Again with the Delayed Posting

I know, I know --- I'm hopeless.  You would think a retired person would get it together and post in a "timely" fashion.  Guess not!  Not likely to change either!  LOL!  Our final Jane club gathering is coming up April 27 from 6 pm - 8 pm at Tiger Lily.  Although it's our last "club" meeting, the sit 'n stitch has taken off big time and seems to be working great for those of us interested in a less "formal" gathering.  We will continue the sit 'n stitch through the next four months at Tiger Lily.  Dates for June, July August and September will be posted in the next shop newsletter.  Dates for April are:  Friday the 15th from Noon to  2 PM and Tuesday the 19th from 10 AM to Noon.  And before I forget, the Challenge blocks for our final Jane Club meeting are:  F-7 Star Struck and RS 10 Gramma Nans Bodice.  I better get cracking - haven't done either of those yet!

If you haven't been into Tiger Lily, stop by.  This is the anniversary of the Civil War and there are some great fabrics, projects, and books on display to check out.

Third Session Started

Our winter session of Dear Jane is underway with a slightly new twist.  We've added a Dear Jane Sit 'n Stitch during the day at Tiger Lily.  Sit 'n Stitch will meet twice a month until April.  Here are the dates: Fridays:  12 noon - 2 PM:  Feb18,  March/18, April15

and/or

Tuesdays:  10 AM - Noon:  Feb 22, March 22, April 18

You can come to any or all of them - no charge.  We're a small group at this point, but I know there's a lot of interest out there so hopefully our numbers will increase.  The next regular meeting of Jane is February 23 but don't forget we have a makeup from last November scheduled for February 9.  And of course, don't forget the challenge blocks for next month:  Triangle is LS 4 - Virginia's Kite and Block is J-6 - Granny's Weaver.  Next month lets talk some about color and planning.  And don't forget this is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.  Donna is hoping to create a Siggie quilt with blocks done by shoppers.  Lets think about how we can give the anniversary a boost.  

Link to Cutting Charts

I haven't been able to figure out how to add a library folder to this blog yet, so here's a link to my Mobile Me public folder for any of you who would like to reference my cutting charts for 4 1/2" Dear Jane blocks done using Carol D's paper piecing method.  They are handwritten so hopefully you will be able to read them.  I use an add an 1/8" ruler for my small blocks, so you might want to add an inch or so to my cutting dimensions if you use add a 1/4.

https://public.me.com/lyndoring

Happy New Year

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting -- it's been too long.  Holidays and weather played havoc with our Jane Club meetings.  First our rescheduled November meeting got snowed out in December.  We had our December meeting on Dec 22 - a week early and have yet to have out November meeting (It's rescheduled for Wednesday February 9 2011!)  At our December meeting we worked on paper piecing using some of Carol Doak's techniques.  I've scanned my cutting charts for about 10 of the DJ blocks that I've done using that method.  I'll try to get them uploaded so you can link to them from this blog.  Remember I'm using an "add an 1/8" ruler, so if you decide to use and "add a 1/4" be sure to add an inch or so to my measurements --- you might want to do that anyway (based on our experiences Wednesday night!)  When in doubt go bigger!  I'll try to put a little video tutorial link up here in the next few days.

Before I forget, the challenge blocks for next month - H-13:  Farm Fields and TR 4:  Bennington Cross.

We exchanged Siggie blocks - if you want to try a "mini siggie challenge" put your 5 blocks together in some "creative" way ---- hows that for an open ended challenge???

Teachers Open House is this Sunday at Tiger Lily.  If you plan on staying in the Jane group you need to sign up for the next 4 months.  Next sessions dates are Jan 26, Feb 23, March 30 and April 27.

Holidays Fast Approaching

Lots of housekeeping notes this month!!!!  First, between holidays and Florida trips, we have a little bit of rescheduling to take care of.  There will be no Jane Club in November.  Instead we will meet twice in December.  Dates for the next two Jane Club meetings are December 8 and December 22 - both Wednesdays - same time, same place!!!  Our Challenge blocks for our next meeting are:  D-4:  Crystal Star, and LS 13:  Watermelon.  These will give us a chance to practice those points with Linda A's technique!

On another note, remember to make 5 Siggies for our next meeting - one for each of our group.  We'll exchange them at the next meeting.  A reminder, the Siggy block is D-13: Field of Dreams.  Lets make them 5" unfinished as most of us are doing that size (sorry sorry sorry Sally!)  Or, we could make 1 of them 9 inches for Sally!

Bring your machines on December 8 as I will be teaching the method of paper piecing that Carol Doak uses.  Also, bring rotary cutter and matt - small is fine.  Bring fabric you want to use --- I'll bring foundations for everyone.  I'll choose a relatively easy one so I can show you her entire method.  If you don't want to do paper piecing, bring something else to work on while we do that ---- no problem!

As usual, I forgot my camera last time, so no pictures.  I will TRY to remember next month!!!!  DUH!

Next season off to a good start!

Great new group of people in the Jane Club!  Two hours flew by!  Welcome to Pat, Sally, Fran, Linda and of course welcome back Flo!  Pat, I'm thrilled that you got "hooked" enough at the Meet the Teachers that you decided to jump in.  Linda you are definitely an addict!  How did you get so many blocks done along with everything else you're doing?  And Sally,  already you have designed your own Jane!  Love your fabric choices  and definitely you have to bring your first 9 inch block  next time.  Flo, your paper piecing is wonderful --- and your itty bitty triangles on our Mac and Muff block are great!  I didn't get a picture of it this time, so bring it again next month - I want to put it in our album next to your block without the itty bitty triangles!!!!  LOL!  Fran, love the tool box!  When I saw you come in, I thought you had one of the very early "portable" computers with you!  Your fabrics are great - amazing how you and Sally are both choosing to do the quilt in Red/Blue.  I'm going to email you the picture I took last night - maybe it's a small enough file for you to use in your blog follower picture.

Don't forget to check out the Tiger Lily Janiac Album on Photobucket so you can see the latest.  Also check out the Bennington Jane slide show - the pics should show better on your computers than they did in last nights' light.

Next months challenges are I-9 Chase a Myth and BR 4 Candy Dish.  See you all then!

Dear Jane at Bennington

We had a great weekend in the Berkshires and the best was getting to see the Jane Quilt at the Bennington Museum.  I'm going to try to put a link here to the slide show on photobucket - the museum allowed pictures as long as there was no flash, so these were taken with my iphone, but they seem fairly decent.  Lighting around the quilt was low.  The museum has had the quilt since the 1920's but they don't know where it was before that according to one curator.  It's in absolutely amazing shape with only a little fading in the upper right corner.  The quilt is oriented 90 degrees to the right (from Brenda's layout in Dear Jane), making Block J-12, Rebecca's Basket upright rather than tipped to its left.  Click on the link to see the slide show!!!!!!!!Dear Jane Bennington Slideshow