1863 Jane A. Stickle Quilt

Are you familiar with Jane Stickle? .... i think most quilters are. she finished her Dear Jane quilt in 1868....during the War. it took her 4 years to hand piece.....with 5,602 pieces.  i have tried to resist but cannot any longer....i am making my own Dear Jane quilt.....with 5,602 pieces. although i try not to think of it that way.....it is easier to just think of 225 patterns. even that is daunting.

Brenda Manges Papadakis wrote a book...she re-created Jane's blocks from her quilt. she actually went to the museum twice and drafted out all the little blocks....plus the triangular shapes for the border. here is her book.

Her book doesn't actually have instructions....just the blocks drawn out. it is assumed that you know enough to figure out how to create the blocks. some are simple and can be paper pieced.....some i may need to have templates. many will be applique. all blocks are 4.5" square....that is pretty small for me. i like my blocks about 12" ..  LOL  

Brenda talks in the book about her research on Jane and what she found. in the book she writes Jane letters....expressing her thoughts of what she has found or how she is coming with the blocks.


So, even though this will be a major challenge and keep me busy for at least a year i figure....i am determined to add one more thing on my plate of 'projects to do'.  i started out with some fairly simple blocks and scanned them with the scanner and printed them out. i paper pieced a few.

Wednesday night i started paper piecing and did these 3 blocks. it took me about 3 hours...much longer than i had anticipated. but there was much frogging and gnashing of teeth.

This is A6...pretty straight forward and simple. i didn't have to frog this one. LOL it was paper pieced in 3 sections

Then i tried A5.....it was paper pieced in 3 sections. and frogged twice. i still couldn't get the center square to match up properly and finally just left it alone.

I figured i would do one more before calling it a night. i tackled A1 next. for all the small pieces it went together pretty well....only 1 frogging. it was paper pieced in 4 sections. that one corner has a part that doesn't match properly...it is supposed to be a small triangle like the other 3 corners. but the paper piecing didn't work going from one side to the other. when i did the other side i started at each end and met in the middle....but had to cut the paper in half and mess with it till i got the right size square in there. i might go back and fix that corner later....or not.

So, 3 blocks down and only 1 of them is really good. LOL    i shall get better.

Last night i tried A2. this was paper pieced in 10 sections....yep, 10.  each of the 9 patches had to be done separately and the center square was done in halves. for all those tiny pieces it went together well. no frogging on that one. not perfect...but close enough for me.

I figure when all the blocks are done and all together.....a bit of not matching won't even be seen. that's my story.

My sister is making this quilt, too. she is done with row A and is on row B.  i may catch up with her in a few months.

So, my evenings kind of go like this.....sit down and read a chapter or 2....get up and finish the jigsaw puzzle on the table....go play a computer game for an hour....get up and go stitch a Dear Jane block....sit down and read another chapter or 2......think about working on the cross stitch Amish project (remember that?).....think about crocheting on the tshirt rug (remember that?).....go play computer games until my eyes close.....go to bed....it's about 1am.

Get up the next day and do it all over again.     WHEEEEEEE!!!!!    hahahahahahahahaha

One thing leads to another

For some reason....it is hard for us here on the farm to just do one thing. to do one thing usually involves doing 2 or 3 other things first.

I want to put old barn wood on the walls in the duck because i think it will be way cool and very artistic. so, i am looking for barn wood. success....my friend Judy has barn wood and is willing to share with me. so i tell my dh that i have found wood and as soon as i measure how much i need we can go and pick it up.

So, he says well, we will need the large trailer since they are probably 8 to 10 feet long (they are). ok...no problem says I.

Well, just a small problem...we will need new tires on the trailer to carry that large a load. ok...go get new tires...no problem says I.

Well, just a small problem....we need to empty the trailer first....it is full of cut tree logs that have to be split. lots and lots of logs. Dang....problem....

So, for the last 2 mornings we have spent about 3 hours each morning splitting logs and stacking them in the woodshed.  sure glad dh bought me that wood splitter for my birthday last year. LOL  finally the trailer is empty. now dh is driving the trailer over to the place where he buys the tires. hopefully they can get them on first thing monday and THEN we will be ready to go and pick up wood.......as soon as i measure to see how much i need.

Oh, yeah, and before we take the trailer load of wood to the Duck.....he has to put new brake lights on the trailer, too. geeze.....is there ANYTHING ELSE we need to do to go get some wood?

I plan on going to the duck on thursday...so i shall measure my walls and make space in the garage for a trailer load of barn wood.

Frederick need a wife

Yesterday i had fun with frogs. i spent a few days embroidering 12 frog blocks and then yesterday pieced the top together. they just looked so cute and playful. it turned out to be 52x70. small kid size.....i need a kid who likes frogs.

