Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Some of my "Dear Jane" blocks - up close and personal


Yesterday I mentioned that my "Dear Jane" quilt taught me so much.  What do I mean?  You can see in these blocks that I picked fabrics that had a motif that I liked and fussy cut the fabric to get just the perfect piece I needed.  Imagine, the windmill was 1/2 " across!  My fabric ended up looking like Swiss cheese! 

Then I had to had to find the supporting fabrics - just the right ones that would show off the composition and not compete, but complement the rest of the block. 

My pile of blocks kept building.  I made each one carefully and patiently.  Since I was not copying Jane's original layout, I trusted that I would be able to make it work with the values and colors that I had spontaneously chosen.  

Plus, I learned quite a bit about geometry because I had to be careful where the grain was, so the finished quilt wouldn't ripple.

I still LOVE this quilt!  

3 comments:

  1. Randy, these are beautiful, I've done about 55 of these so far, I know what you mean about making them carefully and patiently!

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  2. I guess that's what I love about making these very complicated blocks, the patience it takes to figure them out! I seem to abhor the word EASY these days - I want difficult! So enjoy every minute of the "making". I have one crazy friend - Sharron Evan's, who is making 6 Dear Janes all at once! She figures after she has made the first block and figured it out, the other 5 will be easy! Yes - she IS nuts, but also smart!

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Any thoughts are welcomed!