Love, Sweat & Tears

The 225 patterns from the Jane A. Stickle quilt.

This quilt is made during the Civil War in the USA and finished in 1863, as Jane has signed her quilt on a corner block with "In War Time 1863, Pieces 5602, Jane A. Stickle". In those days they didn't have fancy quilting tools or computers, so she must have drafted all the tiny patterns herself on a piece of paper. During Wartime there wasn't easy access to lots of fabrics, so probably she has been collecting and swapping fabrics with neighbours and friends for a long time, to get so many different fabrics in her quilt, using a plain muslin as background. A long time project, also in those days! But it probably helped her in this difficult time to sew and quilt as she might have mourned about many men and boys that had lost their lifes in this War. Also then quilting was used as therapy! I decided to stay as close as possible to the original quilt, using 19th. C. and CW repros, and choosed some different patterns for the blocks that are closer to the original blocks. Those are drafted by Karen Flanscha, one of the first Janiacs.

Brenda Papadakis began drafting the blocks from the photograph in Plain and Fancy back in 1992.

She was emotionally involved with the blocks, saying cute things about them and calling them 'Jane's little babies'. In her mind, Jane's quilt became the 'Mother' - as it is her quilt. All other quilts inspired by The Quilt are 'Babies". Each is unique and belongs to its maker, but they are all derived from the 'Mother'.

"Love, Sweat & Tears"

Marianna's Baby Jane®

The HISTORY of my Journey with Jane Stickle

It was in december 2003 when I fell in LOVE with the Quilt of all quilts. First I thought: "Oh, that's nothing for me, too many tiny pieces and I am NOT patient enough to do the whole lot!", but when I received the book of Brenda Papadakis and saw all those lovely classical blocks I felt this was the reason why I love patchwork in the first place! I do like modern quilts sometimes, but I simply LOVE classical quilts. It's a bit like standing in a historical row of women, who love sewing. I talked to my dear friend Marci about the Quilt and we decided to make a sort of twin quilt by sewing together on our own blocks. In January 2004, short before my birthday, I received a parcel from her as my present and was allowed to open it already! She had sent me a huge pile of small pieces of CW and 19th C. repros and she couldn't imagine at that time how much fun I would have with those pieces of fabric. Now I could start my Baby Jane! So on the 14th of January 2004 we started on cutting fabrics and sewing our first blocks! Two new Baby Jane's were born!

Marci finished her top in the summer of 2004 and made a wall-hanging of 45 blocks. She has won a prize with this Quilt of all quilts! I called my Baby Jane: "Love, Sweat & Tears", because of the Love from the friendship we two share together and the Sweat it gives me to work on such tiny pieced blocks & Tears from frustration when it won't get together the way I want it to be! But in a nutshell: it is still FUN!!! So I decided I will go for the whole QUILT! I have learned piecing, making these quilt blocks, and I did quite a good job for a long time, but when our 8 weeks young Labrador puppy (Floppy/Flopke) arrived, end of april 2009, it was more difficult to keep going on making those blocks. This quilt has really been a Journey and I love that about it. Maybe I love the Journey more than the destination of finishing this Quilt of all quilts. So since summer of 2009 I haven't done much, but I promissed myself I will change that!

2012 will be the year I finish my Baby Jane! Hopefully it will also be quilted in 2012 to hang in Bruxelles in March 2013!

So YES, this IS ADDICTION !!!

The blocks are handsewn.
I use 19th C. repros and some CW´s aswell.
The background is an off-white fabric.

With THANKS to Marci Ellwood, for her Birthday gift in 2004, which made this quilt possible and for the great friendship we share! One day we dream we will meet!

Another THANKS to Nan Bawn, who is a lovely lady and a sweet friend. I am honored to have her blocks (K6 & K9 ) in my quilt (they have such TINY stitches!) and will cherish our great friendship.

And last but certainly not least Rosa Robichaud, who hand pieced (her 1st.!) a block for me as well, L5 Chattanooga Charlie!

Those ladies especially traveled with me during my Journey with Jane and became very dear to me.

And another THANKS to all the wonderfull ladies of the Dear Jane list of Brenda Papadakis, who have helped me many times with tips and tricks, fabrics and notions and lots of inspiration.

I wouldn't have come this far without them all!

July 19th., 2009
151-14-1-3605
(blocks - triangles - corners - total number of pieces)

SILVER JANE (25 blocks), since August 1, 2005

GOLDEN JANE (50 blocks), since August 3, 2006

DIAMOND JANE (75 blocks), since October 23, 2006

JUBILEER JANE (100 blocks), since December 30, 2006

PLATINUM JANE (130 blocks), since December 31, 2007

WONDER WORKER (169 blocks), since November 22, 2011

If you want to see a bigger version of the blocks and have a better view of the fabrics I used, click on the block you want to see and a bigger picture will load (this can take a little extra time, be patient).