Prepifestivus!

Piles and Piles of Pattern Piece Pages

So... I was at my Dear Jane bee yesterday and what do I find sitting on the table tucked behind the lemonade, leaning against the wall all unobtrusivelike? A humble paper bag stuffed with a big old pile of paper, the word "Free" scrawled across it in black magic sharpie. I hesitantly peek inside and lo and behold?? Can we all join hands, rock back and forth and say... JACKPOT?? piles and packets and parcels of pre-printed Dear Jane pattern piece pages... ppppppppppppppp As if that wasn't great enough, many of them were printed on what appears to be Carol Doak foundation paper. : ) yeee haw! I double checked with the hostess and sure enough, she said they were cast-offs from a previous incarnation of a Dear Janer group and we were free to take and use. Once I culled through it, it turned out there were about 100 patterns - just about half of the 225 needed for this project... about $10 worth of specialty paper, about $10 in ink (I swear, that friggin ink!) and of course HOURS of labor. Boy, was I happy. It was like Christmas for a quilter! : )

the loot!

the pile included three complete sides of triangles for a total of 39 block patterns...
here I am referencing my triangle directory (sorted by side)

I highlighted the triangles I got printed patterns for in this windfall...
Since I had already printed some of the top row, it looks like
I just have about 5 or 6 to print and I'm done with triangles.

This is my view inserting each pattern into a page protector
(see the new, giant box of 200 back there?) After a year of working
on this quilt I am almost done with prep. Oh, ok - I still have to cut out
all of these friggin patterns... : )

...and the final prep stage - the cut pattern pieces ready to go...

Storage and Binderization:

It started with one binder. I was all cocky with my fancy one-touch binder and my page protectors and my tabbed divider pages and binder geek accessories. (binder geek right here). I heard people in.the.know saying you need 2 or 3 binders for this gig. Sure enough, now I'm up to three and contemplating a fourth. I have a generic, general one. And then I have two enclosed/zipper binders - one for triangles/corners and one for the regular blocks. Since the one for regular blocks is basically maxed out with just the pattern pieces, and only about 25 blocks, I am going to have to make another move. The other thing I wanted to do was have a work/portable case. One of the binders would be great for that since they zip up. The work case would have a couple blocks' worth of patterns & fabric, a small cutting board, sandpaper board, and misc. supplies. So yeah, I guess I probably need to buy TWO more binders for a total of 5. This is an undertaking, man, I tell you. But I'm loving every minute of it. The other thing I need to get on top of is keeping track of fabrics used. I have been setting them aside and cutting some swatches, but I have already goofed this up a few times and I need a system.

026.Caitlin Royse - aka L-11, Caitlin's Rose

So there's a story to the name of this one. It was originally named "Caitlin's Rose." Just so happens one of my BFFs has a lovely daughter by the name of Caitlin Royse. So there you go. Caitlin, if you're googling yourself and you find this and I haven't yet asked permission, I apologize. But your name should be in lights, kid.

Actually started this one with a different fabric but realized I had the center fussy-cut 45 degrees off. I thought the center/top was a straight edge instead of a point. Anyway, error number 412 so far. :  / Also I decided the two fabrics I pulled were maybe NOT design line siblings and were both quite busy and dark and I needed a light next to the dark to keep the visual impact of the diamond dark. Anyhoo... Will hopefully finish this up tonight. I had really wanted to plow through this and another today but I got waylaid in Preperatoria - an exciting windfall... see above (PrepiFestivus!.)   : )

Fussy cutting fun. Do I detect sarcasm? But it's turning out well so far.

025.Judie, Judie, Judie - aka D-13, Field of Dreams

Might need to use this Sturbridge Village Collection II (one of my favorite lines) for a blank triangle rather than this - but we'll see. It's an easy one although with the fussy cutting it still took me awhile. Note to self: study up on fussy cutting tricks and techniques.

love this great shirting by Pam Buda.

One of my all time faves. Sturbridge Village II by Judie
Rothermel. Wish I would NOT have noticed the registration
was out of whack...

024.One Dark & Stormy Night - aka F-1, Big Top

Watching the DNC tonight finishing this up. Elizabeth Warren rocks. And Wm. Jefferson Clinton is dreamier than ever.

New Fabric & Old Letters...

 New Fabric...

 I say "recovering" fabric hoarder - and I'm pretty good generally, but I have my moments of weakness...


