DJ SS QUILT TOP

If you've been following my blog very long, you know that last year my Dear Jane Secret Sister, Marianne K., sent me a DJ quilt block every month as part of my gift. Yesterday, while unpacking some sewing things from Florida, I came upon them. They were just too special to leave as a BOB (bag of blocks) so I pulled fabric for sashing and setting squares, and got busy. The sashing is 1/2" finished size. The blocks finish at 4.5". I put the top together yesterday.

This morning I pulled potential backing fabric from stash and also a spool of perle cotton. I've been itching to try large stitch hand quilting with the perle cotton. This may just be the project.

This will be a lovely table topper or wall hanging. Either way it will be a lovely memento of the 2010 Dear Jane Secret Sister Swap, and of Marianne.

WITH BRENDA PAPADAKIS

Here I am with Brenda Papadakis. Notice our shoes. They were THE THING at Shipshe this year. Both Brenda and I bought them at the same time on Wed. -- too early to get into the room, and the sewing room wasn't open yet either. I had no idea who Brenda was when we were both shopping for shoes at Yoders. I just thought she had great taste in shoes. By the end of the weekend at least a dozen of us were sporting them! Very comfy, very creative.

Oh and Brenda, in case you don't know, Brenda Papadakis is the one who started this whole Dear Jane thing. She drafted every block of Jane A. Stickle's quilt and published the book.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I'm thankful for all my quilting friends, both in person and on-line, and to those who are both!

AMISH COOKING DEMO

We were so privileged to see this Amish cooking demo. Elaine, our hostess, made cinnamon rolls. We were able to take photos, but not of their faces. Elaine was so funny. I'm sure she's never seen a tv cooking show, but she could surely be the Amish version. First she's mixing, and then, magically here it is after rising an hour, and here it is all bakes, etc.

We were served the rolls and coffee/tea as we watched, and also got a roll to go at the end.

Here are some pics from that part of our outing.

WITH THE AMISH

As part of the Dear Jane retreat, I was went on a field trip to an Amish farm this morning. Following a cinnamon roll baking demo (while eating cinnamon rolls and having coffee), we went to the quilting room where 3 frames were set up. We had an Amish expert at each frame. They will be quilting the interior of the quilt, and we worked on the borders. We signed our names near our work. It was interesting to see the names of women who have worked on the quilts before us.

The woman at our frame remarked that it was just like her quilt bees, with all of us gathered around talking as we quilted, rolled the thread to one another, etc. I learned much about her family and life-style too. It was really nice when she told us how much she enjoys these times sharing her life with others. We were allowed to take pictures, but not of their faces.

KLOSJEDAG AND MORE

I made another nine klosjes this week, bringing my total to 19. I also stamped and cut some more, to keep my work basket full of supplies.

Today I met DJer, Alice from Central Florida, at a quilt shop for a sit and sew. We had such a good time, and found we have much in common, including daughters with the same name, Melissa, we have the same profession, elementary school teachers, we both took a class with Thimble Lady while she was here, etc., etc. Alice worked on her DJ and I worked on my klosjes.

The shop, The Apopka Quilt Co., had all FQs on sale for $1. Not just the picked over, left-overs, but ALL. The batiks, the blenders, the geometrics, etc. All. Well who could resist that? I also picked up a 'Ewe Old Bags' kit. It is knit, then felted, then appliqued. I'm into felting right now, so............

2010 DEAR JANE SIGGIE QUILT FLIMSY

Here's my 2010 DJ Siggy Quilt flimsy. I'm making a simple throw from the blocks. I still have siggies from two prior years to make something with. Perhaps something fancier with more flair will strike with those.

Oh, and about the wool, I posted about it on Woolie Buddies yahoo group. Some great advice and expertise there! More on that later.

Now I'm off to meet a DJer from the big list, for a sit-and-sew at a LQS in Apopka. Who knew?

TRIMMED SIGGIES

When something new arrives in the mail, I just have to play! So it is with these siggies. Other projects are slid down temporarily. It's a really bad habit!

I trimmed up the siggies this morning, so they all have a more uniform look now. I've tried laying them out light to dark, trip around the world, and as they are, rainbow. Not sure what I'll so with them, but they'd make several great tote bags to take to retreat, shows, or class. They'd also make great pillowcases at retreats. Hmmm.............I'll probably make a throw, but ideas are dancing all over the place in my head!

DJ SIGGIES ARRIVE

Look what the mail lady brought yesterday! It's the siggies from the Spring 2010 swap with Dear Jane. These are all the same block, signed with name, date, and location of the creators. I put them up on the design wall for a better look, but they haven't been trimmed yet. We each trim our own, so it is normal that they look a bit rough around the edges and different sized too. I added two from the International Siggy swap to even it out. I love all of them, from the plain Jane's to the fancy stamps, and everything in between.

DEAR JANE SIGGIES

This morning I finished my 67 Siggies for the Dear Jane 2010 Siggie Swap. Above the photo is cropped to show how they will look when trimmed. But we don't trim them up. Each receiver does it. We make them over-sized and the receivers trim to 4 1/2", thereby avoiding the problem of too small blocks, common in swaps. The photo below shows my 7 stacks of 10 each. There's 3 extra's because I work in 10's, but those will be used in the International Siggy Swap. Four blocks are flower print and the rest are spools, in two different fabrics. I also mixed up the ink color for my spool stamp, and some have pale pink fabric for the center and others are off-white -- just to keep it interesting.

DEAR JANE HOLIDAY SWAP BLOCKS ARRIVE

Look what arrived in the mail today! These tiny 4.5" Dear Jane blocks are from the holiday swap and have come from as far as Belgium and Norway. Some need a trim (many of us make the outside edges larger and then the receiver trims), and then I'll get proper pictures posted, but I just couldn't wait for that. Ooh, what wonderful ideas are dancing in my head for these 25, plus the 5 of my own that I kept. Ooo, La, La!

DEAR JANE HOLIDAY BLOCKS

Here are my final two blocks for the swap. The quarter on H-10, Ben's Bowtie, is to give perspective as to how small the tiny 4.5" blocks are. The red is G-2, Mohawk Trail.

I made 5 sets of 5 blocks each. All five sets will be in the mail today. Can't wait to see what 25 blocks I get back.

DJ Christmas Swap

The Dear Jane Alternate group is holding its annual Holiday Swap. We make sets of 5 of DJ blocks in holiday fabrics in gold, red, or green, with white or white-on-white backgrounds. These are the regular tiny 4 1/2" finished size Dear Jane blocks.

My first set is block E-5, Rising Sun.

This one, K-7, Rose of Sharing, is done in Christmas With Aunt Grace fabric, and a white on white background. Don't you love that block name?

Two sets done, four to go.

DEAR JANE BLOCKS

Yesterday I made two Dear Jane blocks. These are little 4" finished-size blocks. The quarter is for reference to view the size. The one on the right is L-1, Window's Pane, and has 22 pieces. On the left is A-8, Florence Nightingale, with 11 pieces. These two will be in the mail today, off to a collective effort to make a DJ quilt for a special someone.