Dear Jane Quilt - Block M6 Simplicity

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M6 Simplicity

Whilst I am a keen English Paper Piecing addict, it is very rare that you will see a hexagon on this blog.  No hexagons today, just a big octagon.  Block M6, Simplicity is another opportunity to show off my fancy striped fabric, from the Winter Blessings range by Kim Diehl.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 25

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M1 Dogwood Days

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M1 Dogwood Days

With block M1 Dogwood Days complete, I have just been researching what the term 'Dogwood Days' is all about.  Apparently it is a celebration of the Spring blossoming of the Dogwood trees in the USA.  Further research revealed that loads of US states have fairs to celebrate the event. 

I will admit that is was more luck than judgement that the fussy cut squares in the centre of this block are four leaf flowers, like the Dogwood blossom, but doesn't it look great?  I will admit that I am loving these green blocks and this one is particularly cute.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 29

Dear Jane Quilt - Block D10 Battlefield

Dear Jane Quilt - Block D10 Battlefield

This is Block D10 Battlefield.  I was stitching this at one of my local quilt groups and a lot of concern was raised about the size of those corner triangles (and my mental health).  Whilst my paper templates were floating about I was more concerned if there was a draft or if someone sneezed!  Now they are safely stitched into the completed 4.5" block, they are in control - a bit raggety at the edges, but nothing the sashing won't rein in.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 42

Dear Jane Quilt - Block C1 Trooper Green's Badge

Dear Jane Quilt - Block C1 Trooper Green's Badge

This is my first 'green block'. It certainly makes a refreshing change and I think the fussy cutting with the stripes has added a bit of 'je ne sais quoi', and makes it look more complex than it really is.

With the clocks changing recently it has become a bit of a struggle to get decent photographs.  Oh to see a bit of daylight!

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 13

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 12, C1, D10, M1, M6

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 11 A9, C10, I13, M8

More orange blocks from Draw 11, but all looking good.  Moving on to Draw 12

C1 - Trooper Green's Badge
D10 - Battlefield
M1 - Dogwood Days
M6 - Simplicity

As for the colour selection the next colour is - Green. This is quite exciting as the green Kim Diehl fabric selection I have is lush.

Allietare Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2015 - Introduction



Easy Street Mystery Quilt 2012

Welcome to the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt journey for 2015!  This will be my third Mystery quilt.  The first one I did was Easy Street in 2012.  I managed to keep up and get the top done by January 2013.  Quilting has been another matter, but I am pleased to say that it is now quilted and in use.


Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt 2013

In 2013 I joined in the Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt.  This time my sister joined me and we had great fun getting the tops complete.  This one is not quilted yet, but is pencilled in for Spring 2016.  This time last year I was all set to join in with the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, but life took over as it often does. 

Allietare! - Bonnie Hunter Fabric selection


Bonnie has really chosen a pretty selection of colours this year - rich reds, warm golds, a grey to throw forward the colour, black and her usual neutrals.  There are a lot of neutral fabrics required for this quilt and there are rumours going about that there will be lots of strip piecing, similar to her beautiful Orca Bay quilt which you can find in her books.   Her colour inspiration comes from her trip to Italy and you can see the detail of her colour inspiration on her blog.



Allietare! - Fabadashery Fabric selection

To keep up with tradition I will not be using the same colour scheme.  My colour inspiration is not as exotic as an Italian holiday, but the curtains in our bedroom.  I know that the dark green fabric at the top will be my constant, the neutral  will be my neutral, but still deciding on the mix of the other colours.  I have plenty of grey and pink, but I am struggling finding the right shade of pale green.  It is always a risk mixing up the colours, but as long as I keep neutral neutral I am ready for the ride! With the decision made the first job is to restore order to my workroom, the fabric selection process has been traumatic to say the least.

9 days to go!

Dear Jane Update, November 2015 - 3rd Anniverary Edition

Dear Jane Quilt blocks - November 2015

This week marks the 3rd Anniversary of my Fabadashery blog.  It all started when I joined in the Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery Quilt and three years on I hope to be doing the 2015 Mystery Quilt, Allietare! Thank you to all my Followers who have joined the journey.  I had hoped to do something spectacular to celebrate, but it is a busy time at work for me and so I have opted for a Dear Jane update.  Since starting in 2012, I have also started another quilting blog which shares my longarm quilting adventures.  Please feel free to Follow along on that one too if you are interested.


