BR11-Tartan

Today's selection for you viewing pleasure is #11 from the bottom row, Tartan.  This tri turned out GREAT!  I'm very pleased with it, mostly because I didn't have to redo any seams!  I'm getting better at looking ahead a little bit to see which way my seams will be pressed.  I printed the paper pattern from the Dear Jane program with my own numbering so that I had seams from one row facing in the opposite direction of the seams from the next row to be sewn.  That way when I'm sewing two rows together I can snug up the seams instead of fighting with them and the pin!  Every corner turned out crisp and all the angles are square!  Very pleased, indeed!

Have a great weekend!

ttfn
Beth

BR2-Leigh's Woods

For those of you who are not familiar with the Jane Stickle quilt and the construction of it, "BR" represents the "Bottom Row" of triangles.  "TR" is the "Top Row", "LS" is the "Left Side", and "RS" is, of course, the "Right Side".  So, today I'm sharing not a square from the center of the quilt, but a triangle from the bottom row, second from the left, therefore, BR2!  The triangles are 5" wide by 8" tall.  This little beauty went together like a dream!  I'm very pleased with it and am tempted to do another tri since my last block was a pain!











ttfn
Beth

G9-Mary's Journey

Mary's Journey was full of potholes!!  I had trouble with this block--I don't know why!  This picture is my second attempt.  The first went in the trash!  Simply paper-pieced, but I wasn't happy with my corners and seams.  This one is acceptable.  I have done a couple of others--will post one per day until I'm caught up! 

Enjoy!

Beth

M-8 Enchanted Square and I-9 Chase a Myth

I am catching up on my squares!  As of this morning I have three completed.  Today I present to you:

M8-Enchanted Square

I9-Chase a Myth

It has been a long time since I've done paper piecing, but with each square I remember what works best for me.  I like to leave the paper on until the end so I can easily match up corners and sew precisely along the 1/4" seam line.  The pieces in these squares are very tiny (the finished squares are 4 1/2") and the sewing machine needle likes to eat them!  Also, since this project is going to last a year and a half, I may leave the paper on for stabilization until I'm ready to put them into rows.  Still considering...

Going to try to finish one more square today and maybe work on another sewing idea that has been running around in my head.  Stay posted!

ttfn
Beth

K-9 Scout's Honor

My first Dear Jane block is K-9, Scout's Honor.  I'm two weeks behind our schedule because I was waiting on my background fabric.  Now I have 2 bolts of lovely parchment cotton, and I'm ready to catch up!

Scout's Honor was a very easy block to begin with as it was entirely paper pieced.  The bigger challenge was putting it into "My Chart" within the Dear Jane Quilt Design Software.  I followed the directions on reducing the size (in my case 4% both horizontally and vertically) and pixels (40 x 40) of my block after scanning.  Then the jpg must be saved within the design software, replacing the existing file with my own picture.  The crux of the problem is to make sure to go into the file's properties and add permission to yourself to change the picture files!  Once that was done, viola!  "My Chart" is updated!

From the Garden

Today I harvested the first real bounty that I've had in years from my garden!  The soil here at the Flats is very hard with clay and there is rock only a few inches below the surface of the ground.  This is what made us the Great Black Swamp not so many years past.  Not very conducive to gardening!  This year I experimented with inexpensive, store-bought square foot gardens, adding new garden soil and compost from the alpacas.  Most of the plants in the garden this year were volunteer plants from the compost heap; some strange new form of decorative gourds that I purchased last fall from the local grocery store, a lovely hybrid of tomato that is a combination of Roma and cherry tomatoes, and a couple of cantaloupe plants.  During the very dry conditions in June, I ran a soak-er hose out to my boxes.  The vines and plants have gone WILD!  I have dozens of gourds coming along and enough tomatoes to eat every day.  There are a half dozen cantaloupe hanging on the vines and the lavender and lemon balm is thriving!  This fall when I clean up the gardens, I will build more permanent boxes and use the pieces from the old to make a new compost heap.