Thread: 2012-2013 Dear Jane Stickle 2d Cyber Party Pictures and Discussion

Vickiec - first of all -welcome welcome!!! the more the merrier

you will hopefully find that we are all more than willing to help you figure things out - this is a very fun and helpful group of women all dedicated and determined to finish! I apologize I havent been here as often as I probably should.... ahem...
just got back a couple of hours ago from a quilt retreat at a beach house that our guild rents four days a year to sew sew sew some more and have tons of fun with our quilty friends with whom we have all become very close. My goal this time was [really??? ........] 10 blocks per day because you see I was 28 blocks behind and determined to get dear Janie done by my guild's Fall 2013 show [really .... this year?? or the next time '13 comes around?]

well.... when you're with friends you visit... you laugh... you shed tough times... you help each other... you may have a couple of drinks.... you experience some "reverse sewing" [if unfamiliar with this task - you basically 'undo' what you have done not quite right the first, second, third...., eighth... time... oh oh]
so... very long four day story short - I am now only 15 blocks behind - or I should say, I made 13 blocks but not really in the order of the schedule I made up for us. I basically sewed the fabrics/squares I was interested in at the time. I had no good camera with me. Since there was a design wall and lots of my friends wanted to see Janie, I put all 122 pieces on the wall. [not all in the right order near the bottom because the wall wasnt large enough]

Here's a slightly out of focus picture.... [in the next post I'll mention a little about my feelings of software vs book and BOM class - have the first two & dont think the last is worth it.]

just check site to see if there were any more pictures, questions... realized I didnt say anything about BOMs. For DJ it usually ends up being well over $600 for all months plus you need the book and then still will need your backing, etc. When I decided to make her Civ War - I purchased a couple of charm square packets and a layer cake. There are a few fabrics that have Civ War fabrics in a patchwork type pattern all over it. Like "Crossroads to Texas" [forget mfr. - but I got it at reproductionfabrics.com] The pieces in Jane blocks are so small that you can actually take them - fussy cut - out of different sections in the fabric and make several blocks out of that one piece of fabric. This one is especially appropriate for block J3 which is pictured as a fabric that contains more than one type of print and doesnt seem to have a 'seam' in any of the pieces. [cant believe the types of fabric Jane had in the 1800s!] I guess my point is, I know I spent way less than the amount people ask for BOM programs. True I will have lots of fabric left over because when you buy from LQS the smallest amount you can get cut is FQ usually. But think of all the other projects you could use it for! You will have little fabric left over from the BOM programs [I dont know how much] You can get many answers to your construction questions here
Gus

Gus, on the paperpiecing part of your reply, give the folded freezer paper method a try. I like it so much better than sewing through the pattern and there's no paper tearing. QuiltnNan uses this method also. I found a number of tutorials on the internet that were somewhat confusing, then I ran across Twiddletail's (that quilt) tutorial and she did a terrific job explaining and picturing it. Now I often paperpiece blocks that could easily be pieced just because it's so accurate.

I do something similar to that - if you go back to the way I did H4 you can see. I dont fold however, I cut the freezer paper,pull back ever so slightly and sew right on the line where the papers meet [dont know if it makes sense, but the pictures show it [think it's post 1940]. I did look at the thatquilt tutorial for the folding method though - it is an excellent and very easy to understand tute! Thanks for mentioning it.... here's the link:
http://www.twiddletails.com/store/in...age=page&id=21

Finally got pictures taken and transferred to the computer... here are the last 13 blocks I made [sorry they are kind of scattered all over the schedule! only the first 6 are catch up blocks the others are ahead of schedule]

First - here are G2 and G10 [from October] and G11 and H3 [Nov schedule ...sure glad there are no quilt police!]
a few changes I made....G-2: I did not paper piece, as I love making halfsquare triangles [HST]. The formula for making HSTs is determine your finished square size and add 7/8" - here the finished size of the squares around the center is 1 1/8" - real easy! cut 2" squares each HST unit makes two, so you need to cut 6 of each: background and print - put them right sides together, mark one diagonal on the back of the light side and sew 1/4" seams on either side of the diagonal, cut on the marked diagonal and press open. Both thatquilt.com and the sketch show the whole thing as HSTs, but the center of the original is simply four triangles with no other middle seams, which is the way I sewed it.

