Dear Jane Quilt - Block I5 Maria's Majesty



Dear Jane Quilt - Block I5 Maria's Majesty

I will confess that this block has taken me quite a long time. 


Dear Jane Quilt - Block I5 Maria's Majesty

It started about 3 weeks ago.  I was getting some of my blocks prepared before I travelled and knew that this one needed a bit more prep than others.  I have realised that applique is not the sort of sewing you can do whilst you are a passenger driving along, unlike my usual stitching, so it relies on being stationary for (in my case) considerable time.


Dear Jane Quilt - Block I5 Maria's Majesty

So whilst other blocks were coming together this one had to wait for its moment.  The first stage got stitched about two weeks ago and after several attempts the last melon got sewn on last Friday.  I am still learning to breath whilst I sew appliqué ....

NO EPP on this one and I am enjoying doing red blocks.  Again, a lot of effort for just 6 pieces.

Techniques: Applique, Reverse Applique
Pieces: 6

 

Dear Jane Quilt - Block G3 Four Leaf Clover

Dear Jane Quilt - Block G3 Four Leaf Clover

I was going to say that I think this is the first block I have done that is totally applique for this project, but I managed to sneak in some EPP.  Initially, I had a few hiccups which meant I had to rethink the centre shape. My first attempt did not have very good inside points, so I split the shape into four, EPPed the shapes and sewed them together, then appliqued the whole shape onto the block, whist removing the papers in a timely manner.  You may be able to see the seams in the centre, but I think my fabric choice has allowed me to get away with this.

Dear Jane Quilt - Block G3 Four Leaf Clover

The outer ring went on quite easily by sewing the inside edge with the cardboard form still inside, removing it and then stitching the outer edge.  It is hard to believe that such a tricky block has only six pieces in it.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing, Applique
Pieces: 6

Dear Jane Quilt - Block F12 Starburst

Dear Jane Quilt - Block F12 Starburst

This is one of the Dear Jane quilt blocks which travelled to Europe with me to the OEQC quilt show in Maastricht.


Dear Jane Quilt - Block F12 Starburst

It looks like a simple block and it was once I decided to slice up the 'arrow' pieces to ensure a nice inside point, which adds to the overall piece count.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 20

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 10 F12, G3, G12, I5

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 9, C2, H2, H8, M2

With these four Dear Jane quilt block done it makes a total of blocks 29 of the centre113 squares, which is 25% of the main quilt.  As you may have guessed these statistics are a great source of motivation to me!  The blocks which have been drawn are
 
F12 - Starburst
G3 - Four Leaf Clover
G12 - Gloriae
I5 - Maria's Majesty

You may be pleased to know (I know that I am) that this quilt will not be entirely orange fabrics as this draw will be in RED.  Looking at the blocks they look a bit tricky ...

Open European Quilt Championship - Maastricht 2015



Open European Quilt Championship (OEQC) - Maastricht 2015

You may have noticed that I was a bit quiet last week - I was on a quilting adventure. 


Belgian cake shop

We took a trip across the channel to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, indulging in fine food and wine, with a diversion to the 2015 OEQC quilt show at Maastricht.

Quilt display by Blanche Vandebroek, Belgium

Obviously there were plenty fabric shopping opportunities and plenty of quilts to look at.  There was a lovely display of quilts by Blanche Vandebroek (Belgium). Even with a mixture of French, German, Flemish, Dutch and English languages being spoken, we all seemed to share the common language of quilts.

Lynn Blevens - Longarm quilting tutor

I also took part in a longarm quilting workshop with Lynn Blevens from the USA, which was amazing, especially when Maastricht TV unexpectedly came into film us. 

Dear Jane quilt blocks, English Paper Piecing

And what about Dear Jane? Time spent travelling has allowed me to keep up my hand sewing and I gathered quite a little pile of blocks (10 to be exact - Catherine).

Dear Jane Quilt - Block H8 Eaton's Crossroad

Dear Jane Quilt - Block H8 Eaton's Crossroad

Here is the final block of this orange draw, H8 Eaton's Crossroads. I looked up Eaton's Crossroads on the internet and it is a real place in the state of Tennessee.  My block doesn't really represent the street map view I found.  Then it made me curious to look up where Tennessee is located in the USA and I was reminded of its music history .. the Dear Jane quilt is a true learning journey.


Dear Jane Quilt - Block H8 Eaton's Crossroad

You will get an insight from this picture of how I approached this block.  I English paper pieced the centre circle cross and then appliqued it on, removing the paper as I went.  I am starting to build up quite a stash of Dear Jane blocks which makes me eager to get more done.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing, Applique
Pieces: 36

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M2 Duff's Bluff

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M2 Duff's Bluff

Sometimes a block is so easy that I forget that I have even done it.  This was one of them.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 21

Colourwave Workshop with Jan Hassard

Colourwave Quilt with Jan Hassard

I have been on a quilting workshop today with Bristol quilter, Jan Hassard, at Busy Bees Patchwork in Newport.  Here you can see the blocks I completed today pinned to my design wall.  It was a great day where we got an insight into how Jan works her magic with colour, but as always, too short and you wish you could spend the next 48 hours completing the project.

Jan sent instructions beforehand, so that we could do most of our fabric cutting beforehand, which was great, as it gave us more time during the day to actually focus on the design and machine stitch some strips together.  I am using batiks for this project, largely from the generous bundle I won from The Objects of Design, over a year ago.

Along with this, my head is full of ideas of projects I want to do.  Dear Jane is keeping me quiet, but I need to catch up with my Miniature Block of the Month, I am making a quilt for our camper van, and I have quilts to quilt.  Also, I am finding it hard to settle as I am quite sure Bonnie Hunter is due to release details of her 2015 Mystery Quilt soon ....

Dear Jane Quilt - Block C2 Streak of Lightning

Dear Jane Quilt - Block C2 Streak of Lightning

I should have saved this post for Halloween as C2 Streak of Lightning had some of those 'scary' diamond shapes in it.  In my quilting life I have learnt the hard way never to take diamond shaped pieces for granted - you need to keep a very close eye on them.  I think I nailed it on this one.

Some of the 'eagle eyed' out there ( yes, I know who you are ...) have spotted that I am adding my own special touches to the blocks, especially noting the similarity to this and the last block.  It works for me ... how else would you know it was mine? ;)

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 19

Dear Jane Quilt - Block H2 Jacob Anthony

Dear Jane Quilt - Block H2 Jacob Anthony

The base of this block is all English Paper pieced, but the two triangles on the corners are appliqued.  It took me 1.5 hours to sew those two on last night.  It didn't help that I forgot to take the paper out the first time around.  It appears that the applique shapes which are small and angular are most troublesome to me, but I can see the attraction of appliqueing larger, smoother shaped pieces.

Still orange.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing and Applique
Pieces: 17