Progress Pre-Eclipse!

The eclipse has very little to do with my progress but I thought I should include it in the title.  I am really excited about the total solar eclipse.  Last time I witnessed a total solar eclipse, I was about 11 years old and we spent the entire afternoon indoors as we were not allowed to go outside so we peeped out the windows to see if it got dark outside. This time around I intend going out and looking at the reflection in a cereal box.  We could not find any solar eclipse glasses in any store.  They all sold out.

Today I finished my center squares section of Dear Jane.  169 unique 4.5" squares with 1/2" sashings around each block ( except the outer most squares). Here is a pic.

I Hit Rock Bottom!

I started Dear Jane in September of 2015.  Row A #1 block to Bottom Border #11 triangle took me 21 months.  I did not skip any blocks (to finish later) but worked through all of them sequentially.  Some were easy, some were very challenging, and some were a pleasure to work on.

 I used fabrics from my own stash (and "and a few" fat quarters I bought while making these blocks). For some reason I thought my stash would get smaller. I have used some of the fabric scraps left over from my very first quilt (1995). Some blocks have fabrics left over from my children's baby quilts. Some from my doll making days and some from my travels.

Now I am at the bottom border; I hit rock bottom (Haha!)  I am working on my 221st block.  I have three triangles and two kites(corner pieces) to go. Yay! Then I plan to put it together and start hand quilting it.  If I work consistently it should take two years to do the hand quilting. In the mean time I have to start working on my daughter's college quilt.  She has two years of high school left but high school goes by quick.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago.  I had just finished Row K (183 blocks).