I bravely bought 4 yards of this great vintage postcard backing - probably going to use with the Christmas Twist kit I bought a few years ago... Also bought a couple more yards of the primitive gatherings background thinking it was a new, lighter color. NOPE. It's the same one I already have four yards of for the Sweet 16 quilt. arrrgh. so annoying. But it's a great color and I will be able to use this for my Jane's Addicted quilt or any number of others.

I'm always on the hunt for great shirtings... Shirtings often seem to have dark red, navy or black prints which make them too harsh a lot of times - you don't want high contrast in a background... you just want shirtings to chill - which these all do - love 'em. The stack above includes:

• Pam Buda's "Heart of the Prairie" shirtings #4996, #4994, etc. by Marcus Bros. These are so great with the mottled background, ivory tones and soft color prints. Keep it coming, Pam!
• Paula Barnes' "Bonnie Blue Basics" #3380 by Marcus Bros.
• Nancy Gere's "Women of Courage" #34107B by Windham
• Jo Morton's #5688 by Andover

picked up a few homespuns on clearance...

and a small set of batiks...

 ... and Old Letters

The photos below are of correspondence between Fred Jones and my grandmother, Telsa Edmunds. These are special not just because they're completely charming old letters, but his handwriting - both the script and the incredible 1920s style print - are just amazing. I suspect Mr. Jones must have been an artist of some kind. I hope he didn't waste that penmanship clerking like Bob Cratchett for some cold banker... Plus, you can tell he was sweet on her, although as it turned out, my grandfather won out in the end, not poor Mr. Jones.

Jones' father emigrated from Wales to America with Telsa's father (my great grandfather)... The senior Jones returned to Wales but my great grandfather stayed here - and the rest is history. I would L O V E to go to Wales and see the sights. My mom and dad, aunt and uncle have gone there and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

 

"THREE HALF PENCE"

St. Louis, MO - Jan 19 - 5:30pm - 1925

 

 

 

023.Claudia Jean's Cojones - aka I-12, Fred's Square Fair

My version - another blue diamond - about half done.

This is one of those where the templates don't really match the block in the book. In this case, there's a white border around the block in the original quilt, but in the pattern, they've taken that out. Since I'm changing the color/value in a lot of the blocks, rearranging all the blocks and using alternative blocks, it's not like you could call me a purist, but I decided to add back an outer border to this - just like the look of the original.

This time around, I named the block for CJ Cregg, another of my personal, albeit fictional, heros.Hmm, maybe I should save this name for a block that has fewer right angles. You know what I'm talking about? Nudge me if you do. I can't be the only quilter who uses the word cojones in a sentence.

The layout of this block, btw, kept my head smoking for hours last night - I just could NOT figure out which way the freaking pieces should go. Ironically, the highest score I ever got on an aptitude test was in the category of "spatial relationships" - I'm starting to wonder if I read that right.
 

Jane's Original

022.Seesters - aka I-2, Kaye's Courtyard

This one was a little bit of a challenge fussy-cutting the ladies into the four corners. Not perfect but kind of cool. I'm calling this one Seesters as a tribute to sisters, sisters-in-law, sisters-by-choice, and sisters in our communities of interest. That sounds real formal but I just mean the women you have a lot in common with whom you cherish having in your life.

fuuuuuddddggggeeee.

This Fons & Porter seam ripper is not recommended usage.
1) the cap doesn't stay on. 2) it's so ergonomically chubby, it's hard to store
3) since it's round and heavy, it has a tendency to roll off my sewing desk
and put holes in my feet. I need a new seam ripper stat!

021.Hazel Flagg's a Fake - aka A-2, One-Two Buckle My Shoe

trying to remind myself to leave extra fabric around the edges

Did another with a combo. of three fabrics. Loving this one.

Aaarrrrrggghhhh. Oopsies.

So this time I was watching "Nothing Sacred" with Carole Lombard - who was awesome - and Fredric March - also awesome. The story is a little weak but the stars are awesome. Did I mention they were awesome?

I thought this scene matched my block perfectly. : )

020.Sarah Kenton Loves Jim - aka J-2, Picture Perfect

This one was surprisingly quick, even with some fussy cutting... Watching good ole' Remains of the Day... I'm not sure why I ever doubted their feelings. It's obvious Miss Kenton loved Mr. Stephens with all her heart.

Judie Rothermel on the background and the inside of the squares. Not sure about the fabric framing the squares - maybe Jo Morton.

This block is partially reversed value-wise. Debated but went with this breakdown in the end. The fussy cutting was a challenge but it turned out pretty well.