Finally, finally done with my Dear Jane!

Yes!! Feast your eyes. I am done. Done, done, done. Did I mention I am done? :) I can now use the title 'Goddess':) It is a strange feeling. Elation, mixed with sadness. And a little feeling of: where do I go now?

One thing is for sure. I am NOT making another one! Though I must say, working on it have made my knowledge about quilting leap forward with big skips and jumps.

So here are the progress dates. My first block was started on August 10, 2008. The flimsy was done by April 2010. I basted it during Christmas 2011, and then let it rest for a little..... until this July, 2013. I swear, I was sure it had only been sitting for under a year.... But this summer was spent quilting it. Which went much faster than I thought it would!

So last weekend I brought it with me to Sweden, had one full day of beautiful fall sunshine, ran down to the beach (without the doggies) and had ten minutes before the sun went down behind the woods.

It looks good, though? I now use it on my bed, and every night it is like revisiting an old friend. I keep finding blocks I had forgotten, and remembering how they were made. 

I remember in the beginning, how I scoured the net to find out how others had made theirs, and in the end I just sat down and figured out a way by myself. And that was fun!:)

So now... I am not quite sure where the road goes from here. I am thorn between finding some other big and difficult quilt to sink my teeth into. Or try something completely different. Maybe not quilts at all? We shall see.

Goddess out! :)

Close, close and closer.... but....

Look what I did this weekend! Yup, the binding is on my Dear Jane. And yes, I should not have cut the excess before I sewed it on. I ended up doing a zigzag seam first to make it easier.

At this time, I am done with hand sewing it down on three sides. Just one side left. This last part of the DJ has gone so much faster than I thought. I was sure I would still be quilting in October. Now it is almost done.... And it feels sad! It's been so much a part of my last four years. The reason I kept my sanity while being unemployed for too long. It kept my mind working, finding out how to solve the different blocks. And I progressed so much in my quilt-knowledge.

And only I know how many episodes of different series I have watched while working on this:)

I almost feel like I did when I was finally done with my schooling - over enjoyed that all this work finally has lead to a result and sad that a part of my life is over. 

There is no way I will start another four year long quilt project! But I do feel a pull towards a 4 000 pieces jigsaw....

Supernatural again

I just realized that I am again choosing to watch Supernatural when dealing with long winded and boring..ish quilt work. I watched it while sewing that big hexagon quilt for my aunt, and I am using it now for quilting Dear Jane. It really works well to keep me going.

I am now over half way. Woho! It's only weekend work, I just do not seem to be able to get around to quilting during the week.

I found a new yarn place this summer. I have socks on the brain at the moment, so I was excited to find Malabrigo!! Love it. The colors are really nice, fall inspired. Love the name of the color, Archangel:)

I also bought three colors in Cascade. These will be gifts, I think, as I am not a pink person AT ALL! I actually rather detest the color, but some people, it seems, love the color. Brrrrr....

Well, this is embarrassing....

I just found out that my DJ has been lying there, basted and ready to be quilted, since December 2011! I know it is meant to be a journey, this quilt, but seriously! 

So this is what my staycation will be filled with....

It took a while to figure out how to do this. Hand quilting was out! But a big one like this is not easy to machine quilt, either. So I found my old table could help out. Just needed new legs, so off to Ikea. However, my old solid wood work table is slightly higher than tables are these days, so after several tests two big pillows, fastened to the legs, got me the right height. The sewing table needed also a little more height. I found that Agatha Christie worked perfectly. The late books, turned out, had the right height. Not sure what that means. Those are slightly more dark and conspiracy filled than her earlier books...

So here it is. The wool batting leaves a fine dusting on absolutely everything in the apartment, and the tables take up most of the living room, so I am stuck finishing this before I try to sew anything else. I will achieve my goddess status this year, it seems:)

Turns out, yet again, that DJ becomes a salvation of sorts. It helped me through a rough time the last time, and it helps me to concentrate on other things than miserable happenings and difficult times. Good thing, this.

Done... so far

Need I say more? :) Quilting to be done at a later date. Now I am just relishing in the doneness:)

Waves and waves...

I have now finished sewing together all the triangles for the borders of my Baby Jane. Tomorrow starts the nightmare.. eeehhh.... challenge? of sewing it onto the quilt itself.I can already forsee some ripping and resewing... there are some waves on some of those borders. As usual. Why should it be different this time? It seems to follow me through all my quilts:)

Getting there

I have now managed to piece together the main part of my DJ:) Amazing.Next step is to piece the borders. Kind of worried about that, piecing triangles together. However, nothing on this one is supposed to be simple or easy - it is a challenge and a journey.

