Passing the time and miles...

Since Liz has been MIA for so long I thought I'd be cheeky and post this pic she sent this morning .. now if we could just shame her into posting more about this sweet little box of goodies :)

Useful JANE Links

A list of useful links and tutorials for completing your very own Jane A. Stickle quilt.

• Connie's Quilts - all I can say is WOW! Connie has a block-by-block, blow-by-blow analysis of the blocks she has made. For some it's just too much, for some of us it's a fascinating read .. take what you will and enjoy it. Connie has also generously posted detailed photos of the original Jane A. Stickle quilt here and here.

• Dear Jane® - lots of information by book author Brenda Papadakis, most specifially tips for piecing blocks in rows A-G and H-M.

• Minka's Studio - again, another quilter who is not afraid to make "improvements" to the patterns. Check out her blog yourself, she has a number of categories including "replacement" and "redrafted" blocks. Her preferred methods are hand piecing and hand applique.

• That Quilt by the owner Twiddletails  - every block is covered in detail. My hat goes of to Anina for all her hard work in putting this together. Methods mainly concentrate on freezer paper foundation paper piecing, machine piecing and hand applique.

Tutorials:

• Foundation Paper Piecing with Freezer Paper
• Foundation Paper Piecing (sewing through the paper)
• Sharon's Dear Jane ® Lessons

More Jane Quilts on Flickr:

• Completed Dear Jane Quilts
• Dear Jane Quilts
• Rainbow Jane
• That Quilt
• Jane A. Stickle - the finished quilt
• The Dear Jane® Project

If you know of any other blogs, photos, tutorials or ideas you think I should add to this list, please feel free to let me know!

So *very* Excited!

Our Contemporary Jane group is growing and truly becoming a world-wide effort.

JOY by Marilyn Smith of Columbia, Missouri
Wouldn't these colors make a fabulous Contemporary Jane?

Here are our "for-sures" so far:

Deb - Washington (state), USA

Jovita (me) - Belgium

Kate - where are you Kate?

Maria - Colombia
Valentina - Cyprus

But I definitely feel like I'm missing someone(s) ... I know several of you are "thinking" about it.  Just wait until we start posting blocks - you *know* you won't be able to help yourselves.

Like you LIZ - for the rest of us, I will keep bugging you :)

How about the rest of you?

Sign on up .. link Contemporary Jane to your blog and grab a button here.

Oh, and be sure to become a follower of Under the Willow Tree so you don't miss any announcements, block posts, tips, hints and inspiration!

Jovita's Shopping List for Jane

Maria's Jane

I really didn't need another project. But here I am. 

My goal this year is to use up my stash of fabric.

So, I will start with all my bright (mostly flower) fabrics that I've been collecting. 

My background fabrics will be: white, black and a combo of black and white.

I'm still waiting for the Dear Jane book. Hoping it arrives early next week. 

Until then, I can only sew the basic blocks. 

Here are my first 3 blocks.

Wont you join us and share what your color scheme will be?

It's Official

There's a button or two or three ... or more

You can linky to our project here!  And read lots more about my quilt and the first part of our plan here.

We *know* you want to join us.  Maria and Deb from the Willow Tree gang are in for sure!  I think we have Karen convinced ... Jill and Cathy are talking about it and Lesley is thinking about it too!  This could be so much fun.

A Mini Quilt Swap & Roll Call

It's been a while so I thought I'd give you an update on what's been happening Under the Willow Tree.

Liz and I decided to do a mini quilt swap ... we had way too much fun, only a few rules and a lot of nail-biting (for me at least).  Our "rules" were pretty simple : we were to work with each other's favorite two-color combination, use half-square triangles and not be bigger than 12" square ...

My color combination was turquoise and red

Liz's was lemon and lime.


Imagine my total pleasure when I opened this!!!  I love it ... just what I wanted :)  It's already hanging and and eventually more of this will be displayed with it.

I  had fun to trying to meet Liz's requirements and I was in a real hotbed of quilting frenzy there for a while. Lemon and lime - like literally - like their skin colors?  Well, no, more organic really like apples and pears ... ok ... so I pulled tons of fabs and began cutting and cutting, playing and rotating.  I "cheated" a little and added a few sticks of red apple to come up with this.

But then I had quite a few triangles left over.  The only answer - USE THEM UP.  But be different.  So I added one of my favorite solid blues and voilá,  an entirely different quilt.  The triangles are 1" finished and I'm really pleased with the results.  My favorite bit ... the little vintage lemon beads I used as an accent cover-up.  It was rather hard to part with this little beauty, but because I was laid up my swap got mailed much much later than it should have so this was my consolation piece for Liz.

And since it has been so long I thought I'd do a little roll call too and update you on what the other girls have been doing Under the Willow Tree.

Maria has been a busy bee ... and already had two finished quilt tops under her belt by January 9th.  On top of that she keeps my mouth watering on a regular basis with all her yummy baking and cooking ... if only I could somehow transport myself into her kitchen on a regular basis.  Be sure to check out her blog to read and see more!

I actually haven't spoken to Dana for a little while but when we do talk it's like it was yesterday.  Man that girl can make me laugh.  She had me GREEN with envy with this adorable little snowman she stitched up for the holidays! He's an adaptation of Bunny Hill Design's March 2010 block of the month "Snowbound".

And Deb?  Well, Deb is going through a really rough time at the moment.  She could surely, surely use our thoughts and prayers right now.  She's been on my mind every day ... and when I don't think it will sound trivial or come at a bad moment, I'll ask what she's been working on and see if you'll post some of her beauties for you to goggle at.