Dear Jane Journey

                                        

I completed the last Dear Jane triangle this past week. All fifty-six triangles are now finished and I'm getting ready to sew them to the body of the quilt. (This might take awhile, LOL.  I mean, honestly, it took me 12 years to get this far . . . . )  I'm glad I have this blog because showing my progress and "talking" about it to others helps motivate me. 

                     

It's been a slow process for me throughout the years. But I've been fine with that. No pressure. I just kept plugging away. I finished putting all the blocks together with sashing this past winter. 

I love this quilt so much I framed a poster of it and hung it in my sewing room. I have to say -  it really has helped motivate me to keep going. (The Bennington Museum in Vermont sells the posters.)

For me, it was all about the journey and the learning. I learned so much making this quilt. Didn't know I could do reverse applique or paper piecing until I tried.  In 2010, I started one block, an easy one. Then another and another. With each one I completed it got a little more thrilling to see them pile up. I bought a special box to keep them in, near my desk. I printed out a list of all the numbered blocks and checked them off to keep track of my progress. The next few years were not exactly great for me and the quilt got set aside for awhile. When I did pick it up again, I challenged myself to make it to 20 blocks by a certain time. Then 35, 50. Checking them off the list one by one. I remember hitting 100 blocks. That was a milestone - almost halfway there. No turning back now. 

                                   

                  Sashing the blocks together took awhile. I picked it up, put it aside, picked it up and put it aside again for months. Then one day I picked it up and the third time it stuck.

My blocks are far from perfect. (I don't post pics of the bad ones, LOL.) Some blocks were easy, some more difficult. With some, I had to learn new skills. As I picked up some good piecing skills, the more challenging ones became easier for me. The early blocks leave something to be desired and eventually I redid a few here and there. I knew they would always bug me if I didn't. Lots more I would like to replace but, oh well . . . .

What a journey it's been. I can say now that I was never really sure if I would finish. I wanted to, but you know how that goes. I just persevered a little at a time because I loved that darn quilt so much. I kept the book and finished blocks out in my sewing room so I could be reminded of it all the time. When I had some time I made a block or two. Even when I took time away from it for months, I still managed to get back to it eventually. 

If you have a Dear Jane languishing around your sewing room, stuck in a closet or drawer, fear not - there's hope for you too. If you've thought of starting one but never did, there's more hope. Drag it out or buy the book and make a plan. Believe me, it will be worth every frustrating stitch. Everyone I know who's made one feels so proud of themselves and they deserve to feel that way. It's such an achievement. 

Make sure you take advantage of every website and tip available. Ask others how they did theirs. Maybe find a buddy to sew along with you. Look at Instagram or Pinterest for Dear Jane quilts to get motivated. One thing that helped me was purchasing the Dear Jane software by EQ, which was invaluable. With it I could print out the rotary-cutting instructions or paper piecing patterns for each block. If I had to rely on tracing the diagrams in the book I know I would have quit a long time ago.  It's still expensive though so the website That Quilt is one good resource for making the blocks. Lots of help there with each block if you find you're struggling. There's also an EPP version you can buy. Susan Gatewood has instructions for paper piecing the blocks and triangles. Once you get motivated, just take it block by block, one at a time, and they'll add up. Start with a few easy blocks and then throw in a challenging one. Doesn't have to be perfect. Jane's quilt sure is not and that's part of it's charm. 

New edition of the Dear Jane book. Same basic info as the original with yellow cover (out of print and very $$ now). Still does not give you the patterns, just line drawings for template and hand piecing.  The sample quilts are updated but all the rest of the original info is the same. On sale today!  

I feel like the hard part is done and now I get to play around with fabrics for setting the triangles together. Wish me luck! Thanks for listening! 

Quilt Shop Tour: Ye Olde Schoolhouse

The past couple of years have been crazy, right? I haven't really been out much or visited any quilt shops during the pandemic. But I spent the nicest day day at Ye Olde Schoolhouse quilt shop in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, last Saturday, meeting quilters and "showing and telling" some of my quilts. Jeanie Rudich, the shop owner, is running a monthly Little Quilts club this year and they were using some of my books to make their quilts. She kindly asked me to stop by and visit with the class. Such a nice group of quilters! If you live near there or are in northern Illinois like me, stop in and see all of the wonderful fabrics and kits she has available. So worth the drive, even if you live farther away.

Ye Olde Schoolhouse in Cedarburg, Wisconsin

My favorite Schoolhouse quilt! With stars! 

Some of you ask where I get my nice variety of fabrics - Bundles! If you're looking for assorted fabrics in smaller pieces to make your scrappy quilts, Jeanie's got 'em! Check out her online shop. For now, take a tour through my photos.

Bundles are especially terrific for making the small blocks in my Schoolgirl Sampler quilt if you have a desire to start working on that someday.