This quilt is all about Frederick the Frog. Frederick has decided that he needs a wife. his momma had always told him to choose wisely....and he is having a bit of a problem trying to decide who in the pond to choose as his wife. Frederick's momma always called him by his whole name....never Fred or Freddie....always Frederick....so Frederick has a bit of an enlarged ego. one day he found a crown at the edge of the pond and decided that it was left there just for him. after all...it fit perfectly....and his momma always told him he would be the King of the Pond one day.

So now Frederick is spending his days swimming and jumping and croaking and looking for love. he looked at Felicia first....after all, she has a larger lily pad than he does and they both could live there very well.

Then he thought of Fatima. she has a very long tongue and can catch bugs from a great distance. that is something to be admired in a frog.

And who could forget about Fawn. she is so shy that she is usually found hiding in the flowers and cattails at the edge of the pond. i think she likes Frederick but is too shy to tell him.

Now Fantasia would be a lot of fun...she is always happy. she flirts with all the boy frogs and jumps all over the pond. she doesn't worry overly much about catching bugs though ..... sometimes she just chases the butterflies.

Flora is Fantasia's sister.....she is always happy, too. everyone is her friend. she is rather young and perhaps not yet ready to be Frederick's wife.

One of Frederick's favorites in the pond is Fiona. she is rather small but has big beautiful eyes. what frog wouldn't just love to look into those lovely eyes every day. and she has the best smile.

Frederick's momma thinks he should marry Florence. Frederick is not sure about that. Florence is a bit on the chubby side....but his momma says that means she can catch a lot of food and will make sure he is fed well.

Frederick is just not sure who to pick.....his head is just spinning. he thinks he will go take a nap for a while and decide later.

Who do you think Frederick should marry?

May is for Red

Why is Red for May? because that is the color that JudyL pulled for our monochromatic challenge for May. and you know i had red selvages...right? so it was a no brainer.

This turned out to be 60x90"...i was planning on making it wider but ran out of red selvages....imagine that. LOL  in fact, some of this has red strips in it.

But it is still a good size for snuggling on the couch.

It seems these days that i like the scrap and selvage quilts better than a patterned one. maybe because i am trying to get rid of all my selvages and scraps.....a huge undertaking to be sure.

The back is something that i had enough of....a stripe that i had gotten from my friend Marilea at her $1 a yard summer sale.

It's more of an orange/brown color .... but, hey....there was enough of it and it works for me.

Now i am off to load the second challenge quilt for this month on the frame...#9...the North Pole Village. it is queen size and will take a few days.

I wonder what happened to spring here in Missouri. the heater is back on....it is rainy, windy and chilly. no garden is planted. grass needs to be cut again...but it is too wet and muddy. Mother Nature is playing some sort of joke on us and so far i don't get it. where's my warmth of the sun so my arthritic joints don't creak. i suppose i should be happy there's not a tornado or flood or something equally devastating.

Wonder what color June will be....perhaps blue for the sky or green for the grass. we'll see

The puppies of Texas

My son and DIL's place in Texas is called LAS Farm....they raise puppies.  Great Danes and Dashchunds.  what a combination...right?  And they have a horse, a mule and a parrot. it's pretty much like a zoo. there is no lack of puppy love. when you sit down....you have a puppy (or 2) jump in the chair with you for some puppy love. they are all so cute.

While we were visiting there were 4 new puppies...about 5 weeks old. so adorable. Here is momma and one of the puppies...you can see a brown one inside the kennel. they were having a good time rolling around with each other and playing.

And, wouldn't you know it....about 3 hours AFTER we left....another momma had 4 more puppies. i was so hoping she would have them while we were there. i believe there are 9 females and 5 male dashchunds for breeding. they are all treated like kids....they have their own room and play outside in their pens. there is no sneaking up on the property....someone is going to see you and start the barking.

There are also 4 outside dogs...Sheena, Shyla, Sherman (my son calls him Sherm the Worm), and Shasta Cola. I love Shasta...she is a bassett hound and calahoula (sp?)...cow dog. she is about 4 months old and her ears about drag the ground. she is at the tripping over her own feet stage....her only drawback is she likes to jump on you. but she is adorable.

The one that my sister loved and spent a lot of time holding and petting was Queenie. she is special. she doesn't have back legs...but it doesn't seem to slow her down AT ALL. she is friends with Crazy Shirley (the dashchund that started it all) and they wrestle and play a lot. my son build her a little contraption with wheels that they strap her into and she gets around well.

