I have blocks to share!

So!  Although it has been months since I have posted I have been busy working on my Dear Jane.

I have been quite productive actually.  We bought a boat this June and we have been out cruising around the Pacific North West ( as it's know in the U.S. ) or the West Coast as it's know to us Canadians.  We have spent about 6 weeks this past summer out on the water.  And I have discovered that my Dear Jane is a perfect project as I sit in the Pilot house in the afternoon as we cruise along.

So first I will show a few boat pictures before we get to the Dear Jane block photos.

Here is our boat -- a Kadey Krogen 42 and we have named her Phoenix Hunter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my spot in the pilot house that I set up my Dear Jane for stitching.  The light is really good - even on cloudy grey days there is plenty of light.

One of the nice little anchorages we stayed at this summer.  This is James Bay on Prevost Island in the Gulf Islands off Vancouver Island BC

 

Jenny out for a walk on the shore.  Jenny has taking to boating quite well - we are pleased.  She loves to go to shore and knows that a ride of the dingy is a trip to shore.

A block finished

This block has been completed for a couple of months now. 

I am testing the latest update of the blogger app.

It seems the photo is uploaded to the body of the post but I can't seem to figure out how to get text under the photo.  That is a bit annoying. 

I also finished K11 - Columbine. But if you look closely - or not even that closely!  You can see I assembled the block incorrectly. So I have since unsewn the block and I have not yet re-sewn it. 

That is a bit annoying! 

Starting to walk about!

I am finally out of the plaster cast - the purple cast and the boot! A total of 12 weeks - 10 of them were non weight bearing! My goodness!
I have been mostly stitching on my Civil War Block of the Month quilt. It is a queen sized quilt and I had it machine basted and I am hand quilting it. I have been finding it quite heavy on my lap at times - so I am taking a little break from it and did a little stitching on my Dear Jane yesterday.



I haven't worked on any appliqué blocks for quite some time. Mostly working on pieced blocks. This block was first pieced and now I am stitching on the melons. As I was starting yesterday I was thinking I should have made the outer seams of the block a little wider because the appliqué will quite often pull in a block or background piece of fabric. Right now the block measure exactly 5 inches - hopefully it doesn't shrink up with the appliqué.

Years ago I made a folder to hold appliqué and hand stitching projects. I think if I realized at the time how useful it would be and how much I would use this folder I would have used nicer fabric! But it is one of the most efficient and useful ways to store my stitching work in progress.






It certainly is unattractive fabric. I think I made it around 1996.




It is like a big book and the pieces of my stitching are held between the layers. It really works well - it has handles for carrying and a pocket for putting small items. I usually store the little baggie of pieces on the pocket.

The outer fabric is some old upholstery fabric I bought at some thrift sale and the inner fabric is corduroy. I have a little piece of felt that really holds the little pieces of fabric. When the pieces are not yet all stitched together I usually put a thin 8x10 piece of cardboard on top of them before I close the book - other wise the pieces will stick to the top as well and then I'm picking them off the top and my nice layout of pieces is a mess.





My little stitching corner for the past couple of months. Jenny's chair!! She was thinking it was her spot! Poor Jenny - she's had enough of me! Although she has been going out with a dog walker quite regularly since I haven't been able to walk her and I think she loves Gord and Leila more than me now! Ah well. Soon I hope!

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