G10 was red, I wanted more other colors in my quilt so I made this one green and since I couldn't decided which of the two greens I wanted, I added more interest and sparkle by alternating the greens in my block. I also cut long 1 1/8" strips and measured the right length... no paper piecing [lazy]; G11 I made the way thatquilt and the book showed - with appliqued diamonds on the centers of the sides of 9-patch. H3 was my headache!!!! didnt measure it right and actually reverse sewed 7 times! the centers of the sides containing the smaller triangles was 3/16thof an inch wider than the center.... ahem. I adjusted and readjusted and finally - redo! okay... [on retreat after wine...you get whine]

The next two catch up blocks are H7 [Dec 9] and I7 [Feb 3]once again didnt paper piece because I like quarter square triangles. I always have made them the same way and just looked up some instructions online that you can all understand. I cut my QST - fabrics 1 1/2" larger than the finished size and trim down when I sewn it together and pressed.
Here the finished QST piece is 1 1/4" - so you need to cut 2 [2 3/4"] squares each of background and print. This will give you the four QST sections around the center.

this is the link for some great instructions: http://www.patchwork-and-quilting.co...triangles.html
if you prefer to paper piece - go for it!
I7 really bugged me - I'm glad this wasnt one of those blocks that you all made way way before me so I have the opportunity to share another approach before you get to it. [not that the other way is bad it just isn't exactly like Jane's] Like I said a few posts ago - the original looks like the teeny appliqued triangles are a continuation of the imaginary line that runs across the seamline between background and print in the four center square section. These are not HST although the easiest approach is to make them larger and cut them down. The finished "almost-HST" sections are 1 1/4" for a normal HST you add 7/8" to cut, or 2 1/8" however I added an additional 1/2" and cut 2 squares of each print and background 2 5/8" and made four HSTs. Then having the white come together in the middle, I added the print sashing between the squares and trimmed the finished center square unit to 3 3/4" - this cut the points off the outer edge, leaving more white. Once the outer borders were added log-cabin fashion, I determined where to place the teeny triangles in line with the white square made by the center.

Have fun!
Gus

gotta run to the store and walk doggy... then I will post J2, 9, 6 and K2, 8 and L8 and 11.... I know way ahead - but it doesnt even balance the wway behind I still have!!

Here are the next few:
J-2 [on schedule for March 10] I didnt paper piece - careful measuring revealed 1 1/4" squares - cut 1 3/4" [4 of print] All white borders/sashing finishes 1/4" so cut at 3/4" I cut 2 [3 1/2"] squares out of the print once diagonally giving me the corner triangles and then cut the whole thing down to 5"

J-9 [March 17 schedule] is real straightforward - you can follow thatquilt.com [I basically measure book sketch, match it to the original, make adjustments, and cut/sew. I look at thatquilt.com when I find something confusing, otherwise I check it out so I can give you a comparison]

K2 [March 24 on schedule] I basically cut 1 1/8" strips of print and background which gave me the finished 5/8" squares in the pattern. [thatquilt does the same]

J6 [April 6] follow thatquilt - I see no easier way
For K8 [May 5] I cut long strips 1" wide and just added 1/2" to the length of each section and joined them much likes parts of log cabins.
L8 [June 16] I cut a 3" square of background fabric diagonally in both directions and sewed a 1" strip of print to join two triangles at base, repeat with other pair and then joining the two sets of triangles being careful to match the center strips.

Finally for L11 [June 30] I redrew that one completely. I cut the center square 2 3/4" and surrounded it with two white 2 5/8" squares cut diagonally. The easiest way to make the final border around is to paper piece those middle sections. If you join the lines of the first set of triangles [in from the corner ones] you will end up with the little white triangles coming out of the center square of Jane's original. Make a paper piecing pattern tracing of this unit - diamond-triangle-diamond. I realize this isn't until June 30 - I will come back to it at a later time. If you want to tackle it and find my instructions confusing [cuz sorry didnt have a camera with me when I was making them] I will explain it better - PM me or ask me to go over it in June or whenever :0
enjoy !!
Gus

Here are Weeks 55, 56, and 57. I was a little behind schedule because I've been working on Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street -- the one that Fraew so appropriately named the "Quilt That Never Ends". I'm still working on it, but at least I'm quilting it now.