Today has been the best day of my break from school! I did everything I wanted to do.

I was up and outside by 6 a.m. and dug around in the dirt for several hours.  I've missed my garden.  And it's missed me! At least it certainly looks like it's missed my daily attention, but there's not much I can do about it this year.  A few hours into it, and I could hear the tinkling tones of a two-year old singing his A-B-C's in the yard behind us.

I adore all of our neighbours, but truly treasure their children.  This particular little boy has had a sudden growth spurt.  Earlier this spring, he was toddling in the driveway, with a head full of long, floppy soft brown curls.  Then one day, his misguided parents cut his hair, and he aged 20 years, even though he won't turn three until this autumn.  He always has a very serious look on his face, and speaks in very serious sentences.  He always looks like he's late for some very serious business, but if I catch his eye his face will split into a smile.  And he sings like a Las Vegas lounge act.

I leaned over the fence and had a very serious chat with G.  His sister was sitting on the porch eating her morning cereal, while he was in the garden with a spade and shovel, digging soil out from between his mum's petunias, and then moving it to another hole. Mum heard us through the kitchen window, and came out to say hello.

ME: We're going to be having a load of crushed stone brought in to top the driveway.  It looks like I could call on G. to give us a hand with the shovelling.

SHE: Oh yes!  That's for sure!  Youcan call on G. if you need any holes dug.

G: (interjecting, seriously) Her name is not Doug!

 

The neighbours next to that family have two children as well.  Whenever DH pulls into the driveway, the little boy (he'll be five this autumn) yells "Hi!" to him.  DH unlocked their gate, and invited the kids to come over for a popsicle when he came home from work this afternoon.  We love seeing the kids. 

Mum of these two kids recently invited DH  up to see her son's bedroom. It seems that he got up way too early one morning, and him mum sent him back to his room.  Instead of going back to bed, the little dickens got out his crayons and drew a portrait of his family on the wall!!!  Except instead of four stick figures, he had drawn FIVE!

DH: What have you done?

HE: I drew a picture.  This is daddy, this is mommy.  This is my sister.  This is me. and this is YOU!

 

I laughed and laughed when DH told me about it.  He's evidently a big part of this little boy's world.  But I laughed even harder when DH followed up the story with: "I was the only one in the picture with HAIR!!!"  He obviously does mean a lot to this little boy, because in REAL life, DH doesn't have hair, or at least, much hair.

Anyway....back to my day.

Have I mentioned how much I love my iPod?  Bless all of you who advised me to get one!  And a million thanks for linking me to LibriVox. 

Today, I downloaded the first seven chapters of "Anne of Green Gables".  I had noticed a poster in the post office the other day promoting the 100th Anniversary of Anne and commemorative stamps. 

I decided then and there that I could hardly consider myself a dyed-in-the-wool Canadian if I hadn't read Anne of Green Gables, and set about finding a copy of the book.  I picked up a paperback copy for a dime at the Salvation Army thrift store, and started reading page 1, but a horrid mildew-y smell overwhelmed me, so out the book went!  I thought I would find a better, less stinky copy someday. 

I was thrilled to find the audiobook on podcast, and it made me smile to imagine how Lucy Maud Montgomery would react.  I imagine her reaction would be one of shock, but with lots of adverbs, and fifty-cent words.  Certainly she never pictured a day would come when her work would be compressed into invisible digits, and transmitted through the air to be collected in a tiny machine half the size of a playing card, then spoken directly into my ears.  Even to me it's simply amazing!

So, I spent the afternoon sitting in the shade doing hand applique on some Dear Jane blocks and listening to my story.  It was simply wonderful.

I did a particularly challenging block today, at least I thought it was going to be a monster of a challenge.  I begged the Dear Jane group for advice on how to  proceed, and thankfully Elly, way over in Scotland sent me a photo tutorial.  And once I saw it broken down into easy steps, it was a snap!

