Strip Quilting Gets Sophisticated with Susan Ache

Quilters love precuts and Jelly Rolls of 2 1/2" strips have become very popular. Several of my friends have made scrappy quilts with strips sewn by sewing the strips together. Susan Ache's new book Start with Strips offers 13 sophisticated quilt patterns utilizing Jelly Rolls that go way beyond just sewing them together!

Susan shares her method of sorting and preparing jelly rolls, so all you have to do is grab and sew! The patterns shared are gorgeous. My favorite is Pumpkin Maze, seen below, an Irish Chain variation with a pieced pumpkin. It consists of two blocks. The Irish Chain block is made with 2 1/2" strip sets. The pumpkin also uses strip sets for the body of the pumpkin and stitch-and-flip units for the stem and leaf.

Four Square is a nine-patch block with a Church Dash variation block. Susan used a soft green ground. The pattern includes half-square triangles made from the strips as well as strip sets, with blocks laid out in diagonal rows.

The Guest Room pattern is a Dresden Plate variation. You make 20 blocks with Dresden corners set with the pink sashing and borders.

Airboats needs a good contrast in values to work. It is constructed by making wedge units and adding a triangle at the point, then setting the wedge units with sashing in a kind of nine-patch unit. The block is then cut to 10 1/2" squares. This is one of the more complicated patterns in the book.

Citrus Grove was inspired by Susan's native Florida orange and grapefruit groves. The luscious oranges and pinks glow against the lime green. Strips are made into half-square triangles.

Sea Glass is so easy with strip sets to make the pieced blocks and border. Susan used romantic pastels, but the pattern could be made with brights. Or imagine the quilt with white switched out for black or navy with solid pastels in the piecing!

The instructions and illustrations are top-notch, as can always be expected from Martingale!

I received a free ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Starting with Strips
by Susan Ache
That Patchwork Place
On Sale Date: December 19, 2017
ISBN 9781604688719, 1604688718
Paperback $25.99 
80 pages