Sew & Tell Friday #53

Once upon a time.....I dreamed of making a Dear Jane quilt.  I bought the book, later ordered the software, admired the blocks being made by Anya and Susan, spent time searching Flickr for DJ quilts, and imagined one day making a Dear Jane quilt myself.  

Not being able to paper piece or appliqué presented a problem, so I decided to make a liberated version using leftover fabrics from modern projects.  Over a long period of time time I finished nine DJ blocks.  

Then I saw and completely fell in love with this quilt made by Gwen!!!!!!!  I've been hoarding Kaffe fabrics and dreaming of making a Kaffe Dear Jane quilt ever since.

Gruber's Kaffe section

My sister's goal is to make a Farmer's Wife quilt, and the beginning of 2012 marks the beginning of our own little support group to encourage each other in this insanity.  We haven't come up with a definite time line or schedule yet, instead we are just excited to begin.

 Yesterday, I started by assembling the previously made Dear Jane blocks into a quilt top (I'll figure out what to do with it later) and making this B-4 block.  I wanted to begin with a simple block, but also one that I haven't made before.  After wasting too much time trying to figure out the software (I'll save that rant for another day), I traced the pattern myself and went about paper piecing the block.  Taking this class really helped me understand paper piecing even though I fell out of love with that particular quilt by the end of the first lesson....just to show there is something to be taken away from every learning experience ;-)

It's Sew & Tell Friday and finish it up Friday.  Some may say this is a start not a finish....I say it is a start and a finish!  I am starting my Dear Jane journey by finishing.....procrastinating, worrying, doubting, etc. and getting to work ;-)

Happy Friday and happy stitching!