Get out your foundation paper because both blocks are constructed that way. As a combination block and sash design we found the easiest way to make the blocks accurately was to foundation piece them. The 12″ square is a traditional block called Tumbling Blocks by Comfort Magazine or Rocky Mountain Chain by Hearth and Home Magazine. The second block is Flying Geese. Have you noticed? There’s only two blocks this time! Get these finished because on the 15th you’ll be busy again. Scroll down to the bottom of the post to get your blocks.

Check out this little cutie. He or she is part of an adorable little group called Snowbabies! I was working on these at the Dear Jane retreat last November.

They have been fun and easy blocks to work on. The snowy stitching on their little clothing goes really fast.

When you’re ready to sit back and relax with a little embroidery check out the new Snowbabies pattern. There’s 12 blocks and a great setting for a 52″ x 65″ lap quilt in the seventeen page pattern set.

Just Takes 2 Blocks for February 1 – Click here

P.S. If you had your own personal quilt geek to answer computer tech questions what would you ask him?

Remember…….this time you need to visit the Dear Jane web site to get your blocks. Be sure to check out the great sale Brenda has on fabric right now.

Just Takes 2 Blocks for January 15 – Click here to visit Dear Jane

Set up your ironing station!

Fire up that sewing machine!

It’s January 1st!
We’re off and running – it’s time for the first blocks in the Just Takes 2 quilt!

The response to the Just Takes 2 mystery quilt has been fantastic. Brenda and I are glad you’re as excited about this quilt as we are. You see, we’ll be making the blocks right along with you and sharing our progress on the Just Takes 2 blog.

We are beginning with six blocks. Five of them are 6″ blocks and one is a 12″ block. One is an applique block. One is a combination of piecing and applique and four are pieced blocks. Have you noticed there is redwork embroidery on two of my blocks? If you know me you know I love redwork and embroidered quilts. There were several in the Infinite Variety exhibit and I wanted to include some in my own Just Takes 2 quilt. From time to time throughout the year you’ll see it on different blocks whenever I think it looks nice. If you don’t like embroidery – no problem. It’s not a required part of the quilt. If you do like it you can add your own designs if you want. It you’d like to use the same designs I did you can do that too. We have an instant download in the Online Store you can purchase for (go ahead and laugh) Just $2!

Block 3

Block 4

Block 5

Block 6

I won’t take up any more of your time with details or reminders. I’m sure you’re anxious to download and print the patterns so you can start sewing. There are tutorials for many of the techniques mentioned in the Instructions section and I’ve also put links on the Just Takes 2 page. You can also review techniques in the Dear Jane software. We have fourteen days before you head over to Dear Jane on January 15 to get the next set. I hope you’re as excited as we are and will have a fantastic 2012 with Just Takes 2. Don’t forget to share your blocks on the blog. All you need to do is click on the big red Share Your Quilt button! We’re still working out a few bugs so let us know if you have any problems.
 

Just Takes 2™ Blocks for January 1 – Click here

The “Infinite Variety: Three Hundred Years of Red and White Quilts” exhibit was a generous birthday gift from Joanna S Rose’s husband, and in turn, her gift to us. For six days in March, 2011, the American Folk Art Museum exhibited six hundred-fifty quilts from her personal collection in New York’s Park Avenue Armory. An additional part of her gift was a digital guide to the exhibition, including installation photographs and video lectures, available for your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android smart phone. Go to the Apple iTunes App Store or Android Market for the free download. Gay and I spent those six days immersed in our apps, bemoaning the fact that we weren’t in New York. Each day, we would talk about the quilts and say, “let’s make this one, let’s do that one, this one is my favorite”, and so on until we were exhausted. We gathered up the red and white quilts in our own collections, though few in numbers, and shared them with each other, hoping to share this joyous event in some way.

We realized, of course, that we could never make all of our “favorites.” In fact, the two of us have an interesting track record when it comes to completing quilts. We love to plan, design and shop for the fabrics for a quilt. However, our modus operandi is to put all the things we have gathered for the quilt into baskets, beautifully labeled and ready to stitch…….someday.

Infinite Variety presented us with a tremendous challenge: how in the world could we make ALL our exhibit favorites? In one of those aha moments, we decided to make a sampler featuring each one. We want to share this mystery quilt with you! Just Takes 2™ is our present for you to make and enjoy during the New Year 2012.

The quilt’s name had it beginning with Mr. and Mrs. Rose, the 2 who so generously gave us the Exhibit. The quilt “just takes 2” fabrics and the 2 of us will be giving you 2 sections of the quilt each month from 2 websites. The 2 of us have had a very good time planning and designing this quilt for you, and we know this is one quilt we will have to finish!
Choose a friend to make this mystery quilt with you. The 2 of you will have a wonderful journey!

