The next stop on the Journey 2 Nebular is Jawbreaker. In this pattern, we practice cutting strip sets and turning triangles into hexagons. I've pieced Jaybird Quilts Science Fair before, so I'm pretty familiar with the technique.

For this project, I decided to use some leftover strips from my Jelly Snowflake Quilt, The Christmas Card by Sweetwater for Moda. (Yay! Using up stash!) I'm sure I must have mentioned it before, but I have realized that jelly rolls are not my favorite pre-cut. No matter what, they seem to end up wobbly, plus the ones I've been using are slightly over 2.5," which isn't necessarily bad, but for this pattern, the size is essential.

I felt a little lazy, so I didn't want to deal with starching the pieces for this one, so I went with Best Press. It performs similarly to the starch that I use, but I don't have to wait for it to dry. I use the unscented because I'm quite particular about scent, and it works well. I laid my strips out as straight as I could get them, sprayed, and pressed. There's a little shrinkage, and it stiffens the fabric up a bit.

After that, I pieced the strips so I could get to cutting. I did have a bit of a mishap while cutting this one, and unfortunately, the accident wasn't the fabric. It was my finger. Don't worry; it's not a major injury. I try to be very careful when using the rotary cutter since I tend to be accident-prone. Before I cut, I make sure my hands are out of the way, everything is stable, and I have created the habit of closing my blade every time I'm done with a cut, even if I'm just shifting the ruler. I've seen too many Facebook posts in my quilting groups of slices, and I'm not good with blood! Anyway, I have a feeling it was coming. When I thought, "you know, I think it's going to happen today...I'm going to get cut," I should've just put the rotary cutter down and walked away. Not me! As I moved to close my blade with my right hand, my left hand decided to have a mind of its own and moved just close enough to the blade that it cut my index finger between my second and third knuckles. It was an instant, and all I could think was, "Oh no!" I immediately applied pressure after seeing how much it would bleed (not the best plan for someone who doesn't like blood) and went to grab a paper towel. I laid down and applied pressure for a bit. After a while, I checked it, and the pressure worked, and it seemed to stick itself back together. After that, I cleaned it up, applied my trusty antibiotic ointment and a bandage, and moved on with my day. It stung for a bit, about the same as a nasty cat scratch, but it's not too bad now.

Despite all of that drama, I managed to get my triangles cut. It's a pretty easy cut. After repositioning the ruler each time, you just have to make one cut.

I'm not sure which fabrics I'm going to go with for assembly, but I think I like this layout. I know the black stands out, but I really love the Christmas tree print, so I don't hate that it's a feature fabric. I have a week to decide!

I have spent a lot of time digging around in my stash, doing some figuring with pen and paper, and throwing fabric around the room in preparation for Journey 2 Nebula. As I mentioned, I wanted to purchase new fabric for this project, since new and shiny is fun, but I also have a lot of it that doesn't have a reason to be in my stash. I like to keep it mostly project-based to actually see what I'm doing with the fabric. It doesn't mean I'll stick with the intended project, but at least I've kept yardage and/or yardage and pre-cuts together.

After much digging, I decided on the Petite Bloomington Layer Cake by Lella Boutique that came in the May 2020 Sew Sampler Box. The pattern that came with the box was lovely, but it didn't speak to me, so I added the layer cake to my stash. It has 20 10" squares, and after putting pen to paper, I worked out that I would have enough for the contrast diamonds and a scrappy backing.

Next, I had to locate background fabric. This is harder in my stash. I've thought about purchasing bolts of a couple of solid basics, but I haven't made that leap yet. After more digging, I found an ancient layer cake that had background and backing yardage. I may revisit this particular layer cake later in the journey, but for now, I grabbed 5/8 yard of the white (I don't know which white it is, but it's likely a Bella Solid) for Seaside.

In addition to the pieced, scrappy backing I assembled this weekend, I also prepped my fabric for the front. I cut the background into 2.5" x WOF strips, and cut my layer cake pieces into 2.5" strips. I know it's a bit controversial, but I prefer to starch my projects, so I starched my layer cake pieces, knowing that they would shrink. This would not affect what I was going to do with the fabric, so I went for it.

I've completed several Jaybird Quilts patterns, so I'm familiar with how the rulers work, but I have found any time I participate in a quilt along I always pick up some tidbit, so I'm looking forward to starting tomorrow!