Calico Garden

Do you watch Dancing with the Stars?

I do.... I L-O-V-E watching this show.

Usually, I don't watch a whole lot of TV, but when I do, I like to have some kinds of handwork on hands to work on. Well, I could hand piece those Dear Jane blocks that I haven't worked on forever ... which, incidentally, I am wayyyy behind than the rest of the DJ group.

Likewise, there is another project that I haven't touched forever.... my Calico Garden quilt. I am in the process of hand quilting this crib sized quilt. My goal at the beginning of the year was to finish this quilt, and here we are.... it's October.... I'm still not done. :-(

The pattern came from this book.... Enduring Grace, Quilts from the Shelburne Museum Collection. Calico Garden was made by Florence Peto in 1952.


My CG quilt top is hand appliqued and hand pieced. The appliqued blocks are tiny, 3" finished. The nine patches also finished at 3".

The quilt was started in October 2004; it took me a whole year to complete the top (see below). Then, it took me almost another year to work up the nerves to get it basted and started the quilting.

Unfortunately, I hurt my hand shortly after that, and the quilt ended up on the shelf.

I am determined to get this quilt done ... hopefully, by the end of this year or beginning of next year. Please do feel free to cheer me on, I think I need it. lol





By the way, I should mentioned that there is A LOT of quilting that goes on in this quilt. I have quilted around each appliques and the broderie persed swags. There are still the 1/2" cross hatchings in the background and 9-patches to do.
But.... OY VEY.... there are way too many seams to quilt through.

While watching Dancing With the Stars tonight, I quilted through 5 nine-patches. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night Result show and getting a few more patches done. :-)

This photo was taken after the top is done... no quilting on it yet.

100th Post!

This is what I made from that "sneak-peaked" fabric for the giveaway, a box bag. Let's take a look inside to see what else I'm giving away.....

an iron-on labels book... (well, that didn't fit in the bag... HE HE), an embroidery scissors, a little larger than a FQ of that red butterflies fabric (for your own project), two charm bundles of Red, White, & Bold by Moda (a summer project maybe), and a needle case (that silver looking thing in the front right... I forgot what's the fancy name for it).


I'm heading out with Sweetie Pie on Friday afternoon for a weekend camping trip with her girl scout troop. We'll be back by Sunday afternoon. I will pick a winner either on Tuesday or Wednesday after I've catch up with non-quilty things. And if this body of mine isn't frozen up from sleeping on the ground for two nights!*LOL* So there's still time to enter in this drawing... just leave a comment on this post.




On the mystery front, I have finally completed all 30 blocks of step 4 for my Orange Crush. Finishing up Step 5 will have to wait till next week. :(


Remember my two color challenge quilt? I have found the background fabrics that I'd like to use! It's Never Enough Romance by Alex Anderson (white with red prints). I've placed an order with Fabric Shack, and it should arrived next week. While I was there, I also ordered some more Batiks for my Dear Jane blocks. Yep, I have my summer projects all line up! How about you?

Have a wonderful weekend!! :D

UPDATED: I discovered another giveaway -- go to Embroidery Treasures for an opportunity to win some pretty FQs.

A Goofed and a Giveaway

This block of Dear Jane, B-2 Sweet Tater Pie, was forgotten. I finished handpiecing this little cutie before Mother's Day weekend but forgot all about it due to the river trip.

So here it is... but there's one problem... I goofed! This little block took a bit longer for me to piece because it was my first time handpiecing with curves... so it will remains as is!

This post is also marked as my 98th of this blog! Just two posts away from that 100th mark! I recently visited a few blogs that are having giveaways so thought I might give it try. I don't know what I'm giving away yet, but for sure, it will be quilty related and fabrics. I will try to come up with something by my 100th post.

So all you have to do to get a chance to win something from me is to leave a comment on this post.... be sure to leave me an addy if you are set to "no reply". An extra bonus -- if you can tell me in the comment of what is the goofed of this block, I will add your name to the pot for an extra chance of winning.

If you need help with the goofed, click here to compare with this block. Need more help, then click here to look at Anina's block.... just scroll down to the bottom of the post.

One More DJ Block

My journey with Dear Jane in reproduction fabrics is slowly but surely coming along. I am lagging behind Baby Jane Group, but that's OK. I had anticipated this at the beginning of the journey.


This set I am doing everthing by hand; on the other hand (no pun intended), the Batiks DJ will be machine pieced as much as possible. I will try to keep up with the group with this collection.


