C-1 Trooper Green's Badge

If I remember correctly, I used this fabric as a lining for a bag I made for Sara when we did our swap. I couldn't help but use green fabric for Trooper Green's badge. Although if I was him, green definitely wouldn't be my favorite color...

This block was foundation pieced using the freezer paper method. I've been using 1/8 inch seam allowances since this method allows you to use the freezer paper as a guide.

18-0-0-220

B-10 Jud's Trophy

This block was a bit frustrating, especially the cross in the middle. For some reason, my seams wouldn't line up! It's still a tiny bit off, but much MUCH better than before.

The star fabric is from the Laurel Leaf from when I participated in Shop Hop 2008. I love these blocks because a fat quarter is way more than enough to make one. I made this block by foundation piecing the center and freezer paper piecing the rest.

17-0-0-2007

B-5 Hot Cross Buns

I reverse appliqued this block while watching "I Survived a Japanese Game Show". I really do love that show. What's not to like? Reality TV mixed in with Japan! Yes please!

This block is reverse appliqued and machine pieced. The fabric is Amy Butler Belle Acanthus in Teal. I used this fabric for my sister's Yellow Brick Road quilt, and I liked the fabric so much that I used it as the border. It's hard to tell from the small pieces here, but it is a large scale two tone print. I actually like how the small pieces break it up.

16-0-0-178

B-12 Starflower

Alright, so this is the block that I accidentally cut when trimming the back fabric. If you look above the (super cute) teacup dog, there is a little triangle where my scissors nicked the top fabric. Any suggestions? Redo the block? Fray check? Iron on interfacing on the back?

In any case, the fabric is Heather Ross Dog Park Orange from her Lightning Bugs line. I really liked this block, so it was such a let down to do something so stupid as accidentally cutting the fabric...

15-0-0-163

Baby Jane Progress

14 blocks done, only 29 behind the group... oof, that's a lot of catching up to do.

Oh and I got a new scanner/printer/copier/fax, so I scanned in the blocks that I could find so they are much more consistent with the actual color now. I'm going with a random/I-love-this-fabric-so-it's-going-in-the-quilt theme, so it's not quite as impressive as some of the other progress charts out there. Here are a couple very cute ones.

I just realized that I haven't posted about a finished block since July 15th. I actually do have another block that is finished, but when I was cutting trimming the fabric, I accidentally cut through the front. I think for now I will leave it as it is, but I will have to think about redo-ing it in the future.

BTRS Swap Bag Received!

Hurray! I finally received my bag! I love it, it's black with yellow, and I lurve yellow. There was no note, and no name, so I am not sure if it was a swap angel or my original swap partner, but I love it either way, so thank you!

Common Threads - Melissa's Block

Hurray! I'm done (late) with another block for Common Threads! I love how the birds look like they're peeping around the corner...

I wrote a bit more about the block here.

Word...le

Whew! That was a lot of blocks! I'm still working on more, but nothing new to post today. I'm purposely posting them one block per entry, because eventually I want to make a Blurb book of all my Dear Jane blocks. I figure if I'm going to put so much time into this quilt, I should document it!

So surfing around my blog feed today, I saw something interesting on Anina's blog (who happens to be the wonderful host of the Dear Baby Jane Quilt Along). Here is my wordle cloud:

Ok, it's smaller than I expected, but I'm too lazy to make it larger. So apparently Wordle takes your most frequently used words and makes a word cloud out of it. I don't think it takes into account the entire blog, maybe the first few posts? In any case, I wasn't too surprised about "block" or "fabric" or even "freezer" and "paper", but I was surprised about "really". Then I realized that I (really really really) like to repeat the word when I'm writing...

In any case, I am late on my Common Threads block, and I found out that it was Melissa's birthday too! I am a bad quilting bee participant! But I will get it to you as soon as I can!

