Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Quilting Like It’s 1863

I’ve succumbed to the Dear Jane love and am working on Jane A. Stickle’s 1863 Civil War quilt.



The original quilt is housed at the Bennington Library in Vermont.

Project Organization

I’m using large, cloth-covered, 3-ring binders (on clearance at Target a couple of years ago) as inspired by the Dear Baby Jane: A Quilt Journal blog—an amazing resource of exactly how to make each and every piece of this quilt.



Each block section in the Dear Jane book is copied as I go along. I insert it in an archival-quality page protector along with my finished piece. Since each block is lettered and numbered, alphabetical dividers keep it all tidy.

Fabrics

Reproduction fabrics help me match Jane Stickle’s originals as much as possible. The backing and certain block pieces are natural-colored Kona cotton. My fabrics are purchased at Bella Quiltworks in Tucson.

Tools

The following are some of the tools I’m using for this monster project.


Brenda Manges Papadakis’ book started all the Dear Jane love.



Dear Jane Software from here



Triangle and square tools, purchased here



Freezer paper




Translucent vellum—I learned about using freezer paper and vellum at my foundation piecing class at Bella Quiltworks.



The thread I’ve chosen to use.



You can see how I’m organizing each finished block in my binder.



Naturally I started with simple blocks.



Not all the colors in this quilt are going to be what you see. The blocks I’ve been working on just happen to be pretty close in tonal value.



I’m working on A-5: Cathie’s Campfire today. It’s not right, so I must try again.

Badge of Courage



I can wear this pin when shopping at quilt stores or visiting a quilt show. Everyone will treat me kindly because they know the humongous amount of work involved in making this quilt.

14 comments:

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

June, that quilt is absolutely breathtaking and looks like it will require a tremendous amount of detailwork! I'm sure you'll enjoy the process and make it a treasured future family heirloom!Happy Day!

Hugs, Pat

dutchcomfort said...

Hurray for you June!! The blocks look wonderful! Welcome to the Dear Jane quilters addicts!

Unknown said...

Yay June! I've been waiting for this post! I'm so excited that you're also making a baby jane. You look like you're all set up, can't wait to follow along with your progress!

shenry said...

Man, this looks like an incredible project... way too laborious for me, so I'm glad you're doing it.

Diana said...

Impressive! It will be beautiful. I need to get to work on two I owe sons!

Anonymous said...

How many total hours will you put into this quilt?

Deborah @ Comfort Joy Designs
comfortjoydesigns.blogspot.com
comfortjoydesigns{AT}gmail{DOT}com

Anonymous said...

June--what are you, nuts? Hee! What a tremendous project. I did many a patchwork comforter back in the day, but I like them cushy so I tied rather than quilted them. This will be a remarkable piece of craftsmanship.

Thimbleanna said...

Holy Cow Junie Moon! You jump in with both feet and THEN some!!! Have a good time!!!

Anonymous said...

wow, that's an incredible work of art and an incredible amount of work. Bravo to you June. Will we get to see more of it in progress?

African Kelli said...

My mom has been working on hers for years. She's done with the squares and is piecing slowly but surely the border.
Such a great project and an amazing heirloom and story! A great piece of American history.
I really look forward to hearing about your experence!

Unknown said...

I couldn't imagine even attempting something that difficult and time consuming. It will certainly be a work of art when finished!

Lena said...

I love this quilt. It should be a wonderful one to make, because each square is diffrent, and if you take it one square at a time, not so overwhelming. I think it's the perfect sort of project to take your time with. Sometimes piecing so many different squares can be boring. One thing that is nice too, is that hand applique is portable.

I'm so happy that your daughter and son in law are ok after that scary accident. We have a new GPS unit too, but haven't used it much yet. Hopefully, we will never have to use it for safety issues, but luckily it's there, if we ever do.

Take care June.

Anonymous said...

wow thanks for sharing this quilt.

Anonymous said...

I just have been reading through your blog today, having followed a link from Thimbleanna. I have finished my Dear Jane and completely hand pieced it, a real learning process and work of love.

If you are doing yours in civil war repros, I'd be happy to send some scraps or trade some scraps, I love to do that, in fact I called my quilt the Frugal Jane, as I didn't buy any repros for it, I traded Irish items or other fabrics for scraps or some nice folks just gave me some scraps!!

I am enjoying reading about all your different sewing, knitting, scrapbooking and cooking projects, you are a very talented lady!

Well better get back to perusing your archives for more inspiration!!

Cathi in Ireland
http://cathicrafts.wordpress.com