Miracle worker

I have celebrated National Quiltday the best way ever! I finished the last blocks on my Dear Jane quilt!!! According to DJ lore I am now a Miracle Worker:) When the quilt is sewn together and quilted and all done, I will receive the final award of Goddess. Sooo... another year, maybe?
Sorry for the bad lighting, but here they all are - 52 triangles and 4 corners. Together with the 169 blocks, I have 225 blocks consisting of 4943 pieces. Working on this quilt has been a true journey, something logical to cling to when the weekly or biweekly fresh hells turned up, something practical to keep my brain occupied during too many months of unemployment.

I am almost sorry to see them done. I have learnt so much from making them. New techniques, new ways of doing stuff. My appliqueing skills are better, too. I might be ready for a big one:)

Now, the question remains - do I start sewing them together right away.... or do I do something else for a while? Hmh... need to think about that a little. Right now I am basking in the spring sunlight of accomplishment!

Squares galore

Not sure how many constitute 'galore', but this is how 169 Dear Jane squares look like:
169 means that I have finished all the squares in the DJ!!! Putting them in the right order: Still have some triangles left, but here's a preview of all of my blocks.

I am slightly drunk on accomplishment:) Though, it could be spring messing up my equilibrium, too. Who cares? It feels GOOD!!!

The dreaded middle

Not sure why this block has had the halo of dreadness hanging over it, but I have been procrastinating making it. But yesterday I drag my sorry self to the needle and hunkered down, refusing to quit. And I made it:)
Looks quite cute, doesn't it? Now, to tame the dreaded beast of the neighbouring block. There is a sevenpointed star in the middle of that one, just 1" big. That is 2,54 cm for those of us who figured out that the metric system made more sense several decades ago:)

Update on Babysteps to Happiness

The last few months before and after Christmas were spent working on gifts, so my Dear Jane quilt had to be content with being spread on the walls of my apartment. However, the last two weeks I started working on it again. Perfect work for winter months.

Today was spent updating the DJ journal and my progress chart. Eventhough I have all the blocks on my flickr badge on the right, it doesn't really compute until I see it all together. Like this. I am amazed myself. I can almost see the color 'around the world' setting I chose. It might actually make sense when it is done. I don't think I have left the most difficult one till the end. I hope not... I do see I need to focus more on the left side and bottom row of triangles, and the center of the quilt. Hmh..

I do NOT look forward to starting piecing it together. Drudgery work. But since I have plans for the left overs, I need to get this done before I start that one. Might get me started.

Baby steps on baby Jane

Another first step on my Dear Jane. I realised that I had finished up the blocks for the two first rows, two out of 13. So I started to sew them together. Slowly....

Lots of work. Have to make sure each block has the correct measurements, sew on the extra stripes etc. So it took me awhile to get these first six sewn together. But it is a start!

Now for the the other 219 blocks...

Help! They are taking over!

My DJ's are taking over my apartment!

This is my living room wall,
and this is the wall in my den. And it is still not enough! I still have 36 triangles, 65 blocks and four corners! Not sure I have walls enough.... Fun to have them out, though. I look at them and try to remember how I made them, and how satisfied/not satisfied I am with them:)

So.... maybe next summer I will be done? I think I left the most difficult ones for the end!

Purple, not green!

Nice one, isn't it?
Yepp, nice and green. I spent about an hour on this, and when I was admiring my work, I realised that it was not supposed to be green. It was supposed to be purple.... Sigh.

I guess I can just switch place with a purple one, but it is going to bug me forever to not have a correct historical copy of Dear Jane.

So I made this one instead. I could not face making the same one twice in one day. This one IS the correct colour, though:)

Not idle!

I have just realised that the content of my blog isn't necessarily living up to its name. But I haven't been idle, at all!
I have, among others, been knitting. This is a gift, so I can't show you more at the moment. I spend my time on this when it is not too hot to knit.

I have finished another nine of these. I found the ninth just after I took this picture:) I have another four whole ones to make before I have gotten the size I think I want. I might make it bigger, just need to see how it works out.

And then I have some plans for this! It is flax - flax fabric and flax thread. A nightmare to sew with, truly, but it makes for beautiful embroidery. We shall see.