If you're just looking for fabrics in a certain color to spice up your stash, give the shop a call. They carry a wonderful variety of fabrics in all colors and I know they'd be happy to put together some different prints and send them off to you in the mail if you ask. Tell them I sent you and if you like my quilts, they'll know what to send, LOL.

Check out some of the kits Jeanie made up from some quilts in my books.

                                   

This summer, I'm hoping to take a few more quilt shop tours and if I do I'll take you with me though some photos. Summer motto: Support our reproduction fabric quilt shops! Without our support, there won't be many left . . . . 

Scrappy Stars - Again

Some of you may remember this - In 2018 I decided I really needed to make a simple, scrappy lap quilt so I started  making some 6" stars for it. I challenged myself to make several blocks each week. Then I planned to sew them together into a lap quilt. I ended up making about 40 stars. 

                            

Well, as the story always goes, I became involved with other things and put it aside. I did put some of the blocks together and then decided I didn't really like the fabrics I chose for my setting.  Last year, I ripped out some of the stars and left a center section of nine blocks. Framed it and then put it aside again.  

                                          

Moda's Words of Wisdom

Last week, Robin finished her stars quilt and showed it to my Facebook group. A few quilters were interested in making these stars so I've challenged them to a Scrappy Stars Sew Along again. And I'm going to make a few more myself and then decide what to do for a setting. Who knows if I'll even finish with all of the other quilts I still want to make or finish. Isn't that always the case??  But I figure if nothing else I can use some of the stars to make a small quilt or runner someday. 

These stars are really fun to make. You can find my FB group here.  The details are in the group files.

Here are some simple cutting directions to make one 6" block - 

    Cut one  3 1/2"  x  3 1/2" square for the center

    Cut eight 2"  x  2 "  squares for the star points

    Cut four rectangles - 2"  x  3 1/2" - for background

    Cut four 2"  x 2" squares for the background corners

This will give you a finished 6" x 6" block. 

I like to choose my fabrics for several blocks one day, cut the pieces, lay them out on a cutting mat, set the mat aside and then sew them together another day. It's been fun to resurrect these blocks. 

Here are my latest endeavors from this past week -  using some 

fabrics I've been holding onto for years. 

Have I really had this Judie Rothermel pink print since 2000?? That was the year I started quilting. 

Cutting into some of these fabrics and actually putting them into blocks feels great!

You never know when you're going to need some scrappy stars . . . .

Have a good weekend!

Scrappy Hexagons

Have any of you been making hexagons? I finally made some progress on mine. This sew along has been ongoing for awhile as I've gotten distracted by so many other things. I know some of you can appreciate how slow I am. It's never too difficult to keep up with me while I  finish my projects! I AM making progress on my Dear Jane triangles (only 8 left!) and a few other large quilts that have been sitting around.  Little by little  . . . 

I decided to make my quilt a little different and more scrappy this time. These hexagon flowers were so much fun to make. The original quilt is from my old book The Civil War Sewing Circle.

All of my scrappy hexies were then hand appliqued onto light background squares and the squares sewn together last month. I have to say I struggled a bit with the border. More than usual. It always takes me awhile to decide. I go back and forth for days, trying all different fabrics until one really hits me. At first I leaned toward red . . . maybe with blue corners. But brown gave it more of an antique look . . . Decisions, decisions. I'd forgotten how much fun it was to make this little quilt.

Eventually, I listened to my gut and went with a soft brown for a more antique look. But I just couldn't let go of the red so I used it for the inner border to frame the blocks. This is a good lesson if you're making a quilt with scrappy or busy blocks such as these - use an inner border to frame and separate the blocks from the outer border so they don't get lost in the scrappiness. If I had used the red borders I brought out first they would have dominated the quilt more than the hexies. I put a lot of work into hand sewing those and wanted them to shine. The brown border sure helped with that, don't you think?

 Ready to go. I'll post a better photo after I quilt it. In case any of you are interested - I pin baste, do not use a hoop, use Quilter's Dream Request batting, YLI quilting thread in Light Brown and right now am using a Richard Hemming large eye needle, size 9.  But I've been known to use a sharper needle (or a Gold'n Glide needle by John James) if stitching through the layers is difficult or my hands are feeling a little stiff. Try various types of needles until you get a feel for the one that's right for you. Remember that sometimes a longer, sharper needle will work just fine if you can't use a small "between" needle. Or, if you're just starting out hand quilting. The sharper needle will be easier to push through some fabrics. (This is a good reason to not use starch on your blocks and try a very low-loft cotton batting. Polyester will make your quilt puffy.)

Always good to keep those needles organized! 

Happy Easter

 "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

~Anne Bradstreet

Easter brings the spirit of hope and is a time of reflection and joy for me. 

"Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again." ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

Have a happy and blessed Easter, my friends.