TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 8

My second "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" block.
TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 8
Completed on Jan. 25, 2010 (21pcs)
TATRWJ - 2 Blocks, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 34 Pieces

I used the same method that I used in the 1st block to piece this one. I appliqued the melons to the center piece.

Then I paper-pieced the ring.

Next I basted the inner "circle" inside the seam allowance and tightened the thread a bit to pull the seam allowances under the edge of the freezer paper.

Then I pressed it well, and appliqued it to the ring. Then I sewed on the outer pieces.

I'm hoping my applique skills improve as I practice more, but it's definitely a "keeper".

1st Block! (Again) & New Quilt Names

I've finished re-drafting all the blocks in Jane's quilt. After doing all the center blocks, I decided that I might as well go all the way and do the triangles and corners as well. The triangles are bit more challenging than the blocks, so I've been using Quilt Assistant to draw the blocks, then I export them to PJ5 projects. In EQ5 I convert them to motifs for my custom layout. A custom layout is the only way I could figure out to replicate the triangle and scallop borders in EQ5.

Finally! On to sewing the newly drafted blocks!

Since the blocks I've already made are only 4 1/2" in size and already quilted, and I need 5" blocks for the newly re-drafted patterns, I have to start over again with BLOCK 1 for the new quilt.

Here is a picture of my first sewn block using my re-drafted patterns of Jane A. Stickle's quilt.
TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 5
Completed on Jan. 1, 2010 (13pcs)
TATRWJ - 1 Block, 0 Triangles, 0 Corners, 13 Pieces

TATRWJ - Row 5, Block 5 - Block Construction
Originally I had planned to just piece the curves, but I decided to practice applique and try something different.

I printed the pattern onto freezer paper, then I cut all the pieces apart and pressed them onto the wrong sides of my fabric. Since my pattern is colored, it was pretty easy to figure out which pieces went onto which fabric.

For the first sewing step I joined the 4 inside melons at their outer edges. Then with the freezer paper still on the fabrics, I pressed under the seam allowance on the inner edges. Then I reverse appliqued the joined piece onto the center section.

The freezer paper edges helped me to keep a nice round edge as I sewed, and it was easy to butt the applique up to the freezer paper of A1 that I could feel under it. So it was easy to tell if the pieces were where they should be. Now I had a nice completed inner circle.

Using the same technique, I sewed one applique piece to each of the corners pieces. Again the freezer paper inside made it much easier than I had anticipated. The four corner sections were then joined into a square with a hole in the center.

I pressed under the seam allowance on the circle using the freezer paper to get a good edge. Then using the same technique again, I appliqued the completed circle onto the square outer section. And voila, done! And all without any curved piecing whatsoever.

I had read tons of tips on applique before starting this, and I'm much more pleased with it than with my previous attempts at applique. The tips that helped the most, were (a) taking the next stitch a tiny bit BACK from where the needle came out, and (b) making sure to keep the stitches just UNDER the edge of the applique.

I also found the freezer paper extremely helpful. And since there were no enclosed pieces, I just peeled off the freezer paper when I was done. I will definitely use this method again where I can.

New Quilt Names

I've decided that the name of the new quilt I'm going to make from my re-drafted patterns is going to be:
     "Trip Around The Rainbow With Jane"
           "TATRWJ" for short.

After considering what to do with the 7 blocks in the smaller 4 1/2" size, I came up with this wallhanging in EQ, which I call "Starting With Jane", since these were my very first Jane A. Stickle blocks.
Starting With Jane - Wallhanging (Layout in EQ)

All 169 Center Blocks Done!

Well, I finally finished re-drafting all of the center blocks. Since I'm only so-so at applique, I've made a pieced version of EVERY block.

I made a second version using applique for 15 blocks, and I could do about 15 more with applique just to have a more complete block library, but it's good enough for now.

I have to say that this really gave me a much better appreciation for the variety of blocks, and got me much more familiar with them all.

Starting Over With 5 inch Blocks

I started by scanning in the Poster I purchased at the Bennington Museum. In Paint Shop Pro I increased the contrast and other settings to try to make the sewing lines between the blocks show up as much as possible. Then I drew blue lines where the blocks were joined to make it easier to see each block individually.

This is a section of the poster with the added lines.
Center 25 blocks on poster with drawn lines

Then I used photos I took at the Museum (lots of which are taken at an angle, since the quilt is displayed on a slant board) and added lines again.

This is a section of a photo showing the added lines.
Sample cropped photo with blue lines added

Between the photos and the poster, I tried to get as close as I could to what might have been the original patterns that Jane used.

Jane's quilt is absolutely marvelous to behold in person. The stitch work is also quite well done, with lovely quilting. But the thing that amazed me on close inspection was that it wasn't "perfect". The strips that are added around lots of blocks are not always the same size on all sides. Pieces on one side of a block are not always the same as the pieces on the other side, seams don't always match perfectly. And yet, it's just wonderful and fascinating to behold. In other words, the quilt blocks don't have to be precision perfect in order to make a stunningly, beautiful quilt. So I've decided that even if my blocks don't turn out exactly as planned, I'll add them to the quilt as a record of my progress in quilt-making. Hopefully, later blocks will look better than my beginning blocks.

