No, I'm not. I signed up so I would receive the e-mails and instructions :) I'm too busy with other things.

WOW!!!!!! That's stunning. Look at all those animals! And you're almost finished!
Can't help you on the quilting, mine is still waiting in line. With all those seams I can't think of anything fancy though. I think I'll just do SID. That will be difficult enough!

Have not made any progress with my Dear Jen other than to get the fabric picked out. Pulled my KF fabric and then plain solids to go with them. They are all setting in a tote waiting for me.

I was thinking of coming up with an idea with one of the alternative layouts, but keep thinking how much I really do like the original with the three in a row.

MacyBaby - I used some KF fabric in my Small World quilt, Jen and Kaffe pair up well!

AND -------- The top is done!!!!!!

I finished the hills - the back hill has the extinct dinosaurs, the Dresden Fan has imaginary animals, the hexagons Australia and the New York Beauty represents the Artic. This was my second New York Beauty - the first one (sewn) looked like she went clubbing all night! Not a pretty sight! I ended up "cheating" and making it with applique instead of sewing it. Honestly, I am a little upset that I couldn't sew it (but I don't blame myself!) The templates NEED to have the 1/4" added with hash marks!! Trying to recreate the templates, which have a curve to them, was a nightmare -- it just didn't work. I felt like I was being set up to fail. But I decided since this quilt is going up on the wall that applique would give me the look without the anxiety!

I did love doing this quilt and really appreciate all the cheerleading and advice from all of you. I'm going to take a small break from it and then start quilting it.

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh congrats on finishing and what a finish!! It's stunning! I love everything about it.
Well done! Give yourself a pat on the back!!
Did you decide how to quilt it?

I'm still trying to decided how to do the sky - I've seen straight line "x"ing each square or just a meander. The body of the quilt I think is going to be a lot of internal echo. I keep mulling it over!

It’s phenomenal, Irish! It is so colorful. The illustrations of the animals everywhere makes it a true story board. Those hot air balloons are just perfect....this whole thing is so dang creative. Congratulations on this fabulous finish!

Irish Mom - great job finishing your Small World top! I love the way the colors play together.

I haven't done a thing on my Dear Jen for several weeks. Got too many blocks of the month going! But will get back to it soon.

I finally got around to start my Dear Jen- here is my block 1 row. I've decide to keep the background constant for each set.

IrishMom...love it...this quilt is still calling to me..
Striking start, Macybaby!

Great start Macy!

got a few more sets done. Wasn't sure if I was liking them until I put them all together and decided that looked fine.

I selected the background colors to match the KF fabric I have. Interesting to realize they were almost all muted colors. I did have a true blue, red and green, but pulled them out as they didn't blend as well with the others. Then I got concerned I may run out, since some of these I've got closer to a 1/4". However I only need 5-6 sets of each background and based on what I've already used, that should not be a problem. After all, even a 1/4" yard of 16 colors is 4 yards!

Looks like I need to go fabric shopping. I've been planning to start a Dear Jane quilt along with the Dear Jen, and after looking at lots and lots of pictures online, decided that I'm going to use the same FK fabric for both. However I want to use white background for the Jane quilt, while the Jen quilt has assorted dark/light solid colors.

I thought I had a big chunk of white fabric, and after looking around can only find one chunk of about 5 yards. Many years ago I had bought a whole bolt at a yard sale (unopened for $20). I know I cut it into manageable chunks so I could wash it, and after not finding it I remembered that I'd used quite a bit as backing for a quilt or two, because I figured I'd never use it up otherwise.

And today I have the afternoon off, so I asked DH if he wanted to go on a road trip with me and check out a few quilt shops on the way. I'm going to use some of my stimulus money. Others may say fabric isn't essential, but work has been very stressful this month, so buying some fabric will be a good mental boost. Other than flannel for masks, I've not bought much in a long time.

I did get my fabric for the Dear Jane quilt. Ended up buying it twice, sort of. When to the Pin Cushion in Mitchell and didn't find any one white I liked that had enough yardage, so I bought 1 yard cuts of 8 different ones. But the more I thought about it, I still wanted to do all one white. So on the way home we stopped at the Quilt Shop here in town. Found a fabric I really liked the feel of, but it was solid white and I didn't want that. Then I found a very delicate wow and there was enough so I bought 8 yards. Found a beige I love that I've bought before, so I bought what was left on the bolt (about 5 yards). I also found a white with very light pastel highlights that I fell in love with. Silly DH said that since I liked it, just to get a yard - explained that it would be used as a background, so 5 yards would be a better choice. It came home with me too.