We are grateful to all of the anonymous women who shared a part of their lives by making these wonderful quilts. We also want to honor Mrs. Joanna S Rose with our quilt representing her years of loving and collecting these treasures. Our wish is to ‘play it forward’ by sharing the Just Takes 2™ Journey with you!

All of the information for this project is available at Just Takes 2™. We look forward to seeing you there.

Pieceful Stitching!

Gay and Brenda

www.sentimentalstitches.com
www.dearjane.com

I like this simple sprig. The leaves are almost like little hearts.

Our quilters got ambitious with this big layered flower and polka dot leaves.

Simple yet perfect!

We’ve seen this circle filled flower before.

More polka dot leaves, flowers and cherry berries.

A closer look………

And the grand finale at the bottom right hand corner of the quilt.

If you haven’t looked at the entire quilt in a while you can see what a stunner it is. I know I’m sorry to see the project begin to wind down. We only have one more block and the two remaining borders. That got me to thinking that Cyber Monday would be the perfect time to put the past block patterns on sale for the first time ever! As my thank you for following along with this quilt you can purchase any of the blocks you missed or get the digital download patterns to start your own Beyond The Cherry Trees quilt for

The green fabric has faded to brown. The yellow has faded. I suppose the fabric that is now cream could have originally been cream but I doubt it…..

because it’s the bottom layer of the center circles right next to the background and most quilters would have used a color that contrasted with the background in that piece.

This layer of the flowers could have been cream but again, I kind of doubt it. More likely it was a double pink or even a double blue print like we’ve found in other blocks.

When you see an outline drawing of the block it’s quite pretty. I have a feeling all those peaks and valleys in the flowers will get tedious when stitching but it’ll be worth it when the block is finished.

The block has a fair amount of applique on it but the quilter managed to tuck a quilted motif in on all four sides of the block. This simple flower is a design we’ve seem in other blocks and fits nicely.

Now as adorable as these little stacked flower are, they have me still scratching my head. Why would you quilt the simple flower on three sides of the block and then put these stacked flowers on the fourth side? I don’t have a clue but it’s just one of the reasons why I love this quilt so much!

I’ve been thinking about making more patterns available as instant downloads. Please let me know what you think about that. Does that interest you? What patterns would you like that way? Clutch and I want to know!

P.S. I listed a bunch of Christmas patterns on ebay this week and will be listing some Christmas fabric tonight so be sure to take a look!

The pattern was presented in three parts and you’ll find a link to each one below –

The quilt is housed at the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont. It’s on display each year during September and October as part of their rotating display.

A few years ago Windham Fabrics produced a fabric collection – Dear Jane, c. 1863 based on the quilt. It was so wildly popular they convinced Brenda to do Dear Jane II

Jane’s Baskets Free Pattern

As sometimes happens with fabric collections, many of the prints were sold out as soon as they came in from the mill making them difficult to find so I’m sharing a little secret with you. I know where you can find them!


That’s my Fat Quarter Bundle sitting pretty on top of my Baby Jane quilt top. I’ve been working on my quilt for years and years but have vowed to have it completed in time for the European Dear Jane Club Exposition 2013 in Belgium.


I wish the camera could capture the beautiful colors and detail in the fabric prints. They are just wonderful and authentic to the period of Civil War fabrics.


This is just one of the fabrics I bought yards of. I love the way it works with double pink prints and stripes are so much fun to work with. They’re great for sashing and borders.


Another print is a faux patchwork of blocks from the Dear Jane quilts. These cute little babies are just 3″!


There’s a faux patchwork for the triangle border too. It’s perfectly scaled to match those little blocks.


I’ve been working on a Baby, Baby Jane lap quilt. There are 11 little blocks across the width of the fabric so I’ll use 14 for my length and then add the triangle border. I planned to take the completed top with me to the Dear Jane Retreat in November and get some Cuddle Cloth for backing but after putting together the Cuddle Quilt last week I may not be able to wait that long. It’s a good thing Lolly’s is so good at shipping things to their out of town customers.


I bought yardage of several pieces for a scrap quilt I want to make using my fat quarter bundle but when I looked at these three fat quarters I couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty they were together. I’ve got to head over to the Dear Jane web site and order yardage of these three too. It’s the only place you can be sure of getting some of every print in the collection and the price is the best I’ve seen anywhere. If you live in the United States the fabric is only $9.00 a yard and outside of the US it’s $11.00. Don’t wait too long because even Brenda will run out soon and she said they are not reprinting any of the fabrics. I don’t know what pattern I want to use yet for the blue, brown and cream prints but I’m not taking any chances by waiting to place my order. They’ll look beautiful on my fabric shelves until I decide.

Clutch and I are expecting family at the cottage this weekend so I’m off to bake cookies and tidy up a bit. The leaves are really beginning to change colors and the heat has been on at night, both a sure sign that Fall is almost here. Good weather for snuggling under a quilt.