Two new Austen Family Album blocks finished!

On Monday this week I got the good news that my dear Sensei in Japan had shipped the solid taupe fabric I needed. She said it would take about a week to get here. Both of us were shocked when it showed up here in Florida on Thursday! So I've been busy with the two blocks I needed to make to be caught up when the next block which should be announced tomorrow.

The London Roads block was named for Jane's brother Henry who had at first planned to be come a pastor like his father and brother, however he found a second career in the army and then on return to civilian lifeAusten Family Album Quilt.

became a banker in London. Jane spent a lot of time in London with Henry and his wife. He acted as her agent. You can of course read more detail in the

In this block I used lots of the taupe fabric which lets the street arrows really stand out.




Edward Austen, another of Jane's brothers, led a bit of a charmed life compared to some of the others and the block Good Fortune is for him. please check out this blog entry to get the whole story of the twists and turns in his life.

As you can see, these blocks are simple in comparison to some of the others. they went together fairly easily, with just the usual matching of points and seams to attend to.

Let's see what tomorrow brings with block #11 in this quilt block of the week adventure.



Which is your favorite so far?

Oh, the Shame of it!

Gentle readers, you may know that I have been aware from the beginning of this project that the possibility of falling behind loomed each week with the issuing of a new block. It has happened. I am now one block behind. (Covers her eyes with the back of her hand.) Sniff.

I did complete the Philadelphia block on time. If you look at Ms Brackman's blog that elucidates her reasons for dedicating this block to Jane Austen's aunt Philadelphia Hancock here. I felt a bit of kindred spirit with Aunt Phila and if you read about her you may be able to see why.

The following week, Eliza's Star was presented. it is named for Jane's cousin and sister-in-law, the Contesse de Feullide aka Mrs Henry Austen. She is portrayed as being lively, if unconventional. You can read more about her here. This block presented me with my biggest challenge so far. The inner square is bordered by a "frame". After reading the instructions, looking at all the examples, and cutting out the pieces I had no real concept how this piece was to be sewn together. I made an attempt and ended up taking it all apart again. It finally struck me that these seams I was struggling with were the quilter's nemesis, "the dreaded Y seam" multiplied by four.

I did find some help online by way of videos and step by step illustrations posted there by various quilting gurus. I gave it another try. It was marginally better, but my seams didn't match as they should. I was discouraged. On Wednesday of this past week I took the pieces to a friend at the Wednesday Morning Sewing Group at church. She was able to give me some guidance and advice.

Today I have finally completed this block.

Whew!

However, that still leaves a block not even started, the one introduced last week called London Roads. Named for Henry Austen, another of Jane's brothers. This block looks like fun. You can see it here, but alas not here on this blog till next week. Oh will I be able to face you again if this task is not completed in good time? Tune in next time!

The Austen Family Album Quilt is Alive and Well

Never fear gentle readers, despite the lack of recent posts, work on the Austen Family Album Quilt continues apace!


The block called Village Square was included for Jane's brother James who became a pastor and spent his career in two villages. The block is similar to the one completed previously for James and Jane's father, also a churchman. This block does not have the central cross, however, and ideas were given for completing the square in the center. I opted for the more involved pattern and used two fabrics with the stripes hoping to remind the viewer of rows of plants that might be planted in the Village Square. I chose a plaid fabric for the corner squares also thinking of small plots of flowers, planted in a regular pattern.


The block for last week was chosen to commemorate the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. His rise to power, and the conflicts engendered affected the life of the Austen family in many ways. Read the blog post at:  http://austenfamilyalbumquilt.blogspot.com/2014/05/block-6-empire-star-for-napoleon.html for more information.

The block is named Empire Star. I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce some purple shades. As

you can see, in addition to triangles, this block contains 4 trapezoids. There were times when the geometry threatened to overwhelm my bitty brain. I was happy with the finished block. I followed the pattern and did not change the positions of the dark, light and medium values. I think it's a really interesting block to make and to look at.

I was thinking recently that this project appeals to me because every block is different and allows for a variety of fabric choices.  I think I would go mad trying to make an entire quilt with the Empire Star. Actually I think that I have not made many actual quilts in the past because there is no charm for me in making a batch of blocks over and over, especially if the prints and colors remain the same throughout. Here, however, the one fabric of plain taupe remains consistent and the fabrics are all Japanese homespun type cottons. Other than that I have freedom and a weekly challenge of a new block.

This week's block, which was published in yesterday's blog post from Barbara Brackman is named for an Austen  family member I can relate to somewhat; Jane's Aunt Phila was a bit more of a free spirit, something I am accused of being from time to time.

Just Under the Wire!

I am writing this post to let everyone know that even though I had an overnight guest this week and also a medical test that took out another day I am not behind in the Austin Family Album blocks I started several weeks ago. I started out this week being behind, but have now caught up and am ready for tomorrow's new block.