C5 Eye of the Cyclone

• M1 Dogwood Days
• D8 Dee Dee's Delight
• D4 Crystal Star
• RS 2 Cherokee Lee

First, for Marianna - ask, and ye shall receive!  BR2 Leigh's Woods

It's been a sewing sort of morning.  I made this week's TOW (as seen above) and sewed the front of the binding on a big quilt.  I'll work away at stitiching the back of the binding down by hand over the next couple of days. 

No big Canada Day plans here.  DH had yesterday off as his holiday, so he's working today.  Baby Soldier is off for the week with his unit, tasking in support of something or other.  Just me and Itty Bitty at home today....and I haven't seen him for about four hours - though I CAN hear him - pounding away on his drums.

Inspired by today's post on the Dear Baby Jane blog, I completed my G8 block tonight. I tried my best to fussy cut those diamonds, and it's close, and finished is good enough, right?  Now, I must admit that I didn't exactly follow the piecing as suggested in the blog tutorial.  I sewed the diamonds into pairs first.  Then, I sewed the outside triangles between the pairs of diamonds.  I then sewed the quarters into halves, and sewed the corner squares in place, then sewed the halves together, setting the final two squares in the corners.  I found this easier to handle.

One more block.  Sixteen more pieces.  I'm getting there!

Anytime I can talk about Dear Jane...I'll take the opportunity! "Dear Jane" is a quilt made by Jane Stickle in 1863.  It is housed in the Bennington Museum in Vermont.  I began my DJ Journey January 2008

There are 169 pieced blocks in the centre of this quilt.  Each block is 4 1/2 inches.  The level of difficultly ranges from a simple 9-patch to mind-numbing frustration.  But I enjoy making them, because each teeny block feels like a big accomplishment.

I have 115 centre blocks completed.  Roughly 2/3 complete.

There are 52 pieced triangles in the border, and 4 pieced corners. Each triangle measures 5" across, and 8" long. Techniques used in making these blocks vary - but I've learned to love paper piecing, and freezer paper/glue stick applique.

I haven't done any of the corners yet. I have 17 tri's done.  My background fabric is bleached muslin, and I'm using pink and grey reproduction Civil War fabrics.  The original quilt has over 5000 pieces in it.  I'm at about half that now.

There is a huge community of fellow DJ'ers out in cyberspace.  I belong to a couple of online groups, an have been swapping blocks across the world with other Jane's.  If you want to learn more about Dear Jane, go to the website. 

The boys and I are going on a road trip today to St. Jacobs and Stratford.  Baby Soldier decided he would like a ring in a Celtic style as a graduation gift.  There is a Scottish shop in both St. Jacobs and Stratford, so we thought we would look in those places.  It is merely a coincidence that there is a quilt shop in each place as well.   And of course, we'll HAVE to stop for lunch!

I puttered around for the rest of the afternoon, and stitched up four more Dear Jane blocks.

• H 11 Piercing Rays
• M 11 Rickshaw
• K 11 Columbine
• I 8 Pete's Paintbox

These blocks have been in various stages of completion for weeeeeeeeks.  I decided to take a break from reading about the Nazi's to press and square up a few blocks.

The first is a 12" block called Swamp Angel

And I've added two more 4.5" blocks to the Dear Jane count: D11 Snow Crystal and D12 Crossed Swords.  I made a boo-boo.  Crossed swords should have been grey.  If I get the urge to correct this problem, I will, but for now, D12 remains pink.

That's it for now.  It's back to the Nazi's for me.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Mother's Day!

Traditionally, we would go on a long car trip: The London Free Press Shunpiker.  I did go and get this morning's paper so I could see what was on the Shunpiker's itinerary, but I've opted to stay home and relax today.  I'm just going to take it easy and prepare my stuff for school tomorrow.

I've declared today a PJ Day for me.  Da Boyz are upstairs doing all my housework, and DH is going to do the grocery shopping.  I've heard the vacuum, and I've "looked" at the bathroom (Baby Soldier told me I was not permitted to "scrutinize").  And I think there's just two loads of laundry left to go.

I've been given a "walkie-talkie" so I can call for assistance with anything I might need.

