C-6 Ashley's Aura

I hand appliqued it using the freezer paper on top method. Went much quicker than I had expected. The fabric is from the Granary, but not sure what it is. I happened to get the non-selvedge edge of the fat quarter.

I think this block is so pretty. The curved lines just flow from one to another. It has a calming effect on me, kind of like yoga. Om.

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H-6 Pie Sale

Hurray! I am so glad I am done with this block. I prepped the applique pieces a loooong time ago, lost them, and found them again and finished it this week. The fabric is from Heather Ross' Mendocino line, which I hear is in limited quantities now. Apparently she signed a non-compete agreement when she sold her Munki Munki line, so is having legal issues with designing fabric. I love her stuff, and hope it gets sorted out soon! As for the block, it is hand appliqued and machine pieced.

Pies are another one of those things that I never grew up eating. Now I love savory pies, like pot pies, but sweet dessert pies are still hard for me. I definitely like it with ice cream though!

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TR-3 Checkerboard

This block was fun to make. Paper pieced with freezer paper. I got the fabric as a door prize when I went to the grand opening of Eddie's Quilting Bee. It's always fun to get fabric!

I never really liked playing checkers when I was growing up. I think I preferred to play with the pieces instead of the actual game.

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RS-9 Danish Delight

When I was making this block I was imagining all sorts of candies (in fact I was eating frosting from the tub at the time) but I realize now that I was thinking of Turkish Delight. Not sure what Danish Delight is, but this block was fun to make.

Paper pieced with freezer paper, fabric from the Granary with just enough information on the selvedge to google the answer. It's by Timeless Treasures. Big leaves in green from the Amelia Collection.

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TR-5 Michigan Dunes

So I've never been to Michigan, but I imagine it with lakes, not dunes. I guess that's why I chose this teal color for this block.

The fabric is a fat quarter from the Granary, Etching in Turquoise from the Amelia Collection by Timeless Treasures.

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RS-1 Tennessee Valley

This block was paper pieced using freezer paper. The fabric is from the Granary when I bought 20 fat quarters for $40 last weekend.

I'm surprised how well the valley points match up. For some reason I was apprehensive to do this block. I think my piecing skills have improved but my brain hasn't realized it yet. I guess that's better than the other way around.

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Dear Jane Progress 2/23/09

By request of Rebekah, here is my progress as of today. Actually, I have one more block finished, but I'm waiting for the disappearing ink to disappear. It's starting to look like a quilt! Only 27 blocks behind the group now.

Also, if you click on "Virtual Wall" over there <----- (in the sidebar), you'll see a HTML version. Not as exciting as this one, but it works.

C-5 Eye of the Cyclone

This block was fun! I think I'm starting to enjoy hand-piecing. I used the freezer paper on top method for this block. I just love it that I can use my hands to sew curves. Amazing. The fabric is Amy Butler's Martini in Mustard from her Midwest Modern line.

I think the closest thing I have experienced to a cyclone was a tornado. Yes yes, I know they're different, cyclones are hurricanes or monsoons, and that tornadoes are another type or storm. Living in the SF bay area, I don't experience much of either. But my tornado experience was when I was in Illinois for band camp and a tornado came through! It was exciting, even though the storm didn't hit our location. It was still super cloudy and apparently the skies turned green.

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BR-8 Thunderhead

This block came together much better than I had imagined. Paper piecing is really wonderful. The fabric is a fat quarter from Joann's.

When I tried googling this block, I kept thinking that it was called Thunderbird. But I guess that's Stravinsky. Eventually I found it, and I think I need to re-read Patricia Polacco's Thunder Cake. I think that was one of my favorite memories from elementary school, when the GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) teacher came and read us that book and then gave us Thunder Cake from the recipe in the back. Mmm.

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TR-2 Australian Pines

I really like this block. I used Amy Butler's Daisy Bouquet in Indigo from her Daisy Chain line. Amy Butler was one of the first designer fabrics that I was attracted to, and I still love it. I am so happy that my local quilt shop, the Granary is now carrying her fabric and patterns. Block is paper pieced using freezer paper.

I would love to go to Australia. One of my dreams is to go to the Great Barrier Reef. I would love to go snorkel with all the beautiful fish. Oh and kangaroos!

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J-7 Chicken Tracks

This block was strip pieced. I was a little nervous, but I think the block came out ok. I've realized that I am what I call an "enthusiastic ironer", so I tend to distort my seams. With strip piecing, this means that the ends are more at a diagonal. However, this block seems to be ok, so I'm happy with it. The fabric is from the Granary, but I don't remember what it is. I used it as my red-orange color to make a colored pencil roll.

