Two more Dear Jane blocks

I finished two more blocks in the last month or so.  Happy to make a bit of progress again.  I am now finished 82 blocks. Both of these blocks were paper pieced.

C 2 Streak of Lightning

C 4 Tic Tac Toe

 

Dear Jane progress

 The London Friendship Quilt Guild started up a Dear Jane support club last week and I got a chance to work on some Dear Jane blocks again.  The first one was done awhile ago, but I finished the other 5 blocks since last Wednesday!  Prepping blocks ahead of time is the key.  I need to take some time to prepare some more blocks again.  We'll see if the momentum remains :-).

 

B 6 Wild Goose Chase

B 9 Tinker Toy

B 10 Jud's Trophy

B 11 Melissa's Cross

B 12 Starflower

C 11 Soldiers and Sailors Monument

 I'm working on filling in the missing blocks in order or rows now.  I almost have rows A & B complete.  I now have 73 blocks completed of the 169.

 

 

Reverse applique class

A couple of weeks ago, we had Celeste of Meerkat Shweshwe Fabrics speak at the London Friendship Guild.  It was a very interesting presentation all about the history of authentic Shweshwe African fabrics and how they are made.  I was lucky enough to win the draw for a fat quarter bundle of four fabrics that Celeste had donated.  I checked out her website and found she was having a class on reverse applique and also has a club for Dutch Treat blocks from the book by Judy Garden.  I signed up for the class and went this past Friday.  It was a lovely drive and a very good class.  I finished off my first block last night and prepared three more.  These are sample blocks that are Celeste's design.  But, I do have the Dutch Treat book (received as a gift 14 years ago!) so hope to make some of those blocks eventually.  

The Dear Jane quilt, which I'm also hoping to work on again soon, has some reverse applique blocks in it so it was good to learn this skill so I can finish those blocks and make progress on DJ.  It does not take much to prepare these blocks for hand stitching and they make great take along projects when waiting for appointments or while visiting with friends :-).

My first block

second block finished...a tad crooked on the top, but practise will make perfect :-)

Dear Jane - 63rd block

We got together with our little support group this past Monday and I completed I 13 Sweet Harmony.  This is block #63.  This block is paper pieced.

Dear Jane!!

I finally made a bit of progress on my Dear Jane Quilt.  The last blog post I did was September 22, 2011 when my friend Els was over from Holland for a visit.  She has made 2 Dear Jane quilts.  We met on the Dear Jane internet list and she has now visited me five times and I've visited her twice.  

My Dad had just passed away when Els visited and my Mom passed away in January of 2012.  I lost interest in working on it that winter as my Mom was always so interested in the progress of these blocks.  And, then it became "out of sight, out of mind"!  This year, I realized that I had started this quilt in 2007 with the idea that it would be my 10 year project!  Yikes....this is 2017!  

A few friends here in town were also motivated again to keep working on our quilts and we decided to do a once a month get together to spur one another on.  I have a lot of work to do to get this quilt together by the end of the year!!  I now have 62 blocks finished.  

This morning Beth and I worked on our blocks and I got one completed.  Last month, Jane and I got a block done as well and I also finished an easy one which I found while getting organized for our monthly get togethers.  I got my hand crank machine out for some paper piecing and here are the results:

Paper piecing DJ blocks on my Singer 28 handcrank.  I received this machine from a lady named Jane :-).

I didn't get the points lined up too well on this block, but I'll let it languish in the binder until I decide if it bothers me enough to redo it.  It will never be noticed from the proverbial galloping horse in the overall scheme of things :-).
 

A 12 Framed Fancy

B 13 Four Corner Press

I 12 Fred's Fair Square

A Dear Jane block - Finally!

Last week my Dear Jane internet friend Els, who is from the Netherlands, spent a week with me hanging out in my sewing room, going on quilt shop hops and visiting one of my quilt guilds. We had a wonderful time. Els has already completed her first DJ quilt and is working on her second one! She definitely inspired me to get back at my quilt. So, Monday afternoon, I decided to do another block. This one is Cabin Fever A 9. I used my stitch ripper a few times to get the colours right! I should have checked the original block out closer! But, I got it finished and am happy with it. Hopefully, I can keep up with my 1 block a week goal again. This is my 59th block of 169 center blocks. Then I have to decide if I'll do the triangles or not :-).

