A few weeks ago I was hopping from blog to blog, when somebody mentioned their excitement about entering their 'Dear Jane' quilt into a special exhibition of 'Dear Jane' quilts in Nantes, France. A little further investigation, and I discovered that the "Pour l'Amour du Fil" (For the Love of Thread) show was being organised by the magazine Quiltmania. Regular readers will know that I am currently working on my 'Nearly Insane' Quilt, which is of a similar genre to 'Dear Jane', so I was intrigued, especially at the thought of seeing over 100 'Dear Jane' quilts together.  'Dear Jane' 150th Quilt Exhibition, Nantes, France 2013 I regularly go to the quilt shows in the UK, but this was my first 'European' show, which involved a ferry crossing from England to France and a little trip in our camper van. The exhibit of the 'Dear Jane' quilts was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. As you walked into the room, you could not help but gasp in amazement! Over 100 quilts, all the same, all different. There was a Hand- Dyed 'Dear Jane' Quilt Dear Jane Quilt (Hand-Dyed Fabrics) Paula Klein, Luxembourg  There was an Indonesian fabric 'Dear Jane' Quilt Dear Jane Quilt (Indonesian Fabrics) Annie Tromp-Doornink, Netherlands There was a Low Volume 'Dear Jane' Quilt Dear Jane Quilt (Low Volume) Ineke Marijissen Van der Molen, Netherlands There was a Liberty Fabric 'Dear Jane' Quilt Dear Jane Quilt (Liberty Fabric) There was a Red and White Dear Jane Quilt Dear Jane Quilt (Red and White) Nathalie Pierre, France  There were the traditional Civil War Fabric 'Dear Jane' Quilts Dear Jane Quilt (Civil War Reproduction Fabrics) Michel Galan France There were modern, bright with black background 'Dear Jane' Quilts Dear Jane Quilt (Modern Brights) Chantal Guyon, France  There were modern, bright Batik 'Dear Jane' Quilts Dear Jane Quilt (Batik) Diane Rhode and Judy Doenias, USA  And some really lovely, unique colour combinations  Dear Jane Quilt (Greys, Reds) Rineke Imenshot, Netherlands Originally, Brenda Papadakis was due to attend to give a talk and run some 'Dear Jane' workshops, but due to a broken arm, was not able to travel to France from the USA. However, there were many of her ambassadors at the show, and it was fabulous. The impact of the display was so brilliant, thanks to the organisers and contributors for putting on such a brilliant exhibit. Never to be forgotten. They were all lovely. Do you have a favourite? Sharing the inspiration of this lovely event with Freemotion By the River and Quilt Story See more of my Quilting Adventure here

Modern Dear Jane Quilt This page is to provide updates and keep myself honest on my Modern Dear Jane Quilt progress. I started on October 15, 2012, and my goal is to make 5 blocks a week until I have my dream quilt - a Dear Jane - completely finished. Help me stay on track, ok?! :-) I have been in love with Dear Jane quilts for years now, and I love them all equally - from the original Dear Jane, to 1930s Dear Janes, to the Rainbow Jane, and on down the line. Really, there's nothing particularly "modern" about my version of "That Quilt" aside from the fabric. About the fabric: Some of you have asked how I chose my fabric. I started a Dear Jane once before and found that the most difficult thing for me at that point (I didn't have a large stash to pull from then) was finding and choosing fabric. When I decided to start again, I initially planned on doing just a 2-fabric quilt to eliminate the difficulty of fabric choosing on every block. The background I chose is a white with some blue dot, and the main fabric is a solid blue. I quickly discovered, though, that I wanted a little pop of red, so I've been adding that little touch with scraps from my stash. The fabric choosing has been greatly simplified, though, by doing it this way. Now all of my focus can be on the sewing - which is difficult enough as it is! Maybe on the next one I'll branch out to different fabrics for each block, but I really like how this 3-color quilt is turning out. Please link and pin away! Thank you for sharing my work with your followers. You keep me motivated to take up the next block ! :-) Happy stitching, Kelly Read each blog post here Week 11 Week 10 Week 9 Week 8 Week 7 Week 6 Week 5 Week 4 Week 3 Week 2 Week 1 Finished Blocks

This is done using reverse appliqué for the centre circle then normal hand appliqué for the corner circles and then piecing the border in at...

