I said I would get one more Jane block done this month, and I did! Actually the month is not over yet … so there may be more!
But here is a block which involved not one, but two layers of reverse appliqué. Once again I followed advice from the That Quilt Blog.
Jane and I are getting re-acquainted. The group I am working with at Quilters Common receives the patterns and tips for 5 blocks each month. Between one thing and another I found myself way behind … a year and a half behind! So, this past month I was determined to get back to work on my Jane blocks. I have established a new goal of 8 blocks a month, which I must meet if I want to have a quilt finished for the groups planned quilt show.
I was quite busy and so far I have 9 new blocks and I also redid 2 blocks. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge these photos. When finished viewing them click on the “x” in the upper left corner of the page to return back to this post!
This is my redo of F-5. The original was a combo of machine piecing and hand piecing for the curved “melons”. I was so annoyed with the result that in protest I designed a curve free version of the block which I discussed in a previous Jane post. But, then I came across the “That Quilt” blog and redid the block using reverse applique for the melons. I am now a fan of reverse applique! The difference is very obvious (at least to me). No more wonky squares in the corners!
I redid H-10 because the color was wrong. My scheme calls for this to be a purple block, but I did it in red!
I also came up with my own way of finishing I-10. The sections are paper pieced and then I sewed them together by hand. My method of sewing the pieces together was to treat the block like a very modified nine patch with three rows. I am happy with the result.
That’s it for now … still planning to finish one more new block by the end of this week!
This month I managed to finish 3 blocks before the monthly meeting.
I am finding some different modern fabrics to work with that I think work well with all of the Kaffe fabrics that I have been using.
Here are my blocks:
My heart’s are looking more like a flower, but I needed to use Green and Green Hearts did not seem very appealing to me so I went with pink and bright green fussy cut flowers.
If you look at Mohawk Trail you will see that I haven’t stayed with the program once again! The center block is rotated. I think this looks better and several of the ladies in my group thought so, too. Sorry Jane!
I have decided what I will use for sashing fabric, although at only 61 blocks finished perhaps I am thinking too far ahead? But, I needed to because I discovered that I was using up my 10 yards of backing fabric much too quickly. No doubt due to my extravagant cutting when paper piecing. I tried to get more of the same fabric, but after buying from two sources and getting two different greige goods that were not the same shade of gray (ha ha, gray greige goods!) I decided that I will be using a different color for my sashing. And, that will be a nice light brown/gray fabric. I am using Moda Bella Stone for my sashing.
I have been fitting a Jane Block in here and there, so I thought I would post pictures of them.
Jane’s Oak has been done a bit differently. I machine pieced the bottom instead of appliquéing it, so the white on the sides is missing.
I had a dreadful time with the Parcheesi block after trying to hand piece it and came up with a rebellious melon free solution!
The block is really very similar to its neighbor Deanie’s Daisies when approached this way. I may still do it the correct way in a year or two!
I was happy with the rest of the blocks and I found the melons in Dad’s Plaids to be very cooperative. I sprayed the heck out of the fabric with Best Press and then used the needle turn method for both the appliqué and reverse appliqué. I also used Jenny Haskins Template Magic as a guide for turning the fabric. That stuff is great because it sticks to the fabric and can be reused a few times.
I did not cut the back out of Poof because the seems for the piecing were not secured so I am afraid they will rip out. Maybe some fabric glue? Not sure so I am leaving it as is for now.
I now have 59 blocks done, but am way behind in the group I am doing this with. I must be about 8 months behind now. But, I am still getting them done and am pleased with the results, so I am not giving up on this!
Okay, here they are! More Jane blocks.
My Jane Stickle group is concentrating on the G Row to get one entire row done. I am now about 6 months behind, so I decided to focus on those as well, rather than do them in the order assigned.
