Dear Jane comes to town

Saturday morning was our monthly quilt guild meeting. This month, a group of 4 women in the guild shared with us their Dear Jane quilt journeys. It was a wonderful presentation - part history lesson, part technique workshop, part getting to know each other better. Two of the presenters "just" have some of the blocks done, two of the presenters have completed their quilts.

This is Kerry. Her top is done, and she is currently working on hand quilting it. For some reason, the whole photo turned out a bit orange-ish, but take my word for it - her quilt is stunning and her hand quilting is a marvel!


This is Marcia. Her quilt is completely finished. She shared with us her FIVE YEAR JOURNEY as she completed this entire quilt BY HAND, piecing and quilting. It is amazing! And like the original 1863 Jane Stickle quilt, each block is made from a different fabric.

Here is her signature block in the corner. Do you see those stitches??? Just BEAUTIFUL!


I could have admired these quilts for hours!



You would think that this eye candy would have inspired me to come home and quilt, but no, I spent most of the weekend reading. But finally, on Sunday, Jason got me down into the sewing room because HE wanted to sew something. He wanted to make a shirt, but I let him know that I had no idea how to begin making something with sleeves, so we settled on a vest. His school has a Western Wear day every year, so he used the cowboy fabric that he picked out for himself last time that we went to a quilt store together, and lined it with a plaid fabric that he picked out for himself from his grandmom's stash while we were visiting last week because, "Mom, cowboys wear plaid!" We had no pattern, and the only clothing I've ever made was that pleated skirt and that pillowcase nightdress for my niece, but his vest actually turned out pretty darned well!
(no buttons, though, because I have no idea how to make button holes. Gotta do some research on that. Besides, a cowboy vest deserves some cool buttons, don't you think? Or better yet, maybe some pearl snaps like so many western shirts! Hmmmm.....)

I'm particularly impressed with his control over his speed with the foot pedal - I remember when he first started how he couldn't help but go from a standstill to 60 mph and then to a stop again. He's becoming quite the sew-er. Now, of course, I have to help Donald make a vest, too - he wants to use that pirate fabric that I picked up for the boys when I was in California in May.

While I was down there helping Jason out, I finally got the lead out and started piecing together the baby quilt for my co-worker's newborn. I added a pieced wonky star to eliminate some of the plain-ness, and am now working on appliqueing down the initials using needle-turn.

What I really need to be doing is hand quilting the Pick and Choose quilt. I should go do that now...