Dear Jane In my Hoop

Hand quilting block G11.  Its called Decisions, Decisions. The fabric was designed by Heather Givans of Crimson Tate. I bought the fabric from Heather herself back in 2015.  We had gone to Indianapolis to watch my daughter's marching band compete in Lucas Oil Stadium.  We went back to Lucas Oil Stadium for our last marching band competition as band parents in November 2018.  I also got to go to Crimson Tate and this time I showed her pics of my Dear Jane top with her fabrics in it.

Happy New Year!

Happy New 2019!

Started working on a couple of pindolls. Its been a long time since I needle sculpted a doll face. I had a great time working on it. Here is the first one.

Pindoll #2 that I made last night. I had forgotten how much fun it is to make one of these faces.  And how much mess I can make on my work surface 😆. It took me longer to clean up than to make the pindoll. I do like these emojis that I can use. When I blogged before they were not available.

Two done and one more to go..

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).

TAST 2015 Stitch #10 Running Stitch and Dear Jane Blocks

Dear Jane block A6 is called Dad's Plaids except I did not use any plaids to make this block. I am very afraid of directional prints and prints with lines on them. Big no-no for me. This is a complicated block with applique melons and melon shaped reverse applique.

A7 Uncle Homer. This one must be one of the few simple blocks in the quilt.  Not many are as nice to put together as this one.  I am sure Uncle Homer was a good old mellow fellow and I made the block in yellow!

I have decided to make the triangle blocks along with the center squares. That way I wont cheat myself in the end and make do with just the center squares.  The original/Mother Dear Jane is made from 169 squares and 56  triangles(these include 4 corner blocks). And I want to make the whole quilt and not skip the border blocks.  My plan is to make one triangle for every 3 squares that I make. So here goes.... Top left triangles 1&2. Ta-Da....

More next week. I am late this week. Hope to catch up by Tuesday.

TAST 2015 Stitch #9 Counching Stitch and Dear Jane Blocks A3-5

I stitched a cat couching on a couch using a couching stitch.  First plan was to make the cat couch on a Coach bag, on a couch using a couching stitch. But I guess I am happy with what I have done. Followed my motto of keeping everything simple. (smiley) (can't make a smiley on this keyboard :-) )

I finished three more blocks of Dear Jane quilt.  Made two variations of block A3 called Hunter's Moon.  I wasn't sure how the dark color will go with the rest of the blocks.  I think I will save it until the end and see how it will fit in with the rest.  Here is my first block A3

Second A3 block using lighter colors: Hunter's Moon (2)

Block #4 of Dear Jane called Courtney's Stethoscope. This is one of my favorite fabrics as I used it for my daughter's baby quilt 14 years ago. How time flies...

Block #5 Cathie's Campfire

That's it this week.  Next week more embroidery and Dear Jane blocks.(finger's crossed).

TAST 2015 Stitch #8 Chain Stitch and Dear Jane

Started on Dear Jane quilt journey last weekend (sept 5-7).  These blocks are 5" squares.  Two are done and now there are only 167 squares left to make.  There are also 52 triangle shaped pieced border blocks to tackle. I think this quilt will take at least five years to make (fingers crossed). 

The green one is block A1 called Pinwheel Gone Awry and the pink/purple is A2 called One Two Buckle My Shoe. A1 is my first paper pieced block. I am enjoying paper piecing. I am sure you can guess whats coming next.  Good guess... A4! Still trying to figure out how to make A3.  

TAST 2015 Stitch #7 Detached Chain Stitch

TAST 2015 Stitch #6 Chevron Stitch

TAST 2015 Stitch #5 Herringbone Stitch

TAST 2015 Week 4 Cretan Stitch

Cretan Stitch

TAST 2015 Week#3 Feather Stitch

TAST 2015 Feather stitch and ocean scene.

TAST 2015 Stitch #2 Buttonhole Stitch

Second week of TAST highlighted Buttonhole stitch.  Here is my addition to the stitch sampler. I used inktense pencils to give some background color to the scene and used buttonhole stitches almost everywhere.

TAST 2015

I have joined an online embroidery challenge called Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) offered by Sharon B. of Pintangle.  I am very excited to be added to her Facebook page and now I get to share my embroidery with other like minded embroiderers from all over the world. I had come across Sharon's blog a few years ago but was too late to join her challenge back then.  I am glad I get to do it this time around. 

Stitch #1 Fly Stitch
 

Snow Daze!