I did run into a problem with this Cross Within a Cross block. I admit that the number of triangles in the block intimidated me just a bit, and when I put the first part together there was something obviously wrong. The funny thing is that I was able to look for other reasons for the "wrongness" besides the obvious one that I had made a mistake. Here's the center section with the mistake:

As you can see, the two points, upper left and lower right are missing. The pieces for this block have measurements in eighths and I messed up on those. So I "unsewed" recut and resewed and came up with the correct dimensions as you can see below.




















And, here is the finished block. I had a lot of difficulty finding the fabrics I wanted for this one. I'm still not all that pleased with the values of the different fabric colors. But it's finished.

This block is the one that was scheduled for this week.  All squares! It was a breeze and I went into the box and pulled out indigos for it.

This square is called Thrifty and is to remember Jane's mother, Cassandra Leigh Austen.






If you would like to get the full story on this collection of blocks and the stories about the different family members check out Barbara Brackman's blog at: http://austenfamilyalbumquilt.blogspot.com/

Have you ever joined in on a project like this one? Would you do it again?

Austen Family Album Update

Yesterday, as I discussed in a previous post here, another quilt block in the Austen Family Album "quilt-along " was introduced. This was number three and honors Jane Austen's father, the Reverend George Austen. It's called "Cross Within Cross". You can check it out on this blog.

So, how am I doing? You may well ask. I realized last week when I needed to finish up the first block before starting on figuring out the second, that I could easily and quite quickly fall very far behind!

The first block, "Bright Star for Jane Austen," which I paper pieced, turned out like this:















                                                      The second block was "Sister's Choice for Cassandra E. Austen." I needed to piece it conventionally as I said in last week's blog. Here is a photo of the the un-trimmed block. I finished it this morning. Once I committed to conventional piecing, the color/fabric choices and placement took longer than I imagined.  The center and the dark half squares are a Japanese cotton fabric called kasuri, that my friend Julie blogged about a couple weeks ago in this entry. This piece came from a recycled yukata. I still need to "square up" but am happy that the piecing is completed.

Onward to the Rev. George!
                                                                                            

And a Finish!

I wrote the other day about working on the Austen Family Album. Today I'd like to show you a finished project. Like most sewists I get requests from all sorts of people for help on different kinds of projects. I try to really limit my acceptances to really close friends for things that I know a little bit about. You may know that I recently moved to an apartment. It so happens that two friends moved from houses to condos near me at about the same time.  I benefited from extra furniture and the use of larger vehicles to mention just two things. So when one of these friends asked if I could re-cover the seats on dining room chairs I answered in the affirmative. We shopped for fabric last week and today was set as the day we'd start the project.

I'm happy to report that the project is completed and it's only mid-afternoon!  All of us are really pleased with the finished projects. Here are some photos:

These were originally covered in a brown tweed fabric. The grey really seems to "go with" the black metal of the chair frames.

The "fire" is a modern device using water vapor and lights. No heat; great for Florida.

This is the kitchen set. The seats here were well worn black vinyl.










Great choice of fabric and great cooperation of friends to get the job done.

Current Works in Progress

I have all of my things moved into my new apartment. I continue to shift and re-pack and place things daily. One of my friends, after asking me what I had been doing that day and hearing my reply said something like, "Honestly, how much more can you shove that bed aside to fit another piece of furniture in to the bedroom?"

Some days I take some time to sew something in my sewing room.  It's a pleasant experience to be able to have both machines and the cutting table set up in the same room and to have a closet where the supplies can be kept. I also unpacked my "new" iron. It's actually a refurbished Rowenta that I bought several months ago and decided to keep for the new place.

I follow several blogs written by quilters and sewists. Recently Julie wrote about an excursion with my lovely Japanese Quilting teacher. It made me think I should be continuing to use the things I learned in her studio all of those Wednesdays in Ichikawa. Along came an interesting challenge in the form of a blog about a quilt-block-a-week project. I must confess that I have not been a lifelong fan of Jane Austen but have recently realized that part of my literary education may be lacking.  So, this seemed to be an interesting way to kill two birds with one stone. I have subscribed to http://austenfamilyalbumquilt.blogspot.com/ On Sundays (this is the second week, so it's not to late to join in) a blog post is written about some aspect of the Austen Family and also contains directions for a quilt block. The patterns are historical ones the blogger has researched.

The first week was a "Shining Star" for Jane Austen. Great! It was easily translated into a paper piecing
pattern.  I have nearly 3/4 of that block sewn. This week, a tribute to Jane's sister, Cassandara called, "Sister's Choice." Oh dear, it's divided into five rather than four so becomes more difficult when making a 12" square. Looks like I will have to bite the bullet and actually cut and piece that one.





I'm using some Japanese fabrics in traditional woven designs. So far browns, reds blue-grey and taupe. I can see that I will need to be a bit better at finishing each weeks' block in that week, or I will soon be hopelessly behind. Still who could resist such an inviting environment to practice and experiment with this special area of sewing skills?