It’s September already!!! Row G Sponsor Announcement!

Wow! Is time ever flying!?! Happy first day of September everyone! I know that many people have mixed feelings about this month, summer is over for another year (sad face), a new school year is beginning (if you or your children are returning to school), retreats, classes and activities also tend to start, many people actually make resolutions for September, and like it or not, some stores are actually putting out Christmas stuff!!! (what?!?) For me, September means returning to work – or no more sewing in my basement in my track pants! I know that Melissa will agree with me when I say that this summer went by so quickly, and we didn’t get finished everything that we wanted to do. But as there are always scraps of fabric, there is always more quilting to be done!

Speaking of finishing, we hope that you have managed to finish the “F Row”. It was a doozy! But like all of the rows that we have finished so far, we can look back and reflect on how far we have come, right? We haven’t announced a winner yet for the “F Row”, but keep watching Instagram, as Melissa will announce it on the @scrappysewandso page, with the final reveal of the prize later on today.

One of my lofty goals for the summer was to work ahead on my Dear Jane rows. I did a little bit, but only a few blocks into “Row G”. So far, I find “Row G” quite challenging and I also feel like there is the added pressure of focal point as it is the centre of the quilt (which my rainbow layout really emphasizes – poor planning on my part lol). BUT … you are going to want to finish this row for sure because we have another awesome sponsor with an amazing prize!

We are so pleased to announce that this month our sponsor is Hobbs Batting! I mostly do my quilting on my domestic machine and Hobbs Batting is my go-to for quilting as it always of a reliable and excellent quality and easily available in my area. I also really enjoy the loft that it provides – and I’ve never experienced any bearding! To check out all the different qualities of batting available from Hobbs please check out their website here:

Hobbs Batting

AND… this months lucky winner, who posts all 13 blocks and tags us(@scrappysewandso) and Hobbs (@hobbsbatting), will win a throw size selection of Hobbs Premium Batting Line: The Tuscany Collection

Good luck Baby Janes! And remember… this row marks halfway through the squares! WE CAN DO IT!!!

The C Row and our Fabulous Sponsor

Hi Baby Janes!

This month we thought we would do a little mid-month check in to talk about our “scrappy” lives and give you some information on our awesome sponsor for this month.

Hopefully you are well on your way pushing through the Dear Jane® “C Row”. I must confess that I have completed it already, (as spring is quite busy for me – I can’t believe we are already mid-May!!!) and it was a doozy! I was more than grateful for a new stitch ripper I tried by Havel’s Sewing and I am pleased to report that it is part of the prize for May!

What is this magical stitch ripping tool? Oh, let me tell you, if you haven’t tried it, you will be converted as soon as you do! Below you can see the Havel’s fabulous prize for this month – the Surgical Seam Ripper (with replacement blades) and the 4 inch Embroidery Snips

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The seam ripper has a vertical, razor sharp blade that cuts through thread like a hot knife through butter. It is so efficient that Melissa has fondly named her’s “Grease Lighting”. I came to really appreciate the Surgical Seam Ripper when I was working on Foundation Paper Piecing (the bane of my existence) the C Row Dear Jane® Blocks and Alison Glass’ Trinket Quilt. There was a time in my short quilting career where I would have just tossed the whole 4 inch block into the trash if I had sewed it wrong, but with this Surgical Seam Ripper, I was able to pick out my tiny stitches and be back at the machine in no time at all! If you are interested in checking out the Surgical Seam Ripper you can find it here: Havel’s Surgical Seam Ripper

The other tool included in this month’s prize is the Havel’s 4 inch Embroidery Snips. These are excellent little snips that I wish I had multiple pairs of as they are handy to keep by the sewing machine but I would also love to have a pair upstairs where I do my hand sewing. They are extremely precise and the curved blade is very helpful for trimming threads close to quilt blocks or other hand work. In order to be eligible to win these fantastic prizes all you need to do is post all 13 of the Dear Jane® C Row Blocks by the end of the month and tag us @scrappysewandso and our awesome sponsor @havels_sewing.

Can I still join the sew along? Of course you can!!! and if you step down for a month – no problem! We are not here to judge but to encourage you to continue!

Also there are only a few days left to sign up for our Dear Jane® Mini Swap (May 15th)- it’s only a 12 x 12 mini quilt…and mail out is June 30th – AND! the scrappier the better! Sign up here:

Baby Jane Mini Swap

Happy Spring! (or Fall if you live in the Southern Hemisphere!)

