If quilting is your forte, but the 1-year project timeline is not, I give you some simple ways to speed quilt your way to success with less than half the time of many designs. One way I love to speed quilt is to do a recurring technique, I call; two by two. This technique has you collect many 2½’’x 2½’’ blocks of all different materials, I make 2½ inch squares with any scraps I can, then at the beginning and end of every sewing session, I sit down and chain 5 pairs together, (10 blocks). After chaining 10 pairs or 20 blocks per day, after a few months of working on other projects, I have a whole extra quilt top with little to no thought behind the project.
The two by two’s come out free form and fun.
My second and equally fun way of speed quilting is truly the definition of pedal to the metal. This technique is most commonly known as jelly roll race and can be used to make quilt tops in as little as an hour. Simple start with a jelly roll any theme or color scheme.Then take the strips from the jellyroll and with rights sides together make one continuous strip, stitching all of the short ends together. You will end up with a strip, many yards long, all stitched with ¼ inch seams. Upon completion of the long continuous strip we match ends together, right sides together, and again begin sewing. Get to the end, slice the folded end and match the new ends to one another and continue, eventually, you will build your flat and roughly twin sized quilt top in less than an hour.