Chickens are funny animals. both my mom and Chris are chickens on the Chinese zodiac. I'm born in the year of the pig, and chickens and pigs get along ok. At least we're not incompatible!

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M-9 Fan Dance

I have been looking forward to making this block. Something about it just gets me. It's pretty fantastic. I paper pieced it, and am happy to see that the points aren't too bad. The fabric is from the Granary, but I don't know the name. It's a Christmas fabric, and the line had a fantastic panel with a partridge in a pear tree.

Growing up Chinese, I have seen many fan dances, although I never participated in one. They look so graceful, and I think I'm more of a jock than a dancer.

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L-7 Town Square

I've been knocking out the easy squares lately. This one was also paper pieced, and the precut freezer paper sheets are genius. The fabric is another Heather Ross fabric from her Mendocino line. Probably something like seahorses in gold. I like to imagine the seahorses are gathering in Town Square for the town meeting. What orderly seahorses!

My paper piecing skills are really improving with this quilt. I just have to remember to take the time to breathe and actually look at what I am piecing together! And maybe get a cleaner iron...

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I-2 Kaye's Courtyard

Another easy paper pieced block. This one's fabrics come from the fabric district in Tokyo. Not from the big fabric store Tomato, but a little one down the street.

I love the owls, they make me so happy. I'm almost sad to note that owls aren't as popular as they were last year.

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J-2 Picture Perfect

I am pretty happy with this block. It's paper pieced and pretty easy, but it's been a while since I've been able to get my pieces to line up like I want them. I guess it's appropriate that the block title is "Picture Perfect".

I love polka dots. This bright red makes me so happy. In fact, it makes me want to make a mushroom. I'm pretty sure this fabric was a fat quarter from the Granary.

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A-5 Cathie's Campfire

This block was nice and easy. I used fabric I got from Back Porch Fabrics on the shop hop last year. Paper pieced using freezer paper. Points aren't perfect, but good enough for me. I think it's more obvious because there is so much contrast between the two fabrics.

I played piano, and a little guitar in college, but I never studied another string instrument. I almost wish I had, especially after watching Nodame Cantabile (a Japanese drama about an orchestra). On our trip to Maui, we stopped by the Costco and bought a ukulele. I think it's time to start learning how to play!

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Weekend Sewing

Oof, what a weekend. Lots of eating, lots of sewing, and lots of rain! I am so happy for the rain. It is cold and miserable, but we really need it. Plus, rain means that I have an excuse to stay inside and sew! Along with all the Dear Jane blocks, here is what I did this weekend:

A couple blocks for the bushfire quilt project. There are some beautiful quilts being made for the victims of the bushfire in Victoria, and I wanted to contribute a little bit. They're on their way to Australia now.

Also, I have been VERY lucky in online contests recently. I won these earrings from Sulu. LOVE her earrings. I think this is my 3rd or 4th pair of hers.

I also won a pack of fat quarters from Sew Mama Sew and 4 fat quarters from Anina via her Twiddletails store. She is also the one who is inspiring to make THAT QUILT. Both are great places to shop. I would have photos, but they went straight into the wash to be used for my Dear Jane quilt. You'll see them in blocks soon! Thank you!!

I think I will have to pass on this good karma and do a giveaway as well. Plus I have blasted past 200 posts, I think this is 204? I'll have to do a giveaway at 250 posts.

Oh and to go with the title of the post, my copy of Weekend Sewing is in the mail! I am SO excited!!!!

C-4 Tic Tac Toe

This block was paper pieced. It was really hard for me to line up the points, but I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. The fabric is Amy Butler's Geisha Fans in Clay from the Lotus line. I love this fabric. It is just so wild and crazy.

When I was making this block, I was reminded of playing Tic Tac Toe with a little boy in Cambodia at Ta Som (the tree gate temple). He was so smart, I think he could speak a bit of 13 languages. Just enough to get tourists to buy stuff. But we played a game of tic tac toe, and when it ended in a cats game, he said "So that means I win" with a sly smile on his face. It made me smile to see that such a simple game was played in the same way half way around the world.

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A-4 Courtney's Stethoscope

Wow this is way wonkier than I remember. But it is finished! Fabric is an eighth of a yard from the Granary. Must be Christmas fabric because of the hollies in it. Paper pieced, but I was lazy and instead of lining things up like I usually do I just eyed it. It's pretty obvious.

