My changes to Quiltmaker's Garden (so far...)

This is what I have in EQ7:

My Revised Version
I made the Birds and Watering Can larger,
and the Butterflies smaller.
I was able to swap the spots for the Birds and Butterflies, but I had to make a few changes to accommodate the larger Watering Can.

I also replaced the white patches in the blue and yellow pinwheel flower blocks with sky background.

I haven't drawn the tall flowers or the applique into EQ7 yet,
but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

This is the original quilt from the magazine:

Original Version

TATRWJ - Row 6, Block 7

My tenth "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 6, Block 7
Completed on Apr. 5, 2013 (31pcs)
TATRWJ - 10 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 226 Pieces

I used paper-piecing for this block, and all in all it came out pretty good. Usually my blocks come out too small so this time I tried sewing just a TINY bit on the right side of the line on the paper and it came out much closer to size. Although it was a bit large on a couple of the outer points of the big star. I just took some of the seams in a little bit and it came out better.

The center star went together pretty well. After sewing the seams in the tiny star I trimmed them to 1/8" to cut down on some of the bulk. Since I use a tiny stitch when paper-piecing I figure that should hold it well enough. I've done this a lot on some of my Harry blocks with too many small pieces in one area. One of the points on the tiny star is cut off, and I'm debating whether to fix it. It seems a bit bumpy so I may be able to just take in the seam a tiny bit to remedy it. Maybe....

TATRWJ - Row 9, Block 9 & Row 9, Block 7

My eighth "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 9, Block 9
Completed on Mar. 28, 2013 (35pcs)
TATRWJ - 8 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 158 Pieces

And my ninth "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 9, Block 7
Completed on Mar. 29, 2013 (37pcs)
TATRWJ - 9 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 195 Pieces

Both of these were done using paper-pieced patterns, but next time I might just do Row 9, Block 9 with regular piecing. It didn't seem to be worth the extra work with such plain pieces, but I had already cut out the pieces with extra seam allowances for paper-piecing, so I just went it, instead of trimming all the cut pieces.

Thanks to Minka from Minka's Studio for asking me how I was coming along, which gave me the incentive to finally sew a block.

I'm not sure whether I'm going to make the entire quilt as one quilt or not. I'm toying with the idea of making all the blocks, but putting them into about 7 smaller lap size quilts, each with a different design. The thought cauldron is bubbling, but no decisions will be made until I have the 25 center blocks that are all cut and ready to sew completed. Then I can decide. Until then, I'm hoping to get another sewing spurt soon. Sometimes, life gets in the way of quilting. But for now, I've finally sewn something.

Distracted by Harry

I can hardly believe it's been 2 years since I've made another Jane Stickle block. Lots of my time has gone to making my Harry Potter paper-pieced quilt.

I designed every block and the quilt layout and the text, and all of the patterns have been posted for free on my Comcast site.
UPDATE: Comcast has removed ALL personal web pages.
The patterns have been moved here for now:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0By36MfVm7GtjeWw3U3lsZEdpcXc?ths=true

I completed my Starting with Jane quilt which was a present for my sister and brother-in-law.

It underwent a few changes since the original design. I decided to make a small lap quilt instead of a wall-hanging, and this is what I ended up with.

The squares had been done as quilt-as-you-go and everything had been hand-sewn and hand quilted. But in order to finish it, I switched to machine sewing, added some plain-type squares, and turned it on point with borders.

I decided to try free-motion machine quilting on the borders in the leaf type designs, (where the stitches are EVERY size), and some quilting with the feed-dogs up where it was just curvy a bit. This is the first quilt I ever did any free-motion quilting on, but it's not too bad, if you only look from far.... I did learn never again to try to add mitered borders when adding the borders after the middle is already done and quilted. (NOT fun!)

It's a bit of a mish-mash with a hand-quilted center, and machine-quilted borders, but my sister really likes it. Having some arthritis problems makes me wonder if I might get back to Jane blocks if I started machine sewing some of them. I have the rest of the first 25 center blocks all cut out and waiting.

BUT, after finishing the long journey with the Harry Potter quilt, I felt like a bit of a break with some less finicky, larger than 5 inches square blocks. So I bought the Beach Cottages pattern.

But the one I'm making is with pastel colors to remind me of Bermuda where I spent my honeymoon, and we took our first cruise for our 35th anniversary last year. That quilt is done, and is now being pinned for machine quilting.

I've also started doing the Quiltmaker magazine anniversary quilt called "Quiltmaker's Garden". It's a 5 part series, and I'm still on Part 1, but I do have all my fabric bought. This is what the magazine quilt looks like.

I'm making a few changes and will have large birds and smaller butterflies in my quilt.

So I'm afraid it will be a while longer until I get back to the tiny Jane blocks. I have a new camera this year, so we'll probably go back to Vermont and I'll try to get some more pics of the original quilt for those who can't get to see it in person.

That's it for now.
Happy Sewing!

Possible Changes to Pattern

When I posted the picture of the original block next to my sewn block, I noticed that some of Jane's corner pieces don't look pieced.

I was hoping to get a close-up view when I visited the quilt this past weekend. However, this year the quilt was displayed in a different area, with less light, and you had to stand further back. So I really couldn't tell if there were seams or not, even in person.

Jane's Block
Photo of Jane's Block

I've stared at all the photos I have, and the poster, and the quilt, and it always looks like one of the corners is pieced (the bottom left corner) to make a complete circle, the way my pattern is. But a couple of the corners definitely look like they're not pieced. So I created a second pattern without pieced corners.

