FOUR MORE BLOCKS COMPLETED

I recently completed a quilt so I have some time to work on Dear Jane blocks so four more have been added to the file.

A5 Cathie's Campfire

 

 A5 Cathie's Campfire. Another foundation paper pieced block.  This was my second attempt at this one the first was done in a check fabric and I wasn't careful to keep my checks square and it looked really awful so it went in the bin and I am very happy with this one.



A8 Florence Nightingale
 

A8 Florence Nightingale Foundation paper pieced.  This one should have been quite straight forward but I had lots of problems mostly my own stupid errors such as putting fabric the wrong way around and not checking that the piece I was using would fit the space really silly errors and quite frustrating.

A4 Courtney's Stethoscope

A4 Courtney's Stethoscope this one I paper pieced but found that it was easier to remove the paper when joining the sections and the borders.


A6 Uncle Homer

A6 Uncle Homer This one I rotary cut and pieced quite simple but still you need to keep your seams straight something I am not always good at.

I also have a block I am working on in English Paper piecing these take some time as I do them whenever I have time to spare it takes quite a while to tack the pieces onto the paper but the joining is quite quick.

B2 SWEET TATER PIE

This was another one I felt would work well with English Paper Piecing and I was right it went well.  I quite like this method mainly because I can work on it anywhere.  Mostly I do it at work at lunch time.  Its very easy to carry around a small snap lock bag with pieces and cotton and scissors.  I am very happy with the final result.  Its now filed away with the others just waiting for some friends to join it.

B3 Mirror Image

After some discussion with my daughter about Hunters Moon she mentioned paper piecing....No not foundation paper piecing ... English paper piecing.   That means a completely hand sewn block....OK its another new skill to learn so I did some more reading and printed the templates chose some fabric and made a start.  This is something I can do in my lunchtime or even in a waiting room at the Doctors :-).  I have to do some unpicking in the begining as I had not really thought about which parts to join first but I am happy with the finished product and have moved on the the next one.

A3 Hunters Moon

This one has been bothering  me I read the instructions that come with the CD plus several other posts on how its done.

Finally I got together with my quilting buddy and we read the instructions together.  It all seemed fairly straight forward so off we went.

The Melon seeds went together quite well and we thought this isn't too bad at all but then it all went bad and we just couldn't figure out how to put the rest together.  In the end we assembled the outside section and reverse appliqued the centre.  The result is not perfect.... but finished! for now we may just revisit this one.  

Dear Jane for me is all about learning different quilting techniques while completing this amazing quilt.  So far I have leant so much by the end this this project I should know it all :-)

A2 One Two Buckle My Shoe

This one I did with Foundation paper piecing which I am quite liking although I was a little tired the night I did this one and pushed to finished before bed so it wasn't quite as good as I think I can do.  But you know the saying Finished is better than Perfect.

 

I have since unpicked the bottom row and reattached I must upload a new pic.

TWO MORE BLOCKS B1 and C9 BATCHELORS BUTTONS AND JANES TEARS

Applique

We were going away for the Easter weekend and as we were staying with my Dad and Sister in Law and Partner I decided it would be inappropriate to take my sewing machine on holidays! (If they hadn't been joinging us I would have :-))

So with this in mind I decided to have a go at some needle turn applique.  I have recently looked through  my daughter's completed DJ blocks and thought if she can do it I can do it.  I spent the week prior watching as many video's as I could on Needle turn applique to learn how it was done.  Off to spotlight the day before we left for some silk thread and some applique needles.  Then I printed off the template patterns for four blocks that required applique and found some materials cut out some five and a half inch squares and packed it all in a nice ring binder with front cover and all ready to do.

The first one was Batchelors Buttons and I was very happy with the result.  I would say its definately not perfect but in pretty OK and seeing as its a small block in the whole quilt I think it will pass.

This one I used freezer paper to cut out circles with a 1/4" seam ran a row of stitching around the edge the pulled the circle in around the paper pressed them and then pulled out the paper.  This gave me a good solid circle shape to applique on.

 

 

B1 Bachelors Buttons

 

The second block was Jane's tears which was a little harder as I used needle turn applique method on this one.  I have never done this before so it took a while to get the hang of it but I am happy with the finished product.  As I said before in the overall big project it will look OK.



C9 Janes Tears

A1 Pin Wheel Gone Arry FIRST BLOCK

My First Dear Jane Block

Because I like to be organised I have to start at the top of the square on block A1 I just couldn't start anywhere else.  So I printed a Foundation Paper Piecing pattern for block A1 and found some green fabric and calico and started.

Along the way I made quite a few mistakes and had to unpick.  One section I actually threw in the bin and reprinted another pattern and started again.

The finished product was good and I am very happy with it.  I have decided that I definately need a Add a Quarter Ruler and I have purchased some foundation paper piecing paper.  Although for my first one I just used ordinary computer paper and it was fine.  It will be interesting to see if the correct paper makes a difference.

Here is it !!!

 A1 - Pin Wheel Gone Arry