Met grote quilts vind ik het makkelijk met een schema te werken. Zo werkte ik bij de Dear Jane al met een kleurenschema voor de blokken dat rechts op de foto te zien is. Nu werk ik met een quiltschema. Ik zorg wel steeds dat ik iets voor lig op schema, zodat ik , als dat nodig is, een dag niets kan doen. I like to work with a scheme while working on a large quilt. I already used a color scheme for my Dear Jane as you can see on the right in the first picture. This time I use a quilt scheme. The trick is to work a bit in advance. That way you can always take a day off.

Dear Jane Quilt - the Halfway Edition! As promised here is the latest update on my Dear Jane quilt progress. I haven't pulled out the blocks since the last update in February and it is like meeting up with old friends. Dear Jane Quilt - the Halfway Edition! I don't lay them out in their correct order because it is so incomplete, but the Electric Quilt image below gives an idea of how it is going to go together. The eagle eyed will notice that their placement is not the same as the original Jane Stickle quilt either. That is the plan. Dear Jane Quilt - the Halfway Edition! Electric Quilt Software The white blanks are slowly filling up and some of the lines are nearly complete - it's just like playing BINGO! If you pop back to the post in October 2015 you can really see the progress I have made in the last six months. On the sidebar you can see this image updated regularly, but I like to capture a snapshot in these progress posts for a sense of progression.  Dear Jane Quilt - the Halfway Edition! From the pretty piles of blocks above and the statistics in the table below you can see that I have yet to do a PURPLE block, which will hopefully pull the final colour scheme together. You can also see that I have added those little extras to the data below - the sashing, the cornerstones and the alternate triangles. It all has to be done and then I have to think about putting it together and removing those tiny bits of paper. Blocks Triangle Red 13/29 4/8 Purple 0/12 0/8 Blue 12/20 4/8 Green 8/28 4/8 Yellow 16/36 4/12 Orange 40/44 8/12 TOTAL 89/169 (52%) 16/56 (42%) Sashing 17/312 (5%) Cornerstones 28/144 (20%) Triangles 5/56 (8%) I have spotted other bloggers out there working steadily at their Dear Jane quilt. UKCityCrafter is building up a lovely collection of Dear Jane blocks in blue and white, the contrast is going to be stunning when it is put together.

::sigh:: Isn’t this quilt so beautiful? I’ve had this on my Pinterest. I’m participating in the Rainbow Charm Swap on

This is the first Dear Jane quilt I have quilted and although I always appreciate Betty's good workmanship, I am not in a hurry to do ...

"Dear Jane": una trapunta di quilt senza tempo che ha conquistato quilters in tutto il mondo attraverso il libro di Brenda Papadakis.

Saw the original Jane Stickle quilt last week in Bennington, Vermont. It was awesome, and so inspiring. Jane Stickle quilt Read and post comments | Send to a friend