The big guys are Shazbot and Shamus. my sister has a puppy from them. this is shazbot

this is shamus. when both of them are on the couch (their couch..LOL)....you just go find another place to sit.

The little guy on the left is Treasure. she is a scardy cat and just barks at you and runs.

Larry turned the spare bedroom into the puppy room. i think he did a terrific job.

I love that he used the corrugated tin for the bottom of the walls. i want to do that at the duck in the laundry room. i was admiring his work and he said it was in self defense that he did it.....he got tired of replacing drywall with the danes would eat a chunk out of it. LOL

Andi is a great cook and fed us well. she spends her day chasing after puppies, feeding horses, cleaning and cooking. a wonderful woman who i love dearly.

Most all of their animals have names that start with SH or S.
The horse is Shocker; don't remember the mule.
The parrot is Spinner
I can't remember all the dachshund names....after a while they all seem the same. LOL they love to burrow under blankets. all the chairs and couches have several blankets on them. before sitting you always have to check for puppies.

But you can't forget Shirley.....Crazy Shirley.....my son swears he did not name her after me.....yeah, right!. i have never seen a dog like that one....she is so hyper. running over couches and chairs and over you if you are sitting on the couch or chair. she brings you a toy, drops it at your feet and barks at you until you throw it for her.....over and over again. i never saw her sleep. she is one busy, nosy dog.

We had such a good time it was hard to leave. we all need to live closer together so we can visit more often. now i have to get back into the Missouri routine think about the next Texas trip.

News from Texas

Well, we finally made it back home again. from my house to my sons is only a bit over 700 miles but it might as well be the moon. it seems like such a looong way to drive. we left here to clouds and got some sunshine along the way....but as luck would have it....it rained when we got there and rained that whole first day.

But my sis and I are slow travelers. we made many stops along the way to amuse ourselves. in Sleeper, MO there is a lady who has a jigsaw puzzle store. she has 3100 different puzzles. and we are both puzzle makers so we spent a bit of time there and each bought a puzzle. she had puzzles with pieces up to 20,000 pieces. there was one with 8000 pieces that i really liked but don't have a table large enough to set it out. plus it was like $150. it's a great place.

And we stopped for lunch, potty breaks, gas breaks and such. by 6pm we found ourselves in McAlester, OK and decided to spend the night there. the EconoLodge was very nice...looked like they might have just remodeled. frig and microwave and large tv...what else do you need.

The next day it took us another 6 hours to get to Granbury....there were a few stops involved. LOL

But i had loads of fun. the main purpose of the trip was to teach my DIL to sew. someone had given her an old Kenmore machine from the 60s....in a nice cabinet. but there wasn't a manual but we kind of got it to work. but it had several issues....backstitch, tension, and such. i decided that for a beginner sewer that she didn't have to deal with those issues AND learn how to sew.

So, the next day we went shopping and brought home a Brother CQ9000. (maybe QC...one of those LOL)  but Andi was thrilled and we sewed for 3 straight days. doesn't she look so serious? ...but we did a lot of laughing.

I showed her how to cut out the pattern to make doggie coats. she did a great job.

Andi liked all the fancy stitches and we spent a little time playing with the stitches. in 3 days we made 3 coats and a couple leashes.

I can't believe i don't have a picture of the third one. it was a different pattern...a bit longer...and it had a collar. we tried them out on the dogs...and they all looked so cute. they raise and sell dachshund puppies....so i told andi to outfit all the dogs when someone comes to get a puppy and they will see how cute they are and buy a coat, too. LOL 

They have turned their spare bedroom into a doggie room so i spent the nights at Andi's mom's. Bridgette has a house 'up the hill' as she calls it from Andi and Larry....on their property. so i got to visit with Bridgette some, too. both she and Larry were at work mainly during the time we were there....but that is ok.....andi and i had time to sew.

Here is Andi and Bridgette. andi might not be too happy with me showing her in her jammies....sorry Andi. LOL

Tomorrow i will show you their puppies....there are lots of them.

Break is over....back to work.

Hello from Texas

Well, I've been in Texas a few days now and wanted to let you know i'm having a fabulous time. my DIL is a great cook so we are eating well. there are puppies running all over the place to play with. I got a summer haircut this morning from DIL...got to warn you...i have NO HAIR....it is REALLY short. great summer do.

And she has a dachshund that is in labor but doesn't seem to be able to deliver, so i will go to the vets with her and view a C-section for a dog. i hope he lets me take pics. will let you know how that goes.

Having a great time teaching DIL to sew....we have made a dog leash and 2 dog coats. she is learning quickly and easily and will do great when i am gone back home.

Have fun and i'll talk to you in a few days when i get back home.