Pattern Changes
TATRWJ - Row 6, Block 6 - Changes Marked in Green

If I make this block again, I'm undecided as to which pattern I'll use.

TATRWJ - Row 6, Block 6

My seventh "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 6, Block 6
Completed on Sept. 16, 2010 (25pcs)
TATRWJ - 7 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 123 Pieces

Jane's Block
In War Time - Row 6, Block 6
Photo of Jane's Block - With Blue Lines Added to Outline the Block

This block was put together like a nine patch, and then the pieced together circles were appliqued onto the background.

I cut the circles out of my freezer paper pattern. Then I pressed the background freezer paper section to the background, and the freezer paper circles inside the fabric circles. I find this makes it easier to place the circles where they belong because you can feel the edges of the paper through the fabric.

I like to sew a basting stitch around the circle in the seam allowance, and then pull it tight to bring the seam allowance inside. Then I press it, and then I baste it down from the top, going through the right side of the circle, and the freezer paper and the seam allowance. It's more work, but it helps me to get rounder circles.

TATRWJ - Row 6, Block 5

My sixth "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 6, Block 5
Completed on Feb. 12, 2010 (9pcs)
TATRWJ - 6 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 98 Pieces

Jane's Block
In War Time - Row 6, Block 5
Photo of Jane's Block - With Blue Lines Added to Outline the Block

For this block I printed a freezer paper pattern, and cut out the appliques. Then I pieced the center applique.

After that, I pressed the freezer paper for the center applique onto the back of the joined piece, then folded the seam allowances under and basted them to the paper, and pressed again. I did the same with the 4 melons. This way I had nice sharply outlined pieces to applique.

Then I pressed the remaining piece of freezer paper (the background with the appliques cut out) onto the center of a 6 inch square (I wanted extra that would be trimmed off at the end).

When I held the background square up to the light, it was easy to see where the appliques should go, and I pinned them over the holes in the paper that I could see. After that, I could just sit and sew until all 5 appliques were done.

Then I slit the back of the center (careful to cut ONLY the background fabric!) and cut the background down to about 1/4" seam allowance, and removed the basting and freezer paper. For the melons I only cut a slit since they were so small, and removed the basting and paper.

One final press and trim, and DONE! The freezer paper inside the applique gives a nice edge to sew against. I liked this method, and will use it again.

TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 9

My fifth "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 9
Completed on Feb. 9, 2010 (21pcs)
TATRWJ - 5 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 89 Pieces

Jane's Block
In War Time - Row 5, Block 9
Photo of Jane's Block - With Blue Lines Added to Outline the Block

This block went together similarly to Row 5, Block 7, except the circle was MUCH easier to applique than the odd shape in Block 7. I paper-pieced the rays, then joined them into a circle.

After basting down the edges of the applique circle and pressing it, I sewed the circle onto the rays. Then I added the four remaining background strips. I like the way it came out.

Small Again!
This is another block that I used one of my patterns that I had printed before adding the extra seam allowance to the patterns. It came out a tad small again.

I'm convinced that the extra around the outside edge is needed, at least for me when paper-piecing. So I'm going to re-print my patterns onto freezer paper WITH the extra seam allowance on the edges. I had already printed all 25 patterns for the center, but re-print I must!

TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 7

My fourth "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 7
Completed on Feb. 8, 2010 (12pcs)
TATRWJ - 4 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 68 Pieces

Jane's Block
In War Time - Row 5, Block 7
Photo of Jane's Block - With Blue Lines Added to Outline the Block

I paper-pieced the fabric pieces that are around the center applique, and then joined it. I printed out a freezer paper pattern, and cut out the center applique. I centered and pressed the outside section to the back of the main piece, and the pressed the freezer paper center to the back of my applique fabric.

After basting down the edges of the center applique and pressing, I added the applique on top of the pieced section. I can feel the edges of the applique's freezer paper, and the pieced section's freezer paper as I sew, so it makes it easier to keep the applique from shifting out of position.

Then I added the four background strips, and pressed the block. Then I removed the freezer paper, and gave it a final press with a dry iron.

My applique skills are beginner at best and I had a hard time in the inner points. Hopefully the next one will be better!

TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 7, Old & New

My two blocks side by side.
                Re-Drafted 5" block         and         4 1/2" sashed block

In my new block the center applique motif is much less round, and the strips are wider than my 4 1/2" block. When I made the new block I forgot to use the mostly ORANGE sections of the fabric when I cut out the fabric for this block, so this one is more red than I had planned, even though it's the SAME fabric.

I like the look WITHOUT the pieced section under the applique better, I left it in on the 4 1/2" block and don't care for it as much. From now on, I think I'll cut away any pieced sections under an applique.

Old Blocks - Un-Sewing & Re-Sewing

I've "un-joined" some of the old 4 1/2" blocks that had been sewn together for the my original quilt plan, in the quilt-as-you-go method. I had 5 blocks sewn together for one row, and the other 2 joined together for a second row.

Five blocks, quilted and joined

Five blocks, view of back and quilting

Then I "re-joined" the blocks into the new rows for my "Starting With Jane" wallhanging.

Blocks Sewn Into Rows - Rows Not Joined Yet

I've got lots more work to do to make the wallhanging, but I've got all the patterns for the "filler" blocks done.