First of all, I want to apologize for the post that went out yesterday if you subscribe by email or just happened to look at my blog. I had the post written, and it was in my drafts folder. Then I added and changed a few things and hit the publish button. When I went to look at it on line, I noticed that it already had 11 comments. I had posted that same post about a year ago, but somehow it was back in my drafts folder. I'm not sure how that happened. I take photos with either my iPhone or iPad and then email them to my blog where they save as a draft post. I intend to get back in here and write something to go along with the photos and then post. That doesn't always happen, and that's how I ended up with 57 posts in my Drafts folder. I've cleaned that out only kept a few things that I really want to post. NOW...….Dear Jane Last November we celebrated our 20th year getting together for the Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat up in Shipshewana. I have only been going 18 of those years, but I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. We had a very large crowd last November (I think around 130), so we had a separate night for just Dear Jane show and tell. Here are the quilts that I showed: My Dear Jane quilt. There are 169 blocks that finish at 4 1/2, 52 triangles and 4 corners. I worked on this quilt off and on for about 10 years. I had it long arm quilted. There was an internet Dear Jane list, and we had a signature block swap. Some of the blocks have hand sewn beads and buttons and embroidery. The blocks in this quilt are from a Spring Fling swap. I bought the center applique block at Rebeccar Harrer Arts and Antiques in Shipshewana. When I first became part of the Dear Jane list and retreat, whenever someone said the word swap, I asked where I should sign up. This quilt is made up of swap blocks from some of the girls that come to the retreat. I'm not sure what I was thinking with that bright yellow sashing, but it definitely brightened up all of the dark blocks. These blocks are from a Christmas Jane swap. All of the blocks in these quilts are taken from the Dear Jane book. The feathered star in the center of this quilt was a block that I made for a round robin I was in. I think I changed my mind on the fabrics for the round robin and used the feathered star for the center of this quilt. At some point, a second Dear Jane list formed. I'm not sure now what the reason was for that. But, I signed up for this list, too. They had a Christmas signature swap, and this is the quilt I made. I love arranging the signature blocks in a colorwash pattern. All of the blocks have Christmas fabric on the corners. This is a photo of all of us that were at the November retreat that have completed the Dear Jane quilt. I'm the only one in the photo wearing red (I didn't get the memo!) I've made enough swap blocks that I could have made a second Dear Jane quilt. There are some in our group that have made 5 or 6 Dear Janes. I've thought about making a second smaller quilt. I think there is kind of a withdrawal when you finish a huge project like this. After this I moved on to the Nearly Insane quilt and finished it. You can see that quilt by looking under my header at the My Quilts tab. Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Hope you are finding some time to stitch today!

Cut out 4 background squares and 4 pattern squares 3 1/4 inch make up two blocks Draw circle on freeze paper Iron freeze paper to top block Cut out centre and then reverse appliqué

I just wanted to share my finished Jane Stickle quilt with the world. It took me four years to make 115 Jane blocks. The group I was meeting with every month was talking about doing a show with o…

This quilt is affectionately know by its fans as Dear Jane, in honor of…

A blog about fabric, quilting, patchwork, sewing, embroidery, quilt shows

This block is made using foundation paper piecing as well as traditional piecing. How to make Dear Jane block C08 Where to get the Jane A. Stickle Quilt patterns Susan Gatewood’s paper founda…

Once again a mix of reverse and normal appliqué. I started by making the centre using reverse appliqué. I cut a slightly larger square of bo...

Dear Jane Quilt - Block K5 Passing Through I mentioned that the halfway point is coming soon. There are 229 pieced blocks in total, made up of 169 squares and 60 border triangles. Dear Jane block K5 Passing Through is the 107th I have completed. Techniques: English Paper Piecing and Applique Pieces: 12 pieces

Hello! I haven't posted in so long. I thought I'd dust the old blog off today. I know a lot of people are on Instagram and other soci...

This quilt is a first for me in two ways: it is my first foundation piecing quilt and it is my first QAYG quilt too. Both techniques were a bit intimidating to me but both have turned out to be qui…

Dear Jane is coming along right on schedule. Five Months = Five Rows Complete, Top Row Triangles finished and Eight Right Side Triangles done. How is your Dear Jane coming along?

