KatyQuilts

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.

Remember that bin of 2 1/2” squares I showed you the other day? I actually have two of those bins. That one was all repro fabrics, this one is more bright/modern prints. Basically anything that isn’t Civil War, ends up here.

So I started messing around on the design wall.

I needed some low volume bits so I opened up this long hoarded charm pack.

And ta daaaa!

Nothing is sewn yet, but I’m hoping you can tell what it is. If you’ve been around a while, you might remember this map quilt that I made for Daugher #3 and SIL.

I got the idea for this from Pinterest. I spent a lot of time trying to rack down a pattern or designer to give credit. Most pins sent me to Craftsy, but once there, I couldn’t find anything about this. Mine isn’t exactly the same and I have no idea of the size of the original. ETA: I found a connection between this and a now defunct company called Rebel Craft Media, but that is all I know.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this. Sometimes I need to remind myself that not every quilt needs to be huge.

Have a great day!

My top is all in one piece.

Now I’m wondering if it needs borders. It’s too small for a bed quilt and too big for a throw quilt. Here are the two border option from my stash.

I’m not crazy about either one. I probably have something that would work back in Michigan. I know I have the perfect backing piece there.

Hmmmm….I’m going to have to think about this.

In the mean time, I was asked what size these rectangles were cut. They are 2 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inches. The four patches finish at 4 inches, and the quarter square triangles finish at 6 inches on the long side. Hope this helps!

Have a great day!

Oh, I nearly forgot! AccuQuilt has some great specials this week.

Not only that, but you can get a free GO! Me did cutter!

Click here for details.

Also, Connecting Threads has a remnant sale going on. Remnants are only $3.50 a yard!

This post contains affiliate links.

My leader/ender quilt has taken center stage.

It’s turning out bigger than I originally planned, so I ran out of the QST pieces I cut. Of course, I don’t have any more of that fabric. I’m hoping these pieces will blend well enough.

There is plenty still to be done on this top, like resolving the bottom edge of these strips.

My goal is to have the top done this week.

Click here to register for the next AccuQuilt Live!

Have a great day!

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I finally started quilting this vintage top!

Of course, I’m using Baptist Fans.

And muslin on the back.

I have a bunch of this perle cotton, so I decided to use it for the quilting. After doing a couple fans, I’ve realized I’ll probably run out. That’s okay. It’s a make do kind of quilt.

Let’s see if I can finish this before heading back to Michigan for the summer.

Have a great day!

Last weekend, I flew to Missouri to celebrate the 90th birthday of my beautiful mother in love and friend, Mim.

She is the dearest person! It was a quick visit, but lovely that all her kids could be there for the day.

Mr. Wonderful found these adorable cactus tea lights for me!

I found this shirt for him. 😂

My sweet baby girl, Winslow.

And Willy Boy.

He quite likes his crate, especially with the new fluffy bed.

Have a great weekend!

My friend, Wendy, over at Pieceful Thoughts, recently shared a little tutorial for sewing improv curves. You can find it here. I’ve done this, but her post was the perfect little nudge to play a bit and try it again.

I also wanted a little piece to try out machine quilting on my new to me Bernina. This mug rug is the result.

It’s the perfect size for a mug of coffee and a couple keto cookies!

Have a great day!

Oh, Aunt Martha! I always wanted one of these quilt kits you used to make. I finally found one on eBay and it quickly became mine.

But while you advertised accuracy in cutting, you were anything but accurate. I took apart the first diamond I tried to piece. It turned out terribly.

I bought a stamp set and hand pieced the next diamond. It took hours, somewhere north of two. It turned out better than the first, but I despaired of ever finishing.

But then……my friends at AccuQuilt came out with the Prairie Star die. I knew I had to have it. I placed my ill cut pieces on the die and ran it through.

I machine pieced with nary a pin, and…….ta daaaaa!

Martha, do you see these points! I didn’t even use pins!

And it didn’t take three hours! Sadly, the hand pieced point will need to be disassembled and the pieces recut with my handy dandy die.

But I will persevere, Aunt Martha. You could learn a thing or two from AccuQuilt .

Have a great day!

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Looking back at January, I didn’t finish near as much as I thought. I have done quite a bit of secret sewing that I can’t share just yet, but soon!

Anyway, here are my finishes for the month.

I sure love having a long arm here in AZ so I can truly finish things instead of just making tops. I am so very blessed.

Have a great day!