This Is Getting Way Too Easy

In order to make this look more like Jane's block (see 2nd photo), I decided to piece the background fabric even though it's all the same. Then I used my handy-dandy raw edge machine buttonhole-stitch applique method for the rest. Less than an hour's work.

This is "L-13, Harvest Moon", an intermediate-level block.

Yet Another DJ Block

This is "I-5, Maria's Majesty", an intermediate-level block in which I used the raw-edge machine buttonhole-stitch applique method. The darker fabric is all cut as one piece as explained here.

Merry Christmas To Me!

My Christmas present to myself this year is teaching myself how to do reverse applique. This is my very first attempt and it worked! Not perfect, of course, but very acceptable...at least for me.

With my Dear Jane project I have tried all sorts of applique techniques -- needle-turn, fusible interfacing, freezer paper on top, freezer paper on bottom, invisible machine applique, and now reverse applique. I still haven't done raw-edge applique on this quilt because I'm worried that the edges will be a bit too messy-looking for my taste.

No matter how much I try, I do not love to do applique and I doubt I ever will. But I LOVE to admire the applique work of others. I suspect once my DJ quilt is finished, I won't be in a hurry to work on any more projects that require applique...

Anyway, this is "B-1 Batchelor Buttons", a beginner-level appliqued block.

Snowed In

We woke up to 10 inches of snow on Friday morning, so I spent some time making another DJ block... This is "L-1 Widow's Pane", a beginner-level paper-pieced block. The colors are really washed out in this photo.

This Is Intermediate?

This is "A-12 Framed Fancy", an intermediate-level paper-pieced block. I think I would have called it an advanced-level block because of all the seams that need to be matched up. There are 37 pieces in the center 3" square! That meant lots of tearing of itty bitty pieces of paper...

My work on this one could be better, but it will do.

Splendid Fall Walk

My husband and I took advantage of this gorgeous fall weather today (low 70s, dry and sunny with a clear blue sky) to take a walk at Hills Creek State Park, a park within easy walking distance of our house. Here are a few photos from the walk... We had the park almost to ourselves. There were only a few people in the campground and a few using the pavilions for lunch. Every time we take a walk in our neighborhood, we can't believe how fortunate we are to live where we do. Although I can't really say it was fortune -- it was a definite decision on our part to leave our life (and more than half our income) in Northern Virginia 11 years ago and move our family to a place where we could really enjoy our lives.
It was the best decision we ever made....
This life I have allows me to spend a lot of time doing what I really enjoy doing. One of those things is quilting.

This is "A-2 One, Two Buckle My Shoe", an intermediate-level paper-pieced block.

Not So Bad After All

This is "I-9 Chase a Myth", an advanced-level paper-pieced block. Although last night I wasn't looking forward to tearing out all 41 (not 42 as I previously mentioned) pieces of paper on the back, it turned out to be a myth that it would take long. Using a small stitch helps quite a bit with the removal. However, the smaller stitching can make it a pain if you need to remove stitches, so be careful as you go. On this block, there was no need to match seams when I had to sew the two outer triangle sections onto the larger middle section, so my chances of having to tear out stitching were fairly low.

Dear Jane Eye Candy

Check out this post on the Dear Baby Jane blog. All I can say is "wow"! I love to see other quilters' versions of the Dear Jane blocks.

My block for the day is "H-4 Abbey's Eyes", an intermediate-level block in which I combined paper piecing and applique.

Resolved

After making this block, I think I've resolved not to use fabric with big prints for DJ blocks with small pieces (remember, the definition of "small" is relative when it comes to DJ). Although I think this fabric is gorgeous, it doesn't work well -- too many different light and dark places on the fabric.

This block is "M-2 Duff's Bluff", an intermediate-level paper-pieced block. But since "finished is better than perfect", this block will not be re-done.

This is number 40 and counting...

Scraps Are Fabric, Too

Some quilters throw their scraps in the trash, but since I am a child of refugees who had some very lean times in their lives, I have a lot of trouble wasting perfectly good fabric. Today, my habit of saving scraps came in handy for this next block, "B-13 Four Corner Press", a beginner-level block that I chose to paper piece, but it could easily be done using rotary cutting. The dark blue pieces with the watermelon seed-shaped spots you see on the right of the above photo were just what I needed for the 4 corners of this block. The strip was just barely wide enough, but it worked.

When I first saw the photo of Jane Stickle's block, I thought she had somehow managed to cut the diamonds out from the center dark piece and applique that onto a piece of the lighter striped fabric which she also used for the long side pieces. At that point I was almost ready to give up on my idea of making this quilt...I figured it would take me weeks just to make this one block.


However, when I read Brenda Papadakis' book, she said that the large center piece of fabric in this block is a "cheater cloth" made to look like 2 different fabrics. So I found a fabric with diamonds on it (sort of) and used it to whip this block up in no time... I believe this is one of the few blocks in the original quilt that uses more than 2 fabrics.


I think I'm up to 35 blocks now...

Return to DJ

I've been suffering from withdrawal for the last few days due to the fact that my family was out of town, so I quickly made this DJ block this afternoon. It's "M-12 Hopscotch", a beginner-level block that I chose to paper piece.

While riding in the car this weekend, I spent a bit of time going through the Dear Jane book and was fascinated by some of the things that Brenda Papadakis discovered about the original quilt. For instance, not all of the blocks are the same size.

I did get a bit depressed because the more I studied the book, the more I realized that a lot of the blocks will be quite difficult to do, especially for someone like me who is not an experienced applique quilter. But I will muddle through somehow.

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (Not)

This block, "C-7 Megan's Mountain Laurel", is accurately labeled as an advanced-level block in the DJ software. I'm afraid that the mountain laurel that blooms in Pennsylvania is much prettier than my block.

I paper-pieced the diamonds around the center square and then appliqued the four outer diamonds in the corners. Again, a lesson in applique. I figure that by the time I'm finished with my Baby Jane quilt, I will have learned everything there is to learn about what NOT to do when appliqueing. But I'm satisfied enough with this one to move on to the next (probably not a block involving any applique work).

Back on Track

This is "F-4 Old Windmill", another easy one. Again, most of my time was spent selecting fabrics. A trip to Verna's Fabrics down in Mifflinburg a couple of weeks ago provided me with about 28 more 1/4-yard cuts of batiks to use. If you've never been down there, you must go -- she has loads of fabric at wonderful prices. I've never seen such a large collection of pre-quilted fabric in one shop before.

On our trip down there, my quilting friends and I also stopped at a fabulous farmers' market in Lewisburg (on the way to Mifflinburg). Lots of fresh vegetables and fruits along with flowers and yummy food. Sticky buns and pies made by local Mennonite and Amish bakers. On the way, we had a delight for our eyes as we saw many Amish buggys coming home from market. We all agreed that we must always plan our trips for Wednesdays since that is the only day of the week that the market is open. And we plan to get there earlier next time in order to get the best selection of pies. By lunchtime, many of them had been sold out!

Two More Easy Ones Done

It was tough to stay indoors with the beautiful weather we had this past weekend, but I managed to take some time to finish two more blocks using the paper-piecing method. The first photo is "D-6 Challenge" and the second is "H-13 Farm Fields". Very quick and easy.

Now it's time to do a couple of more challenging blocks. If I do all the easy ones first, I think I'll get too discouraged later on, so I need to do a tough one once in a while. Probably more than once in a while since there are a lot of challenging (at least for me) blocks in this quilt.

Progress report -- 4 blocks finished, 3 ready for appliqueing once I get the silk thread that I ordered