Since the temps have been in the 90's, with full humidity, and my brain has turned to mush......I totally forgot that I hadn't finished posting about the Vermont Quilt Festival! Sheesh! Seriously......I was never meant to live in this kind of heat and sweaty mess! Ugh! One of the special exhibits at the show was 'Dear Jane Through the Years' honoring the 150th year since Jane Stickle finished her quilt in 1863. Author of the Dear Jane book, Brenda Papadakis gave a lecture tour of the quilt exhibit! Awesome! Here are most of the Dear Jane quilts......some were just too blurry to post. Notice how different border treatments and colors change the whole look sometimes! Fun! Enjoy! "No Pain, No Jane" by Cindy Garcia, Racine, Wisconsin. "Infinite Gratitude" by Deborah Semel Bingham, New York, New York. "This quilt was made in 2011 for Joanna Semel Rose in thanks for her exhibition, Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts. Thirty six quilters worked together for nine months, in time for her 81st birthday. We knew this was one quilt design she did not have in her vast collection!" "Kitschin' Jane" by Amy Ronis, New York, New York. "I wanted elements of humor, surprise and "kitsch" in my version of Jane. I viewed each block as an individual design challenge, and looked for "kitsch" worth images, prints and iconic midcentury designs - a passion of mine. Even Elvis makes two appearances in the quilt." "Not Perfect Jane" by Goldie Morrow, Rumney, New Hampshire. "I started the quilt in 2000, finished the center in 2006, and completed the borders and scalloped edge in 2012. I loved the challenge of making this quilt that took me 12 years to finish!" "Sentimental Journey" by Carol Archuleta, San Ramon, California. "I started the quilt with Brenda in 2003 and finished it in 2011. (Brenda shared some of her dear friend Rebecca's indigos with me.) Indigo fabrics used are 1800's repros, some no longer available. It was hand quilted, each scallop different, and made in loving memory of Rebecca, my mother Rose, and my husband Robert." "Nancy's Dear Jane" by Nancy Ritter, Oakley, California. "It has been a 4 1/2 year journey making Dear Jane and another year being hand quilted by the Amish. It was a great diversion through a long illness from which I have recovered." "In Our Time (aka Technicolor Jane)" by Judy Doenias and Diane Rode Schenck, New York, New York. "We started our quilt in 1999 as a class sample at The City Quilter in New York. We had no great plans and no goals in mind. We weren't certain we'd ever finish it! We chose colors we love! Fourteen years later, our classes are still going strong and Jane's quilt continues to amaze and inspire us!" "Empty Nest" by Linda Reid, Danville, CA. "After seeing a Dear Jane quilt at PIQF, I knew I wanted to make one. The opportunity came when a group was started by our local guild. I used an around the world color placement and extended the triangles into the scalloped edge. Empty Nest is my first hand quilting attempt and my legacy." .......JoAnne.....check this one out! :o) "The Spirit of Jane Stickle" a group quilt. "The Spirit of Jane was made by 225 members of the Dear Jane Internet group and quilted by an Amish mother and daughter. It was presented to Brenda at the first Dear Jane Gathering at VQF 2000." "Never Say Never" by Laura Fraga, San Ramon, CA. "I finished my first DJ Quilt in 2002. In 2009, I started a DJ mini group at my guild. I began a 2nd DJ so I could work along with the group. The best part of making a Dear Jane quilt is the friendships that have blossomed." "Newfangled Jane!" by Gwen Nishida, Irvine, CA. "Jane's masterpiece has been turned on it's traditional head with the bright, saturated colors and large prints of Kaffe Fassett. Inspired by a German quilt group, I took this journey one block at a time, learning techniques and having fun with color as I moved along." Machine quilted by Judi Madsen. "Birthday Jane" by Kerry Marksbury, San Diego, CA. "My journey with Jane started in April 2011 with 25 of the blocks given to me by quilting friends for my 50th birthday. In April 2011, I met Brenda and attended her class at Asilomar. It was completed in March 2013, in time for a third trip to Brenda's class." "In Time of Recollection" by Karan L. Flanscha, Cedar Falls, IA. "My Dear Jane quilt was the beginning of a wonderful journey. Every stitch in my quilt is by hand. I started the original Dear Jane support group, and helped Electric Quilt create the software. I have met friends from all over the world because of our mutual love of Jane Stickle's sampler quilt." "Mini Jane" by Barbara Larson, Chaska, MN. "I knew I wanted to make a Jane using Civil War colors, and I did not want a large quilt. At a Dear Jane retreat, Claire Baker shared her Dear Jane with 2" blocks. I loved it and knew that was how I would make her." 2" blocks!!!!!!!! "Happy Birthday, Jane" by Deb Kloss, Minneapolis, MN. "Happy Birthday Jane was made of blocks swapped over a five year period with members of the Dear Jane email list. These blocks were made in thirties prints and swapped in the month of April (Jane's birthday is April 8). I love them all! Quilted by Keri Schell." "Shipshewana Rose" by Edith Shanholt, Elkhart, IN. "Amish Buggies" by Nancy Hayes (deceased), Cedar Falls, IA. My next post will be the rest of the show! I hope everyone is tolerating this weather better than I am! I feel like a big sweaty mess! Let's all hope the weather turns on Sunday as predicted! :o) Stay cool!!! regan

I decided to make the "flower" in this block a little bigger so I didn't have to add as large a border to it. I started with four 2 3/4" squares with snowballs on all four corners and cut some 3/4" strips as well. Then I cut each snowballed square in half and sewed a strip in the centre and joined these in pairs. I then cut these two rectangles in half and sewed another strip in their centres. I then sewed these pairs together. I should have made my squares slightly larger so no border at all would have been required. I ended up adding a 5/8" strip which means my border was only 1/8" wide once the sashing was added, oh well, live and learn. Here's E7 finished. And here are my first 12 blocks sewn together. 46 separate pieces of fabric in this one little square!

