Showing posts with label Dear Jane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dear Jane. Show all posts

Friday, 13 February 2015

Dusting Off Dear Jane

a1 a2 IMG_6192 a4 a5 a6 A7 Dad's Plaids a8 IMG_6198 IMG_6199
IMG_6200
FullSizeRender (3) a13
b1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 b13
c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7 c8 c9 c10 C10 Patriot's Lantern c12 c13
d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 d8 d9 d10 d11 d12 D13
e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 E8 Mama's Maze e9 e10 e11 e12 e13
f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 f10 f11 f12 f13
g1 g2 g3 g4 g5 g6 g7 g8 g9 g10 g11 g12 g13
h1 h2 h3 h4 h5 h6 h7 h8 h9 h10 h11 h12 H13
I1 I2 i3 i4 i5 i6 i1 i8 i9 i10 i11 i12 i13
j1 j2 j3 j4 j5 J6 Granny Weaver j7   j9 j10 j11 J12 j13
k1 k2 K3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8 k9 m10 m11 K12 Doris' Dilemma K13
l1 l2 l3 l4 l5 l6 L7 l8 l9 l10 l11 l12 l13
m1 m2 m3 m4 M5 m6 m7 m8 m9 M10 M11 m12 M13

Not that you’d notice up there, with all the great swathes of ‘yet to be done’ spaces, but I’ve made another Dear Jane block.

FullSizeRender (3)

This one is A12 Framed Fancy.  I have one more to do on this row and then I can say I have finished One. Whole. Row.

I’m having a massive ‘Why did I start this stupid quilt, I am the world’s worst quilter’ moment right now.  I can tell you that the best way to make yourself feel completely inadequate as a quilter is to search other Dear Jane blogs to see their tutorials.  There are some quilters who are just immaculate.  I don’t know how they get their work so even.  It beggars belief how good some people are.  I foundation pieced the block above which should make everything straight and lovely, and even this block is wonky in parts.  I wonder if it’s my pressing that’s letting me down?  Maybe I don’t pay enough attention to grain line?

Not asking for help here, really – just thinking out loud.

I was telling someone that I’d only done about a dozen blocks, but I didn’t really know how many I had finished, so I got them out of banishment and counted them.  I’ve now done over forty which I must admit surprised me a great deal.  So I’ve made one more today, and perhaps I can get back on some sort of schedule with this. 

We shall see. 

It’s another stinker of a day today and we’ve all acted like very precious snowflakes, sitting inside all day under the airconditioner.  I hope you are all coping in the North with your very cold weather, I must admit to being slightly envious of you all.

Happy quilting!

Tuesday, 31 December 2013

Dear Jane or…..

I actually sewed today!

A11

This is Dear Jane block A11, Pebbles Protest or Dog’s Breakfast as I like to call it.

But – it’s sewing done.  It’s the first Dear Jane I’ve done in a thousand years or at least it feels like it.  I’m hoping that when all my blocks are together, it won’t look so dramatically awful.  Jane’s didn’t look all that flash way up close and we all forgive her for that. 

Having said that, I do wonder if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew with this Jane quilt.  I’m pretty sure the quilt police would hate it.

I must get moving though, tonight is New Year’s Eve and I’m off partying.  I may even stay up till ten o’clock tonight.  I am definitely the last of the party animals around here.

Hope your NYE is safe, and fun, and not too tiring. 

Till next year,

Suzie

Friday, 2 August 2013

Dear Jane–An Update

So don’t fall over in shock, but I managed to do a Dear Jane block today.  In fact, I managed to do two!

A9

I managed to totally muck up the centre.  Who mucks up the centre?  It’s the first seam you sew!

What’s worse is that I didn’t realise I’d mucked up the centre until the end of the block.  And so it stays.  Mucked up or not!

I paper pieced it, and apart from a little hiccup or two in the outer border, I think she lines up well enough.  Apart from that quirky little centre.

A3

Dog’s breakfast.

Probably a do over.  But I shall finish all my blocks before deciding that.  Maybe I’ll be so sick of the jolly thing that it’ll stay in.  Maybe it’ll be a testament to my applique skills how more improved I became. 