There is snow outside and there is snow inside too.  Outside it is actual snow from the latest storm that is dumping tons of snow and sleet.  There are a few layers of snow, sleet and melting snow on the ground now.  Inside there is a sandwich of seemingly never ending live and recorded shows of winter Olympics on TV. In the meantime I am working on a different kind of sandwich- a quilt. These are strips of fabric to be sewn into quilt top. I can't wait to put this quilt together and hand quilt it.

Thread Holder All Done!

Thread holder is finished! It is ready to hold my thread ends from various other projects which I may start to work on.  All those stippling running stitches gave the fabric great texture and a cozy feel. I decided to use a magenta pink quilting thread so the quilting is visible. Its been a long time since I quilted.

Love this 2014 Hoffman Challenge fabric (for a change!).  It isn't the main fabric and maybe that is the reason I like it :-).  I have yet to tackle the main fabric.  I am procrastinating as usual.

I made this one an inch larger than Leanne's.

Thread Holder

Thread holder pattern by Leanne from The Stitching Room.

It is a cool looking open box to hold thread ends. I felt like doing some running stitches to give my box texture. It is still work in progress.

Outfits and Purses 2

I love October, don't you? This is the time of the year when I tend to pick oranges (not the fruit) but the color and also reds . I am very happy that my latest doll sports shades of orange. This doll has been my companion for more than 2 years and she waited patiently all that time for me to stitch her arms on and to clothe her. Her arms were lying around close to her but she had to wait for part of her clothes to be on before she got those arms.

This doll is second in the series called Outfits and Purses. The purse resembles a gift from my cousin and his wife. They got it for me from their trip to Egypt. I made the fabric for the purse from silk saree fibers (last India trip).  Her skirt has shisha mirrors and lots of hand embroidery of various Indian regions. The jacket is silk infused jute fabric(latest craze in India -last India trip). Beading is done Christine Shively style. The doll pattern is also by Christine Shively with few changes. Face mask is my one of a kind heads.

Hoffman Challenge 2013

I went for a sitting doll this time. Wasn't sure about the doll face. I never am until the doll's features are all painted and she is dressed. I stared at the half made doll for a long time just not wanting to work on her. I must have stared at the challenge fabric much longer. I did everything else. I made two cloth Hitty dolls, cut myself really badly (all healed now) from trying to carve a wooden Hitty using a blunt knife (never try to do this at home or anywhere else- blunt knife is a BAD idea), finished sewing dresses for three Izannah Walker style dolls, crocheted several cotton dishcloths, and did many more things.

I did not seem to be in any kind of rush until the last minute and then I went into a super productive mode. Now that she is all done (and I can't change anything about her,) I like her. Actually she turned out very close to how I saw her in my mind. Now I wait to see if she gets picked to travel. My Hoffman challenge doll from last year was picked to travel and I got to see her in Hampton, Virginia during Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival.  I am hoping that this one will travel too.

Challenge fabric this year is called Peacock Gold. As usual the design is much bigger in scale for a doll. So I had to do some fabric manipulation. I tried to duplicate the lattice design from the challenge fabric. I cut up one and a quarter by one inch pieces of the challenge fabric and put them together to make a pieced fabric for the sleeves and the vest. The off white shirt is also put together with long rectangles and triangles.

Purse pattern was from Kumiko Sudo's Omiyage. Had to change the pattern a bit to make the purse. Hat is made from different shaped pieces of Peacock Gold and the coordinating green fabric (from the challenge collection).  Face mold is my own one of a kind mold. The pattern is also mine.

My entry is called Outfits and Purses. My daughter goes to middle schooland I heard from her that outfits and purses are a favorite topic among some middle school girls. I decided to make that a theme for the challenge. Here are some pictures of my entry. Enjoy!

Elizabeth I

It feels like just yesterday that I took Elizabeth I class from Christine Shively. So it is still not too late to post a picture of the doll.  I highly recommend taking a class from Christine. She is a wonderful teacher and has taught me a lot about costuming and face painting.  I have made four or five dolls after I took her class and I can see that her techniques come in very handy while costuming the dolls and I have used those techniques for very one of them. 

The costume is from Elizabethan era with the stomacher and the elaborate ballooning skirt and the huge sleeves. All the edges are beaded. She stands about 9 inches tall which seemed impossible to make before I took the class but now I am a changed person! with changed perspectives in life!!

I chose a darker fabric for the doll body so I could learn to paint a face on a darker fabric.  That was pretty brilliant of me because I did learn to paint a darker face. The color palette is very different for a darker fabric and the highlights are more dramatic.  Wish I had taken more pictures of her from different angles when I first took pictures. Because if I think of taking more pictures, I might take another year to publish this post. :-)

(Blogger has changed so much since I last posted!! No smilies?)