Now....if I could get those collars that they have for dogs that make them stop barking....well, I'd be all set.  Cuz I can't stand all the yelling they are doing at each other. 

I pressed and squared up a few more tri's and a block for my Dear Jane.

• RS 7 Fedelia's Hearts
• LS 7 Kiwi
• I5 Maria's Majesty

TR 12 Jane's Oak

RS 8 Love Forever

LS 7 Sally's Steeple

LS 13 Watermelon

I had gotten a little slow with my Dear Jane blocks, and fully intended to have completed 100 blocks LAST week.  Well, here I am this week, and just completed pressing and squaring up # 101!

1. D3 Jason's Jacks
2. F6 Deanie's Daisies
3. G11 Decisions, Decisions
4. H12 Hannah Lou's Hearts
5. J12 Rebecca's Basket
6. M7 Junko's Rose Garden

I was up and at 'em at the crack of dawn this morning.  I didn't sleep all that hot (what else is new?) so I finally got up, showered, dressed and came down to my studio to do a little sewing while I waited for the rest of the house to wake up.  Hubby and I then took to the streets to hit all the hot yard sales!

Of course I headed out to Fingal first to see about the quilting fabric that was advertised in the Market last week.  What a disappointment - the lady who was supposed to be bringing her fabric was sick.  What a waste of gas! (at $1.20/litre)  Actually, there were lots of good sales, but nothing I needed.  I did get a couple of things, and I'll take a few pics in the morning to share.  Poor hubby got nothing.

Later my grandmother and I went to the quilt show in Shedden.  We saw lots of beauties!  I think the quilt that impressed me most was Jessie C.'s Dresden Plate quilt made from men's ties.  It was fantastic!  I've seen many similar quilts, but this one was probably the best example I'd ever seen.  I wish I had taken a picture. 

I spent a little time on the deck enjoying the sunshine and warm weather this afternoon, and then tucked in for a little nap.  When I got up, I came back down to the studio to make Dear Jane blocks.  OH NO!!!!!  I'm out of ink!  I can't print any paper pieced patterns, so I decided to make all the simplest blocks that I hadn't yet sewn, and completed 11 blocks.  Maybe I'll hit Jubilee status this week!

• D13 Field of Dreams
• E9 Quilt Jail
• F3 Snowball
• I1 Ralph & Nelda's Wedding
• I2 Kaye's Courtyard
• I3 Family Album
• J2 Picture Perfect
• J4 Adelaine's Apron Strings
• J6 Granny Weaver
• J7 Chicken Tracks
• M12 Hopscotch

I can add three more triangles and a block to my totals:

RS1 Tennessee Valley

TR2 Australian Pines

BR1 Rosemary's Rainbow

C3 Rayelle's Fence

Well, I guess it's time to call it a night.  Tomorrow morning is looking like a good Yard Sale day, plus I'm taking my grandmother to the quilt show in Shedden.  Maybe a little more deck time?

Attention Janiac's: I've achieved

 Diamond Status!!

Seventy-five blocks - 1328 pieces.  And I gotta tell you....if you haven't done B9 Tinker Toy yet, you MUST use a striped fabric.  I'm thrilled with the way the striped fabric added so much to the final appearance of the block. The original block in Mother Jane looks like it's got a striped effect as well.  These set in seams were almost a pleasure to do.

A9   G7

G3   C2

B11   B2

I've been hiding out in the basement tonight, watching Bette Davis movies (it's her 100th birthday today) on TCM and sewing Dear Jane blocks.  I quite impressed myself with the creation of A 13 Starlight Starbright.  It's probably as close to perfect in my books as I'm ever likely to get.  The mere fact that I conquered the inset seams, not to mention a darn fine job of fussy cutting the kites....oh...I totally RAAAAAAAAWKED A13.

