Finally, the Siggies are Complete!

I finally finished the siggies for the Dear Jane 2008 Siggie Swap. I made several flavors depending on how well the stamping turned out. If it was too light, I traced the stamped image with a pigma pen. If it was too dark and smudgy, I (usually) traced myself an appaloosa! lol One horrible siggie got the "completely painted", which took forever! I hope no one is disappointed. This was my first attempt at stamping and it took me a long while to develop a decent repeatable technique. Here are six representative examples for your viewing pleasure. ;-)

BOW Challenge Complete; D6 Challenge

I wimped out and did D6 Challenge (which is very poorly named, as it's the simplest Dear Jane block I've done so far.) I was supposed to do D2 Mouse in a Mirror, which has, like, 29 pieces or something. Not this week. I just finished signing my siggies today, and except for a few finishing touches and a final recount; I'm done with them. Whew! A 29 piece block, however paper-pieceable, was just not going to happen. D6 took me about 20 minutes tops; it was... restful. I liked the way it turned out too. I had a bad moment when I thought all the remaining red fabric I had was cut just a smidge too narrow, then I found another big chunk. What a relief. Anyway, here it is. I think it looks very dramatic!

BOW Challenge Complete; F3 - Snowball

Wow! I've made it to Susan-Jane 7,0,0,104. This was an easy, pretty block to make. I'm using Gradiations by Caryl Bryer Fallert for the yellow parts. I only have a fat quarter of it to make all four blocks in the diagonal (along with the violet, of course). The yellow shades from a swath that is almost orange to very bright light yellow. I'm trying to use the nearly orange parts for the centers of my diagonal blocks; I hope I have enough. This block didn't use very much fabric, so I'm still in good shape.

BOW Challenge Complete - C1 Trooper Green's Badge

I'm now Susan-Jane 6,0,0,87! C1 was the easiest DJ block I've done so far. I wondered about the colors when I dug them out to match my software version of the quilt; but I really like the way they turned out. My scanner didn't do a very good job of capturing the colors correctly. I was able to match the green fairly well, but the actual pink isn't quite so intense. The pink is actually a water splashed batik, which doesn't come out here very well either. They actually married very well.

Now I can get back to doing siggies. I still have LOTS to do, but at least they are all stamped now.

Pat Tillman Challenge - Make a Blanket Day

Last Friday about a dozen of us Project Linus quilters got together at a local church hall and had fun quilting all day for the Pat Tillman Challenge. We decided to split into teams of 2 and have each team make 4 of the quilts from the Baby Fats quilt book. We had lots of fun and got lots of quilting done. (The food was pretty awesome too!)

BOW Challenge Complete F2 - Kaleidescope

With 28 pieces, this block has made me Susan-Jane 5,0,0,74! This block was less work and annoyance than last week's 2 piece applique and I get 26 pieces more credit too. lol I'm loving these colors. I'm planning to do the upper left quadrant (6x6) of the Dear Jane original, and I'm keeping the original trip around the world color scheme so I'll have diagonal color-ways going from the lower left to the upper right. I'm not sure how I'm going to be doing the remaining 3 quadrants; 36 blocks plus 24 triangles and 4 kites is enough for me to worry about right now!

Dear Jane Block of the Week Challenge Complete - Jason's Jacks

Well, I'm not happy with my first efforts at reverse applique, but at least it's done. And let's all say together, "Finished is better than perfect!" And I'm now Susan-Jane 4,0,0,46 There are a number of things I will do differently next time (like take an applique class?) I would starch the green fabric for starters; also, I would use better thread. I'm using Madeira machine embroidery thread because it matched and I didn't get the chance to go to a fabric store. Sigh. I would also use a better, finer, non-chalky (read disappearing) marking pen and invest in some (Fray Check that isn't 15+ years old. I guess I was afraid that Fray Check would leave a dark mark on the green - has anyone had that problem?) I think I also need to review when and how to make the little cuts - they gave me lots of trouble. I love the look of applique and reverse too, of course; I just have to keep working at improving my technique and actually using the tips that I've been given instead of trying to "go it my own way" - that trick never works! In fact, "my way" managed to briefly sew my finger to the back of the block, no blood, but definitely stuck. Interesting.

Actually, all my problems are soon to be over. Yesterday I got my fingertip measured and finally ordered my Roxanne thimble. After I get the perfect thimble (Roxanne's, of course) all my silly applique problems will just disappear and I'll be able to hand quilt like the Amish. I have my eyes closed, my fingers crossed and I tapped my heels together three times so it MUST be true!

Brenda's Lecture at the Bear Creek Quilt Show

I finally got the pictures of Brenda's lecture at the Bear Creek Quilt Show in Fort Worth last month downloaded from my phone. (I had to buy a special card to download them.) This is where the whole Dear Jane adventure really began for me. I already had the software and the dream, but I didn't get inspired to actually start my first DJ block until I listened to Brenda. The quilts she showed us that day were awesome. Here she is with a beauty!

I also really liked the quilt made out of DJ triangles - I never would have thought of that!

Here are two more pictures, one of another lovely Dear Jane (or is it a Dear Hannah? Maybe someone could leave me a comment so I can say for sure.) and one, I think, of an antique quilt. (I'm sorry my pictures are fuzzy; my phone isn't the best camera.)

As you can tell, it was a really wonderful lecture and show! There was also a beautiful siggy quilt there that day that I really wish I had taken a picture of. It's the main reason I decided to join this year's siggie swap.

2008 Dear Jane Siggie Swap

I'm getting ready for the big 2008 Dear Jane Siggie Swap. I've got 100 blocks cut out, but nothing stamped or sewn yet. The crazy ladies on the siggie Yahoo group are generating messages by the gross; I'm almost afraid to find out just how many siggies I'm going to be expected to make! My "official" guess is 182 and that might be low. Yikes! I think I have enough fabric for about 200 blocks and I could probably get some more if needed (I hope not!)

Going into a stamp shop for the first time was trippy; it was like stepping over to the dark side for the first time. I had only heard of these cults of stamping and scrap-booking; I had never actually seen them first hand. The stamp store lady was very helpful and directed me carefully to the stuff meant to mark permanently on fabric. I was very pleased with the two stamps I chose; I hope I don't destroy too much muslin before I learn to wield them with skill. It's nice to have a plan. I was really starting to stress out last week because I didn't have a plan!

Dear Jane BOW Challenge Complete

OK, I'm now Susan-Jane 3,0,0,44. I completed the Dear Jane BOW challenge this morning. I did block E2 (Merry May) instead of K8. The DJ quilt I'm working on is only going to contain the 36 blocks of the upper left corner of the original (as well as the corresponding triangles), so every time a block is specified that's outside the range of my quilt, I'm making the equivalent block in my grid. K8 = E2 in my world. This was my first attempt at applique; I think it turned out fine. I was not comfortable with the idea of needle-turning and I really wanted to get it right the first time, so I pressed the melon seam allowances under, then basted them down. I then basted the melons onto the square and appliqued them one at a time. My square fabric was heavily starched from paper piecing and my applique fabric wasn't starched at all which is exactly backwards! I really need a thimble - much ouching!