My Dear Jane Journey
I've finished all the blocks in Row A. Here are photos of A-11 through A-13
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This hand piecing continues to be quite satisfying
Below is a collage of all the blocks in A
HAND PIECING - ALL THINGS MADE WITH YARN, THREAD, COTTON
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Monday, July 21, 2014
MORE JANE
I keep working and tweaking my Dear Jane blocks. I think this is the right time for me and Jane. If I had tried these blocks back in the 90's when I first began to piece, I would have tried to machine piece and not done them as well. I did try a few back then, but they didn't come out like they were meant to.
With EQ I've been able to print out the blocks for hand piecing.
In EQ7, I print the paper templates. I can do a template for each piece of the block by making each piece a group in a foundation pattern. (If you are acquainted with EQ you bring up your block from the sketchbook, call up print, then click on foundation pattern.) You can also make the size of the seam allowance for each piece the size you want. In this block, I left the size 1/4 inch. In more complicated blocks, like A-9, I dropped the size of the margin down to .15 inch around each piece to allow for less bulk. I then organize the pieces on one or two pages and print the pieces on the back of freezer paper. The pieces are then cut out leaving only the seam allowance. These pieces are ironed on to the wrong side of the color of choice. I pencil in the sew line, pull off the freezer paper and save the little templates for future blocks and Dear Janes I may want to make.
I have finished additional blocks in the first row (A-5 through A-10). The pieces for the remainder of Row A are readied for hand piecing.
With EQ I've been able to print out the blocks for hand piecing.
In EQ7, I print the paper templates. I can do a template for each piece of the block by making each piece a group in a foundation pattern. (If you are acquainted with EQ you bring up your block from the sketchbook, call up print, then click on foundation pattern.) You can also make the size of the seam allowance for each piece the size you want. In this block, I left the size 1/4 inch. In more complicated blocks, like A-9, I dropped the size of the margin down to .15 inch around each piece to allow for less bulk. I then organize the pieces on one or two pages and print the pieces on the back of freezer paper. The pieces are then cut out leaving only the seam allowance. These pieces are ironed on to the wrong side of the color of choice. I pencil in the sew line, pull off the freezer paper and save the little templates for future blocks and Dear Janes I may want to make.
I have finished additional blocks in the first row (A-5 through A-10). The pieces for the remainder of Row A are readied for hand piecing.
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Sunday, July 13, 2014
MY RAINBOW JANE
Finally after almost 2 decades of starts and stops, I am ready to do my Dear Jane. ....and I'm pining for Inklingo. I'm still using my computer to help me along, but if I only had Inklingo, this would go so much faster. Alas no Inklingo. With the help of EQ7, I print templates on freezer paper, cut the templates out, attach the freezer paper templates to my fabric of choice, draw my lines, cut out my pieces, and stitch together. Now all this prep work takes a long time. Hand stitching the block together, less than an hour. That's why I wish wish wish for an Inklingo Jane!
The plan is to do a rainbow Jane..
Here are the blocks so far...but this will be a long time coming at the rate the prep work for each block takes me.
The plan is to do a rainbow Jane..
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| My Project Jane from EQ7 |
Here are the blocks so far...but this will be a long time coming at the rate the prep work for each block takes me.
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| A-1 |
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| A-2 |
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| A-3 |
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| A-4 |
Thursday, July 10, 2014
TUMBLING STARS
Tumbling Star Quilt Top
This morning, I sat in the back sun room with windows open and a light breeze blowing. I decided to use this time to finish piecing the center of my Tumbling Stars. It was early. I sat in the rising sun for a while. The house was quiet. It was still cool. The air smelled wonderful. A very nice time indeed to sit and hand stitch my tumbling stars scrap quilt. So I made my coffee (a morning ritual of grinding my beans purchased from Bea at the local farmers market and pouring boiling water over the ground beans...a great cup of coffee) and sat in my favorite sun room chair..dogs of course had to follow me.
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| Augie wants to help |
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| Dudley watching |
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| GG Marie wondering what I'm doing. |
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| A Favorite Spot |
Back in March of this year, I started out with Tumbling Blocks made from scraps,
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| Like color tumblers around stars |
My hubby suggested varying the colors around the stars. So I put together some neutral stars and then varied the colors.
I liked it but maybe it would look better with all the tumblers oriented with one value on top, so I put the light diamond on the top. This morning I finally finished the center of the quilt top. I tend to get distracted so this process took me about 4 months.
So here it is as of this morning.
| Texas Tumbler with Light Diamonds on topside. |
I think my next step will be to continue to put neutral stars all around and square it. ...and I really need to start quilting these tops that I am making, but as I said...I get distracted.