Dear Jane!

Have you heard of a "Dear Jane" quilt? It is an amazing work of art, and Ruth Ann, my amazing quilting friend, has made one!

As I tell a brief history of this quilt I am going to show some of the individual blocks from Ruth Ann's work. It is hard to appreciate the blocks individually when you see the whole quilt! Jane Stickle made this unique quilt during the Civil War.

She signed the quilt, "In War Time 1863". It has 169 blocks that are each approximately 4.5 inches square, and those are surrounded by 56 triangles.

She hand pieced and appliquéd each block and created a masterpiece! Each of the blocks is different from all the others in the quilt.

Many of the blocks are very complex, some have more than 40 tiny pieces in that 4.5 inch square!

Many of the pieces in the blocks are no more than 1/4" square when they are finished. Jane's quilt was made famous by Brenda Papadakis in 1996, when she painstakingly drafted a pattern for each block.

Now quilters around the world try to reproduce Jane's quilt!

If you want to see any of these blocks close up, just click on the picture! Doesn't Ruth Ann do precise, beautiful work?

Ruth Ann made each of the blocks for the quilt in one year, using different fabric for each block. She collects Civil War reproduction fabrics, and just this past week was able to add enough to her collection to begin her work on the border triangles with a new supply of unique fabrics!

Aren't the blocks beautiful? Imagine all the hours involved!

I'm almost ready to show you the complete top...

Look at this wonderful quilt! Gorgeous! Ruth Ann, you are amazing!!

Another view, and after all those squares, all sewn together, it is still a perfect square!

Here is a picture of Jane Stickle's original!

If you would like to learn more about the Dear Jane quilt and see where the above picture came from, go the official website by clicking here.