Patti, I think I'd just add a strip and go with it. No sense wasting all that time you put into it to do it all over again. It all depends on who fussy you are. We have put a lot of time into these quilts, haven't we?

Edit - Duh! I just re-read Laesley's entire post - shoulda done it before. Forget what I said above. She's "righter" than I was! I wasn't thinking. Of course, your quilting design will be out of place if you add a piece to the bottom or side or anywhere. Do overs! JMHO

You know I ask ya'll a question and I already know the answer...ya'll know that don't you. I just don't like the answer! OK...I have all those tri's already cut out...DARN IT!!!! OK...no sweat. I bought the last of the fabric off the bolt a couple of weeks ago..I'll have to see if I can re cut them all (and no, it wasn't washed first) Unforturnately, some of my fabric was washed, some wasn't..so I'm terrified about what will happen anyway. I guess if I sewed the strip on the bottom BEFORE I mark the pattern, then it would be positioned correctly though.

I wonder...what would happen if I sew the whole thing together before soaking the wash away thread out?

At this rate, I'll use up all my 54 precuts doing "Practice"! LOL!!

Your Jane is looking so great Patti! So nice to see it all together and I'm sorry about your tris and the extra work it will make for you.

Patti, I posted the two kites you ask me to do. I'll work on the last two tomarrow and post them also if you like. Don't know if I did it correctly if not can you fix it? Thanks!

I think it would be OK to go ahead with your pre cuts if you then assemble the quilt and do the washing right at the end. You could perhaps sew a little more of a scant seam on them if you are really worried, but that practice one didn't shrink a huge amount, did it.

Thanks so much Jan! I'll go take a look at the kites. I really need to finish the last 2. I'm ashamed of how I've just quit on that part when I could have already been done with them ages ago!

Lesley, I am thinking that I might sew a lttle extra strip along the bottom, iron the seam open, slide the design down just a smidge and then wash the wash away thread out after completing. That would give me a little wiggle room for shrinkage. I'm afraid that if the tris aren't cut just perfectly that I'll really struggle to put the borders together. I don't know. I'm going to sew batting today, so won't get into that part.....still making up my mind.

I've had another thought Patti - I quilted my pieced tris in advance, just as I did the blocks, because I was doing them as I went along. What if you did something different? What if you assembled a whole outer border i.e. pieced tris alternating with plain tris, THEN backed with batting, and did your trapunto? (or sorry, the other way round, did your trapunto and then backed with batting).

The border would still be a managable size to hold in the hand while you quilted, and you would be able to see how it fitted onto your block centre too.

Hi,
I just joined your board today. I was so tickled to see this group. I started my Dear Jane years ago, and did about 30 of the blocks. I put it up for a long time and just recently started back working on the blocks here and there. I will be a year behind all of you, but the posted schedule is a great idea. It makes the quilt seem much more doable. I've printed it and will be hanging it up in my studio. Thanks so much.

Hi Angie!!!!! I am so glad to see you here on this DJ board!!! I am in the EXACT situation as you are!! I did about 25 blocks about 3 years ago and then found this board last week so I am going by the last years scedule for DJ too! I just finished the tri block for the first week on the scedule. So that completed week one for me...now I have the week 2 blocks copied onto paper to pp them. I will work on them later this week. I have some other projects I am trying to get organized. The ladies here are such a big help even though they are finishing up on theirs. If they don't know the answer they will direct you in the right directions. Hope to see you around :-)

Hi Elizabeth, I'm installing my Dear Jane software as we speak. My last computer crashed & I lost my serial number, but the nice people at EQ just emailed me a new one. I also have multiple projects to finish, but squeezing in 3 or 4 blocks a week seems possible.

A rare snow day here in Georgia left me with some extra free time. Finding this site was a really good use for it. :) I look forward to getting to know the other quilters.