I told you all I was going to bring a quilt along all ready to hand piece and I did. The quilt is “So Charming” photo’s are on older post from last week. 35 blocks with a 5 inch square in the middle with a black trim around them. Here is what I have so far.
Six hand pieced blocks
the hand pieced back of one one of them so you can see I really do handpiece them the focus is a little off and not clear but I think you can see the stitches.
my little pressing and squaring up corner of the camper - you can make due with small areas if you try.
another view of those six blocks
I do not know if I will like all of the blocks when I get done with them, some are bigger designs than I normally use and so we will see on those, I might want to replace them. The one with the leaves is one that I am talking of and I have several more in the stack. We will see what they all look like when I get them done.
No more post now for 4 or 5 days most likely unless we are having horrible weather and decide to find a coffee shop that is on line or a library or whatever.
Two days on the road – we are now in South East Colorado camping at a KOA in the small town of La Junta. We thought we would make sure to camp at a place that had wireless tonight as we will not have it for the next 4 days.
We started in central Arkansas and within an hour and a half we were in Oklahoma. You really do not travel far in Oklahoma before the scenery really starts to change and you realize you are in one of the central plains state. The main thing I do not like about travel in Oklahoma is the interstate – I-40 in this state really needs work. It is one of the bumpiest areas to go through. We drove all day and camped at a nice campground about an hour and a half north and slightly west of Oklahoma City. The campground is called Sandy Cove and it is by Canton Lake. Here are some photo’s of the campground and lake.
Canton Lake
Sandy Cove campsite
Karen having fun walking in the water.
a cove at the lake
sunflowers at the lake
Well I guess technically you could say Camper is Packed – no bags 
I’m ready to go as you can tell. I have been for 
awhile I guess. I have been keeping myself busy this evening seeing as everything is ready to go but my husband who is putting in an evening at work! I thought I would work on “Insanity” this evening and I got a couple blocks done.
I will be updating my blog when I can, sometimes that will be every day other times more like every four or five days depending on where we are and availability of wireless and if we feel like finding it! We are looking forward to hiking, seeing animals and taking photo’s. I don’t know how familiar most of you are with Rocky Mountain National Park. If you have never been there you must make it a vacation some day. It is one of the most beautiful places around. The scenery is beyond belief in places.
We have seen bear outside of the park but never in the park – we have also seen big horn sheep, elk and deer. On the western side of the park we have seen moose. I hope we see all of these this trip and get some good photos.
After we get done at Rocky Mtn. we plan on driving across the state and eventually end up in the southwest part of the state at Mesa Verde National Park. Another beautiful place – but totally different.
I have the “So Charming” fabric blocks ready for hand piecing and I hope to make good progress on it and I will take pictures along the way. The only thing I do not like about traveling is I miss my washer and dryer!! I really dislike laundromats
Talk to you all along the road!
After talking about possibly working on the Dutch Treat blocks again I decided to get right to it last night and work on one. It isn’t perfect – none of them are but there you go – 38 blocks now. That will be easier to work with than 37 if I do go with a wall hanging. Even numbers are normally easier to work with. I’m not sure after working on that one last night if it has inspired me to work on it again or not. Time will tell. This block is trimmed down to 4 1/2 inches as they all are and it is called “Cookie”. (I’m not sure how she came up with the name for some of these – does this look like a cookie? I don’t think so )
Also I got busy quilting on Row K this evening and managed to get two triangles on the end and block #1 quilted. I might get around to doing some tomorrow also. Looks like rain is in the forecast for 
tomorrow and I really do not have that much more to do outside. Packing is about done – I mainly just have to move some food from the house refrigerator to the camper refrigerator. I also need to run to the grocery store and stop at the post office. I’m sure I will be busy in the day but evening I will be done and ready to relax and maybe quilt some more.
Another row is finished with the quilting. That leaves me with 3 rows of blocks and 1 row of border. I will not be able to get this finished before we leave on Saturday I’m not superwoman! I would have liked to but I have been too busy. I do have all my sewing supplies packed in the camper – it took longer than I thought. I decided to pack one box instead of two and combine the two projects into one box and have one large cosmetic bag with “stuff” in it. It was a tight fit but one box of sewing supplies instead of two means more room for sweatshirts and jeans which are a necessity in cooler weather!
I thought I was finished and this evening I dragged all of my Dutch Treat blocks out. I have not touched these blocks since November of last year but lately Crispy has been posting some photo’s of her enlarged blocks (she is making them at 6 inches) (mine are 4 1/2 inches). It got me to thinking of this project forgotten by the wayside. I have decided the reason I lost interest in it was because I haven’t been pleased with the work I have been doing with it.
I do not want to start over again by enlarging the blocks but I think if I redesign the blocks just a tad to make them a little easier I might finish it — mind you I said might! I am going to bring a couple of these blocks along and make curves a 
little easier – maybe drop out some little sections altogether and see what happens. Maybe I will get back to it – and maybe I won’t we will see what happens. I have put a few patterns and fabric blocks in a zip lock bag with the thread and will toss it in the cupboard of the camper with the other sewing items – if I work on them I do – if not it will most likely end up as a wall hanging and be done with it this winter – I’ll let you know what I decide to do with it.
