A moment of insanity

An article by Rachel    1 Comment

A couple of years ago, I discovered the Dear Jane Quilt. For some unknown reason I was attracted to this quilt. I wanted to make my own. I thought about it for a year before I did anything.

In February 2004, I bought the Dear Jane software. I liked the idea of being able to print templates or foundation pieces. A few weeks later I bought 2 bolts of fabric. Why two bolts? I want to be different. Most quilters choose one background fabric to use through out the quilt. Then they use various reproduction fabrics for the block patterns. First of all I’m not a huge fan of reproduction fabrics. I like bright vivid colors. Also the thought of constantly looking for new fabrics for this quilt sounded like more work than fun. So I decided to use just two fabrics for the whole quilt, a background and a print fabric. My print fabric is a multi colored floral print. It is a timeless print.

Despite having everything I needed to make the quilt. I didn’t do anything until December 2004. After Christmas, I was making a list of my New Year’s Resolutions. I decided that I had to finish some of my unfinished projects. (I realize that every quilt has this resolution. So you’ll understand.)

Since I was on vacation I went to work. In a moment of insanity, I made a plan. If I sewed 8 blocks a month, I would finish the square blocks in 20 months. I don’t plan on making the triangle blocks. So with a little work I could have the top pieced in 2 years.

Now that sounds like a reasonable plan. Right? Wrong! First, I should mention that I decided to hand piece the blocks. I thought it would be therapeutic. Well it is therapeutic. However it takes forever. At best I could finish 2 blocks a week.

In January and February, I managed to stay on top of my goal. I finished eight blocks in January and eight in February. Then I decided I wanted to work on something else. I don’t even remember what diverted my attention. Regardless, I haven’t touched this quilt since the end of February. Here is one of my finished blocks.

Pictures of my finished Dear Jane blocks can be found HERE in my photo gallery. Enjoy viewing them!