Dear Jane,
I am trying once again to start my Dear Jane quilt. I originally thought I would use my leftover Civil War scraps from my Civil War Diary quilt for this project. Well, I've abandoned that idea. I want to make something a little different..... Jane, I don't know if I will ever get this quilt done, but I am giving it another try. I have been inspired not only by your beautiful quilt, but by images of finished 'Baby Janes' that I see on Pinterest. I know that you only used fabric that you had on hand to complete this masterpiece. In the spirit of your quilt, I am only going to use bits and pieces that I have. To add to my challenge, I want to make it only with blues. In my mind, I see a beautiful blue and white 'Baby Jane' quilt.
In humble adoration,
When I first tried to do my first block for a Dear Jane quilt... I was thinking I would only piece the blocks by hand. Well, lol, my first block never got finished. I only got as far as pictured in my blog from 2011. Four flipping years ago, that's how long it took me to brave this project again! I have invested in the Dear Jane software. It will make all the difference... this quilt seems do-able now... or so I think. Here are three blocks that I have done so far...
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| Blocks A-1 and A-7I paper pieced block A-1. A-7 was a little trickier... I used paper templates to make the melon shapes to hand stitch onto the four patch block. |
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| Block A-2 I made this block 'two' toned. The little peeking kitten was totally a fluke... but I will say it's planned since it's so stinkin' cute! Here's the story, I only had a 2 1/2" square of blue fabric. So I cut it into four triangles hoping it would 'cover' the center spaces while I paper pieced. I knew the cute kitty was in there, but had no idea how he would be placed in the block. The quilting gods were shining down upon me! |
I would love to hear your story! If you would like to follow my progress, I post pictures all the time on Instagram. I do sneak peeks, my Dear Jane blocks.... fabrics that I've gotten to work with etc. All sorts of quilty fun. (Just search Quilt Doodle Designs, #quiltdoodledesigns)
Happy quilting and perfect stitches to you!
The little kitty was just meant to be. Life is too short. I'm not going to be doing a Dear Jane anytime soon. There's too many other things that take my fancy. I don't have instagram but if you post your progress on your blog, I'd love to see your progress. Blue is my favourite colour.
ReplyDeleteThat is going to be gorgeous. I love your color choice.
ReplyDeleteI started my Jane 12 years ago...and made two blocks. It's still in its project box (mine is primarily purple with shots of red). I keep wondering if I'll ever get back to it. Maybe when I retire in 8 years!
ReplyDeleteI bought the book. I bought the software. I have never made a block!
ReplyDeleteYou can do it.
ReplyDeleteI have started my Dear Janes years ago and make a block here and there. At this point I am at the end of row F. Dear Jane is a lot of fun, never boring, each block get's me thinking how to sew it to get a good result. I use only fabrics in my stash for one DJ and have BOM fabric for the second DJ.
Greetings,
Sylvia
I started my Dear Jane years ago in a class at Asilomar with Brenda, and I'm thinking it might be a good project to take next year when I go! I keep it close by even though I don't get to work on it often. I'm definitely clearing out some backlogged projects, so maybe soon...
ReplyDeleteMy Dear Jane is an elusive project. I thought if I joined a BOM and bought all the fabrics for each month, I'd be motivated to get started. I have all the fabric in a box. I have the book and software and the software is even loaded on my laptop. I opened the first month's package and was so disgusted with the "hints" that came with it. The grammar was so horrible that I couldn't get past it to get to the content. Maybe the person who wrote the hints is a wonderful quilter and a great teacher for some. Obviously, the written hints I received were a very huge deterrent to my continuing. Each month as the packages arrived, I did not even open them. I just put them all in a box together. I'd like to get a stitch group together from my guild if there is any interest from others. I think it would be fun to get together and discuss what we think would be the best way to attack each block and also to be able to draw on the strengths of each member to learn new techniques and tricks.
ReplyDelete