Dear Jane Quilt - Block J2 Picture Perfect

Dear Jane Quilt - Block J2 Picture Perfect

Hello friends. Another day, another Dear Jane block, J2 Picture Perfect.

I have spent some looking back at my Nearly Insane quilt journey and how much I enjoyed it. It was all piecing, no applique, with one 6" block having over 240 pieces.  The Dear Jane blocks have fewer pieces, but offers more of a challenge with new techniques.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 15 pieces

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L4 St George's Cross

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L4 St George's Cross

This is L4 St George's Cross of the Dear Jane quilt and I have made use of the red stripe in my Kim Diehl stash to fussy cut some of the pieces.  There was a time when I would avoid striped fabrics, but I have seen the light and this particular fabric has already delivered in many ways. 

We are on a red round of blocks at the moment and they are pretty RED heavy.

St George is the patron saint of England and this is officially celebrated on 23rd April each year, which also happens to be the birthday of Shakespeare.  Sadly we don't get a day off to stitch Dear Jane blocks.


Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 21 pieces


Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 23 - D1, I3, J2, L4

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 22 - L2, A1, L10, K10

Another set of Dear Jane blocks completed and we are moving onto Draw 23.  Like my Nearly Insane quilt, the Draw system which I use breaks the Dear Jane journey down into achievable steps.  It works for me on one level but means that I don't have all the pieces to start stitching the whole quilt together until the end.  And that I will have all the papers to take out at the end ...  Will I ever learn?

Draw 23
D1 - Alison's Guiding Light
I3 - Family Album
J2 - Picture Perfect
L4 - St Georges Cross

This Draw is in Red

 

Dear Jane Quilt - Block A1 Pinwheel Gone Awry

Dear Jane Quilt - Block A1 Pinwheel Gone Awry

I would guess that Dear Jane block A1, Pinwheel Gone Awry is the first block that most people make when starting there Dear Jane journey, which means that there are probably more of them in the world compared to M3 Lynette's Diamond, which is the last one.

I made this whilst watching Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace.  Since seeing the latest Star Wars film, we decided that we needed to watch the whole lot again.  It seems incredible how a single film has had such a global impact.  I often refer to the Dear Jane exhibition I saw in Nantes, France in 2013, as being one of the best exhibitions I ever saw.  Up there with it was the Star Wars exhibition from the archives of George Lucas, which I saw at the Barbican, London at about the time Episode 1 was released in 1999.  It had the original artwork and models (pre-CGI) used in the first films and a full size Chewbacca costume - who doesn't love a wookie?

I often use this Personality Test in my work and my personal profile is described as being similar to George Lucas with one of the strengths being 'ability to work on something for a long time'.  They obviously know I am working on my Dear Jane quilt!

Have a go and let me know what profile you are ...

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 28 pieces

Dear Jane Quilt - Block K10 Quandry

Dear Jane Quilt - Block K10 Quandry

This block has a case of the wobbles.  I'm not going to get myself into a Quandry about it.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 35 pieces

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L10 Nan's Naiad

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L10 Nan's Naiad


As requested, here is Nan's Naiad.  I would say that Block L10 Nan's Naiad is one of the more complex blocks. The shapes are straightforward, but you need to construct the block in a certain order to avoid silly y-seams and stuff.

There are 41 pieces in this block, which for Dear Jane is quite a lot.  I often merge blocks if they are the same colour and they are going to save a seam, which I did a few times with this block, so others may have more.  Don't forget that you need to keep track of the number as the 'original' quilt by Jane Stickle has the total number embroidered on one of the corner blocks.


Suzi the Cat on the Tumbler Quilt Cat Mat

I am trying to think of a reason why this block is pretty.  I don't think it is, so to fulfil a need for 'pretty' on this blog post, here is a picture of Suzi the cat on her new tumbler block cat mat.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 41 pieces

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L2 Stephanie's Snowflake

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L2 Stephanie's Snowflake

Do you see those little tiny triangles on Block L2, Stephaine's Snowflake?  This is about as small as I like to go.  I didn't put any paper in those triangles, I just manoeuvred the fabric where it needed to be.

I would like to report that we had a few flakes of snow here in Chepstow this week.  No need to get the snow chains out though.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 37 pieces


Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 22 - L2, A1, L10, K10

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 21 - H3, L7, I10, J7

My Dear Jane stitching has been a bit slow recently, partly due to the bad planning on my part, and also because it appears 2016 has been put on fast forward.  I don't think I have known time pass so quickly.

Here is the latest set of Dear Jane blocks, quite quick and simple to do and I managed to avoid any applique.  Moving onto the next Draw ...

Draw 22
A1 - Pinwheel Gone Awry
K10 - Quandry
L2 - Stephanie's Snowflakes
L10 - Nan's Naiad

This Draw is Yellow.

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L7 Town Square

Dear Jane Quilt - Block L7 Town Square

I don't think the Town Planning department were very imaginative  when designing Dear Jane block L7, Town Square. However, it makes for a quick win on the Dear Jane journey.


Liberty Fabric - Pincushion

I was in London last week and happily made a detour to Liberty's of London.  Yes, this is the home of all those beautiful Tana Lawn cottons.  There is a whole floor of their prints and the choice is immense and you just want to take a part of it home with you.  This little Tana Lawn pincushion came home with me.  I don't think I will ever use it as a pincushion, but it makes me smile and it was a lot cheaper than the Liberty pyjamas I had my eye on.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 17 pieces

Dear Jane Quilt - Block J7 Chicken Tracks

Dear Jane Quilt - Block J7 Chicken Tracks

Here is block J7, Chicken Tracks.  I really enjoy doing a simple little square using English paper piecing, there are no surprises and I just love the potential of using tiny scrappy bits of fabrics.

Patchwork fabric scraps

I love scrap quilts.  I was visiting my sister last week and whilst 'hanging out' in her sewing room noticed that there was some fabric in her dustbin.  By the end of my scavenging I left (she let me leave) with over 800g of fabric scraps.  I can't express my delight - was very pleased as I have a few scrap projects that are moving to the forefront of my mind

BTW - my sister has started to hand quilt her Dear Jane quilt.  She used metallics and now the dimension of the quilting is starting to show, it looks really good.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 41 pieces