Such a pretty wee thing Using paper foundation piecing to do the edges and normal piercing for the centre Then joining the edge...

I am drawn to Dear Jane quilts at quilt shows because they are so awesome and because I am trying to finish mine! I saw two at the Denver Quilt Show (first two pictured here) and two at HMQS. It's amazing how different they all are. This one is called Friendship in Every Stitch and was made by Mae Elliott. It was hand appliquéd and hand pieced, then long arm quilted by Valerie Campbell. I took some close ups of the quilting because that will be my next step, after I get it all pieced together, and I wanted some ideas. This star block is one I've completed, but I'm thinking of making it over because I don't like the fabrics I chose for it. But look at that tiny star in the middle! I will dread that if I decide to re-do it. I think I will wait until the quilt is on the design wall and see if it still bothers me.... This quilt was pretty heavily quilted on the long arm. It looks great but I'm thinking of not quilting mine quite so heavily. This one is called Dear Jane Goes Batty with Batiks and was made by Patricia Lamfers. It was machine pieced and machine and long arm quilted. You can see it has different sized blocks amongst the five inch blocks and a different border. Dear Jane by Jean Ludeman She used background fabric around the border triangles which is different but effective. I am planning on using cornerstones, as she did, in the sashing. Very nice quilting in this one too. Ladies in Red by Crystal North and quilted by Wren Woodland Crystal digitized the DJ patterns and stitched them out on her embroidery machine. It turned out very pretty but I'm guessing it's a stiff quilt. I don't machine embroider so I don't know, but that looks like a LOT of thread! I haven't made my 12 DJ blocks for May yet. I better get busy!!

 Dear Jane Quilt - Block G-7 Indianapolis I am very pleased with this block. It is the first time I have used my red Kim Diehl fabric. Also I am very pleased with my striped fabric which has been fussy cut. I am also very pleased with the neat circle. English Paper Piecing - ROCKS. This block is in the centre of the Dear Jane quilt, so it had to look good. Living in the UK, I thought I ought to check where Indianapolis was in the USA. It is in the state of Indiana, towards the East coast. This is the state Brenda Papdakis was living when she wrote the Dear Jane quilt book. Techniques: English Paper Piecing Pieces: 21

Dear Jane Quilt - Slow Stitching Sunday I am pretty laid back when it comes to timescales I take to make a English Paper Pieced quilt - I am in no hurry. However, once it is no longer portable I tend to get less time to work on it and it seems to take for ever to come together. I am at that stage now with my Dear Jane quilt. I have at last got all the Dear Jane square blocks together, along with the sashing and the cornerstones and I am now finally working on the border triangles. Also I would like to welcome Laura Bender who is my 300th Follower on my blog! Time to join up with Kathy at Slow Stitching Sunday.

This is created by making two blocks of pin wheels 4.5 inch squares face to face and stitch all around 1/4 inch seam Cut each square into 4 triangles Press to squares Layout the two pin wheels, reversing the colours so two different wheels Piece the two blocks Then on freeze paper draw out the circle Iron onto the back of the pinwheel to go on top Cut out the inner citcle (1/4 inch from the final circle Cut little intention into the actual circle line all the way around Press behind to form a nice circle Pin and appliqué to other pinwheel block

The blocks were added as I completed them 20130425 The blocks started 20120601 finished 20130120 Pinwhe...

