DEAR JEANNE, A SAMPLER QUILT

In the 1990s when quilters were beginning to be fascinated by the "Dear Jane" quilts that were surfacing, I also was intrigued.  

I thought about making one for a long time, but decided I needed to put my own spin on one.  In 2015, I started making 5" blocks from designs that I had used in my quilts and other needlework over the years.  After making 64 blocks, far from the 125 in the original; I set it together thinking I would hand quilt it.  That never happened due to eye and hand problems.  Now in 2022, I am trying to finish up some of those old projects.

I'm still not able to hand quilt and I rely on machine quilting the smaller quilts that I now make.  I knew that I couldn't handle this 52" square quilt on my home sewing machine.  So, I disassembled it into four quadrants; machine quilted each separately; and reassembled using a quilt-as-you-go technique.

The quilting stretched my machine quilting abilities. Since there were 64 different blocks that each required a different quilting pattern and 3 different thread color changes, it was time consuming. However, I really enjoyed the challenge.  The fun part was reliving all of the designs from my past projects, and the myriad of fabrics used from my stash.

I have named this quilt "Dear Jeanne" as four generations of my family have the middle name of Jeanne.  Hopefully, there will be a fifth generation some day with that name that can inherit and appreciate the quilt.

THE STATS: "DEAR JEANNE, A SAMPLER QUILT", 2015-2022, 51"X51", HAND APPLIQUED, MACHINE PIECED, MACHINE EMBROIDERY, MACHINE QUILTED

My quilt really pales in comparison to Ricky Tims' "The Quilt Show Guest Artist Sampler". His sampler is spectacular! (seen on Instagram under rickytims)

I'm now on to another older quilt top to finish!!

SQUARE DANCE

When I posted about the table runner, "Star Flowers", most comments were about how they loved the colors. I hadn't put my pink/red and yellow scrap bins away when I started a new quilt.  So, I decided why not use those scraps again and add some blue and green.  This is the result -- "Square Dance". 

Although there are 91 3-inch blocks, this was fast and easy to put together using paper piecing.

THE STATS:  "SQUARE DANCE", 2022, 32"X32", Paper pieced, machine pieced, machine quilted.

STARSTRUCK #2

 Back in the day when I was publishing and teaching classes in quilt making, I would develop and make the quilt.  Often, I would then make a second smaller quilt top to double check the pattern and show other fabric and color options. I never got around to quilting some of those smaller samples.  I'm making an effort to complete some of the unfinished projects, and now is the time to quilt this one; it is only 18 years later. 

I'm fortunate that I have a large closet that houses my scraps and stash. I did find some more of the stripe fabric in four separate pieces to sew together for the back of this quilt. You never know when you might need those dibs and dabs!

THE STATS:  STARSTRUCK #2, 2004-2022, 25"X25", Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

Starstruck, the 2004 version, was on the cover of my book about "Traditional Two Block Quilts".

STAR FLOWERS

Table runners are always a fun project for me on several levels.  They are fairly small; can be made from scraps; plus, they make great gifts; and are usually well received as a donation for an event or charity.

 

This is Star Flowers----

THE STATS:  Star Flowers, 2022, 14"x36", Paper pieced, machine pieced, machine quilted.

 This table runner has been donated to our church for an outreach event to be held the last of March.  It will be used in a drawing to entice people to volunteer to help.  I hope it is successful in that effort.

Edited to add:  Now owned by Rayma Payne.

 

MONDAY MORNING

My favorite TV show is "CBS's Sunday Morning".  I have long been fascinated by the kaleidoscope designs shown at the end of each segment on the show.  There have also been quiltmakers, with far more talent and patience than I possess, that have made fabulous kaleidoscope-type quilts. I knew that if I attempted that style of quilt, I would have to simplify the design considerably to have a chance to be able to construct it.

I wondered if I could achieve a kaleidoscopic effect by constructing a quilt in small square units rather than in the usual 60-degree units.  Here is "Monday Morning".

THE STATS: "MONDAY MORNING", 2022, 29"X29", Machine appliqued, Paper pieced, Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

Success??  I don't know, but it was an enjoyable process.