UFO # 2 (Sparkling Jane)

Hi There!

Remember my Christmas Dear Jane?

This quilt was made with a few swapped Christmas DJ blocks
and some "Midget" blocks thrown in, for good measure.

Here's my previous blogs on this quilt.

Well, yesterday I managed to find
an extra half hour, put my FOOT down,
and finished off the label on my
"Sparkling Jane" quilt.

Yep... believe it or not, there's 870 pieces, in total!

Quilt is now put away and
will be mailed off to it's recipient,
towards the end of November.
*grin*

Yep..... *brushing my hands*

Yet another UFO finished!!!

YIPEEEE!!!

BTW, in case you haven't noticed,
without even trying, I lost ONE WHOLE POUND, overnight!!!

But, after having spend one day in Calais,
I can testify that the scale will NOT be friend,
tomorrow morning.
:-(

Oh well, the OFFICIAL Diet Day is
April 1st, anyhow....

Rosa

Sparkling Jane's Debut

Hi There!

Okay, I haven't had a chance to share my progress
on any of my "on-the-go" projects.

Here's my "Sparkling Jane",
with her flange and her
hollies and berries.



NO, I'm NOT adding "vines"....
changed my mind.
*grin*

Close-up picture of her appliqué.

Another close-up picture of her
(corner) hollies and berries...

Now, here's the question that I had asked publicaly...

This will be going to a family member,
that I really don't know all that well.
I "assume" that she celebrates Christmas
and that she will appreciate it.

*grin*

And, keep in mind that I still want to make
a SECOND one, like this, okay?

Here's the question, that I had asked....

Do I take TONS of hours to hand quilt this?
Do I sew "in the ditch", on my trusty
sewing machine and then,
possibly hand quilt, here and there?
Or, do I wait till I get a chance to "long arm quilt" this?

Well, since my friend has a long arm machine
and we're "supposed" to practice on it,
I figured that I'd put it away, in a bag,
with the batting and the back to it,
till we get together, to
"long arm quilt" it.

*grin*

Will keep you all up to date,
once it's COMPLETELY ready!

Rosa

Flange - Not Just For Plumbers!!

Hi There!

Well, today I had to call up my quilting mentor -
my friend "Jo".

I KNOW I can ask her the silliest quilting or
non-quilting questions
and she won't laugh -
least not in my face, anyhow....

LOL

Picked up the phone and tried to explain
to Jo what I wanted on my quilt,
but I didn't know the name of it
and therefore, couldn't "Google" it, right?



After a few questions, Jo knew IMMEDIATELY
what I was talking about
and while she was on the phone,
I Googled "Flange Quilting"
and found a neat
You Tube video that explained it!

How cool was that, eh?!??!

Sooooooo, here's the lap quilt,
with the strips sewn together and
it's red flange surrounding it.
(NOTE: if you click on it, you can see it bigger)

Tomorrow evening, I will try
and add a 4 inch(?) border
around that...

And, on top of the BLACK border,
I'll be adding a green (sparkly) vine,
along with some Christmassy appliqués.

Still have NO IDEA what kind
of appliqués I'll be doing,
but I'll certainly keep you all posted.

*grin*

Oh yah -
One last thing, for the evening.....

I know that I mentioned this, at the beginning of my
"Sparkling Jane" Journey, but not all of these blocks
are done by me.

A few of them were received in a
Dear Jane Christmas block swap.

PLUS, I've added a few "Midget Blocks"....
just because I could and I, therefore
gave myself the permission to go astray....

*VBG*

Hope you all have a nice evening!


Rosa

Sparkling Jane - Last 4 COMPLETED!!!

Hi there!

Okay, the 4 last ones are FINISHED!!!

E-10 (Five and Dime)
I just LOVE this gold and red fabric!!!



E-2 (Merry May)

K-7 (Rose of Sharon)
These golden partridges(?)
are incredible, eh?
*grin*

And this was my last one....

I-2 (Kaye's Courtyard)

For a total of 49 blocks....
with 2 inch black (with gold speckles) sashing.

The sashing's all done -
I just need to sew the "strips" together...

More later...

Rosa

Blog-Quote:

The Importance of Walking

Walking can add minutes to your life.

This enables you at 89 years old
to spend an additional 5 months in a
nursing home at $7000 per month.

Sparkling Jane - Gettin' there!

Hi there!

Well, today was a GORGEOUS day,
so Gilbert and I went......

YARD SAILING!!!!!!!!

He got lucky, this time and managed
to pick up quite a few tecky gadgets,
while I managed to grab some funky wool,
a mexican colored mason jar wannabee
and a few Christmas or birthday gifts,
for my nieces.

