Jelly Roll Rug

 Another non-garment sewing project finished, fresh off the success of my scrappy quilted Christmas tree skirt: a rug!

I've been searching for the perfect rug for our bathroom, which needed a pop of color. But I couldn't find one I liked in the colors I wanted. Good thing I sew! 

I saw some tutorials for jelly roll rugs on ye olde internets and thought that could be a good solution... 

When I was at the sneaker sewing workshop at Quilter's Corner, I found a pack of batik quilter's strips in the color scheme I wanted to match our towels and some beautiful art work we'd bought locally-  golden yellows, reds, and a bit of teal. 

Plus they had the strips of batting and pattern for a jelly roll rug like the one's I'd seen online, so I went for it. 

This was a fun project! Very meditative... lots of repetitive actions. Piecing the fabric strips. Trimming the seam allowances. Sandwiching the batting in between the strips.

However, I didn't find zig-zagging the batting sandwiched strips together to be super relaxing. I struggled with getting the center part of the oval rug to stay flat - so many tight corners!- so I got frustrated a let the project sit for a couple months. 

Then I decided the slight lumpiness wasn't the end of the world, picked it back up and powered through. My hands hurt afterwards, though, from manipulating the heavy rug through the machine for so much zig-zagging!

I really love the end result, though. It fits perfectly in the bathroom and the colors certainly pop!

It's giving a little bit Crafty Eye of Sauron, but I'm ok with that.

A now back to garment sewing now that I've posted a photo that includes a plunger.