I thought E7 was difficult, I don't plan to do that again! But, if I HAD too I would piece it, then applique the strips.

I liked M3 because it was surprise. I expected it to be a killer block, and it was difficult for sure (my block isn't perfect!) but I pieced it and I was stunned when I was done, because all the pieces fit perfect for me! No ripping out on that one! Maybe it was just one of those rare perfect sewing moments!!! :)

Hold on to that moment, Wil, I certainly didn't have one of those with M3, but in the end it didn't look too bad (if you use the 6ft rule, that is). LOL. I'm off to tackle getting another row of blocks attached to my middle now, wish me luck, yesterday's just didn't want to co-operate, but I was rather tired at the time. Had a little fight with it, and it finally submitted!.

Hah Wil!!! You lucky girl you...having a "perfect" sewing moment while working on Jane! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Lesley & Patti, Funny funny! :lol:

Hey Lesley, show us the back of your masterpiece, I want to see that side too. I love love love your fabrics and of course, it goes without saying your hand work looks fabulous!

That is how I handled E7. It actually took me 3 days because I would have to get up and just walk away. It actually looks pretty darn amazing and I can't complain at all at how it turned out, but the process gave me some extra gray hairs and a twitch near my right eye. :lol:

Oh ladies, I took a couple classes from Sally Collins last month. OMG!!!! She has a trick that has revolutionized mine and many of my local friends in our quiltmaking & is proving invaluable with the Dear Jane blocks. When she takes her piece/unit/block to the ironing board to iron it, she irons it like we do but then, instead of taking the piece immediately back to the sewing table to add the next piece, she places a book or a weight of some kind over the piece and lets it cool down completely before taking it off her ironing board. I've been doing this using a ruler with a paper weight (or full gallon of distilled water) on top. It only takes a few minutes to cool down. It sounds like a strange step but allowing it to cool completely with a weight on top of it means that piece ends up being amazingly flat. Flat is great since it lends itself to better construction, especially where the points are concerned. I can't imagine quilting without this little trick. Sally Collins has a DVD out filled with her sewing tips and she shows how she does this and explains why it makes such a difference in the end construction of the quilt. I would really urge you ladies to try this, at least for one block, and see what a difference it makes. :thumbup:

Tiffany, Thanks for that tip, never heard of that one but if it works then its for me.

Anyone else got a tip out there that works for them.

The only tip I can give you is that when I do half triangles I cut the material the whole width of the strip. Sew it on lengthwise and it always fits. I know it uses extra material but darn it, I can´t afford any more gray hairs.

Ok, next time I take some pics, I will turn it over so you can see the back. I got another row on today, so there are 10 all together now.

Yep, I've reached that point too. I do enough reverse sewing and I'm tired of turning the piece over and finding I'm short. Cheap is what I am; trying to cut corners by cutting the piece too small. I end up wasting more fabric because the piece ends up too small and I have to cut out an entirely new, bigger piece. :roll:

If anyone is interested in checking out the trunk show Sally Collins did for our guild, just click on Snake River Valley Quilt Guild.

Tiff, thanks for that link...the trunk show looks amazing! I want to reach out and touch :D I'm very impressed by the show and tell also...your group is very good!!!

I'll give your shared tip a try. I'm always open to at least trying things. My 1st thought is that it will slow me down and I'm slow as a turtle as it is...but I will try it to see!

My tip is .....fold the paper down towards you, hold it to the light as you hold up your next piece. If your fabric totally covers the section you are ready to sew...it will cover it when you sew it and you won't be unsewing anything. Somewhere on this thread I showed a pic of doing this.

Ladies, I'm sooo excited today!!! Today and the next few days that new LQS near me is having their Grand Opening sales...so of course, I HAD to go! Anyway..since she offers a great selection of CW fabs, I bundled up my Jane blocks and off I went determined to find my sashing and backing. Well...I DID find it!

I had decided that I wanted to be different and go with a dark background rather than the light..so I went with a Moda Kansas Troubles really dark brown. At first I thought that I would just use the same thing on the back, but I loved this sweet little floral that matched so well...I decided to use it...So...I got enough for the Jane and picked up some cuts and FQ's too and got out of there for less than $130.00!! I'm doing the happy dance!!! Now I'll be able to start doing the QAYG like Lesley once I get all the IRR's done so I can focus on Jane :lol: :lol: :lol:

Patti, That sounds very pretty, post some pics of the fabric, so we can all see! :-P

Great price Patti, because I know you need quite a few yards of backing fabric.

I am going to have to do a few of my blocks over, not happy with Mr Wonky and I do like that block it would make a nice centre piece for my on point design.

Patti, so pleased for you getting the remaining fabrics for Jane etc. - sounds like a good price. Please can we see them????? Pretty please???

I know this. I do this. But sometimes I try to make a piece fit rather then cutting out a new piece. It's that 'save everything & use it all up' mentality. I'm so used to having to squeeze the most I can out of a fabric since I use so many scraps that sometimes I am my own worst enemy.

Oooh, I agree with the others, show us your pretty new fabric! :-D

I'll post a pic in a little while...after coffee and morning feeding....

I have a question please.

When doing your quilting which I will be doing by hand (she says hopefully) what weight thread do you use and also the make. I need to order some.

also I will be quilting the vast majority on black and my eyes being the way they are, would a varigated thread be a good idea or not, I just can´t see me quilting in black. As my fabrics are asian my thought was varigated but can you get this in a quilting thread?

Thanks in advance for all you advice.

