Dear Jane Siggie Swap 2008, Birthdays and Hexagons

Well...I arrived home from holidays to my lovely bunch of siggies from the Dear Jane Siggie Swap 2008 ...about 125 siggies I think - last year I made a siggie swap quilt from the blocks I swapped - you can see this in my "Siggies" link.

They are beautiful - some are simply delightful, all are lovingly made and I love them all..


And last week it was my birthday - so here are some of my birthday cards from the Tas Scquilters Birthday Squishie swappers.. and beautiful blue fat quarters - two of which look very suitable to go into my Dear Jane quilt.










And this little fellow is a birthday siggie that I made for myself - I was needing to try out some glitter and fabric medium which I wanted to use on the birthday swap siggies - this is also for the Dear Jane Alternative Siggie Swap group - I can't believe I have joined up to swap 86 birthday siggies - oh well - when I get mine I can add them to my 2008 DJ siggie top.










My hexagons are growing - I have now done almost all of the white background hexagons (there are over 600 white 1 inch hexagons in this bag) - but still have about 42 blue flower blocks out of 68 to put together - most are tacked ready to construct the flower patches - then the big job of putting the quilt together - I want to finish this year as this will be a quilt for entering into a show - to showcase my machine quilting skills...



Did I say I loved quilting- LOL!

It's Siggie Time Again!

Today I have cut, sewn, stamped and signed 136 signature blocks for the Dear Jane Siggie Swap 2008 - Yep - made them all in one day - and also made an extra 50 blocks so I can start the European Swap again - there are some people whom I owe a siggie to and I must get them in the mail asap. This year I have used some fabric with Kangaroos and Emus that I purchased while in Sydney. They are now ready to be posted to the USA for swapping - I can't wait to get everyone's siggie blocks - this is the Dear Jane siggie swap which is held every year and one person will swap everyone's blocks and send a pack with 135 blocks to each person - wow what a big job that is. Last year I made a siggie quilt with the blocks I swapped - it is on my blog under My Quilts.

Cutting fabric

All ready to go now

Sewing - chain piecing

Cutting corners off

Dear Jane Siggie Swap Quilt 2007 FINISHED

Shadow can't believe her eyes - the siggie quilt is finished......












And here it is - quilted, bound and the label put on (just needs to finish stitching the label down).















Then there are all the corners.....

And the back - which I think looks pretty good.

I have put a label on the back showing who all the siggies belong to.

Then there were some from Patti that I misplaced whilst making the top and found them a few weeks ago - so I decided to add them to the back.

I have also included my very first Siggie from Jill - she swapped with me very early on this year after I joined the Dear Jane Yahoo Group. I wanted Jill's siggie to be part of this quilt as well.

This is a little story that I have included on my label - it was important to me to ahave this on the quilt.

The beginnings of this signature (Siggie) swap quilt spans across time and continents.

It all began on the 8th April 1817 when Jane A Stickle (nee Blakely) was born.
Sometime in 1863, Jane Stickle finished a magnificently intricate quilt made up of 169 blocks, 52 pieced triangles blocks and 4 corner kite blocks, some 5602 pieces in total. This quilt is now held in the Collection of The Bennington Museum in the USA – listed as: “Sampler, by Jane A Blakely Stickle, Shaftsbury, Vermont, 1863. 80-1/4 x 80-1/4 inches, pieced and appliquéd cottons.”

During the 1980’s a woman called Brenda Papadakis saw Jane’s quilt and has subsequently, after what I imagine to be an absolutely huge amount of time and work, brought so many people together with her book simply titled “Dear Jane”. This book details the individual blocks from the quilt together with “letters” Brenda wrote to Jane as she drafted the blocks.

In January 2007 another Jane (that is me) saw the Dear Jane quilt and was immediately mesmerised. Always wanting a challenge, I decided to investigate further. The web site www.dearjane.com. was an amazing introduction to a new world where women shared knowledge and techniques willingly and friendships are formed. I noted a small side bar called “Siggie Swap” and by the time I had grasped the meaning of such a thing, it was almost too late to join. But, by the skin of my teeth and in the last hour, I managed to sign on, pay my fee and join up for the 2007 siggie swap – not really knowing the implications of such behaviour. Once I found out I had to make approximately 160 four and a quarter inch blocks and sign my name on them, I didn’t know how I was going to manage it. But the block D13 Field of Dreams is a simple block and I got a production line up and running. I sent my blocks off to Brenda Papadakis in Indianapolis, USA and waited, and waited a little bit more.

