Officially starting my Dear Jane tonight. So much for waiting until later this fall. Apparantly my impulsive side is taking over, lol! I did hold off, antsy, for a whole two weeks before going ahead and taking the plunge- so I guess that's an improvement! ;) Oh, and as for color- I guess I've decided to go scrappy, since that's the budget I have for now.

For better or for worse- Dear Jane, here I come! :D

Good Luck. Can't wait to see your progress.

Have fun with it.

Cool, please post pictures of your blocks as you go along will be fun to follow your progress

I'd like to try a DJ but am very intimidated by it still. Lol

Best wishes on it keeping you busy, and letting your creativity bloom!!

Sending encouragement for your great endeavor!! I admire DJs so much, but am far, far from ready to tackle one. Hope you will post your progress!

Good luck.

Post your progress. I want to make one, but other projects keep getting in the way.

Good luck. I want to do one, but just can't get started.

Good luck. Post your pics.
Someday I will get the other blocks done I started.

keep us posted and good luck scrappy will be great

Good luck and have fun.

Ive had my Dear Jane in progress for over a year,,,, have 47 blocks done so far. Im doing mine in a variety of blues on white background

Good Luck! You can do it!

Have fun.

When I read your title I thought maybe you were going on a fantastic vacation or had won a trip to some exotic island *L* I guess making the DJ quilt is as much fun and won't cost much if you are shopping from your stash..Happy Stitchin' crafty_linda_b

Good luck :)

Can't wait to see it.

Good luck. I did 250 of the blocks and couldn't stand it any more, I quit and through the blocks away. Never been happier

Good luck, post pictures of your finished blocks.

Only took me 4 1/2 hours, but-- I survived my first Dear Jane block!!

I'm too naive (stupid?) to be intimidated by Jane, so I decided to take an aggressive approach with the order I do the blocks. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to start with the hardest blocks first and work my way down to the easiest. Get the rough stuff out of the way, then enjoy the easy part when the enthusiasm might otherwise be flagging, right? Right??

In all my reading, the one block in particular that kept popping up as the scary one was G6. So, by golly, you know which block I'm going to start with! The center star is wonky, but, well, what is it they say? Finished is better than perfect? I'M sure not doing it over! :-D

Such a neat pattern and ambitious! Keep us posted.

Oh I think it'll be great! I'm doing scrappy for my DJ too. My goal is to have every block and triangle a different fabric! I started a year ago and have 71 blocks done and 4 triangles.

I have been doing the Dear Jane for over a year. I use purple white, pinks and some greens and most of it is from scrappy.

Looks like you did ok to me.

Good for you! I'm also hoping to have each block and triangle be a different fabric- if I can keep track well enough, at least! lol

Oh! Did you really throw them away?? I'll bet you could have sold them as a kit to someone! :)

what is a Dear Jane????

good luck . keep us poated on how it goes.

What mehtod are you going to use? I was thinking paper piecing but now I am thinking maybe the old fashion way with templates. Can't wait to see your progress. Please share. No pressure here. HA

Robin in TX

May I ask a dumb question? What is a dear Jane?

Not a dumb question. :) Here's a picture and info about the original quilt made by Jane Stickle during the Civil War. http://www.dearjane.com/ Lots of people have made their own versions- anywhere from complete replicas using reproduction fabrics, to wallhangings made from batiks. There is a book about it, as well as software. There are a LOT of blocks, they are all different and small- 4 1/2" blocks. If you go to the photo gallery here on this board, you can see some that others have made. Making a Dear Jane is a challenge for any quilter!

Well, I like to make things hard on myself, so I'm tracing the pattern out of the book (software is not in the budget) onto freezer paper, cutting the pieces apart, ironing them onto the fabric, then sewing it all together. Whatever method that may be! lol It works for me. The little star in the middle of my first block came out a little wonky, but it's 17 pieces in a square inch for crying out loud! I'm satisfied with it, and expect decent results in general.

I will add- I'm thinking now would be a good time for me to learn how to paper piece, at least for a few of these blocks! The first one I made, I was licking my finger to make the tiniest pieces stick, in order to pick them up, they were just specks! lol

I wouldn't do it over either, I recall seeing this one done on Simply Quilts, may even have it recorded somewhere. the small triangles on the center star weren't sewn as such, they were folded back to make them dimentional. You did a great job with this challanging block. Mine are sitting under a pile of fabric waiting to be turned into somthing - I know they are there ready to torture me someday ;-)

Thanks! I'd be interested to see the other way they put this block together.

Good Luck. I made blocks for a Dear Jane quilt, it took 4 years (in a class) at making 5 blocks a month. Be careful and look at the size of the quilt before you start. I made 10 squares before I realized that the quilt top would be too small for my queen bed. I then started over and made 6" blocks. Beware, there are a lot of errors in the patterns and not so good instructions. The class has ended and I have 22 more blocks to make. I was on such a roll and then came to a screeching halt. I have to get back to that quilt because it is going to be beautiful. I was the only one in the class whom made the quilt with scraps. I did not want to invest in all the civil war fabric since I had so much fabric already. I just love the results. It will be done some day!

I'm always impressed by the Dear Janes I've seen! Hope you post as you go along, becasue I would love to follow your quilting journey!

Sure, I posted the first two here yesterday :) -
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-150808-1.htm