More Jane

Well, life has been a little crazy lately but it looks like things are getting back towards normal.  

I can tell this is happening because, look!, more Jane blocks!

Now I'm off to catch up on things like all the lovely comments people have been leaving and other fun things.

Water Sports

Things have been quite hectic here lately so there hasn't been much time for quilting.  There was time though for a little rafting trip.  This was our beautiful, unseasonably warm weather that we were able to take advantage of.

We picked up a few friends along the way.

And managed to get a little wet...

On the quilty side of life, my guild started a UFO challenge.  We're challenging ourselves to finish UFOs this year and at the kick-off we had a show & tell of some of our UFOs.  Here are two (sadly neither one is mine) that started off as Round Robins a couple of years ago.  These blocks have the theme of 4-patches and 9-patches.  (we're trying to figure out which person contributed which block)

This is another round robin.  In this one we were supplied the fabric and patterns and asked to create one of the blocks.

With a Thread to Spare

I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture below, but there is a tiny bit of thread beside this month's finish.  That is all the thread that was left after quilting this quilt.  It's funny, as I noticed the thread running out, I started quilting faster.  As if, somehow, that would make the thread last longer.  This is the muddy quilt from quite some time ago.  I've finally gotten around to quilting and binding it.  

Since I've been so Dear Jane inspired/obsessed lately, it wouldn't be a post without a few more blocks.  I'm now down to 30 blocks before starting triangles!

A Matter of Scale

I seem to be working in two very different scales these days.  The little pink block is another Dear Jane block.  The large blue one is my guild's next block for our Block of the Month.  Yup, there is a slight difference in the sizes...

I've been on  a big of a Dear Jane roll lately, so I couldn't stop at just one block and had to do a few more.  I'm getting pretty excited.  I've got under 40 blocks left before I move onto the triangles!

Y-seams

Y-seams can seem a little scary at first but if you keep a few things in mind they're not bad at all.

For all the seams that meet in the Y - sew up to the 1/4" seam allowance but no further.  Then backstitch.

I take Y-seams in two steps always sewing from the outside to the inside.  This helps to prevent puckers in the fabric and ensures that your corner fabric doesn't stretch out.  Pin your fabric together and mark 1/4 inch from the end.  Sew up to but not past the pin (picture below).  Stopping a thread or two before the pin is better than going slightly over.  Backstitch.  (You need to backstitch in the corner because there will be nothing preventing you seam from unravelling.)

Now you do the same thing for the other side.  Remember to stop just before the pin and backstitch.  If you notice from the picture below, I fold the fabric out of the way so that I'm not fighting the fabric while sewing.

Then you press so that your Y piece (the triangle in this picture) is flat.  If you need to, you can trim a little of the bulk of the seam in the corner to help things lay a little flatter.

Dear Jane

I'm not sure what happened with the comments for the previous posts.  Sorry.  I think I have it fixed now.

Our heat wave has broken and I'm starting back into more quilting.  I've been working on quilting a larger quilt as part of finish it Fridays.  It's almost done so I hope to be posting it soon. 

In the meantime I've been plugging away on Dear Jane blocks.  Here are a few more finished.

Block of the Month

My guild is doing a block of the month this year.  Each month one of the participants picks out a pattern for us to do.  We're each making our own blocks and will be having the grand unveiling at our Christmas party.

It's been great seeing how different the blocks are turning out and I can't wait to see them all done.  Just to give you an idea of what fabric choices do for you.  Here are my last two blocks.  And here is the set done by one of the guild members.