Dear Jane Quilt blocks - November 2015

So back to Dear Jane. Here are all the blocks I have done so far and you can now see some pops of colour in the sea of orange compared to the last update.

43 blocks (25%)

4 triangles (7%)

 



Dear Jane Quilt - EQ Software - November 2015 update

In the pictures above you might spot some blocks that have yet to have their '15 minutes of fame'.  All I can say is that my stitching is more productive than my blogging - they will have their moment.  Also this update has reminded me that I need to keep up with the sashing, cornerstones and the blank triangles.

All this special blogging activity was encouraged by the monthly 'Help for Hexi- aholics' over at Sarah Did It!  Please visit. If you sew by hand, if you sew with paper, this is a safe haven to visit.  There are no hexagons in the stitching above, but if you look closely there is an octagon.

(PS: Sarah - Suzi says Hi!)

Dear Jane Quilt - Block I13 Sweet Harmony

Dear Jane Quilt - Block I13 Sweet Harmony

I love this sort of block, simple shapes and simple stitching, quick results contributing to the overall progress.

Blogging is hard work now the winter light is here. When it is daylight I am at work and even if I am about the sky is very grey and dark.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 37

Dear Jane Quilt - Block C10 Patriots Lantern

Dear Jane Quilt - Block C10 Patriots Lantern

37 pieces for this little block, C10 Patriots Lantern.  I feel like I have overdosed on orange lately, but I am sure it will look great in the overall scheme of things.

BTW - My sister has just reported in that she has just embroidered her final Dear Jane corner block with her total pieces - 5309. I reached at least 6032 for my Nearly Insane and that figure didn't include the border.  I guess everyone is going to have a different number for the pieces they used in the Dear Jane quilt with all the different approaches to the blocks.  She is currently sewing her borders on.  I can't wait to see it.

Happy Slow Stitching Sunday!

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 37

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M8 Enchanted Square

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M8 Enchanted Square

Here is another pretty Dear Jane block, M8 Enchanted Square.

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M8 Enchanted Square

 You may see in the corner of the centre square a VERY tiny piece.  I am quite sure I encountered pieces this small with the Nearly Insane quilt, but for this I took a new approach, which I hope you can see from the photo.  The seam was a bit bulky, but only for a very tiny bit of the block.

I am off to spend the day sewing on my machine today with my local quilt group.  I am trying to clear the decks of some projects to make way for Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery Quilt, the Italian inspired Allietare.  I have bee trying to get my fabrics together, and yes, I will be changing them again!  Is anyone else thinking of doing the Mystery quilt this year?

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 35

Dear Jane Quilt - Block A9 Cabin Fever

Dear Jane Quilt - Block A9 Cabin Fever

It felt like this had quite a lot of pieces in it - 41 in total.  Pretty standard for a Nearly Insane block, but these Dear Jane quilt blocks are making me a bit of a lightweight these days.  Saying that, I would rather have 41 pieces to EPP than 6 to applique!

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 41

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 11 A9, C10, I13, M8

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

Here is my first full set of red blocks.  It was great to have a new colour to work with, but all that applique took its toll on me.  Just a reminder that I have mixed up the placement of my Dear Jane quilt, so these blocks will be placed symmetrically around the quilt.

Now for the next draw ...

A9 - Cabin Fever
C10 - Patriots Lantern
I13 - Sweet Harmony
M8 - Enchanted Square

Before I get too carried away it appears that this Draw brings us back to ORANGE - can there be any more left?

Dear Jane Quilt - Block G12 Gloriae

Dear Jane Quilt - Block G12 Gloriae

Here is G12 Gloriae.   It wasn't a difficult block, but once I had sewn most of it together I decided I wasn't happy with my fabric choice.  I unpicked it all and used the striped fabric for a feature, so it took longer than expected.  I am still not 100% satisfied, it is such a big blob of fabric.