I'm going with that I did only get what I went for (light background fabric) and not going to think about that I got enough for 5 projects when I was only looking for fabric for one.

Here is another set of three Dear Jen blocks, and the first group of Dear Jane blocks. The Dear Jane are fun to cut because they're all background plus one fabric. I'll just keep rotating through my KF fabric until I'm done, and if I run out, I'll buy more.

Love your Dear Jen blocks, Cathy! I'll post a photo of a few more strips of "Dear Marianne" as soon as I can. Working on the appliqued pineapples today.

Here are a few more of my Dear Jen (a/k/a Dear Marianne) strips.

Beautiful, Marianne!!

Those are very nice! Is the tulip a swapped block? I really like that one, but don't recall seeing it (but I'm not going to remember all of them, that's for sure!)

The tulip and the Friendship star blocks are both local guild blocks of the month. I'm mixing in other 6" blocks I have and may even slip in a few orphans along the way.

Wonderful blocks, ladies! Living "Dear Jane/Jen/Marianne/Cathy" quilts vicariously in your blocks!
I haven't seen the Dear Jen quilt before and love the idea behind it! Oh dear yet another one to add to my list!

Rippers!!!! LOL

I love the blocks both of you made.

Here is my next step. There were two applique in a row, so I pulled to pineapple and did all three together. I'm getting better with the applique tools, starting to look more like the videos I've watched, instead of me thinking "how do the do that?"

I didn't want to deal with the tight corners on the pineapple top, so I cut five separate leaves and overlapped them.

Cathy, those blocks are amazing! I just finished the pineapples yesterday. Will try to take a picture today (it's gloomy so may not show well).
Marianne

Here are a few more Dear Jen blocks. I'm taking a little break to work on other projects but will get back to DJ. It's an intense process!

Looking good!

All of your blocks look spectacular, you guys!

I am starting a Kingwell pattern soon...primarily one I can do while traveling. I’ll be on the road a lot over the next couple of months so I decided to start her EPP pattern Smitten. Lots of different shapes and a clutter mess in layout....lol...so Kingwell. Lol.. I’ll be using a stash of Liberty fabrics for primary fabrics and blenders from stash. I bought the EPP kit, which includes acrylic templates..thank goodness... I’ll share as I go..

I just looked up the pattern - very pretty! I'm so glad you were able to get the templates, I felt at such a disadvantage not having good templates when I did my quilt.

Here is another trio of blocks - I am doing slight modifications to make them easier to sew my machine. This pattern is designed to be hand sewn, and part of the challenge for me is to do it all by machine.

Yes, I'm finding machine sewing these blocks difficult and time consuming, so every strip of 3 I make feels like a real achievement. Your blocks look great, Cathy!

Your blocks are beautiful, Macybaby. I really like the different background colors in this pattern.

I started JK’s EPP pattern using my Liberty stash. I am really enjoying this project...I just work on in the evenings and can pack it up easily for traveling. I have just 2 more of this large Block 1 to make.

Teen, that looks very nice. Some day I may try EPP - I've been drooling over the Lucy Boston's Patchwork of Crosses pattern for a long time. Just love the fussy cutting.

Oh my! I was looking up some pictures for Patchwork of crosses and found some machine embroidery designs that are to die for! Not that I need more machine embroidery block designs, but that won't stop me!

Lol....go for it!! That is a beautiful EPP. I like the EPP patterns that have a diverse collection of shapes to make. I already made a hexi quilt and was looking for a honeycomb EPP to do but found Smitten instead. Didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I am...

Block 1 group is done......this is going to take some time..lol..

those look fantastic!

Thank you, Macybaby...

Teen, Awesome EPP. Love your fabrics.

Thank you, Bluebell! I love these Liberty fabrics for this project. So glad to finally be using them...they’ve been staring at me for long enough,..lol..

Teen, I have never seen Liberty Fabrics here. Although my daughter bought a blouse made out of Liberty Fabric a few years ago. The fabric is beautiful.

Wow Teen, that's gorgeous!!!! I never done English PP, maybe I should?
Though I'm not too fond of hand sewing so maybe not LOL.

I'm not getting any notifications so that's why I didn't comment on the beautiful blocks of you and Macy!