But this is where most of my hands have been kept non-idle:) I just passed 100 blocks. So 125 left. Getting there, getting there.

More babies!

Not much going on in life, just waiting for warmer weather, having friends over, exercising again (ouch!), scrounging up the last few jobs to apply for before summer vacation takes over, caring for plants that are trying to die on me (the cheek!), taking a few quilt safaries (fabric!) and sewing here and there. Hmh.... guess it is enough going-ons for now:)

Here's what I have gotten done since last Sunday.

Three triangles! Love the little oak leaf:)

10 blocks! From left: Pie sale, Paddle wheels, Snow crystal, Lynnet's Diamond (a little wonky still) Justin's comet, Tinker toy, Coyote chase, Merry Mary, Framed Fancy and Soldiers and sailors monument.

I still have troubles with the names of these blocks..... I wonder what Jane would have called them.

Circles for diamonds

Some of these Dear Jane blocks are so fiddly it makes you want to run out and howl at the moon out of sheer frustration! Even if it is week and a day until the actual full moon.

I mean, look at this! How do you even start figuring out how she made it? Fortunately there are women out there who have talents to turn the whole thing around and see things that aren't quite obvious to the rest of us.
I decided to try:) So from a circle (which looks like the fullmoon:),
we add triangles to the corners

Cut the whole thing into fours,

turn them all around and sew them together. Voila, M13 - Lynette's Diamond.

Amazing! I think quilting proves once and for all that women do have matemathical minds:) Unfortunately I don't, but I do know how to read instructions. And I can wait with the howl until the actual full moon!

Babysteps

I am into my Dear Jane copy these days. Jane Stickle who made this masterpiece in 1863 sat and waited for loved ones coming home safely from the civil war. She made a quilt that consists of 225 different blocks, 4,5" x 4,5". That is 11,5 cm x 11,5 cm, for those on the metric system. I spend hours on one block with the benefit of hundreds before me paving the way for the easiest way to do them. She made them all from scratch, designed all the blocks herself. She even at that time managed to use different fabrics in each and everyone of them.

I am in awe. And I wonder if she ever made another quilt again. Or did the quilting while waiting for a difficult time to pass make it harder to enjoy the craft again? I hope not. She wrote 'In war time 1868' on one of the corner blocks- such a wealth of meaning in a few words on an exceptional quilt.

Waiting is hard. There is a lot of empty spaces in waiting for things you only have partly control over. So in between application writing, replies coming and for companies to understand what an incredible catch I would be for them:), I delve into the world of Jane Stickle.

I have spent most of today with all the paperwork for this quilt. You have to keep good records to not mess with the color structure and to make sure you don't miss out on any of the 225. If you can stand seeing all the blocks I have made since the last time, there is a progress chart at the end:) Good hunting:)

A2 - One - Two, Buckle my shoe. A redone. I made it in the wrong colour the first time. Hereby the need for paperwork:)
A10 - Which points west? Totally handsewn, man! No machine sewing on this one. Deed of necessity.

A13 - Starlight - Starbright. Cute one:)

B2 - Sweet Tater Pie. I am getting these circles pretty good now, I think.

B5 - Hot Cross Buns. Does anyone remember Jane Fonda's exercise tapes and her 'Hot cross buns'? hehe

B7 - World Series. See, circles again. Almost perfect:)

D6 -Challenge. Another redo.... wrong colour.

E8 - Mama's Maze

Triangles! There are 52 of these, and nightmares all of them... I have decided to make a few every week or I will be left with just these at the end! This one is RS (Right Side) nr. 4, Dutch Apron. Don't ask me, I did not name these blocks. Neither did Jane...

And here they are, all 76 of them. 176 to go. I got my Diamond award - for the 75th, yesterday. Next one is Jubilee Award for the 1ooth block. In the end I will get my Goddess Award and a complete Dear Jane copy - my Babysteps to Happiness. Then it is just the quilting left... so.. another year or so? Good to have plans:)

Update on the Dj babies

There are so many darn cute blocks in this quilt:) Sometimes I forget that when I am dealing with small, small pieces...

M8 - Enchanted Square

M2 - Duff's Bluff

L11 - Caitlin's Rose

L7 - Town Square

L1 - Widow's Pane

C5 - Eye of the Cyclone. One of my favorites at the moment:)

H3 - Berry Basket

G9 - Mary's Journey

F3 - Snowball

B8 - Water Lily

A9 - Cabin Fever