This block is B-12 Starflower - reversed appliqued.

The Advanced Block

Here it is... another Dear Jane block that was assigned last week, B-6 Wild Goose Chase... not for the faint of heart.

No kidding when they said this is a hard block to do! I ended up machine piecing the whole thing and sewn it very slowly. There were a couple of times where I thought I wasn't going to make it thru this block.... required all the concentrations. I did it in three increments: the center cross, the middle square in a square, then the outer square in a square. I took breaks in between and worked on other things that were quick and simple and didn't required all my brain cells. :oD

This is the same block but in reproduction fabrics. It's prepped for handpiecing. Look at all those little pieces! 43 itty bitty parts in all! This block will keep my nighttime busy for the rest of the week and maybe even next week too! What was Jane thinking when she made up these little blocks for her quilt?! I wonder how many more blocks are there that have so many itty bitty pieces in them!

B-2 and B-12 in Batiks

Uh-oh ... I've been focusing on the mystery quilts lately that I have neglected Baby Jane. These two blocks were assigned last week, and for this week, Anina, assigned a difficult block. Yikes! (haven't attempt it yet)

The purple block is B-2, Sweet Tater Pie.... a cute name for a cute block. This block is machine pieced and hand appliqued. When I first saw this block, I thought it was a hard one ... (these are little blocks! 4 1/2"), but with Anina's directions, it's rather an easy one to do. Thanks Anina!

The yellow block is B-12, Starflower.... another cute name for a cute block. Don't you think Jane was creatived in naming these blocks? This one is regular handappliqued... nope, didn't have to do reverse applique on this.

I have the blocks in reproduction fabrics prepped... I'll be busy for the next couple nights. :o)

Caught up

Here it is late Sunday night already! Spring Break week went by too fast for us, and tomorrow... back on schedules. I think I still need another week off, though.


Between cleaning out the closets, laundry, gardening, spring cleaning, and hanging out with the kids, I did managed to work on more of Dear Jane blocks. I'm happy to said that I'm all caught up with the DJ group.





























These are the blocks I worked on for the last few days.

Here are the 12 assigned blocks. The top photo is Batiks ... that top left corner block is a bit dark so I might redo it with different color, but for now, it's done. The bottom photo is Reproduction fabrics.

Simple and Not-So-Simple

If you have been following my Dear Jane journey, you know that I have been working in two different colorways: Batiks and Civil War Reproduction fabrics as in these photos here. I wanted to handpiece this Reproduction quilt just as Jane did with her quilt. Why do I even bother with handpiecing let alone making two of these quilts, you asked? Because I'm a NUT, that's why! *LOL* And I couldn't decided which one to do! Yep, indecisiveness will make me do crazy things.

Seriously, we live in a busy and hectic time. And juggling with jobs, family and pets, school, sport practices, music lessons, doctor appointments, commitments, and whatever else life throws at us, handpiecing is a quiet time for me. I like to do the handy works at night while watching TV with the family.

So this first block is M-10 Simple Simon. Just as the name implies, this block is a very simple 9-patch. Handpiecing this block was a breeze.

On the other hand, handpiecing this block, B-4 Chris's Soccer Field, was not so simple. Some of the pieces (like the white part) finished at 1/4"! Handling these tiny pieces were no easy task! This little block took me two nights of TV time to finish.

Well, it would have taken just one night to piece if I didn't stop to watch the show here and there, if I didn't stop to let the dogs in and out, if the feline friends didn't want to sleep on my lap, if the kids didn't need help with something in the kitchen....

OK... you get the picture?

This photo is a prepared block that's ready to be handpiece.

I thought I leave you with a tip today.

To manage all of those little pieces, I sandwiched the prepared fabric pieces between two pieces of the Glad Press'n Seal. Yep, just like the freezer paper, I keep these things in my sewing area and not the kitchen.

The Press'n Seal (PNS) is slightly tacky so the fabrics don't move at all, even when the cats knock it off the table. It doesn't leave any residue either. When I'm ready to piece, I peel the top sheet back and pick up the fabric pieces... off I go.

Another tip that I heard recently but have not try is to trace the quilting pattern on the PNS, lay it on the quilt top where the quilting to be done and quilt on the lines. When done, tear the PNS off. If you have tried this technique, please leave me a comment on what you think.

And if you have any other tip on using the PNS, please feel free to leave me a comment. I love to learn more...

Two More DJ Blocks

B-4 Chris's Soccer Field



This DJ block is paper pieced. It's quick and easy to work up in no time at all.