I've always found stethoscopes fascinating. It's so exciting to listen to your own heart. I think that was one of my favorite classes in Biology.. learning how to take my own blood pressure.

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C-8 Hani's Crown

I think this is my new favorite block. The fabric is from Japan. I am not sure why I like this block so much. I just think it's cute!

I hung out with a couple of friends this weekend and a lot of our conversation centered around Japan. I really want to go back! I just found out tons of delicious food that I missed out on.

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F-3 Snowball

Snow! Living in California, the closest I have seen to snow in my hometown is hail. But occasionally we do go up to Tahoe and right now I can see that there is snow up on the mountains. I have been meaning to take a trip to the snow with Lucy to see how she reacts to snow. The cold rain doesn't seem to bother her, so I think she would enjoy the snow too!

This fabric came from my wonderful cousin. She made her sister a very cute frenchy bag with this fabric, and I begged for scraps! It's Heather Ross' VW Vans from the Lightning Bugs line. Too cute! Block is paper pieced.

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RS-4 Dutch Apron

So my dutch apron is more Japanese. I bought the fabric in Japan when I went there to visit a couple years ago. I loved it there, and quickly decided that I want to visit Japan during each season. So far I've got summer checked off!

This block was fun and easy to make, even though I couldn't figure out how to mirror the triangle using the Dear Jane software. Foundation pieced.

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D-6 Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!! I've never really been a fan of this day, even though my boyfriend and I have been together for the last 8 years. It is nice to get flowers and chocolates, but I'm greedy and I'd rather get them everyday! :p

This block was easy peasy. Foundation pieced using fabric from Heather Ross' Mendocino line.

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TR-4 Bennington Cross

I have been having trouble making blocks lately. After I finish the block, I notice I trimmed it down incorrectly, or I put the color in the wrong place, or I sewed it together incorrectly. In this case my mistake was that I made the cross in white. Good thing I fixed it, it's not much of a "Bennington Cross" without the cross!

This triangle is paper pieced, and I am so happy to see it's not leaning! I bought the fabric from the fat eigth bucket at the Granary.

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A-8 Florence Nightingale

This is my second attempt at this block. And it's so easy too! The first time I accidentally trimmed the block at a 45 degree angle, so the "X" looked more like a cross. In any case, it is a very easy paper pieced pattern, so it was redone quickly. The fabric is one of the first fat quarters I bought, and the information from the selvedge is Windham Fabric presents Feedsack II Circa 1930 Pattern No. 22417.

When I showed the block to Chris last night, he said "It looks like the flowers have a bandage on them." How perfect, since it is the Florence Nightingale block.

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BR-6 Frank's Rickrack

I have been avoiding this triangle. It was actually easier than I feared, except that I accidentally used white where I should have used red... and I had to go back and fix it. Paper pieced. The fabric is Bows in red from the Building Blocks line by American Jane (Sandy Klop) for Moda. I just realized how hard it is to search for names of out of print fabrics online. That was way harder than it needed to be. I love this fabric though. I also have it in cream, but I can't use it for this quilt because I don't think the contrast is quite enough.

I didn't used to like rickrack, but I think it's growing on me. I think I just didn't know how to use it. I would like to meet a guy named Frank with some rickrack though. How great would that be?

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M-11 Rickshaw

I love rickshaws! When I was younger, I visited my family in Indonesia and my favorite thing to do was eat watermelon and ride around on becak(rickshaws). I even have a little metal model of a becak. Recently in Vietnam, as part of our tour, we rode around Hanoi in rickshaws, and it was a different experience from what I remember in Indonesia. People were definitely walking faster than we were pedalling, and I remember feeling bad for my poor old driver.

This block is paper pieced. The fabric is from Free Study Glimmer by Kristine Baerlin again, and I love it. The colors are so calming, and then you notice the koi swimming around. It reminds me of Yeh-Shen, a Chinese Cinderella story in which she has a big fish in the backyard...

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LS-9 Kiwi

I tried a new way of hand applique. It's a bit hard to explain, but compared to the way most people applique, I used to separate one step into two steps. I would have to flip back and forth between the front and the back, and while it was more accurate, it took twice as long. Now I only look at the front, and poke my needle down and up in one step. Much faster. This triangle has reverse hand appliqued and then machine pieced across the center.

The fabric is Sandy Gervais' Fresh Squeezed Swirls in Watermelon. I figure the fruit family should stick together! I completed it during a trip down to LA with my high school friends this past weekend. It was a lot of fun, and a TON of eating.