Ya.  And then I sewed A11 Pebble's Protest.  I didn't know how to tackle that block.  I searched online to find some block tips for this particularly painful pattern, and came up disappointed.  Okay....well, I'm still on cloud nine over A13 - I'll just "tweak" the pattern a bit and it will be fantastic. But wait!  What happened?  A SHOCK AND AWE SMACK-DOWN FROM HUBRIS!!!!  Oh well, "finished is better than perfect"!

I'm not sure what the heck my problem was with A2, but the one I made yesterday I ended up throwing out.  This morning I just had FOUR MORE pieces to add to the 36 that were already together, and I ripped the thing apart at least four times.  I'm surprised it's not a tattered mess.  And just as I was about to do the final press, I realized.....

IT'S THE WRONG COLOUR!!!!  ugh.. It should have been pink.  It's grey.  I no longer care.  It's far from perfect, but it's done.

A2 One-Two Buckle My Shoe

Soooooooo....I got the BIG FAT ENVELOPE from university yesterday. I've got an appointment with an academic advisor this afternoon to choose my first year courses.  I spent the greater part of yesterday absorbing the course calendar.  Five and a half more weeks!

I had myself a PJ/DJ day!!  I'm up to 54 Dear Jane blocks now:

• A1 Pinwheel Gone Awry
• K10 Quandry
• K9 Scout's Honour
• M10 Simple Simon
• D6 Challenge
• B4 Chris's Soccer Field
• C1 Trooper Green's Badge

A special treat arrived  yesterday.  You see, I had struck a deal with fellow DJ'er Rosa to swap two finished blocks for some Civil War reproduction fabric.  Well, she must have gotten carried away, because  three big fat envelopes stuffed with lovely fabrics arrived in my mail box!!  I immediately went into Dear Jane overdrive.  I got three blocks done in the afternoon, took a bunch more to the guild meeting last night completing nearly three, and when I got home, finished the nearly done one, plus one more: a total of SEVEN blocks.

• G1 Hattie's Hen House
• L3 Harvest Moon
• K12 Doris's Dilemma
• K8 Springbrook Park
• K4 Thea's Turn
• J13 Pam's Bells
• F9 Autumn Aster

I forgot to post this block the other day.  It's a Civil War Diary block: Harassment

...like getting the Dear Jane block of the week E-3 Paddle Wheels done by 5:45am on Monday.

Six of us gathered around my diningroom table last night - all excited about fabrics, and passing blocks around.  We shared tips and suggestions, and I actually finished two blocks, total of three for yesterday......which gives me a final count of TWENTY-FIVE DEAR JANE BLOCKS!!!

• H 13 Farm Fields
• J9 Maury High School
• B12 Star Flower

Two tips I want to share:

1. When cutting your "melon" shapes for applique, apply template at an angle to take advantage of the bias stretch to make smooth curves
   

   

2. I purchased a tablet of 40 sheets of tracing paper from "Dollarama" and once I trimmed it down to 8.5" wide with my rotary cutter, it will go through my printer, and is FANTASTIC for paper foundation.  It's lightweight, and almost transparent, so it's especially useful for placement of fussy cut pieces.
   

   

I'd like to give credit where credit is due, but I can't remember who shared this tip: if freezer paper won't go through your printer, iron the top edge of freezer paper to a regular sheet of paper.  I understand there is freezer paper available that will go through a printer, but alas, I'm cheap.  I'm not going to buy more paper until I use up the roll of grocery-store purchased paper.  I cut paper about 6" x 11", pressed the top couple of inches to a piece of regular printer paper, and printed off a bunch of Dear Jane outline patterns.  I need to prepare for a Dear Jane sewing night tonight!

I've got a box full of Civil War reproduction FQs that I'd like to trade for other Civil War repros.  I need greys in a bad way.  If any "locals" would like to trade with me, can you email me?

Well, what a perfectly delightful PJ Day it has been so far!  I put in the last stitches, pressed and squared up SIX Dear Jane blocks.

A3 Hunter's Moon

B3 Mirror Image

C11 Soldiers and Sailors Monument

E1 Aunt Exie's Phlox

K5 Passing Through

K7 Rose of Sharing