Block one of Jane A. Stickle Quilt (JAS-A01) was  kind of encouraging though it was a clear demonstration that this is a quilt that can’t be made in a hurry.

Block two, JAS-A02, was a tad easier than the first one or should I say faster.

This block has a whooping 40 pieces but after my experience with JAS-01 I decided to do the cutting a little bit differently. It probably helped that many of the pieces were half squares so to speak and a few squares and rectangles.

So basically I measured the side of the triangles, added 1 inch: 1/2 in for seam allowances and an extra 1/2 in to cover for miscalculations, turning of fabric, etc. and then I cut a square. And finally I  I cut the square in the diagonal.

For instance for the larger red triangles I needed to cut 4 squares because I needed 8 triangles in all. And for the large white triangles I cut just one square. And so on. This worked really well and I was quite pleased with this system. It may not work for all blocks but it may for some.

This block reminded a lot of some blocks from the Farmer’s wife quilt sampler but they were actually faster to cut because I didn’t need to be so precise. That’s the beauty of paper piecing, cutting the pieces can feel quite liberating. Even if your pieces aren’t exact you will be able to fix that as you do the patchwork.

And I didn’t waste a lot of fabric. Just 1/4 in around each piece.

So far I have been using fabrics that I used for Farmer’s wife but I realise that if I continue to do so both quilts may end up looking quite similar so I’m going to try and incorporate new fabrics in the mix as much as possible.

Carol gave me a tip last week. She left a comment with the following: ” if you stitch just a hair to the right of the lines, you get better points– the fabric just needs a tiny space to turn around the seam”. I’ll try that next time.

I hope my tips will help you in your Dear Jane trip.

Feel free to send in any extra tips or ideas you may have that helped you.

Where to get the Jane A. Stickle Quilt  patterns

Susan Gatewood’s paper foundation . All patterns are free though Susan says “I only ask that you consider making a donation to the Bennington Museum, in Bennington, Vermont.  And if you do, it would make me tremendously happy if you would tell them that you have received help from me.” I totally recommend Susan’s patterns as they are very easy to use.

Virtual quilt

See all blocks I’ve done together in a larger size.

Today I start a new “epic” quilt.

I finished Farmer’s wife quilt sampler a few months back and I liked it so much that here I am again starting another quilt. FWQS took me almost 3 years to make on and off and Dear Jane looks like it is a harder quilt so who knows. I’ll just take it a block at a time.

I’m making this quilt using foundation piecing mostly. Susan Gatewood generously has made all the blocks available for paper piecing.

I think paper piecing is the way to go with such complex and small blocks.

I started with block number 1: JAS-A01.

According to Susan this block is rated “Easy” and easy it is but also time consuming. I has 32 pieces.

I’m hoping that as I get better at paper piecing I will be able to piece blocks more quickly than this one. I didn’t time how long it took but it must have taken no less than 3 hours.

I’m happy with the result though the top corners are not matching. With paper piecing is easier to piece more accurately particularly if using smaller pieces.

The only drawback is fabric waste. Please leave a comment if you know how to reduce fabric waste when paper piecing.

If you’re making this quilt and you have any advice to offer feel free to post a comment.

Making the block

I printed the page making sure that I was printed at 100%. This is important because I have found that not all printers print accurately.

Then I cut all the pieces as per photo below.

Next step is folding along the seam line.

Then cut a piece of fabric that covers triangle A1 plus at least over 1/4 inch all the way around. Place over the piece to cover and pin. Note that the piece of fabric is pinned to the back of the paper.

Now this is when the previous fold becomes handy. Fold the piece back as per picture and trim the fabric leaving 1/4 inch allowance. See photo below.

Now, with right sides facing together, place the next piece of fabric. Align both pieces well at the edges.

Stitch from the front including through the seam allowances.

Do all pieces in the same way and then place them as per pattern and stitch in twos.

Make the inside square and then attach the corners. Use the pattern as a guide.

And the block is done. My block is 5 in square.

Where to get the Jane A. Stickle Quilt  patterns

Susan Gatewood’s paper foundation . All patterns are free though Susan says “I only ask that you consider making a donation to the Bennington Museum, in Bennington, Vermont.  And if you do, it would make me tremendously happy if you would tell them that you have received help from me.” I totally recommend Susan’s patterns as they are very easy to use.

See all blocks I’ve done together.

How to do foundation paper piecing

You can learn the principles of foundation piecing on this 2 minute video. These principles can be applied to any foundation piecing blocks no matter how complex they are.