M-10 Simple Simon

Yeah!! Another quick and easy block! I'm getting close to catching up with the Dear Jane group (with the Batiks blocks anyway).... just one more then I'm up to speed.

B-3 and D-3

B-3 Mirror Image
The block on the top is in Batiks and machine pieced. The bottom block in Civil War reproduction fabrics is handpieced. Having done these little curved blocks both ways, the handpiecing is much easier to piece. I'm machine piecing the Batiks blocks because the cloth has a tighter weave and harder to handpiece. However,....


D-3 Jason's Jacks

I still like to do needleturn method when it comes to applique. My favorite applique method is the back basting. Click here if you like to learn more about this method.

Jane's Tears

...or aptly called "Rhonda's Tears". Oi vay...

Would you believe that I have been working on this little block on and off since last week.... just got it done!

This is my first needleturned applique since two years, and first reversed applique ever.

Spring Jane

Huh? Spring Jane? That title sounds a bit silly, doesn't it? I almost wanted to type "Spring Chicken". *LOL* This post has two parts to it. The first part is about spring, of course. Today is the first day of spring ... well, at least for another couple of hours anyway.
All week long, it's been the perfect spring weather here in Southern California. These first two pictures were taken at Laguna Beach a couple of days ago. John and I came down to our favorite beach to celebrate our anniversary. We had lunch at The Cliff restaurant which actually sits on top of a cliff and overlooking the beach. If you take a closer look at the second pic, there're two little girls (standing on a rock) who were playing in the ocean. Eventhough the weather has been so nice, I doubted if the water was warm enough to go in it. But they don't care, they are just kids, and they were so cute.... ahh ... to be kids again.


Don't these tulips look great?! I picked these up at Lowes the other day.
Take a closer look. When I saw these, I had to bring them home with me. What is spring without tulips?


Look what are blooming in my backyard....
plum blossoms and nectarine blossoms.... yum, can't wait for the fruits....Cally lilies... I know, I only got one here....dasies....and DANDELIONS! How did these get in here? *LOL*


Of course, the little doxies had to keep me companies while I was out in the garden. Yep, they were up their usual "gotta help Mom out with the yard". Dig up this dandelion here... dig up this dandelion there... what pretty yellow flowers... must help Mom spread those seeds around... she loves little yellow flowers. *LOL* And yep, being the low-to-the-ground type of dogs, they quickly got all filthy. So that meant... baths for both of them.

before.... and after... all clean.

The second part of this post is Jane... Dear Jane quilt blocks. I have been working on these blocks for the last few nights and am half way catching up with the DJ group.

In Batiks, machine pieced.... C-9 Jane's Tears, B-13 Four Corner Press, D-13 Field of Dreams

In Reproduction fabrics and handpieced.

Starting a New Dear Jane Journey

Well, I'm not a 100% back to myself, but I was feeling much better for the last couple of days. At least, I'm not functioning on DayQuil and Tylenol all day. Although, today I have a bit of set back, woke up with a really scratchy throat and headache. Must have overdid it yesterday with all the nonquilty things that I had to do. So I skipped out with helping at Hannah's school this morning, and here I am writing up this post. And I'm back on DayQuil. Arghghgh... I hate being sick!

I did sew a little bit here and there, but there's not anything worthy to post here. However, this is what I've been doing lately when I'm awake.....

Recently, I visited Jeanne's (Genie) blog (met her through Quiltvillechat Group from the mystery quilt) and was inspired to think of pulling out my Dear Jane blocks that I started back in 2005. I only got a few blocks done then got sidetracked with other stuffs.





Dear Jane is a sampler quilt pattern from Jane A. Stickle that was made in 1863. This quilt has 5602 pieces in it. Click here if you like to read more on this quilt.


Did you notice a new button on the sidebar? I founded and joined Dear Baby Jane a couple of days ago. Anina is starting this journey this week along with a group of "Baby Janes" and me. 8-) I'm hoping that I could keep up with the group and maybe get my quilt done someday.















I actually started two different colorways of this quilt back in 2005. The first one is a reproduction fabrics kit BOM (block of the month) that I ordered from Stitchin' Heaven. I believe that they have a kit for 2008 available.


These are my two blocks that I handpieced.

The other colorways...
These blocks are in batiks/black and machine pieced.

Well if you followed this post all the way to here, I thank you so. Sorry... I think I'm not making that much sense. I think I need a nap now. LOL

Oh, I just added a slideshow of my blocks over at the sidebar too.