History of my Dear Jane

Here is my Dear Jane layed out virtually...I've only got 4 sashed together in real life!

I've gotten many lovely comments on my Dear Jane, and since I haven't worked on much more than a few sashings for the Dear Jane quilt in the last few days, I thought I'd post about my Dear Jane quilt. You can find the history of the quilt here. It am using Civil War (1800s) reproduction prints that I traded people for from around the world...Irish items, signature blocks, other fabric... I had a great time doing that and built up a great Civil War repro scrap stash...no yardage, but lots of little pieces!!

I call her my "Frugal Jane". I'm big on scrap quilting, recycling, shoping at thrift stores, restoring old furniture, etc etc... just a frugal kinda girl. My entire stash of yardage is about 10 pieces and then a bolt of unbleached muslin...my scraps take up boxes and baskets!!

Anyway... I started on my Dear Jane journey thanks to a generous gift from fellow Stashbuster, Gail Riker. Thanks Gail, if you see this!! That was in January 2005 when I started with 6 inch blocks I've been sashing together recently for my wallhanging! I realized a full quilt in that size would drown our bed here, so changed to 5 inch blocks.

I hand pieced all 225 blocks, tris and kites over the last year, finishing in just under a year. I found the hand piecing very relaxing in the evenings after chasing kids all day, LOL! I think hand piecing is a great way to do it. I found the curved piecing and the complicated blocks with tiny pieces much less intimidating by hand than if I'd done them on the machine. Don't get me wrong, I love machine piecing, but for this quilt, I wouldn't do it any other way than by hand...just less scary for me that way!

I am by no means an experienced quilter, so if I can do this anyone can, LOL!! If you've been put off by the complicated blocks, but still like it, just go for it... I never did applique, reverse applique or curved piecing or hand piecing before this, and I made it through. Go for it!!!

Now I've got to learn hand quilting, LOL, after I finish constructing the top. It is a never ending learning process!