Time for another Throwback Thursday post! The following post was originally published on February 28th, 2010. Enjoy!
Dear Jane……I’m sorry, but……
I just don’t think I can follow your rules. I know you worked hard on all those 4 1/2″ blocks and I tried to follow the book, really I did. But it just isn’t going to happen. Love and admiration, Katy
A number of years ago, my local guild makde a Dear Jane raffle quilt. There were a lot of leftover photocopies of pages and someone gave them to me. I was quite fascinated and decided to make some of the blocks. I got kind of hooked on it and yet I had other blocks that I liked that were not in the book. I made them anyway. I invented more blocks with things that are important to me: a school house, my family members’ initials, scissors, a cross etc. I made 100 blocks and put them together into this:
This picture is washed out but most of the prints are repros or things that just look old to me. You can’t tell but the border is quilted with feathers. I won a ribbon at a local show with this for Best Traditional. I love this quilt and had a lot of fun making it my way and my own.
Fast forward a few years and I am again thinking I should do the Dear Jane thing. I bought the book. I made patterns. I made some blocks. This past week I discovered the 25 or so I had done and decided to make more. Some of these are really fussy to make. I thought about simplifying a few blocks but the very thought made me feel like a criminal or at least a serious slacker….
I remembered this quilt I finished earlier and got it out of the closet. I am going to put a sleeve on it and hang it in my front room. I remembered how much I loved this and how fun it was to make without being married to the pattern.
Once again, I decided to ditch Jane. I will still make plenty of blocks from the book but I will change them with wild abandon. I will add and subtract to my hearts content. The world doesn’t need one more Jane Stickle wanna be quilt from me.
I think I will call this, Sister Kate, She Hath Done What She Could…..
If you read this far, you may be wondering what actually happened to these blocks. You can read about my finished quilt, Calamity Jane here.
KatyQuilts 
LOVE that gorgeous blue you used to see Calamity Jane! That really sets off those blocks beautifully.
Quilting is supposed to be fun, and you are doing what is fun for you! I love it.
Another person bitten by the bug. well, i for one think your idea of doing it your way, and the title of it, is perfect. there are a gazillion dear janes out there, in all manner of fabrics, quilting, etc. my top is made and is in a pillow-case now. i know that i will probably never hand quilt it. machine, i’m not sure now. i quilted one for a client and spent over 40 hours on it, only to hear her complain to everyone that i charged her too much. even the dear jane retreat people told her she got off easy. one side of my jane (the triangles) was put on in the wrong order. guess that will make it look unique. here’s to doing it your way. patti in florida
What a great post, Katy!
Years ago I bought the Dear Jane pattern book….still have not made it… I am predominately a hand piecer, so I figured I could hand piece the blocks and would get better accuracy. I find that to be true with piecing larger blocks. I would still like to make a Dear Jane at some point.
I also bought the Farmer’s Wife pattern book. Since those blocks are a little bigger, I think I would do better making that one first.
I have a good sized stash of Civil War reproduction fabrics that were purchased specifically for these two quilts, so I really have no excuses for not making them.
Perhaps your blog post is just what will inspire me to get started! Thanks!!
I love your Dear Jane quilt. I think Calamity Jane is wonderful! I was going to make a Dear Jane quilt a few years ago with some ladies from my guild too. I bought everything to start, made a few blocks and decided it was not for me. LOL I gave everything to another member who decided they wanted to do it. Hugs,
It was great to see this post today. I was just thinking yesterday that I would like to attempt a Dear Jane quilt. I guess I will give it a try. Thanks for the inspiration.