More importantly, dear Jane, what was I thinking when I decided to follow in your footsteps and make a quilt out of hundreds of tiny, complex blocks? Last year at the local quilt show I was inspire…

::sigh:: Isn’t this quilt so beautiful? I’ve had this on my Pinterest. I’m participating in the Rainbow Charm Swap on

Dear Jane Quilt - Block M13 Lynette's Diamond Oh my - I absolutely love this Dear Jane block, M13 Lynette's Diamond. Yes, it is all applique and I am super-chuffed at the result. In the book this is the last 4.5" square block if you were doing it in order. If you didn't quite get that far, you are missing a treat. Techniques: Applique Pieces: 6 pieces

This is created by making two blocks of pin wheels 4.5 inch squares face to face and stitch all around 1/4 inch seam Cut each square into 4 triangles Press to squares Layout the two pin wheels, reversing the colours so two different wheels Piece the two blocks Then on freeze paper draw out the circle Iron onto the back of the pinwheel to go on top Cut out the inner citcle (1/4 inch from the final circle Cut little intention into the actual circle line all the way around Press behind to form a nice circle Pin and appliqué to other pinwheel block

This quilt is a first for me in two ways: it is my first foundation piecing quilt and it is my first QAYG quilt too. Both techniques were a bit intimidating to me but both have turned out to be qui…

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately. This week's link-up is at the bottom of this post. Got a hodge podge of work done on BOMs this week - Dear Jane: WOOHOO~~!!!! I finished the LAST BLOCKS!!!! First I finished the embroidery on the signature corner. I finished counting everything on my spreadsheet as it will be in the final assembly to get the total number of pieces (I currently have 5006 sewn together), and I changed "War Time" to "Time of Change" to fit my situation. The two years I've spent piecing all the squares and triangles have seen great transformations for our family, as the two older kids entered college, we made a cross-country move after 15 years in one home (the longest I've ever lived anywhere) into an entirely different geography and climate, and then the youngest had a custody change which brought her into our home on a primary basis. And last, I stitched M-13 together. It really tickled me for this to be the final block I made, as it's called "Lynette's Diamond." :D But I'm so antsy to get this all together! So I also put together the 12 sashing rows that I'll need as I assemble my inner blocks: Hello, Moon: I fused the June cricket and the July camping blocks and got the scribble stitching finished. Still need to embroider all the cute little smileys and details on them. Block Swap Adventure: Sneak peaks of the two blocks that will start their journey up to Canada tomorrow. What did you do on your BOMs this week? :) ~*~*~*~*~ Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you’ve broken into monthly units, and –of course- true BOMs. Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there.

This is the first Dear Jane quilt I have quilted and although I always appreciate Betty's good workmanship, I am not in a hurry to do another one real soon. Betty told me she didn't want a lot of quilting - I wondered how on earth I could quilt this without doing a lot of quilting! I remember seeing a Dear Jane quilt years ago at MQS that had been quilted with an all over large stipple. That was not my idea of a good solution to quilting a Dear Jane quilt. I ended up doing a lot of SID, more than I wanted to and no background quilting. That kept it from looking heavily quilted. This is Betty's SECOND Dear Jane quilt. Some people are just gluttons for punishment! It has been very windy here in Kansas lately but it looks like the weather may be nice just in time for MQS.

This one was a breeze! NB: You HAVE to mirror the diagram if you want your block to look like Jane's. Foundation pieced. Print or trace the diagram (MIRRORED!) onto your foundation paper, cut apart the sections on the seam lines, and number them. (I changed the numbering a little after making the block.) Foundation piece the individual sections. Remember to leave a ¼" seam allowance all the way around each piece. Sew the little squares to their corresponding rectangle pieces, checking the diagram to make sure you orientate them correctly. (speaking from experience here) Complete the block. It doesn't get much simpler than this.

The last Thursday of the month is when the Dear Jane Bee I belong to gets together to sew. Since that's not possible due to current social distancing, we sewed together separately, sending a few e-mails and pictures back and forth, and then got together on Zoom for half an hour at the end to chat and see each other. I was able to sew two blocks. E-2 I made this block using the cathedral window method, so it is a little different than the original. And here's the closeup. D-2 I paper-pieced this block and I think it turned out pretty good. And the close-up. Those little triangles are tiny! Still having fun!

Last week was my birthday and also the Vermont Quilt Festival. I live in Washington DC but we were traveling to see family in the New England area for the 4th of July holiday. When I learned that t…