Doesn’t time fly when you are having fun – or working on a challenging Dear Jane ® Block? Since we are a week away from our deadline for our first row, I thought I would put out a new post describing some of the ways that you can post your blocks – because we need to see all 13 in one post!… and Instagram will only let you post 10 photos in one post. (For the purpose of our sew along you may have multiple photos, but they should all be the same post). We understand that it can be challenging to get that perfect photo – especially if you have already sashed your blocks, but be creative and use any tools available at your disposal. Below you will find 2 apps that I like to use to post multiple photos/photo collages.

When Melissa and I did the #100days100blocks last year, I learned how to use Instagram Layout (Free App – Check your App store), which lets you make a collage of up to 9 photos. I enjoyed the symmetry of posting 9 equal blocks – like the Brady Bunch intro, so I got pretty excited about the postings that were multiples of 9.

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Once you save your Layout, it saves to your photos and then you can combine multiples of 4 or 9 like these:

Pretty exciting huh? .. But Eve, the Dear Jane® rows have 13 blocks each, how can we post those? Unfortunately, we can’t get the same symmetry with 13, but there is another App that allows for making a collage with more than 9 photos! And best of all it is called Photo Quilt!!! It is a free App, but there are some upgrades you may purchase – and you might have to watch a short advertisement, but I believe that you can make a “Photo Quilt” with an unlimited amount of photos. Similar to Instagram Layout, Photo Quilt has multiple different layout options and will save to your photos as well. Below I have 3 different examples of layouts for my 13 “A Row” blocks.

So if you would like to post all of your Dear Jane® “A Row” blocks all in one photo. Photo Quilt is a great option. If there is an app that you know about and would like to share, please let me know in a comment on this post. I love hearing about and trying new technology!

Also, remember when posting your 13 “A Row” block, be sure to mention @scrappysewandso, and our awesome sponsor for this month: @clintonmodern and use the hashtag #dearjaneqal2019 in order to be eligible for this month’s prize, which is a fat quarter bundle from Clinton Modern:

Further, if you are interested in seeing what else Clinton Modern has to offer please check out her website here:

Clinton Modern Creative Website

She now has Tula Pink’s Pinkerville!!!

…And until April 30th use the code DEARJANE15 to receive 15% of your purchase!

So what else have Melissa and I been up to? Because as you know, we like to use any spare moments that we have to sew – who wants to clean right??? And both of us have had some time off this month due to the March Break.

Melissa has been making green hearts to send to New Zealand to be made into quilts by Angels in Gumboots. You can see some of them here:

And she also participated in the #bloembasketalong with @johannaweidner and @clintonmodern making this adorable set of bags:

I have been doing the Trinket Sew Along with Alison Glass. I bought the pattern last year and used most of my March Break to sew the blocks – still don’t love FPP!

My blocks are below, collage made by… you guessed it! PhotoQuilt!

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And I also signed up to participate in the Sisterhood Quilt Swap with @happysewlucky . I spent yesterday making my blocks to send to my sisters. Again… still don’t love FPP but it is growing on me.

So that’s all for now, we wish you the best of luck as you finish the rest of the blocks in your “A Row”, we look forward to seeing our Instagram feeds filled with Dear Jane® !

Official Dear Jane® Launch!

Today is the day!!!! The kick off of our #dearjaneqal2019 !! It seemed like the day would never come!! And now here it is!

Since this is our kick off party let’s all post our photos of our plans, our fabric choices, our old blocks we put away, our inspirations and have a real celebration!!

I can’t wait for my feed to be filled with beautiful photos of our Dear Janes®!!

Here are Melissa’s plans:

And here are Eve’s:

What’s that? There are prizes!

To be eligible to win a 1/2 yard bundle of 4 Kaffe Fasset fabric from Eve’s “Personal stash” you must post a photo of your plan etc with the hashtag # dearjaneqal2019 and with so we can be sure to see your posts!

Don’t forget to follow and always post the #dearjaneqal2019 for your posts to be eligible for prizes and so others can see your work your profile must be public. Follow the hashtag #dearjaneqal2019 to see everyone’s posts!!!! Have a great day!!! And Happy Valentine’s Day!

How can EQ Dear Jane® help me with piecing my Dear Jane®?

Greetings all! And Happy February! As we get closer to the start date of the Dear Jane® Quilt-a-long, I would like to share with you, a tool that has made piecing my Dear Jane® blocks so much easier.

