, Aurifil Thread, and Hobbs Batting.
Gail Renna 
I still haven’t made one yet. Yours is beautiful!
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Your rug turned out beautiful! I love the way you used the fabrics from light to dark. The colors look so great together! I’ve never made a rug like that. You made it look so easy. If I won Island Batiks fabrics this week, I would definitely try to make a rug like yours. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Thank you Jody.
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These fabrics are so rich and gorgeous. Thanks for sharing today. I love your projects. Stepping on that rug every morning is sure to bring a smile. I am encouraged to try a rug now. And your towels are pretty. I just made one like this for my kitchen. Pretty hot pads.
quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
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Thanks for your encouragement Lori.
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I wished I learned machine sewing sooner.
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Love your jelly roll rug, Gail! I’ve been wanting to make one–my husband gave me the pattern for Christmas two years ago but I still haven’t made one! Love the idea of smaller ones as trivets! Those towel toppers are fantastic! Do you have a pattern you use for those? Very useful!
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The towels were made with the In The Hoop Towel Topper design but Designs by JuJu.
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Beautiful colors in your
rug. And great side
creations.
Carla from Utah
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I love the rug. Was it hard on your machine?
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I have a Bernina and had no problem. It was a lot of fun to do.
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Beautiful rug and towels Gail! The fabrics shine in these projects! 😉 Carol
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I wish someone had taught me to make rugs this way instead of braiding or crocheting them!
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I’ve seen the pattern for these rugs and couple of times and thought they were really complicated but I see from your post that it isn’t that difficult. One question is it slippy on the wooden floor? I really like the idea of making a rug to use my our shower.
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Yes, Michelle it is slippery. You need a mat of some sort under it to keep it from sliding.
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I wish that I’d been shown how to set up my sewing machine to do a scant 1/4″; just learnt how to do it!
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I have not been drawn toward the rugs until I saw yours. This line is perfect for it. The trivets are darling.
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How clever to create the towel hangers. Something like that would never have crossed my mind. Great collection of finishes.
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I love yours and of course the bonus pieces are brilliant! I have one in process, a rectangle from batiks. Hope to get it done in the next month!
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