This week, I was ultra busy
with my Dear Jane blocks, again.

Here we go:

E-4 (Buffalo Tree Hopper)



B-3 (Mirror Image)

M-10 (Simple Simon)

M-12 (Hopscotch)

L-11 (Caitlin's Rose)

And here's a picture of where I'm at, so far.
*grin*

I plan on finishing off that bottom row,
adding the black (with gold speckles) sashing
and putting on a red (with gold speckles) border,
surrounding all of these blocks.

Perhaps a 4 inch border?
Dunno yet.

And I'm also going to find a green (sparkly) vine,
and appliqué something that's kinda
Christmassy... but have NO IDEA
what it will be.

We'll have to wait and see....

THIS lap quilt will go to Gilbert's youngest daughter.

A second one will be started, soon afterwards,
for his oldest daughter....

I'll certainly be blogging
about the 2nd one, also - no doubt.

*grin*

Anyhow, tomorrow they're calling for LOVELY weather,
so we'll probably be hiking or biking on one of
our local "rails to trails"....
Depending on whether our 2 bikes
fit into my Matrix.

I doubt that I'll have the time nor the energy
to do any quilting tomorrow,
when we get back....

LOL

Have a GREAT rest-of-the-weekend!

Rosa

Blog-Quote:
"By the time a woman realizes her mother was right,
she has a daughter who thinks she's wrong."

K-12 - Another Sparkling Jane!!!

Hi There!

Well, with all our vacation preparations,
I still managed to find time to make
ANOTHER DJ (Dear Jane)
Christmas block!

K-12 (Doris's Dilemma)



This is a piece of fabric that my Aunt Agatha,
gave me, last week....
It's actually a LOT nicer, in person!

Rosa

Blog-Quote:
"When life gives you lemons
turn it into lemonade,
then mix it with vodka."

ONE + SIXTY Sparking Jane Fabrics = FUN!!!!

Hi There!

My friend Frummie sent me this GORGEOUS
dark purple fabric, with SILVER
musical instruments, musical notes and
YES,... some Christmas holly, too!

Tks Frummie!


Last weekend, I managed to finish this DJ blocks -
H-12 (Hannah Lou's Hearts)

Then, Pam read this blog and wrote to me.
Apparently, she's making a Christmas DJ
and wanted to know if I wanted any more
Christmas (sparkly) fabrics?

HELLOOOOO!!!!!!!
Do I look like a
turned on sewing machine,
with an empty bobbin, in it's casing?!??!

LOL

Of COURSE, I said "YES!!!!"

Well, Pam didn't really specify
how many pieces she was sending off.

Imagine my surprise, yesterday,
when I received her parcel!!!!

(NOTE: I'll be sharing with Pam, too, ASAP)

SIXTY "DIFFERENT" PIECES OF
SPARKLING FABRICS!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Click on pictures for bigger image size)

Each piece, just as GORGEOUS as the previous one,
that I had fondled and admired!

SIXTY PIECES!!!!

Lordy! This is one of my "infamous" projects -
starts out small and keeps GROWS !!!

LOL

I had originally planned on making
a small wallhanging, or possibly a lap quilt.

I only had a few (swapped) DJ blocks
and purposely added a 2 inch sash,
around block, to make the finished
"whatever", bigger.

Now, I'm finding that I have perhaps close to
100 different fabrics!!!!

Startin' to appear as if this might be a full-sized
quilt, after all!

LOL

Oh well, it's one of those journeys
that might take a few years to complete.

Who knows, eh?

*VBG*

On another note, Monday is:
"New Brunswick Day"
and I'm off!

Sooooo, to take advantage of this long weekend,
I'm taking Tuesday and Wednesday off, too!

Hope to start up a personal web page on my
"Mini Vacation",
as we'll be traveling.

*grin*

Rosa

Blog-Quote:
"Don't get your knickers in a knot;
it solves nothing and makes you walk funny."

And yet, 8 more Easy Smeasy Sparkling Dear Jane Blocks!

Hi There!

Went on a Dear Jane (DJ) Olympic sewing sprint
and managed to sew these up, since Sunday!

The appliquéd ones - I've been working on,
during the evenings.

This one is A-6 (Uncle Homer)
NOTE: the green's a lot nicer than this pic!



This one is called
H-13 (Farm Fields) and is a BRIGHT red,
bordering on (almost) orange,
but it had nice sparkly flecks in it....

I really couldn't segregate this one!
*VBG*

And this one is called:
J-4 (Adelaine's Apron Strings)

Okay, here's the neat part about my Christmas quilt....