C-3 Rayelle's Fence

This block was fun to make! I strip pieced this block, and it was nice and easy. I started and finished while Chris was making delicious curry. Somewhat appropriate since I always think the round circles in the print are dinner plates. The fabric for this block was bought at Joann's when I first started quilting. I used it to bind my quilt block carrier that Holly so kindly taught us.

14-0-0-161

B-6 Wild Goose Chase

Alright, this is the first block that really gave me trouble. According to the Dear Jane website, this an advanced block, so that makes me feel a bit better. Perhaps it was because I was doing it during a bbq, but that's not really the point. I used the freezer paper foundation technique again, and it worked out ok. My inner square is beautiful. But my last set of triangles is off. I can't decide if I want to redo it, but once again, finished is better than perfect!

The fabric is from my stash, and a quick look through flickr shows that I used this fabric as part of the log cabin pillow I made for Dernie for her birthday.

13-0-0-136

B-4 Chris' Soccer Field

This block was not my first attempt at paper piecing, but it was my first time using the freezer paper method. Instead of sewing through the paper, you fold it back on the crease and iron the freezer paper down after the seam is sewn. I can now see why people like those mini clover irons. I will have to put that on my wish list. I really enjoyed this method, and will probably continue to use it, especially since I have a huge roll of freezer paper.

The fabric came from my local quilt shop, the Granary, when they used to offer a Twinkler. A twinkler was a monthly program in which you receive pack of 6 fat quarters from the same line. I really liked the program because I ended up getting fabrics that I otherwise would never have even considered, but unfortunately, it got canceled.

12-0-0-93

B-2 Sweet Tater Pie

Whenever I say this block (or even look at it now) I get the song "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond stuck in my head. This block was super fun to make. Machine pieced and then appliqued. When making the half square triangles I accidentally sewed the fabrics wrong side together, so this block took longer than it really should have.

The fabric is from my local quilt shop and I loved the pattern so much I got it in 3 different colorways for this quilt.

11-0-0-72

B-3 Mirror Image

I really enjoyed making this block because I am making another quilt made completely out of Drunkard's Path blocks. This one went together very easily, and I love it. I love the curved piecing of the block.

The fabric is another one that I found at the local quilt shop and just had to buy. I'm not sure what attracted me to it, but I love it.

10-0-0-56

D-13 Field of Dreams

I love this block. It's also known as the signature block. I am seriously considering starting making a ton of these blocks now and have people sign them when I get married. It's really nice because they have the area in the white to sign. This block was easy-peasy, rotary cut and then machine pieced.

I finally found a selvedge edge that let me know what this line of fabric is (seen previously in C-9 Jane's Tears). It's Free Study Glimmer by Kristine Baerlin, made by Free Spirit Fabrics. I really love the colors of this line, and I really love Free Spirit Fabrics in general.

9-0-0-48

M-10 Simple Simon

Ah, an easy 9 patch. It's interesting to see how much I have improved over the years. I started quilting somewhere about the middle of 2006, so about 2 years ago. I am happy to say that my 1/4 inch seam is now pretty consistent. I remember when getting the corners to line up in 9 patches seemed like the hardest thing to do. Thankfully this one went together very easily and I am glad to see that all the quilting classes I have taken over the past two years have helped.

The fabric is another Kaffe Fassett, yet another one that I have had in my stash with no idea how to use. This one is Holiday Beach Balls, and while I love all of his fabrics and his wonderful color combinations, it has been hard for me to break out of my love of simple designs made with linen or just white fabric. I feel like a lot of his quilts show off and play with the color in his wonderful fabrics, while the designers (such as Denyse Schmidt) I was originally drawn to use plain fabrics to show off clean designs. Perhaps a Kaffe Fassett inspired quilt is in order?

8-0-0-43

A-7 Dad's Plaids

This block was interesting to make because there was both regular applique and reverse applique. I definitely like reverse applique better because I feel like I do a better job of the points. For both methods, I used freezer paper on the top piece and folded them down as I went along. I think for the next applique block I will try putting freezer paper on the inside and iron down the edges before attaching it.

