‘In Changing Times’

I realized something yesterday- an anniversary had passed about ten days ago.  Most people would not even think it much of an event to remember.  But to me the event was, in a way, life-changing.  On January 24, 1999, I made the first block of my prize-winning Dear Jane® quilt ‘In Changing Times.’  I had no idea when I left Nacogdoches and my Secret Pal gave me the book as my last gift, that it would change my life-literally.

This is how my story starts…my husband decides to transfer within his job in summer 1998.  We find a house and make arrangements to move to Greenville.  My friends in Nacogdoches give me a going away party and my Secret Pal at guild gives me the book, Dear Jane: The 225 Patterns from the 1863 Jane A. Stickle Quilt by Brenda Manges Papadakis.  I think it’s a pretty quilt and I love reproduction quilts, but I am really not into samplers, nor did I think I would make the quilt as there were no instructions in the book.  I did enjoy reading the letters that Brenda wrote to Jane.  I love history.  I even loved looking at the blocks and wondering what in the world was Jane thinking and then, how in the world did she come up with them and how did she execute all these difficult blocks?  Little did I know I would soon be up to my neck in this quilt.You might ask why my quilt is red and green?  Well, my paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Stickle.  That was the way I had always seen it spelled as a kid.  I found out about 4-5 years ago that my ancestor’s name is spelled STICKEL from a descendant of his ‘other’ family so I guess we are not related to Jane, but I like to think there was a possibility that we could have been when I started my quilt.  My grandmother was born in December and she died in December at the age of 93 and so I made it as a tribute  to her.  Little did I know when I made my first block, J-5, John Jacob’s Windmill, that I was in for one of the best trips of my life-with a few bumps along the way.  Tune in again soon for the next installment of my Journey with Jane.

Sew Having Fun,

Sarah