I've given myself the liberty to play around with the colours!

See anything different with G-5 (Poof)????!
*grin*
And I just LOVE the Gold sparkly fabric, too!!!!



And, here's ANOTHER one that
I played around with the colours!!!

C-9 (Jane's Tears).
I fussy cut the fabric and told Gilbert
that Jane's Tears had stars in them!
*grin*



Another cutie....
F-13 (Tour de France)



And let me introduce you to:
A-5 (Cathie's Campfire)



And last, but not least.....
B-9 (Tinker Toy)

Will keep you posted on my other blocks,
when they get done!

*grin*

Rosa

3 more Sparkling Jane Blocks!

Hi there!

Yesterday afternoon (Saturday), we got quite a bit of rain!

What an EXCELLENT opportunity to sew! *VBG*

Managed to finish off 3 more DJ blocks,
for my "Sparkling Jane" quilt.

I had this green fabric, tucked away in my
"Civil War" fabric bin.

Now, it's probably not CW fabrics,
but it was in those tones and that's good 'nuff for me!

Anyhow, recently I had to go into my green CW bin
and noticed that this piece had gold speckles, in it!

This block is:
G-11 (Decisions, Decisions)




This fabric came from my friend Barb.

Last weekend, I had a brief visit with Barb
and she passed along some Christmas fabrics
or gold/silver threaded fabrics.

I remember Barb passing over some small pieces and saying,
"I'm not sure. These may be too small."

Barb - some of the DJ blocks only require a SMALL amount!

*VBG*

Anyhow, the pinkish piece is batik and has
lovely "silver" in it.

Once again, the photo doesn't do it justice.

This block is:

B-13 (Four Corner Press)

And this red/burgundy piece came from my friend, Mardelle!!

This block is called:

C-1 (Trooper Green's Badge)

I'm starting to build up quite the collection of
Christmas "sparkly" fabric,
and am trying to make blocks, as fast as my
fingers can sew them up!

Picked up some more Christmas "sparkly" fabrics,
when we went yard sailing, yesterday.

Will blog about that, later....

Rosa

More Future Sparkling Janes!!!

Hi There!

Wednesday, I got THREE lovely parcels,
in my mail box -

I was STUNNED!!!

*VBG*

Mardelle, my Canadian friend,
sent me these scrumptious greens,
along with a red and gold piece, too!!!!




My other Canadian friend, Barb,
decided to do some more spring cleaning,
with an eye for Christmas "sparkly" fabrics!

LOVELY fabrics, Barb!!!

And this 3rd parcel,
from Cyn, in the USA!

Cyn - LOVE your gifty!

It's really difficult to share with you,
the gorgeous "sparkly" gold and silver,
in these fabrics....

but TRUST ME!!!! They ARE beautiful!!!

Thanks a bunch, ladies....

I'll try and do your gifties justice....

More DJ and Midget blocks will be sewn!

Rosa

3 more Sparkling Janes!!!

Hi there!

Well, as I had previously written,
I'm also doing some "Midget" blocks
for my "Sparkling Jane".

Block #60 (French 4's)



And here's #26 (Old Snowflake)

and Block #51 (Friendship)

This one was actually done last week.

NOTE: I just found this post, as a "draft".....

I can't believe I had forgotten to share these with you....

*long sigh*

Musta been a senior's moment!

LOL

Rosa

Sunday Evening and MORE Sparkling Jane Blocks!!!

Hi there!

Okay, I had DEFINITE PLANS, today....

As I'm starting vacation (1 week),
I made a list of things that I wanted to...
"Get 'er Done!!!!"
(said in a Louis Armstrong rawl, BTW)

Here's my vacation web page:
June/July 2009 Vacation

Anyhow, remember I said I would be adding some
"Midget" Blocks, to this Christmas
Sparkling Jane quilt?

Well, here's Block #1 (Ohio Star)



Another one, in the Midget Block series:

Block # 14 (Gem Block)

And.... another one.....

Block #70 (Four Leaf Clover)

This one is...
Block #7 (At the Depot)

This one is:
Block #12 (Indiana Puzzle)

And, yes, I did some more sashing, too!

Never mind the LONG list of things that I wanted to do....
For some silly reason,
I'm really caught up with this one!

I have about 3 more pieces of sparkly fabric, to use and
my Aunt said she had some that she was going
to give me.

Sooooo.... hopefully I'll be able to make a
fair sized quilt, with this.

And who knows, eh?
I just might put it aside and
whenever I'm in a fabric shop.....
look for that special "sparkly" fabric!

*grin*

Rosa