I have never had a UFO they have always been WIP (works in progress – but not totally forgotten!). I have not liked the feeling of not working on this quilt.
I did get finished with the quilting on Row J of “Insanity” and here are the photo’s of the last blocks and triangles of that row.
This is my way of making my blocks. Over the past 2 1/2 years since I started this blog people have expressed amazement at those of us making this quilt – especially those of us making it by hand and wonder how we do it. I thought this morning as I was making a block to take photos along the way to share.
This block is H-1 Peek-a-Boo and it is for the “Insanity Revisited” Dear Jane quilt. I start with a template
of sorts. I make two copies of each block one is on freezer paper and one is on regular paper. On the regular paper I use it as a type of “paint by number” I guess you could call it. I number all of the pieces and I put a W on the pieces that will be with the light color of fabric in this case it is buttercream but in the first Jane that I made it was white and I just stuck with the W because of that. This photo on the left is that copy. I actually copy one row of the blocks at a time leaving 
two blocks on each page. I keep them in plastic sleeve protectors. I decided to do this just in case I am insane enough to make a third – then this step will already be done!
The photo on the right are the pieces of the block already cut and pressed onto the correct fabric for each piece. As I cut the pieces out I arrange them as they should be for the completed block. I also break it down in to segments so I know how I will be sewing the block 
as shown in the next photo on the left. In this block you can see how I start to pin the sections in place as I finish them. This starts to press the seam in place also. The freezer paper gets peeled off as I finished each section – before I take the freezer paper off I mark where the seam will be with a chalk pencil.
The second photo on the right are all the segments ready to be put together. It is easy to assemble when you do the block row by row, or section by section (I say this because these blocks can be kind of strange!).
This 3rd photo on the left is what happens if I need to take a break from the block. In 
order to protect the pieces from “flying” away from the fan or whatever I place my large square ruler over the block which is on felt on top of my sandpaper board. This also travels very well in this way. There has been times when the 
ruler has covered it for as little as 5 minutes to 5 weeks!! yes at times it takes forever to get back to it.
This 3rd photo on the right is taken from the back of the block – when the block is finished being pieced it is moved to the ironing pad and pressed making sure that all of the seams lay flat.
On the 4th photo on the left I have moved the block to the rotating cutting mat. I find this very helpful in being able to turn the mat easily. I forgot to mention that on my template you might have noticed 
that I have the outside edge highlighted in green? That is because I make all of the outside edges a half inch larger than needed. All other seams I cut at the quarter inch as normal. I have found that by adding a half an inch around the outer edge pieces makes it so that I can have the correct size block with no worry. Also I have used quarter inch masking tape to outline the edge of my ruler for easy seeing when marking my seams. Now that the block has been pieced and pressed I trim it to the correct size – this is a 5 inch block when it is put together it finishes at 4 1/2 inches.
In this 4th photo on the right is the block trimmed to the correct size with a one inch piece of sashing ready to be put in place. As I finished each block I add the sashing gradually getting each row done block by block. I find it easier for me to do it this way. I can see the progress being made. A lot of people wait until all of the blocks are finished before joining them. To me that would be tedious to wait until the end to join them all — but that is me, we all have our own way of doing this quilt – there is no “correct” way as we all have our “own” way.
In this 5th photo on the left is the block completed with the sashing. It gets pressed after the sashing is added – I take a photo for the blog before the sashing is added normally. When I am done with it, it is put in a ziplock bag and stored flat waiting for the next block to be added to it.
In the Dear Jane book it suggests that you keep a journal of your progress. Some people do this, some do not. I like to just for my 
own purposes – I use it more for keeping track of how many blocks, how many pieces and how much time spent on the quilt – this is to satisfy my own curiosity as to how long did this take to make!! I also jot down notes if we are traveling where we are when I am working on it. If it has been a long time between blocks I might mention what other projects I have been working on. I also add family news – on my first Dear Jane one of my brothers had cancer and I mention him from time to time as he was sick and then when he died. Family birthdays and visits from out of town siblings. I mention my grandchildren in it also and I occasionally tape a photo in the book. Here on the right is a picture of my journal from this morning adding in a photo of the 7th row complete.
My first Dear Jane quilt called “Insanity” has been claimed by my oldest daughter who has a very intense interest in the quilt – you could call her a “Dear Jane Groupie” she doesn’t quilt she just wants them given to her on a regular basis the journal for that quilt will go with it – she might find it very boring but she will have a record of my boring life during the almost 4 years it took to make it from start to finish. It will be 4 years in February since I started that quilt but I will finish it before then.
Continue reading about The construction of a handpieced Dear Jane block – a tutorial
I wanted to really get this 7th row completed of “Insanity Revisited” before we left on our trip and I did!! All 7 rows are now sewed together. I think I improved on my hand stitching so much over the last 4 years. I can really tell a difference between the first Dear Jane and the second. I had always done hand piecing but before the first Dear Jane I rarely worked on such little pieces of intricate size and shapes. Now I can see that the first Dear Jane “Insanity” was merely practice to get this one closer to great! When looked at closely I can still find plenty of mistakes and pieces not straight enough but It really is so much neater than the first one. This quilt top as with the first Dear Jane are made totally by hand.
