Jaybird Pattern Review – Seaside

This post is part of the Jaybird Quilts Sew Along. For schedule of guest post pattern reviews, prizes, and contest rules, click here! Today’s guest post is from Scott of Blue Nickel Studios. Scott is a teacher, quilt pattern designer, and is on staff for Gen Q magazine!

Hey there, my name is Scott Hansen, but most people know me as Blue Nickel Studios where I blog on a semi-regular basis. I am so glad to be here sharing with you Seaside by Julie Herman! Since I work mostly on my own patterns and such, it is such a nice break to work with someone else’s patterns. Especially when they are simple to read and understand. I really look at others’ work to see how they simplify their directions so that when I write directions, mine can be just as clear and succinct.

And Julie’s directions are exactly that! It was so simple and fun to make this runner. I loved it. I chose to use a Jelly Roll of Joanna’s Mirabelle line coming out soon and one yard of one of the peach prints from that collection. I had a lovely picture of the two of them together (you know how lovely Jelly Rolls look all rolled up.) But I cannot find that photo anywhere…probably got accidentally trashed. I thought this line would be very nice for the upcoming seasons of spring and summer. Fresh and light.

Sara had asked me to show some “process” shots….I am not really good at that because I just get carried away with the fun of creating! I did manage to get a few.

The Sidekick ruler was very easy to use. Very crisp and clear lines. And in four sizes, so you could make this pattern up into a variety of other settings as well.

Pinning was crucial in this to make sure pieces went together well. You are working with a lot of bias sections on this pattern, so it was imperative to not stretch the pieces too much. At the same time, sometimes that bias could be helpful to making points match better. Sometimes it was problem. I always call the bias a “frenemy” in situations like this. Sometimes helpful, sometimes not.

I had so much fun making the first one in Julie’s layout (on the left) and I had a TON of leftover Jelly Roll strips, so I made two more of them in different layouts. A scrappier one with more more prints in the center and then a very controlled scrap on the right.

Check out my blog later this week. I will show you what I did with more of the remaining Jelly Roll Strips, and I will be giving away one of these runner tops (you will have to quilt it yourself). Thanks for the great visit. Cheers! Scott