As you may already be aware, there is a Dear Jane® software program made by Electric Quilt. This program is several years old, however, it is still a very valuable tool to assist you with the planning and construction of your Dear Jane® quilt. (Note that you do not need to own any other EQ software in order to use this one. It is a stand alone program.) Further, for those of you having trouble locating a copy of the Dear Jane® book, it can serve as a substitute, while you are waiting for the book’s re-release (although, I still recommend using the software in combination with the book).

For more information on how to purchase the software, please click on the link below:

Resources for Dear Jane®

Thanks to Electric Quilt, we have 2 copies of the Dear Jane® software to give away, so keep reading for more details!

I decided to purchase the Dear Jane® software because, even though I have been sewing for many years, I have only been quilting for 2. Therefore, I figured I could use all of the help I could get! As a high school teacher, I have had to keep up with technology as a part of my job, so the idea of playing around with a computer quilting program quite appealed to me.

As you can see the Dear Jane® software comes with a very comprehensive User Manual, that I found to be quite helpful. I also found the program to be very user friendly when I sat down to play with it. One thing to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to purchase the software is: that the Dear Jane® software is formatted on a CD-ROM and is a Windows-only program. According to EQ, the Dear Jane® software has stood the test of time so they are planning to re-release it in an updated format (download) that can be used on modern computers (Windows and Mac) at some point in the next few years. Regardless, if you are intending to participate in this Dear Jane® Quilt-a-long, the current EQ Dear Jane® software is a solid investment. Continue reading to see how I have benefitted from all of the tools made possible by this software.

1. Use the software to plan your colour placement and layout.

Dear Jane® is a large and complex quilt that I believe requires some planning, especially in terms of colour placement.

One of the benefits of using the EQ Dear Jane® software is that you can print a colouring page of the Classic Dear Jane® Quilt layout. You can colour the blocks inside the software (see below) as well, but I believe there is something to be said about pencil crayons and paper.

2. Use the software to calculate fabric requirements

Yes, when embarking on a project of this magnitude, it is important to know how much fabric one is going to need. In the photo below, I used the EQ Dear Jane® software to colour the blocks, including the setting triangles. I then printed the plan for my reference. The EQ Dear Jane® software allows you to upload bitmap images of your own fabric, to really visualize what your quilt will look like. For my Dear Jane®, I plan on using Libs Elliott fabric – but for planning purposes I used the solid fabric palette in the EQ Dear Jane sketchbook.

After completing the colouring of my plan, the EQ Dear Jane® software also gives me the option of printing the fabric requirements. In the photo below, you can see that I have labelled and totalled all of my fabrics by colour. This is based on 42 inch wide yardage – the program allows you to adjust the width. (Sorry I had to label because I was out of coloured ink at the time of printing – My daughter had a school project which used up all of my ink!)

3. Use the software to print your blocks.

What??? I can print my blocks!?! Yes! You can print the cutting instructions for each block. Depending on the block you want to print, you can print rotary cutting instructions, templates, or a foundation pattern! In the photo below, you can see the rotary cutting instructions that I printed for block “A-5 Cathie’s Campfire”. The EQ Dear Jane® software takes away the painstaking 1/8 of an inch measuring that is hard on my old and tired eyes!

I personally love doing English Paper Piecing, especially to avoid doing “Y seams” and, also, for sewing the tiny curves included in some of the Dear Jane® blocks. The benefit of using the EQ Dear Jane® software is that you can print your own “EPP” templates onto card stock and “EPP” to your hearts content!

In the photo above, one can see that the templates that I printed for block “A-10 Which Points West?” have the 1/4 inch seam included, which I used to cut out my fabric and then removed before basting my fabric to the papers. In the photo below, you can see the same block in the “EPP” stage of construction, whilst I relax and watch Netflix.

So there you have 3 good reasons to invest in the EQ Dear Jane® software!

These are features that I found to be most helpful to me so far in my Dear Jane® journey, however, I have barely scratched the surface on what you can do with this software. As mentioned on the EQ website: “this software will help you see how other quilters have made their own beautiful Dear Jane quilts and even design your own on your computer screen. From there you can print patterns for your quilts or the blocks, read sewing instructions, print quilt labels, surf Dear Jane web sites and so much more. “

…and as I mentioned earlier we have 2 copies to giveaway so…

How can I win a copy of the EQ Dear Jane® software?

Watch our Instagram account @scrappysewandso – we will be giving one away there!
Sign up for our Dear Jane® Quilt-a-long here: Dear Jane® Quilt Along and watch your inbox for details on how to enter to win!