I intend to bring row 8 with me on the trip but I really do not know how much I will accomplish on it. I am bringing along also all the pieces I need to make the “So Charming” quilt that I showed a photo of a week or two ago and it will be so much easier to work on in the motorhome than these tiny pieces. We will wait and see what gets done in between hiking and sightseeing. The photo for “So Charming” is found at this blog post.
I know I’m a quilter and I should be posting links to more quilts and patterns BUT look at the sweaters at the following link – what a great knitter she is. This lady is from Iceland and knows what cold weather is all about. Her name is Berglind Snaeland and here is her link. I just wanted to share this as I am really envious. I would love to be able to knit sweaters and socks and whatever but have never learned how (and of course in Arkansas I really do not need them that heavy!). That is going to change soon I hope. In October when things get settled down from a traveling September I want to take knitting lessons at a little shop in my area. I just hope the recession won’t hit their small store before I have a chance to do it and learn it well. We have never seemed to have a knitting store stay in business long in our area. I would love to learn how to knit a sweater – nothing too heavy of course or I would be too hot but a nice medium weight yarn would work well I think.
I know I have seen a lot of quilting blogs where there is knitting featured also but I just saw this one the other day and 
wanted to share it.
I have gotten one more block done on the “Insanity Revisited” quilt Block G-13 and have the 7th row now pinned to the 6th row and will start sewing it together later this evening and the body of the quilt will be half way finished.
On the “Insanity” quilt I only got one block done on that one and part of the block next to it. This one is J-10. It was done using reverse applique and it was a pain in the butt doing it I recall!
that is what it is going to be this week. A week from today we leave for Colorado for 3 weeks! It will be so nice. We love the mountains so much. Of course that means between now and then we will be busy getting things ready. It also means that for the month of September I will not be on the computer a lot so blog post will be eradicate. Some places that we will be at will have wireless and some won’t. There will most likely be 4 to 6 days or so between post. But the reward will be a give away when I get back home so please stick with me! I will be back to posting like normal when I get back home.
Yesterday Mike washed the motorhome from top to bottom and even got the awning out and washed that too. Hard work out in the sun but at least it wasn’t really hot. This morning when we got up it was 62 degrees – amazing for this time of August it is still in the 60’s right now. I guess the weather is giving us a taste of what our day times will be like in Colorado except up in the mountains it is already in the mid 40’s at night! I will be sure take a fleece jacket and gloves with me! (plenty of sweatshirts too)
I didn’t get much quilting done yesterday but I did finish one more block on the “Insanity Revisited” quilt. This is block G-12. I used the reverse applique method for this one. One more block to do in that row and I will have 7 rows finished and sewed together.
I also got two more blocks on “Insanity” quilted. These are from Row J #’s 9 & 8. 
Only 4 more blocks to do on that row and the two end triangles. I will finish that row for sure this week but most likely I will have 3 rows and a border row waiting for me when I get home from the trip.
I will be away from home just a little longer than expected. We will only be home for about 2 or 3 days before I am flying to Wisconsin for a week to visit with our daughter and her family. I will be taking care of the grandchildren for 3 days (the rest of the time will be to visit with her ) while our daughter meets with her husband in New York City. He needs to go on a business trip that week and she really would like to see some of the city. I don’t blame her one bit! The kids will be in school so can’t go along. I will be able to get in a visit to one of my favorite quilt shops while I am there - Mill House Quilts. It is only about 10 miles from where I will be.
So stayed tuned – give away will be announced the first week of October – I have that big basket to go through so there might be two winners – or one winner with more than one item.
It rained off and on all day today, a nice soaking in kind of rain in my area – other areas had downpours. I’m glad we had the better kind. Also and this is so unusual for August our high temperature happened about an hour ago – 70 degrees!! 
normally at this time of evening it is still in the mid 80’s as it was it was 66 for most of the day. That is so nice — but crazy this is August after all.
Between last night and today I got 4 more “Insanity” blocks quilted and I am partly 
done working on a “Insanity Revisited” block but it isn’t finished so I didn’t take a photo of that one. This one on the left are blocks 4 and 5 and the ones on the right are 6 and 7. Half way done with this row! it is moving right along now that I am back to work on it.
I have been really looking over the patterns and the book for the Little Brown Bird as I mentioned the other day and though I like it I wonder if it isn’t too much? If you know 
what I mean – it is so full of designs. I am wondering what it would be like if instead of the blocks that have 4 designs in them if I enlarge the pattern to have just 1 design in each of those areas and just pick and choose which ones I use? It is so fancy the way it is!! I would like the challenge though. I know I saw some place someone had made this quilt but changed the design up a little in that she had left some of the blocks out also – does anyone know a link to it? I can’t find it. I was sure I had bookmarked it. I will keep looking but if anyone has seen this quilt designed just a little differently let me know. I would like to see several versions if I can before I get started on it (not sure when that will be). I’m pretty sure the picture I saw was on someone’s blog.