A Dear Jane block!!

I finally got around to sewing another Dear Jane block today!! I had two friends over who are also working on a Dear Jane quilt and we challenged one another to get one more completed. Great to have friends to spur us on and keep us motivated!!

It's been a long time since I worked on this project. This is M 5 Mother's Point. I have now completed 58 blocks of the 169 for the center blocks. I have not decided yet if I will do the triangles. It's a good thing that I have a 10 year deadline for this quilt :-). I hope to be a little more faithful in completing the blocks this winter.

L - 1 Widow's Pane

Each week the Dear Jane internet list posts a Block of the Week, or BOW. This week's BOW was L-1 Widow's Pane. There are a couple of corners that don't line up exactly, so I may yet take out one seam and redo it. But, for now it's done! I got this piece of fabric from Carol, one of my fellow London Friendship Quilt Guild members. It's Dutch fabric!

I had to test a Singer 99 handcrank for my husband as he had serviced it so this is the machine I used to paper piece this block. It sewed like a dream!

If you're wondering about hydro on a handcranked machine, Jake installed a light on it :-).

C 3 Rayelle's Fence

So far so good for 2010. I finished the Dear Jane block of the week already this morning. This is C 3 Rayelle's Fence. I pieced this by machine with rotary cut pieces. I now have 56 blocks finished which have 946 pieces in total. I have not done any corners or triangles yet. I haven't decided yet whether I'm just doing the middle or adding the triangles. I aim to finish the squares first and then make the major decision :-).

You won't believe this!!! A Dear Jane block..........

I hardly believe it myself, but this morning I finished a Dear Jane block again...it's been quite awhile since I made one of those, but one of my goals of the New Year was to get going on that quilt again. The Dear Jane list on the internet posts a block of the week (BOW) and this is the one for the first week of January. I actually got it finished on time with several days to spare :-). This one is M 4 Stepping Stones. I paper pieced the center part and added the outer strips and triangles cut a little large and then trimmed to exact size.

One more DJ block

Finally finished another DJ block! A 2 One two Buckle my Shoe. I rotary cut and pieced this one.

J 11 Twin Sister

I prepped this block way before Christmas and finally finished it this week. J 11 Twin Sister is appliqued using the back basting method.

E 3 Paddle Wheels

I finally got another Dear Jane block finished on an impulse this afternoon. I was cleaning out my sewing room when I came across a pattern I'd printed out a long time ago. Since my cutting table was empty and my blue and white fabrics accessible (because of the cleanup :-), I had just enough time to make this little block. It does look like paddle wheels! This makes 52 blocks out of 169 and I've got my first year in of my 10 year aim! Should be able to get the project done within my 10 year goal.

E 11 Wagon Wheel finished

I finally finished the next Dear Jane block that Nancy challenged us to do when we got together a few weeks ago to work on Dear Jane blocks. I used the back basting method to applique the center onto the white background, then added another striped square and reverse appliqued the circle and the curved corners. I worked on it while waiting for my car's emission testing :-). Did I ever mention that I LOVE back basting!? Thanks to Susan for teaching us how to do it!! I've had a few inquiries as to what back basting is. There is a great pictorial guide on the internet for back basting on Apple Blossom Quilts.

My 50th Dear Jane block

We had a get together with 5 of us in the area to work on Dear Jane blocks and I finished my 50th block!! This is K 2 Grandpa's Chickens. I thought the polka dot fabric would be perfect for chickens :-).

The official count is now 50-0-0-802 meaning 50 blocks finished, 0 triangles, 0 corners, 802 pieces.

...and more...and the machines I sewed on!

I finished another DJ block today testing another sewing machine :-). Fun way to get needed work done as well as getting a few more blocks finished. This is K3 Seven Sisters...no idea where the Seven Sisters come in! I received this fabric from my Dear Jane secret pal. The outside row is supposed to be white, but I liked it with the blue better.