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F-2 Kaleidescope

This block was easy! Paper pieced. It was nice to get away from set in seams. The fabric is Free Study Glimmer by Kristine Baerlin, made by Free Spirit Fabrics. I think this is my favorite print out of the whole line.

I made a little zipper pouch using this fabric to teach myself how to insert a zipper. I am proud to say that the zipper pouch is used ALL the time. It holds the extra sewing machine feet for my Janome Silver. I always forget how handy little pouches are!

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F-10 Potholder

Hurray for fishies! This is another Heather Ross fabric that I bought right when I started quilting. I think I only got a fat quarter, so I couldn't bear to cut it! I love how it turned out here though. This block was paper pieced. Not too bad.

My family had freshwater fish growing up. We had angelfish, and my sister named them after ice skaters. There were 2 marble angelfish (Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano), two white angelfish (Nancy Kerrigan and Paul Wylie) and two striped angelfish (Katarina Witt and Dick Button aka Dick Butthead, they were the "alpha" fish of the tank). The names on this fabric remind me of those fish. We've had many fish since then, but those names always stick out for me...

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RS-11 Hills of Jerusalem

This was a fun triangle to make. It's freezer paper pieced. The hardest part about making it was lining up the pieces. I left a lot of extra fabric on the outside so it was more forgiving when I cut it down to size.

Not sure why this block is called Hills of Jerusalem. From what I googled online it looks like there are seven hills of Jerusalem? In any case, it makes for a pretty block. I'll have to keep it in mind when I eventually visit.

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H-11 Piercing Rays

I really enjoyed making this block. Not sure why, but I have a feeling it was the polka dots. They're just so happy. The fabric is a fat quarter from the Granary, and unfortunately I didn't get the selvedge side. It is foundation pieced and then the set in seams come in. I had a much better time with this block than the last block with set in seams. I've discovered that I pull a bit too much on the fabric, so for me it helps a lot if I backstitch just a little bit to keep the stitches in place.

The one thing about this block that bothers me is that some burned stuff from my iron transferred to a part of the block where the seams are particularly thick. Thankfully it's not too noticeable, but I really need to stop being lazy and just clean that darn iron.

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E-9 Quilt Jail

Blah. This block was surprisingly hard for me! I guess foundation piecing is way more accurate than strip piecing for me. I've noticed that before too, I think it's something to do with the way I iron. I think I iron too enthusiastically, and it distorts the fabric. It's a little wonky, but oh well.

The fabric is from a dress I still have yet to finish. You could say the dress is in "Dress Jail".

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K-12 Doris' Dilemma

I love stripes! I think if I ever make another Dear Jane quilt, it's going to be made with stripes. A "Stripey Jane"! I love how the stripes make this simple block a bit more dynamic.

This block was paper pieced using the freezer paper technique. I found out yesterday that freezer paper is sold pre-cut into 8.5x11 sheets, and I am so happy. The fabric is some small stripe from the Moda Sonnet collection I used for my Half Moon Bay quilt.

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RS-8 Love Forever

I have never been a fan of hearts. They're just too girly. Also not too much a fan of pink. But I do like dresses now. For applique however, hearts are great. You get to practice an inside corner, an outside corner, curves, and straight lines. I do really like this triangle, and I think that hearts are growing on me. I think the fact that I paired it with a darker color makes it ok.

This triangle was entirely done using reverse applique. The fabric I got from an estate sale, and the only information I could get from the selvedge was that it was produced by Peter Pan Fabrics. What a great name for a fabric company.

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G-8 Justin' Comet

This block was way harder than I thought. I am no good with inset seams. I also tried to fussy cut the block, but it didn't turn out quite how I imagined it. Although I have to say, looking at it now it doesn't seem as bad as when I was making it. Finished is better than perfect, right?

The fabric is Honeycomb in Green from the Flutterby collection for Moda by Tula Pink.

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H-8 Eaton's Crossroads

This block was actually less frustrating than I had originally imagined. It is made of 36 pieces and has both paper piecing and hand piecing. I think slow and steady won the race with this one. The fabric is from my Half Moon Bay quilt, and is Aqua Paisley Flower from the Sonnet collection for Moda by April Cornell.

It was strange. Yesterday I came to the realization that I like paper piecing. I especially like the freezer paper method. A long time ago I bought a roll of freezer paper thinking that I would never finish it. Well it's looking pretty low... Now if they could just start selling freezer paper in 8.5x11 cuts I would be SO happy.

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