It's pretty difficult to guess what the original patterns Jane used might have looked like since the blocks aren't all exactly square any more. The quilt seems to have stretched over time, and the piecing isn't always exact. Pieces of a design may "touch" in one area, but not in others. These re-drafted blocks are my attempt to re-create Jane's quilt as closely as I'm able to given the circumstances.

I'll still be using a Trip Around the World layout like Jane's, and I'm still planning to do it with the 7 colors of the Rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet). I think I might name the new quilt "Trip Around the Rainbow With Jane" ("TATRWJ" for short).

I had already started making blocks for a quilt when I saw Jane's quilt at the Bennington Museum. I have about a half dozen blocks I sewed at 4 1/2 inches in size, that I can't use in this quilt since I'm now going to be making 5" blocks. Maybe I'll put them in a wallhanging or something.

Wow! Saw Jane's Quilt in Person

After seeing Jane's quilt "In War Time" at the Bennington Museum on October 4th, the thing that surprised me the most was that the quilt has NO sashing, but many blocks have border strips around them, and when the quilt is viewed from a distance, it APPEARS to have sashing.

Photo taken at Bennington Museum (VT) in October 2009
Jane A. Stickle's quilt, "In War Time"

To see more photos that I took at the Bennington Museum in Vermont of Jane's quilt, go to my Flickr albums.
My 2009 Photos on Flickr
My 2010 Photos on Flickr

The quilt was displayed rotated 90 degrees to the right. When viewed this way Rebecca's Basket (J-12) is upright, Papa's Star (G-6) doesn't look upside down to me any more, and the hearts in the triangle blocks (RS-7 Fedelia's Hearts & RS-8 Love Forever) are also upright. Going by the differences I just noted, I prefer the way it looks displayed like this, it just looks "right" to me.

Since the various sized strips around some of the blocks makes some blocks appear larger and some smaller, it seems to tie in with the "variety" theme of the quilt. Since they're all different patterns, done in different fabrics, why not different sizes.

I've loved the random look of Jane's quilt so much that I've decided to re-draft the patterns in EQ5 to more closely resemble the original, while keeping the rainbow color scheme. So far I have 2 rows re-drafted. The re-draft is being done in colors that are similar to the ones in the original quilt. I'll have to import my blocks into the DJ software and re-color them for my rainbow design.

The changes are very suble, and only a slightly insane person such as myself might bother with it, but I really like the slightly more "hodge-podge" appearance without the evenness of the sashing.

So here's to starting over!

F-6 Deanie's Daisies

F-6 Deanie's Daisies
32 Pieces
Connie-Jane 7,0,0,162

The corners of the block were paper-pieced. Each section had a diamond, with the four triangles added to make the square.

I pieced the center. Curved piecing seemed preferable to appliqueing at the time. But after sewing it, I think next time I'll go with applique. I think some background fabric around the outside of the applique would look better than this pieced version.

F-5 Parcheesi

F-5 Parcheesi
17 Pieces
Connie-Jane 6,0,0,130

Block #6 completed, I'm still not great at curved piecing. I almost decided to applique it, but that seemed even harder. Those tiny curved pieces were quite a challenge. A larger curve is much easier to piece!

G-9 Mary's Journey

G-9 Mary's Journey
33 Pieces
Connie-Jane 5,0,0,113

Here's my 5th block. It was nice and straight-forward, and I paper-pieced it. Not perfect, but not bad. The fabric color is more coral-colored in real life, though it does have some pink.

G-5 Poof

G-5 Poof
8 Pieces
Connie-Jane 4,0,0,80

While on vacation in Cape Cod, I completed my first Jane A. Stickle applique block. I sewed the background for this block on May 18, and did the applique to finish the block on May 19. One of the reasons I chose to start the Jane A. Stickle quilt was to force myself to do more applique. Applique is not my favorite thing, and I figured that doing a block here and there I could find a way to make it easier.

I'm trying different things to figure out how to get a piece placed exactly where you want it and in the right shape. After a couple of false starts, I finally got it done. I'm still not sure how I'll do the next one. I debated on cutting out the background under the "poof", but ended up leaving it in.

My least favorite part of applique is the inside corners you have to cut, and then trying to sew where it frays. At this point there's a LOT of applique in Jane's quilt, and I'm thinking I'll piece as much of it as possible so as to not get discouraged and keep going...

G-6 Papa's Star

G-6 Papa's Star
31 Pieces
Connie-Jane 3,0,0,72

I used freezer paper and paper-pieced by hand through the paper. It actually went a lot better than I had anticipated. I re-drafted the block in EQ5 to make all of the points equal in size then tilted it. I thought the star in the book was tilted a bit too far, and almost looked upside down to me, so I titled mine a bit less.