Finally, the day arrived when a package came. It was amazingly filled with one hundred and forty one 4-1/4 inch blocks – each made with love and care. I looked at these blocks with a feeling of wonder, thinking about each block, the maker and where they lived, why they chose the fabric for the block they had made, all the while amazed that the work of so many women was in my hands. My husband and I poured over our World Atlas trying to find placed where they had come from. I felt I had received an amazing gift.

After a few weeks I realised I didn’t have enough blocks to make a top in the manner of the Jane Stickle quilt of 13 x 13 blocks – so I put the word out and was blessed to receive further blocks from the Dear Jane quilters. I also swapped family and pet blocks with two ladies – Patti and Rosa. Patti’s blocks were lost for a time and they now live on the back of this quilt top.

Once I had enough blocks, I pieced the blocks, sorting through each to put into a “Trip Around The World” colourway. I then decided to make the triangle border with the blue fabric called “Cowpoke”. I also pieced the four corner triangles. The Borders were attached to the quilt on the 19 October; it was machine quilted on the 21st October and the binding attached on the 24th October and the wee small hours of 25th October 2007.

The story is an important part of a quilt – that is why I have written this and included the names of all the people who are part of this quilt top. Each persons name is listed in the corresponding place where their block is on the quilt top. On the back I have included Patti’s missing, but now found, blocks and also a triangle that was designed by Denise in Tampa, USA, in memory of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. I believe it is appropriately included to remember all those that lose their lives in War Times over the centuries because Jane Stickle’s quilt was made “In War Time” and unfortunately we still live in times of war.

This quilt is pieced with love, quilted with love and appreciation of the friendship of women across continents. I am overwhelmed every time I look at the blocks in this quilt and want to thank each and every person who has given me a piece of their lives to treasure for my own.

2007 Signature “Siggie” Block Quilt Top - Finished 25 October 2007.

Dear Jane Siggie Swap Quilt 2007 - Borders done

I have finally finished the corner kite blocks for the siggie top and have put the borders on. I really like the look of this now. The picture is not the best but you can still see how effective the triangle border is.

Now...I just have to quilt it. I decided not to put a scalloped edge on as the quilt would be too big for what I want. So just a straight edge binding once I have quilted it.

Dear Jane Blocks and Siggie Swap Quilt Corners

This weeks Block of the Week Challenge (from the Dear Jane yahoo group) - I actually did it. Only took me an hour and a bit. My star looks a bit wonky on the right hand side though and my applique curves are not the best - but finished is better than perfect!!! I'm not sure how I feel about this statement though!

























This is my third Dear Jane block - machine pieced. I am very happy with it. I also swapped a couple of these blocks with other ladies - one in WAus (Susan who's piecing is to die for) and another in the USA.

And this is another corner kite finished for my Dear Jane Siggie Swap quilt. This one was a tricky little thing - lots of set in corners....and those little squares in the centre - but I got them done and am happy with the result.

Only one more corner to go and I can put the borders on my Dear Jane Siggie Swap quilt.

Dear Jane Siggie Swap Quilt

I had a pretty horrible week last week and couldn't quilt anything - so I decided to sew up my borders for my Dear Jane Siggie 2007 Swap Quilt -

I have chosen quilters muslin and a lovely blue fabric to make the triangles and am making the corner kites as in the Dear Jane Quilt. Wow - these are tricky little suckers. I have machine pieced one and appliqued the other.

I have now got two more to make....freezer paper is my friend!LOL! I will post more pictures when I have finished the top.

Dear Jane Siggy Swap 2007

I have finally put together my 2007 Siggy Swap blocks into a quilt. Thank you so much to everyone who swapped with me and to those who made extra siggies so I could reach my 169 block goal - especially Rosa who made so many for me and swapped husband, son and cat blocks with me.

I have tried to stick with the around the world colour way - but obviously didn't have enough of each colour for the most part and each corner is a different colour way, the centre is mostly my blocks and Rosa's blocks - then I have gone black, yellow, green, blue - then onto the corners - pinks, reds, browns and orange/purple/grays. I love it. I will be putting a muslin border on and quilting triangle patterns with my long arm - then scalloping the edges. (A sort of practise for the real Dear Jane quilt I am making).....and after all the talk on the DJ list - a black and white DJ sounds and looks great...but I had better finish the blue and white and the civil war reproduction ones I am making!!!LOL!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this swap - I have been pouring over the blocks with my Atlas.... they are lovely and I have really enjoyed this swap.