Dear Baby Jane: E-10

Another visit to the way-back machine for this block. This is one of the three I completed back in 2004. And, boy, you can sure tell by looking at it! It is tempting to re-do it (I mean, look at those melons!). But I'm going to keep it. It seems like a big part of creating a Dear Jane quilt is the journey. And it's kind of cool to see where I started and how I've grown since then. My quilting skills have come a long way! :)

This is my journal entry for this block from 2004:

Block number/name: E-10 "Five & Dime"

Date completed: October 25, 2004

Number of pieces: 6

Notes on block: Tonight I attended my first meeting of the Austin Area Quilt Guild Dear Jane Bee! I had been thinking about going since last November, and have just chickened-out every time. But this time when I got the email invitation, I said yes and offered to bring the chocolate treat (I made chocolate-marbled cheesecake squares from Cooking Light). It was at Andi's house. I'm so glad I went!!! All of the ladies (most of whose names I can't remember—ugh) were very friendly and welcoming. I (of course) didn't say much—but really enjoyed listening to what others had to say, and (every so often) I'd say something (but not too much). Man, I'm a chicken!—But I went! Baby steps! This block was pretty challenging for me because of the applique—I'm not too good at it. Far from perfect, but good enough that I want to keep it (has character). I figure by the end of this quilt, I'll be an applique expert.

I'm still struggling to figure out what I want to do color/design-wise. I'm just feeling more and more that I'm going to take Stacy's advice and just go for it—the random look. I'm not sure why this is bothering me so much (enough that I'm still thinking about this decision)—maybe I'm just too anal. So it's good for me, the randomness.

And after this block, I took a 4 year Dear Jane hiatus. Needless to say, I never managed to attend another meeting of the Dear Jane Bee.