Dear Jane, the Obsession Continues

All week I just wanted to hurry home and work on my Dear Jane, and I managed to get four blocks done.  I took Hunter's Moon to Shreveport last weekend since applique travels better than paper piecing.  I hadn't done applique in several years, so I just had to wing it.

The batik for Courtney's Stethoscope is part of my purple color-way batiks.  I had to edit out massive amounts of grey in the fabric. Enough grey remained to make this the most darkly "mysterious" block in the row so far.  I'm really enjoying the contrasting batiks in my stash.

Cathy's Campfire came next with some nice, straight-forward paper-piecing.  After fiddling to get my melons placed just so in Hunter's Moon, and fussy cutting Courtney's Stethoscope, I was ready for something simple.

I was looking forward to the super simple Uncle Homer.  For some reason unknown to man, I decided to paper-piece this ultra simple block.  I did spend lots of time getting the widely spaced batik "blobs" placed right where I wanted them, and I was very pleased with how this one turned out.

I can't believe I'm already working on the middle block in Row A. Of course, none of these first few blocks were particularly tricky. (Would anyone ever make a Dear Jane row by row if Papa's Star was the  very first block?  lol)  Still, I'm going to keep pressing forward while the obsession is hot; this quilt will need all the prioritization possible to ever get completed.

Dear Jane Revisited

I restarted my Dear Jane journey with a lovely new bolt of white muslin and my existing stash of batiks.  I spent way too much time on my last DJ, all 9 blocks of it, deciding which block to do next. This time I'm tackling the blocks first a row, then a column at a time.  I selected and pre-washed fabric for the entire first row, then got started. Here is Block A-1, Pinwheel Gone Awry. 

I've decided to rotary cut whenever possible, so A-1 was done that way.  Paper piecing was a better choice for block A-2 called "One, Two Buckle My Shoe".

I'm making my DJ a trip around the world in seven colors, with lots of variation planned in value, hue and tint. I probably already have 50% or more of the batiks I'll need, but except for the upcoming Dallas Quilt Celebration next month, I'm not planning to load up on more right away.  I think by doing first a row, then a column (including the triangles) my current subset of batiks will get widely spaced in the quilt.

I went through my entire stash, pulling all the true batiks.  I was amazed by how many lovely batik prints I have.  I'm not using the the print batiks though, not because I'm a purist, but because true batiks are reversible.  I can just see myself noticing at the very end of completing a 40+ piece block that one of the tiny pieces has been reversed.  Argh!  Sticking with true batiks removes this complication completely.  As Forrest Gump would say, "One less thing."

It was fun selecting 15 batiks for row A.  Who knows if I'll even finish row A, much less the whole quilt, but I know I'll never finish it if I don't at least start it!  I promised myself that if I do finish this DJ I will have earned the right to a long-arm machine if I still want one.  I told my DH this quilt was my quilting Master's Degree.  He said it was more like a PhD, but I told him doctoral projects had to be original, and this is as derivative as it gets.  lol

Blanketeer Challenge Fabric Quilt Top Completed

The Blanketeers selected the Alzheimer's puzzle fabric as our challenge fabric last spring.  (As I recall it took 7 ballots to select the challenge fabric; there was a strong floral faction. - lol)   We made blocks using a new paper-piecing technique taught by Virginia.  We ended up with 25 6-inch pieced blocks.

I assumed the task of putting it all together since I only made one block.  The pieced patterns were chosen randomly, so I ignored pattern completely, and concentrated on giving the colors a pleasing balance.  

I wanted to use up the leftover puzzle fabric, but I thought a visual break was needed between the blocks and the border.  Nothing stops the eye like red, so a bright red inner border was born.

There's my lone card trick block in the bottom row - took forever! Others liked this particular paper-piecing method, but I was not a fan.  It did, however, give nice results.

Everyone did a terrific job on their blocks, and I don't think we've ever created a more colorful quilt!

Some little kid is going to really love this bright, cheery quilt!

First Finish of 2014 - January

There's a cute little raglan sweater that goes with the booties and cap, but I haven't put it together yet.  The booties will get a white ribbon at the ankles after I find the ribbon.  What do you think; is this cap too small for an infant girl?

Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day to all my blogging buddies down under!

I hope y'all have a lovely day filled with fun, food, and no worries of drought, wildfires, floods, ridiculously hot weather or inland tsunamis to trouble you.

Enjoy!

With love from Texas. 

Pebbles and Leaves and a Jelly Roll Race

I made some progress quilting my bunny quilt.  I'm pleased with the way the pebbles turned out.  I had never done pebbles before.  They were time-consuming, but fairly easy.  I'm happy enough with the leaf shapes.  I got the effect I was going for, and it was fast.  

