012.Betty Draper Takes a Shot - aka G-4, Shutterbug

so tiny even my camera can't focus ...

T05.Mad Men in Manhattan - aka TR-1, Spanish Moss

Got moving on this one today... Managed to cut off something I wasn't supposed to while trimming... It was one of the long seams, too. arrrrgh. I really need a new seam ripper! The one I have is a '60s special I hang on to cause it was my grandmother's or great aunt's I think. but it's dull and has a nick in it which is so very annoying.

Check out the general paper mahem on this one... And the view out my window tonight... Just missed the magic moment.

those notches are getting dangerously close to the seam allowance. I need to cut longer strips.

well, helloooo, don draperrrrr...

yes, i live in a tree house.

Jane's Addicted to Process.

...of course i had to redesign it.

 
Once I decided I wanted to make this quilt, I wondered if there was a way to keep the overall look and feel of the quilt - to faithfully reproduce (most of) the blocks, but tweak the block placement to emphasize the "trip around the world" pattern at the heart of the design...

So here's a picture of the original Jane A. Stickle quilt. Isn't it beautiful?
I traced over the concentric diamonds that create the "trip around the world" pattern.
Since there is a wide range of values in the blocks, especially since many of the fabrics have faded,
the color scheme of the "trip" effect is a bit hard to see at first.

An easy way to check the "value" of something is to neutralize the color...
I converted all the blocks in the dear jane software to one single color
so I could see the light/dark (value) more clearly. Squinting helps, too.
With the color gone, the motifs start talking to you.

Hello, circles and diamonds, light and dark...

solids and 9-patches, and X'es light and dark...

central motif (applique), asymmetrical, stars, etc.

My worksheet:  testing out a new layout using repositionable colorless blocks... (I printed out and cut up the blocks and hit the backs with a scrapbooking adhesive and it worked great... a little the worse for wear now...) Once I had a good sense for the motif groupings and values of the blocks, I started playing with a new layout based on motif and value. e.g., there are approximately x# of diamond blocks - where could I place those that would make the most sense?

Lightbulb. the blocks with a diamond motif could
form a giant diamond and the X blocks could form a giant X.
At this point I was starting to think all my geeking out on this was starting to pay off.

close up...

A clean version of a redesign... This shows the general block placement I'm going with, but not color scheme (for example, all the diamonds will be in blue.) Since I love the overall color balance of the original quilt and want to try to keep that feeling, I am using a lot of tans and browns, pinks, blues and greens... Some other plans... I'm "righting" the basket, (I actually think it's adorable on-end, but it keeps making me want to turn my head sideways...) I'm boldly replacing the blocks I think are ugly... (blasphemy), and trying to keep the block design as close to the original as possible without reproducing "mistakes" (blasphemy). There's an elements/symbol thing running down the center column: there's  rain, snow, star, earth, sun, and moons. I am using shirtings for  background which could potentially ruin any increased balance I'm achieving with rearranging the blocks... So we will just have to wait and see how it all turns out!

Prep-a-ganza

Couldn't quite organize myself to put needle to fabric this weekend, but did a bit of prepwork.

Finally bought some Carol Doak foundation piecing paper... Looking forward to trying it out.

Tracking Spreadsheets...

Block # of Pieces Tally - I adapted this from someone else's spreadsheet.
It allows you to enter the number of pieces you used for each 4.5" block, triangle and corner kite
and then automatically tallies them, subtotals and totals them. Handy!

Jane's Addicted block tally spreadsheet. This one is a comprehensive tracking tool of each block and every possible detail I could think that might be worth tracking. The spreadsheet tracks blocks started in order by number, name, wave (trip around the world), name of wave, general color grouping, date started, date completed, time to complete, original position, Jane's Addicted position (where the block will be positioned in *my* quilt), foreground fabric #, line, designer and manufacturer, and background fabric #, line, designer and manufacturer, number of pieces, assembly method, and type of block (4.5", triangle, or corner kite).  Next up I will be adding a column for Jane's Addicted block name as I couldn't help but start giving all the blocks my own name. heheh.