I completely hand pieced Block G8 and I am happy with the result. It was a bit frustrating at first and I concluded that I am happy the sewing machine was invented! This is not a Kaffe or a Phillip or even a Westminster fabric, but I think it works well with them. Guess I have decided to branch out and mix some other fabrics in. If I have a fabric that works I am going to use it! No one in my group seemed to notice my Kaffe Fassett/Phillip Jacobs departure, so I got away with it!
I did give hand piecing another try with G1. I thought it would be too difficult to try curved piecing on the machine because the curve seemed a bit too tight. I finished this block with the machine.
For block G7 I decided to go ahead and try machine piecing the curves and it went quite well. I pressed the pieces in half to line up the centers and pinned at the center and each side. I put the convex piece on the bottom when sewing. I only redid one of the curved seems and I actually ended up redoing that one twice!
G9 is just straight forward paper piecing and I used an Amy Butler fabric this time (at least it is a Westminster fabric!). I wanted to use this orange!
Finally, I was looking at my progress chart and double checking to see if I had everything in the right place. I found my chart had a couple of blocks in the wrong row and also discovered a block with the wrong fabric! But, aren’t I lucky because the block is D13, which is just about the easiest block you could find yourself redoing. So, I now have a red and an orange D13.
And to wrap things up I will also show you the second B12 that I made some time ago because I was not happy with my first try at reverse applique. The first is really not so bad, but I think I like the fussy cutting in the redo better.
Is this more than you ever wanted to know about my Jane blocks??
Oh!! …. in case anyone is counting I finally got 50 blocks done! WOOT WOOT!!
After many moths of neglecting my Jane quilt I finally got some blocks put together for the July meeting.
Here are each of my blocks. The Star block was a bit of a challenge, but the method we used for the center was to fold a little square in half which worked out wonderfully.
I did have a bit of a hard time getting one of the background pieces lined up correctly when paper piecing the star. After ripping out three times I grabbed a 6″ width of fabric strip, placed the paper on top off that and ran it through the machine. Plenty of room and no wasted fabric after I trimmed it … how’s that for a new paper piecing method!
I did manage to get a couple of months behind on Jane, but I got five blocks done for the March meeting. Five more and I will have 50 blocks. The group at Quilter’s Common has been meeting for one year now. Three more years and I might have a quilt top! I don’t think I will catch up for awhile, but I hope I don’t get further behind!
I am now up to date with my Jane Blocks. This month I was working with my Singer 301 Sewing Machine which just got cleaned and had some adjustments made. It is such a nice machine. It has a great stitch and is amazingly light. Perfect for taking to class.
I also wanted to comment on this month’s triangle block. Instead of appliqueing the curved piece on the bottom I decided to just sew it on with the machine because it is not much of a curve. And I cheated with the little melon. Yes, I did. It is fused in place with steam a seam and machine stitched around the edges. I think this will be just fine. After all, this is a MODERN Dear Jane quilt, so I am using as many modern techniques as I can!
October has been flying by with very mild weather and lots of beautiful color throughout the New England Area. I managed to get all of my October Jane blocks finished and have gotten a start on the ones for November.
November will finally see more green! Pat, our fearless leader at Quilters Common has been trying to get a mix of blocks each month … paper piecing, rotary cut, applique, and always one triangle, otherwise we would never get to them! But, this means I have no idea what colors I will be using for fabric each month. For the last two months the colors have been lots of yellow, orange and red, so I am happy to be picking out some green fabric for November.
Block M-8 ended up looking quite warped so I went ahead and added the sashing pieces. I am following advice from Aunt Reen’s Blog for the sashing. With the sashing in place it looks just fine now.
Last week Bob and I visited the Bennington Museum in Vermont specifically to see the Dear Jane quilt. It is the 150th anniversary of the quilt. If you want to see it hurry on up there because it is only on display until October 14th, 2013. We managed to get some very nice photos of the quilt … with the Flash off!! No flash photography for this quilt. It is in very good shape with just a bit of discoloration here and there. It was so nice to get close to the quilt and compare the blocks I have already made with the original. I could have spent all day just looking at each individual block! You can see my Dear Jane Progress HERE!
Quilting with Patrice 