The parts I'm really not sure of are the straight lines on the multi-colored fabric.  I wanted to keep it simple, but I'm not sure blue was the best choice thread color.  And the straight lines aren't working out the way I thought they would.  I'll probably add additional elements between the lines, but I'm not sure what yet.  I swear, the most difficult part of free-motion quilting is all the decision-making!

The Blanketeers had a Project Day last Friday where everyone worked on her own Jelly Roll Race quilt.  You start with a jelly roll and sew all the strips end to end.  Takes forever.  Then you divide the long strip in two slightly offset pieces and sew them together lengthwise.  Really takes forever!  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Eventually you have something resembling a quilt top.  It is definitely not my favorite technique. I'll probably never make another, but it did completely use up an old jelly roll that was gathering dust in a drawer for the last 5 years.

Actually, this one isn't too bad.  I've seen some really butt-ugly jelly roll race quilts, and I feared the worst for this one, but it's not too awful.  I have a cool idea for quilting it, but that will have to take a back-burner to the bunny quilt.

Free Motion Quilting - The Bunny Quilt

I've just fallen in love with the free motion quilting of Angela Walters, Leah Day and Judi Madsen. They have taken quilting to a level that is very inspirational to me.  I find I really want to do it too!  As a result, I have renamed my colorful "Carnival Quilt" to the "Bunny Quilt", and have decided to take it in a fully quilted, free motion direction.

I started with this sweet bunny template from Electric Quilt's "Quiltmaker V2" collection for the central motif.  My plan is to pebble the lower half of the diamond shape so it looks like the bunnies are sitting on the ground.  I have a leaf shape in mind for the upper half, so it looks like the bunnies are hiding in a leafy grotto.  I haven't decided how to quilt the multi-colored fabric yet, but I plan to quilt lots and lots of leafy carrots in the yellow and green.  I look forward to sharing the process.  I hope it comes out OK!

And the name of the quilt is... Oak Leaf and Acorn Variation

I got many interesting leads to help identify the pattern of Great Great Grandma Dunn's antique quilt. I gave them all serious consideration.

Many people thought the yellow in the quilt was originally green, because the green of that era is notoriously fugitive.  Apparently the Prussian blue and yellow dyes that were mixed to make the greens in the Victorian era, faded to poison greens, then yellow, as the Prussian blue fled the fabric. On the advice of my fabric savvy fashion designer niece, I peered behind seams and pushed aside threads, only to determine that there is no evidence the yellow fabric was ever anything but yellow.  Also, yellow is Grandma Vivian's favorite color, so it seems possible that yellow could have been her Grandma's favorite color as well.

I was also encouraged to consider the idea that the acorns were actually rosebuds.  It seems to me, though, that if the leaves were originally the more autumnal yellow, then the rosebuds were more likely meant to be acorns.  In all likelihood, however, the pattern probably never have had any name at all, but I'm calling it "Oak Leaf and Acorn Variation".

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and insights.

Does Anyone Know the Name of this Applique Quilt?

As family historian, I have taken on the task of properly labeling the antique quilts in my husband's family.  This one was made by his great great grandmother, Anna Alice Hite Dunn, 1862-1921.  I'm guessing it was made around 1900, but I have no idea what the pattern is called.  I would really like to find out the name of the pattern, if one exists, so I could add it to the label I'm making for the quilt.

The red and yellow motifs are appliqued on the muslin; however, the red border and the nine-patch corners are pieced.

The red eight-pointed star appliques are made from a single piece of red fabric, as are all the other appliqued pieces.  All applique was sewn with white thread, with tiny, but visible, stitches.

The muslin on the back matches the muslin on the front, and it is heavily quilted in white thread, which is probably why it is in such good shape for a quilt that obviously got used.   I would say Great Great Grandma Dunn was an excellent quilter; her stitches are tiny - there are no "toe-catchers" on this quilt.

If anyone knows the name of this quilt pattern, please either email me or leave a comment.  Thanks for all your help!

Blanketeers Raise over $200 for Alzheimer's Research!!!

Remember these six little beauties?  The Blanketeers donated these mini quilts to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative earlier this year, and five of them sold for over $200!  That's right, $207.43 was raised for Alzheimer's research, in the hopes of finding a cure for that horrible disease, which has devastated so many of our families.

The only remaining available quilt is Waltz of the Flowers (lower right) which can be purchased for $7.50 from AAQI.  Sadly the AAQI program is ending on 12/31/13, so act quickly if you want to make a donation to Alzheimer's research, and own this lovely hand-appliqued wall hanging.