Elle

Sulky make varigated cotton, but it's not specifically sold for quilting as far as I know. I have used it for machine quilting, and I liked it for that, so can't see why hand quilting would be any harder. I like it particularly because the colours change in a relatively short length it comes in two weights, and it's the 30 you need for machine/hand sewing. Hancocks of Paducah have it, and will send you a catalogue (be prepared to want to order everything in it though). I have used Gutermann thread for mine because I had plenty of it.

Thanks Lesley, I have some Gutterman which my Brother machine doesn´t like and found out it was it was wound differently, don´t ask me, I am only the messenger.

I would like to try that out on my black material, thanks for the tips.

Elle

An easy way to see if the thread is going to work on your piece or not (either to match the quilt or for ease of eye strain) unwind a couple feet of it and let the thread drop onto the fabric in a pile. Basically you are simply unspooling a bit of the thread and allowing it to pile on the fabric. Sometimes how the thread looks on the spool is different from how it looks on the quilt and this easy test will let you know if you want to use the thread you've chosen or pick another color.

I've quilted with all sorts of different thread. Aurofil quilts nicely, but I've also used the thread that comes from Connecting Threads, Gutterman, Presentia (from Spain), and Y-?? something or other. I really haven't had a problem with any of them.

Elle...I've been told that you can hand quilt with any of the machine quilting threads. It just depends on your preference. I do like the varigated that change color rather quickly otherwise they tend to disappear for stretches in my opinion. But thats just my opinion.

Here is a pic of the fabrics I got yesterday. The pic with the blocks and tris is more the actual color. The close up is way too light.

Oooooh, yummy choice, Pattie - a chocolate Jane!!!!!

Elle, the pic is one of my quilts that I stitched meandering quilting on the black with that Sulky thread I mentioned - I'm not sure if it will show up on here, if not, I'll try and take a better pic over the weekend.

Oh lesley, only one word to describe that....delicious. Its beautiful you do such wonderful work.

Elle

Thanks Elle, but the pic didn't really show the quilting that I was wanting you to see. I'll have another go tomorrow.

Patti, love your fabric, thanks for posting. :) The second shows the pretty pattern detail even if the flash made it look too light. :)

You really don't want to hand quilt with machine quilting thread. And you definitely don't want to use hand quilting thread (which is waxed) in your machine! :( The reason is that the two are wound completely differently. If you use machine quilting thread, you can wax it but it still likes to tangle up a lot. If you don't have a choice I wouldn't worry too much but if you can, it's just easier and less hassle to use the right thread with the right project.

If all you have is hand quilting thread, you still do NOT want to use it in your machine or it will gum up the insides & give you a twirling mess. :shock:

I hope this helps.

Lacy - if your sunflower quilt needs a home, I promise to give it lots of love and stroke it often! :lol: It sure is pretty!

Pat - that is gorgeous!! I can't wait to see how it looks finished. YUM!

Thanks ya'll, I'm so glad you think the fab will look good. I hadn't thought about it being a "chocolate" Jane..but hey..maybe thats my quilt's name :lol: :lol:

Lace...you flowers and thread painting on that quilt are yummy, yummy!!! I can see the meandering quilting in the background.

I would be honoured Patti if you call your quilt Chocolate Jane - its exactly what I thought as soon as I saw your fabrics.

I've started a thread for week 22 as I saw it mentioned, so thought I would try and encourage you all. Keep in mind that it isn't long now before the schedule drops down to only 3 blocks a week plus a tri. On the other hand, if you can keep up production at the 4 blocks level, you would all get a little ahead of yourselves!!!

Lesley where is week 22, I cant find it.

Here it is...http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-48435-1.htm#1126301. Anytime you want to find a thread that someone says they started..just click on their name, then click on "topics" started and you'll find it. Now...have you done yours jo?

Yes I just have the hand applique to do on the tri and C 9

Great stuff, Jolo - look forward to seeing your pics.

Oh gosh, I am so glad I found this thread. I had started the dear jane some 3 years or so ago and have about 15 block made. I will join this and start going again. I have the software and ruler etc. I am doing srappy, of course...a quilt for nothing lol.

Welcome Rosy! I can't imagine trying to make this on my own. I'm afraid that would ensure this quilt becomes a UFO. :lol: It's so much easier with friends and these ladies are so inspiring it's hard not to want to keep going. You aren't really that far behind. I've only got 21 blocks made and several of them still need the applique added so I imagine it won't take you any time at all to catch up and pass me. ;)

So glad you found us Rosie - it will be good to have another one with us. We started off at the beginning of the year with about 70 or so, but I have no idea how many are managing to keep going. Some are a little behind, and a few, like you, have joined us along the way. Most of those have started at the stage we are at in the schedule, and are catching up the earlier ones as they go along. You can find the info at the beginning of this thread.

Hey Rosy glad to have you join us. I started on week 10 so I am a faairly newby too. I am making mine a scrappy too.

Welcome Rosy, You will find everyone really helpful and everyone is keeping us all going, Warning these blocks are very addictive, but so worth it.

Elle

Oh Rosy, glad you are going to join us! In looking at your other work...I'm excited to see how you'll put this one together. I'm still in awe from drooling all over your other quilts this morning! :lol: :lol:

Oh good, I'm so glad to be here. I need some inspiration to start the Jane again. I will be doing her while I mess with Colorful quilt....

OK, background to this posting is on page 213, where I was explaining about how I intended to QAYG, but not to put the background fabric on at this stage. Then someone (sorry, can't remember who) asked to see the back of my quilt, so I thought I would take some more pics for you to see how I have been joining the batting on the back. Here goes:

LESLEY - that's beautiful and so clever.

I'd love to join the sew along IF I can get some other projects done...or wait...maybe it could become a project to hand sew when I'm out of the house waiting somewhere.

Hmmmmm! Good thinking huh? I'll bookmark this thread.
Thanks