I have a new years resolution. I will blog more... Ok I have a few new year's resolutions.... Not only will I blog more, this year I will start my Dear Jane. I am a seasoned quilter. Flying geese fly south at the sight of me. I have mastered all (ya right!!) So I am not as good as I would like to be, but I will start AND FINISH a Dear Jane. What is a Dear Jane? I'm glad you asked. It is the reproduction of a quilt done by Jane Stickle while the civil war raged on.
It is a quilt consisting of 169, 4 1/2" blocks, in thirteens rows with 13 blocks in each row. Then all around the edge are 56 pieced triangles. Whew - Some people choose to do this by hand - I am NOT one of them. This will be machine pieced and hopefully hand appliqued.
While I take this journey I want to blog about it, for me mostly, but also for you. I KNOW that I am NOT the only one with this goal. There are whole Yahoo groups dedicated to this project. While this will not be the only topic I blog about, it will be one that I update on a regular basis (hopefully) with tutorials. Learn and struggle along with me.
WHY DEAR JANE
I love this quilt. To be honest, it blows me away. I struggle with perfection in quilting. I have the idea that if it isn't perfect, it's not worth doing. Not too long ago a good friend and I were talking about this quilt. She told me that when she went to go see this original quilt on display she was blown away by the workmanship. Not that it was good, in fact it was pretty bad. Here is this quilt that is held up on a quilting pedestal, and it is not very well done. That made me love the quilt even more and after that story I was even more determined to do it. So here I am.
THE BEGININGS
I signed up for the block of the month over at the Stitchin Heaven a WHILE ago and today, Joy of Joys, my 1st month came in. There are a few reasons I wanted to do a Dear Jane via Block of the month. I love blocks of the month, I rarely have time to sit down and start and complete a quilt, so the idea of a little at a time Is so wonderful to me. I have a sense of accomplishment. I can do one month, put it in a box come back later do another month. I also choose to do it this way so that I could have directions, guidance and someone else would have to gather the fabric.
FABRIC
So I open my fabric and low and behold - It's so ugly. NOT my taste AT ALL. Cheddar as a color.... really? But the good thing is now I have a jumping off point. I quickly sorted through my stash and came up with some livable alternatives. I will now do 2 of each block. One in the chosen color (blech) for a gift and one in the colors that I chose out which are along the same lines only softer. I love my fat quarters. I also know that Jane Stickle did not have the luxury of "picking" out coordinating colors when she first began this odyssey and I don't necessarily want to recreate her exact color scheme. Civil war fabrics are NOT my thing. There are all kinds of alternatives on the web - like only using one or two colors - Right now I will stick to what I have. If there is one thing that my quilting mentor Linda has taught me, it is that you can go OUTSIDE your box - do the colors that speak to you. Ok Linda I am listening!
DIRECTIONS
No offense to a store I LOVE to shop at. I have MANY BOM's from them, they are my go to place - BUT.... These directions SUCK!!!! What in the world is this woman talking about???? I think she thinks that I can hear her thoughts and know what she means... NO!! I have NO clue. When I have to interrupt directions, you screwed up. Granted she made a beautiful quilt and placed 2nd at Paducah....that does NOT mean you are a good instructor. She consistently says...I will explain later.... What?? So the other reason for the blog. You are going to benefit because if I have to Interpret and decipher, I am doing it on line to share with all. I promise to have clear, concise instructions on the blocks that need to be done.
Another note on fabric... This is a personal Choice - I will post the colors and pieces that were given to me, and the ones that I supplement... But you are on your own on color choice. There are so many blog postings that go over how to choose color ect... I am going to try an focus on construction of the blocks.
Are you ready? Here we go
