Mutual Love

Every now and then I get nostalgic and pull out this box.

 

 

Look what's inside!

My precious Dear Jane blocks! (Only 50 out of the necessary 225 for the quilt.)  How did I ever even get this far, you ask? Mutual love and support from all over the world. Every now and then someone will remember I am making one and will tell me about theirs or send me a photo of their blocks or finished quilt to encourage me to keep going. Or, I Google "Dear Jane" to see what others are doing on their blogs.

 

I like trying to make some blocks as close to Jane's original blocks as possible.

I love looking at all of the beautiful fabrics I've been hoarding for so long and still feel a strong sense of accomplishment because I made 50 blocks. I have to remind myself that 50 is better than  none. And 51 is still a little bit better than 50 . . . . what keeps me going. One at a time.

I have a tendency to feel a teeny bit bad about myself sometimes because I know that there are some of you have made more than one of these quilts while I have only made a few blocks. But for those of us who are not superstars (or super fast), this is the best we can do and I have to remind myself that it's still quite an accomplishment.  Hey, we're still going, if only occasionally, and that has to be worth something. I get busy and will often put the blocks aside for months at a time. But then something reminds me and I get pulled back in.

 

Dear Jane Exhibit at Nantes, France earlier this year. Can you imagine seeing this exhibit? I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

 

 

"In Time of Recollection" by Karan L. Flanscha, Cedar Falls, IA. "My Dear Jane quilt was the beginning of a wonderful journey. Every stitch in my quilt is by hand. I started the original Dear Jane support group, and helped Electric Quilt create the software. I have met friends from all over the world because of our mutual love of Jane Stickle's sampler quilt." Key words, Karan.

 

Seeing some version of The Quilt reminds me how good it feels to continue working on mine. I become so encouraged by the huge community of quilters who are committed to making this quilt. Our mutual love is what keeps me going. I see what others have accomplished and the love that goes into making this quilt and then become encouraged to work on my own.

So, no, I have not given up yet. Life always gets in the way. And, even though I haven't worked on these in a very long time, my goal for November in my Yahoo Small Quilt group is to make a couple of blocks. Even just a few. Shouldn't be that hard, right? Hah! We'll see about that. Let me know if you are also struggling to get your blocks finished and can't seem to commit to doing it on someone else's schedule even if it is more organized than your own. I just have to plug away and go it alone.

 

Last week after I pulled out my box of blocks I spent several hours preparing another one -  choosing fabric, tracing, cutting the assorted pieces, gathering my hand sewing supplies. (Oh, how I love this process!)  Then the pieces started to look familiar. Turns out I had already made this same block a couple of years ago! Oh no. I was NOT about to spend time making it all over again. Arrrghhhh! Making one block takes me so long - almost as long as it takes to make an entire small quilt. Now I have to start all over with a new one.

New Goal: I will get one more block finished by this weekend. I promise. Maybe.  We'll see . . . . This is how it goes.

Visit me on Facebook to check my progress in the coming weeks - https://www.facebook.com/KathleenTracyQuilts