Dear Jen - the first 6 blocks - plus the Peacock Party

Here are my first six blocks of Dear Jen by Jen Kingwell.  Each one is 6" finished - so quite small.  There's going to be six released every month for 12 months.

At first I thought, "Oh, there's only six, and they're small.  This won't take long".  Then I spent a couple of hours just cutting out the pieces and thought, "Wow!!! There's a lot more to these than meets the eye".

I'm hand piecing my blocks.  I wouldn't call myself a master hand piecer, but mine are satisfactory.  Some people are trying to foundation paper piece and it's taking them as long as it's taking the hand piecers in some cases.  I do think it's worth learning to hand piece.  Jen says, "if you can hand sew the binding down, you can learn to hand piece".

Here's a link to a video by Becky Goldsmith on how to hand piece.  The technique she demonstrates is the same method as I was taught to hand piece by Jen Kingwell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNpSCsz-pzM
I know it looks painfully slow, but I think that's just because she's demonstrating.  I certainly stitch faster than that!

This weekend I'm off to Tote and Gloat at Rose City Quilters at Palmerston North.  People come from far and wide to take part in this event.  There's huge show and tell, merchants, a guest speaker, raffles, etc.  Everything to keep quilters busy for a day.  The guest speaker this year is my good friend, Rachaeldaisy from Australia.  I'm staying on to take a class with her on Sunday.

I'll be the one with the colourful bag.

Now to the Peacock Party.  What's everyone else been up to? Feel free to link up below and perhaps meet some new online friends.

I'll report back next week with everything I learnt at Tote and Gloat and the class.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The start of Dear Jen - and the Peacock Party

Well, thank you for all the kind comments about my Suffrage in Stitches panel.  I delivered them yesterday, and now I won't see them again until the exhibition opens.

A few weeks ago I warned (confessed?) that I'd signed up for an online block of the month through Amitie Textiles called Dear Jen.  It's Jen Kingwell's version of a Dear Jane quilt, and probably as close as I'm going to come to making a Dear Jane quilt.

Of course a new quilt calls for a new fabric pull.  I'm thinking of using this bundle of Libs Elliott Mix Tape above, with a few bright Liberty fabrics thrown in for good measure.  I don't like making a whole quilt from just one fabric line - I like to mix it up.

The patterns for the first 6 blocks were released this week.  I resisted the temptation to dive right in, because I really want to get my Shuttles quilt top finished first.  It's so close to done, and should be finished this weekend.

A reminder of what the pattern in the book looks like:

I'm loving all the snippets of Kaffe fabrics in my Shuttles quilt.  It's going to be bright and crazy, but hey, we all need a bit of that at times.

If you're in the lower North Island of NZ, remember the Kapiti Quilters Exhibition at Southwards Car Museum this weekend.  The list of merchants is very impressive.
And Tote and Gloat at Palmerston North the following Saturday, 11May.  I'm going to be at Tote and Gloat and I'm taking something for show and tell.  I'm not quite sure what yet, but it will be colourful. I'm really looking forward to my friend RachaelDaisy's presentation as the guest speaker.

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  What's everyone else been up to?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

PS - Michelle has been leaving lovely comments, but you're a No Reply Blogger Michelle, so I can't reply.  If you send me an email at wendysquiltsandmore@gmail.com I'll be able to add your address to my address book and get back to you.  Thanks.