Don’t know yet.  This one is called Ever After.  It’s supposed to be reverse appliqued but that version was even worse than this one.  I do struggle with applique.  I seem to be struggling a lot with my quilting.  I think it’s a case of too much in my head, too much going on, too many projects started.  What’s that saying, Jack of all trades, master of none?  I need to STOP STARTING NEW STUFF.  I’m actually depressed at the amount of new stuff I have going. 

Do they do a reality show to help quilters who start too many new projects?  There should be one. 

Hopefully I’ll be able to paper piece the next block in Row A – I’ve only got three more blocks to do and then I’ll be able to say I’ve completed a whole row!  Go me!

Hope your Friday/Saturday is a good one.

Suzie

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Dear Jane–E9 Quilt Jail

I don’t know about quilt jail but I certainly feel like I am in computer jail.  Still no laptop, and this antique desktop is struggling.  How did we survive before we had fast, reliable computers?  Maybe we are too spoilt these days.

So I made another Dear Jane block.  After months of nothing, this one was so easy really, I don’t know why I waited.

E9 Quilt Jail

I’m not too displeased with it, considering the bars on the jail are only 1/4” wide when finished.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Friday, 22 March 2013

Dear Jane E10–Five And Dime

E10 Five And Dime

Another one three quarters finished except for the hand applique.  I had a sudden burst of energy a few months ago and made up all these blocks for my ‘free time’.  I read a lot of blogs and many of them mention they hand stitch when their children are at the playground, at the library – I thought I’d give that a go but it’s gone nowhere. That would require actually remembering to take the prepared stuff with you, instead of having it squished up in the bottom of the Dear Jane bag. So I’ve been forcing myself to sit still for an hour or so every day and finish my little stash of prepared blocks. 

I’ve seen lots of variations on this block, the applique points in most of them don’t meet at the centre.  Mine does. 

My littlest person has a school visit today.  The house is very quiet without her.

Happy quilting.

Suzie

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Dear Jane–J12 ‘Rebecca’s Basket’

J12

Would you believe this was made months ago, and all I had to do was handstitch down that teensy handle?

It’s done now.  I’m not a lover of this style of basket.  Maybe it was the popular basket design of Jane’s time.  Maybe she just liked it.  I get the feeling Jane was a ‘do what I darn well please’ kind of lady. 

Don’t you wish you could meet her?

Suzie

Monday, 18 March 2013

Dear Jane C10–Patriot’s Lantern

C10 Patriot's Lantern

Whipped this one up yesterday.  The experts online said the best way was paper piecing, but I managed okay with normal piecing.  Paper piecing makes me swear and I’ll save it for the really, really complicated ones.  This one wasn’t too hard, the teeny tiny half square triangles finish at one inch, I’ll admit they were a little scary but other than that, she looks okay?  I think so.

One thing about these extreme closeups, they sure do bring you down to size.  What looks well and good from a distance is magnified very much up close and make any errors stand out VERY much.

Still.  It’s fine.  It’s done.  I only have about 200 more to go. 

Cooking with gas now, I am.  Two Dear Janes in two days!  Woo Hoo!  She’ll be done by Christmas.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Saturday, 16 March 2013

Dear Jane Chart (an update)

a1 a2 A3 a4 a5 a6 A7 Dad's Plaids a8 a9 a10 a11 a12 a13
b1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 b13
c1 c2 c3 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7 c8 c9 C10 Patriot's Lantern c12 c12
d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 d8 d9 d10 d11 d12 D13
e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 E8 Mama's Maze E9 Quilt Jail E10 Five and Dime e11 e12 e13
f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 f10 f11 f12 F13 Tour de France
g1 g2 g3 g4 g5 g6 g7 g8 g9 g10 g11 g12 g13
h1 h2 h3 h4 h5 h6 h7 h8 h9 h10 h11 h12 H13
I1 I2 i3 i4 i5 i6 i1 i8 i9 i10 i11 i12 i13
j1 j2 j3 j4 j5 J6 Granny Weaver j7   j9 j10 j11 J12 Rebecca's Basket j13
k1 k2 K3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8 k9 m10 m11 K12 Doris' Dilemma K13
l1 l2 l3 l4 l5 l6 L7 l8 l9 l10 l11 l12 l13
m1 m2 m3 m4 M5 m6 m7 m8 m9 M10 M11 m12 M13

Updated 22nd May 2013