This is the beautiful Singer free arm Featherweight that I used to sew this block this morning! It purrs like a kitten and sews a perfect straight stitch. If you are interested in seeing more detailed pictures of this machine click here .

The blocks I posted yesterday were sewn on these machines...a beige Singer Featherweight that also sews like a dream:

...a 1953 Singer 15-88 treadle...made in Canada...great machine!

..and another Singer 15-88 treadle from 1955...also a wonderful machine! Do you get the impression that I love these wonderful old Singer sewing machines? LOL


I'm off to try out another Singer...this time a 201 which will go into a treadle eventually...I'm going to use it with a temporary handcrank attachment...hope to have another block to post tomorrow!

Finally some more Dear Jane blocks!

I finally got busy and sewed a few more Dear Jane blocks! I had to test sew on several machines that we will be selling, so figured this is a good excuse. After all, to thoroughly test a machine, it's much better to sew an actual project than just scrap fabric, right? That's my excuse LOL. Here is H 7 Bennington Star pieced on a 15-88 Singer treadle machine. Stitches are wonderful!

J 6 Granny Weaver sewn on another 15-88 Singer treadle:

J 7 Chicken Tracks sewn on a beige or tan Singer Featherweight. This machine also does a great job with these little 1" strips and squares:


This is C 5 Eye of the Cyclone. I finished this one quite awhile ago, but can't find it on my blog. I hand pieced this one, and did the white section in two pieces so that the curve would go all the way around the 'cyclone'. The only problem was, I stitched on the wrong side of the pencil line and you can actually see the pencil line on three of them! I will try to take the seam in slightly on those pieces to see if that works. Or try to erase the marks. The center seams don't quite line up either, so I'll try to fix that as well...then again..finished is better than perfect, right? :-)

Dear Jane workbook

I received this lovely workbook from my friend Lynn for Christmas; I just realized I never posted pictures of it yet. This workbook is awesome for storing all the equipment and supplies needed for handpiecing blocks. I use it all the time for my Dear Jane blocks and Psalms quilt blocks. Here is the book closed and tied...one tie goes around the back which keeps it together very well:

Ziplock bags were edged with fabric strips and grommets put into them to fit onto three rings which are attached to the 'spine' of the book with twill tape:

Here is the back of the book with a Dear Jane block on it:

Back inside cover with pocket for storing needed items:

Front of the book with tape tied at the side. The Dear Jane block on the front of the book is a replica of the very first Dear Jane block I made for my quilt:

The inside front cover with pockets and loops to hold scissors. Isn't the lining fabric just soooo cute? Fits right in with my Delft's blue themed Dear Jane quilt! The pink rubber tip on the end of the scissors is actually for knitting needles...works great:

There are four thermolam pages in the book with pinked edges which are wonderful for organizing all the pieces for a block. The fabric sticks to the pages like a design wall and keeps everything together. I am working on a blue and white block for my quilt. The other two blocks are also Dear Jane blocks which are heading to Texas for a Dear Jane Christmas quilt:

I treasure this workbook and use it a lot! Thanks Lynn for making it for me. It is a very special gift.

Productive Snow Day!

We are having the umpteenth snow storm of the year! I've lost count of how many we've had, but this one was a real major blizzard and is still going strong. We could hardly open the front door for the snow drift on the front porch.

This was the view out of the back patio door:

So, my husband and I headed down the basement for a day of cleaning and testing some antique and vintage sewing machines. My job after we finished cleaning them was test sewing on them so I got out some Dear Jane blocks and set up a little work station on the freezer. That worked great.

K 4 Thea's turn...this one is for my sister out West whose name is Thea! This was done on a Brother machine.

K 12 Doris's Dilemna was made on a 201 Singer handcrank. Those 201's are such smooth machines.

I 1 Ralph & Nelda's Wedding, done on a Singer Featherweight which sewed like a dream!

I 2 Kaye's Courtyard also sewn on the little Featherweight.

That brings my total blocks to 40.