More Dear Jane

I got to spend some time today sewing. I think I'm over half way sewing the square blocks for Dear Jane (there are 169 total) - there are 52 triangles and I don't remember how many of them are finished. My total number of pieces so far: 2235. That sounds like a lot more than I thought I'd sewn.

A10 - looks a little lopsided in the picture

D9 - successfully paper pieced

Snowman #2

I had some time tonight to get a little sewing done. I added snowman #2 to the Under the Stars quilt.

 

 

Snowman #2

progress to date

Two weeks ago we got a snow day and it was glorious. Secretly, I'm hoping for another one tomorrow - so I can sew all day. If it would just get colder...

Snowman #1

Is sewn down and waiting for his friends

 

 

Under the stars progress

I've got all the applique pieces cut out and sort of prepared. I've used my usual method of freezer paper and starch but it doesn't work as well on flannel as it does on regular cotton. My turned under seam allowance pops out instead of staying under.

 

missing the eyes

So far I like it but maybe the only guy without a pompom needs one. I goofed when I got the kit - I took it apart and carefully took a photo of each fabric piece and the label. Then, while trying to organize them on my phone into an album, I erased them all. There was some swearing but I think I've got it worked out.

 

Now I need to decide how I'm going to applique the pieces to the background. The sample I saw used a machine stitched blanket stitch in black thread - but I think that looks a little too country for me.

I tried out some samples and here's what I got:

top row left - grey thread

top row right - black thread

middle row all white thread; tried the colour and played with which stitch I wanted

bottom row left taupe silk thread (what I use to hand applique)

bottom row right - hand applique so there's nothing to see

I think I'm going to go with the hand applique. My machine won't get the blanket stitch as close together as I'd like and I've shorted the stitch length as far as it will go. And I'm worried the cat might get her nails caught in them.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 



Design Wall Monday

These are all my Dear Jane blocks for this month - 10 in total. I'm happy with how they turned out. They'll likely come off the design wall in a day or two to make room for something else. Dear Jane class is next Saturday so I can almost pack them in the bag for class.

February 18th

I'm linking up to Patchworktimes and will pop over later to see what everyone else has on their design wall. It's one of my favourite blog posts of the week.

Triangles

I do like working on my Dear Jane quilt - finishing those fiddly squares and triangles gives me a sense of skill and accomplishment.
These triangles were a bit of a pain. A lot of paper piecing in this one:

T4

It turned out fine. Maybe my eyesight is going though because it looks like it leans to the left a little. Actually, most of my triangles look like they lean to the left. I hope when they all get sewn together that they straighten out!

This is likely the hardest triangle in the border. I had to psyche myself up for it. It turned out fine:


R3



My picture doesn't do the medallion piecing justice - I'll have to try for a more close up picture tomorrow.

I'm all caught up for my January homework (still behind on 2012 blocks though - they'll get done).  My next class is next Saturday where we all reveal our blocks and get our next assignment. We're going to get more triangles every month so that we get them finished.

I've been cutting and I don't like stripes

Tonight I did some cutting for my Under the Stars quilt. It needs 156 3"x3" blocks - I just cut up all the fabric so I'm not sure how many I have. I hope I have way more than enough cause I don't like all the fabric.

Here's one of each block:

It's a little dark in the sewing room at night

I don't really like row 1, 2nd from right (red and green plaid) or row 2, second from left (red, black, white stripes). I just don't like them and hope I don't have to use them. Everything else I'm okay with or like.

Here's the thing that I learned about stripes - on the very first quilt I ever pieced - if they aren't on the straight of grain, they'll always look crooked. I don't like crooked unless it's on purpose, it makes me feel wonky and off kilter, and I think it makes me look like I can't sew a straight seam. Ironically, on this quilt, the two fabrics I don't really like are fairly straight on the grain and the other stripes are off. For this quilt, I'll call that whimsy.