Suzi the Cat on the Butterfly Quilt

You haven't seen much of Suzi lately.  She has been out of sorts and just not interested in quilting or quilts, but since our return from Maastricht she has returned to her usual self and she has spent all day on the Butterfly quilt and is now currently using pester power to get her tea.  Last night she sat on my lap for 2 1/2 hours - a lifetime record.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 25

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
 

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

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 8, A6, D9, M10, M12

Draw 8 was perhaps one of the easiest sets of blocks I have done in a long time and it was a nice change to be using some different fabrics.  Thank you to the Followers of my blog who regularly post a comment, it certainly keeps up the motivation.

The next Draw has been done

C2 - Streak of Lightening
H2 - Jacob Anthony
H8 - Eaton's Crossroads
M2 - Duff's Bluff

The colour for this Draw is Orange - back to the same old routine ....

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M12 Hopscotch

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M12 Hopscotch

Do you notice how all those dots on the fabric line up?  During the Nearly Insane quilt journey I became a ' ussying cutting' addict and now if I can fussy cut, I will.  Again, a simple block.

I noticed over at that Temecula Quilt Co blog that they have recently revealed their Dear Jane quilt completion, if you want to pop over and take a look.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 19

Dear Jane Quilt - Block D9 Uncle Richard

Dear Jane Quilt - Block D9 Uncle Richard

This block looks quite simple, but if you start adding up all those little triangles around the edge of the block you will see that there are more pieces involved than originally meets the eye.  There are 36 in total, which for this Dear Jane quilt is quite a lot.  A bit more fussy cutting too.

Dear Jane Quilt - Block D9 Uncle Richard

Part of this block has a plain border around the edge.  This was useful in reigning in the block to its 4.5" size.  You will see that once I had finished the hand stitching on the block it had a bowl shape to it, but nothing a hot steam iron couldn't sort out.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 36

Dear Jane Quilt - Block A6 Uncle Homer

Dear Jane Quilt -  Block  A6 Uncle Homer

You will see I am continuing on the 'yellow' blocks.  The fabric colour is not green and it is not orange - it is not really yellow, but it seems to fall between the other two.  This particular fabric is from Kim Diehl's 'Heritage Hollow' range and I think it is really pretty.

Another variation of a nine-patch block.  Uncle Homer must have been a straightforward chap.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 9

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M10 Simple Simon

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M10  Simple Simon

Dear Jane quilt block M10 Simple Simon is, as it says on the tin - simple.  A simple nine-patch block. The progress of these blocks are much quicker than the Nearly Insane blocks, so it is easy to get a quick fix and get quick results.

BTW I haven't started the Farmers Wife Sew Along. It is a quilt that I hope to do in the future, but DJ is my top priority at the moment.

Techniques: English Paper Piecing
Pieces: 9

Dear Jane Quilt Update - October 2015

Dear Jane Quilt Update - October 2015

It is my birthday this week, so keeping up with tradition, I am doing an review of my progress on my Dear Jane quilt so far.  As you can see it is a sea of orange, with one lone red block.  In the past two months I have completed

21 blocks 21/169 (12%)

4 Border Triangles 4/56 (7%)

This works out about 10 blocks a month, so an estimated finish date would be about December 2016, unless I win the lottery and my revised schedule allows me to sew all day long...


Dear Jane block preparation

With so many little blocks, a lot of time is taken in preparing them in packs ready for sewing.  I think the cutting out for some blocks has taken longer than actually sewing them together.

Dear Jane Electric Quilt software - October 2015

To monitor my overall progress here is the image of the progress so far taken in my Dear Jane Electric Quilt software.  I am enjoying using Electric Quilt for this project as I did with the last sampler quilt.  This image is updated an on the sidebar regularly.

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 8, A6, D9, M10, M12

Dear Jane Quilt - Draw 7, Edge Triangles TR7, LR7, RR7, BR7

So here are the first triangle border blocks for the Dear Jane quilts.  I am pleased to have these under my belt as I don't want to have the border to do at the end.  I have seen many Dear Jane quilts where the maker decided against the border, probably weary of the process, but I definitely want a border.

Onto Draw 8.  These blocks look super simple.

A6 - Uncle Homer
D9 - Uncle Richard
M10 - Simple Simon
M12 - Hopscotch

This round will be in YELLOW. Hurrah - a different colour.  The yellow fabrics are quite murky, neither green or orange, so designated as yellow for the convenience of this project.