Fabric is from my local quilt shop, the Granary. Not sure who it's made by, and it is a little too dark for my color scheme, but I love it anyway. When I saw it I just had to buy it. It doesn't feel like normal quilting cottons, it's a bit thicker and the threads seem looser? I'm not really sure how to describe it.

7-0-0-34

K-7 Rose of Sharing

I am so in love with this block. Some people pieced the block, so it looked more like 4 hearts intersecting, but I wanted to be able to showcase my fabric. The fabric is by Heather Ross from a few years ago. I bought it off ebay when I first started quilting, and have been hoarding it in my stash since then. I am much happier with the applique on this block. Just now as I was writing my post, I tried to google the name of the fabric and searched for Heather Ross, and now I really need more of her cute fabrics for my quilt. I had almost a feeling of panic that her fabrics are almost sold out and I don't have it for my quilt yet!

6-0-0-26

D-3 Jason's Jacks

I made this block when I had to work odd hours at work. When I had a spare moment, I would work on this block. The fabric is Vintage Dahlia Blooms by Kaffe Fassett, and I bought it a long time ago, but never found a good use for it. This was my first applique block (not reverse applique) and it was ok. The points were difficult for me but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. This block also sat in my purse for a long time, and I accidentally got chocolate (of course) on one of the corners of the white fabric. Whoops! Hopefully it will come out!

5-0-0-24

C-9 Jane's Tears

I really enjoyed this block. I ordered a pack of fat quarters from Hancock's of Paducah, and I absolutely LOVE this line. The colors are so pretty. I don't remember what the line is anymore, but I am so happy to include it in my Dear Jane quilt. I made this block back during lacrosse season. I would bring it to games that I was reffing, and would work on it because I was always inevitably early.

4-0-0-22

Yosemite 2008

Every year my family goes to Yosemite for July 4th. It's so beautiful there, and relaxing (even with the huge crowds). This year we brought the dogs, Fred and Lucy and they were hilarious. I took a look at the photos from this year, and they're all of the dogs. None of the gorgeous scenery that Yosemite offers, just of the two puppies.

We took the two dogs on a looong walk, and they were pooped! Lucy also followed her big "cousin" into the water and swam for a bit. More photos on my sister's blog and her flickr.

My sister brought bubbles for the dogs to play with. Freddy LOVED them. Lucy, as you can see from the series above, was pretty much terrified of them. She tried to find a corner in the pen. Here is a video of her swimming, more videos of the two cutie pies can be found here.


I noticed that this is my 100th post! I should do a giveaway or something like that, huh? I'll think of something, and we can celebrate later, maybe at post 117. Who would have thought with all my sporadic posting that I would actually make it to 100? Anyway, giveaway coming soon! :)

Shop Hop by the Bay 2008

This past weekend was the Shop Hop, and it was my first year participating in it. We left behind this cute face

and went on a road trip. We spent the weekend down in Asilomar, and it was beautiful there. Here are some shots of Asilomar

It was cold and super fun. I haven't been tidepooling since grade school.

So the main event was the shop hop. We made it to all the shops, including the museum. I didn't have any projects in mind, so I didn't buy much. Our original plan was to take a photo in front of every store, but we forgot at the first few stores and scrapped that idea. There were a total of 13 stores plus the museum, and each stop would give you a charm for a charm bracelet. Very cute. Unfortunately, our last stop was the museum and they were out of charms and bracelets, so we have a lot of loose charms for now. We'll be watching our mailbox.

All in all it was fun, and I'll definitely do it again next year. Here is the tired pup face after we returned. My parents had a party when we were gone, and Lucy was exhausted from trying to get everyone to play with her...


And just because they're pretty, here are some flowers from my visit to the Filoli Center last friday. I think it's funny that I don't really like purple, but I LOVE lavender. I especially like the flower (plant?) in the bottom left corner. Reminded me of fabrics like this one and this one