Austen Finishes

This month I finished my Austen Family Album quilt, a sampler pattern of the month offered by Barbara Brackman. I took me two winters to hand quilt it! It was too big and warm to quilt in summer.

On the same day, I also finished Jane Austen the Secret Radical by Helena Kelly.

Brackman's quilt block patterns represented members of Jane Austen's family, her friends, and her society. There was a Flickr group where quilters could share their versions of the blocks. Everyone had such brilliant interpretations. And I made several friends in the group.

Here are some of the finished blocks. I had a stack of MODA fabrics in deep red, a gray-green, cream, and pale gray. I added a few other fabrics from my stash.

 I added some applique bits to the block above.

 And fussy cut now and then, like the corner pieces in the star block above.

Austen Family Album by Nancy A. Bekofske

I did not use all of the blocks shared by Brackman, but added my own touch with silhouettes of the Austen family, made in reverse applique. I embroidered the name of the person each block represented.

The Jane Austen silhouette I used is used on the cover of Kelly's book.

Kelly shakes our view of Jane up...a lot! Jane's younger family members grew up in the Victorian Age and tweaked Jane's image to fit the ideal of a pious, quiet, unassuming, Christian woman.

Through a deep reading of Jane's novels, Kelly concluded that Jane was a secret radical whose books addressed issues that her first readers would have recognized: slavery, poverty, enclosure, war, feminism, changing societal values, the hypocrisy of the church.

One might think it is a matter of seeing what one wants to see in a book, but I will warn you that Kelly builds her case based on the texts and family letters and a thorough knowledge of Austen's life, time, and place.

In Northanger Abbey, published after Austen's death and years too late for the audience it was intended for--readers who were well versed in the Gothic novel of the 1790s--Kelly sees "The Anxieties of Common Life."

"The Age of Brass" finds Kelly's reading of Sense and Sensibility as a book about "property and inheritance--about greed and the terrible, selfish things that families do to each other for the sake of money."

In Pride and Prejudice, that sparkling and delightful novel so beloved today, Kelly finds a "revolutionary fairy tale, a fantasy of how, with reform, with radical thinking, society can be safely remodeled" without the revolution that had wracked France.

Mansfield Park is about "The Chain and the Cross," referring to Fanny's amber cross from her brother and the chain gifted her by her cousin Edmund. (Inspired by Austen's own amber cross from her sailor brother.) It also refers to British wealth from slave plantations in the Caribbean and how the Christian church profited from them.

Enclosure was the turning of common lands into privately held lands for use by the rich only. "Gruel" is Kelly's chapter on Emma, in which Jane references how wealth was concentrated into the hands of a few while workers starved, unable to afford British wheat. The Corn Laws kept the price artificially kept high; good for farmers and disastrous for the working poor.

The Lyme cliffs hold a treasure chest of fossils. The characters in Persuasion make a visit to Lyme where a series of events change their lives. "Decline and Fall" places the novel in perspective of Jane's personal life and the alteration in British society. The book takes place in a brief moment of peace with France, just before Napoleon escapes from Elba.

After reading this book, you will realize that Jane is not the person you thought you knew.

Austen Family Album by Nancy A. Bekofske, 2018

Reverse Applique Jane

Here is how I did the Jane Austen silhouette in reverse applique.

I printed Jane's silhouette in different sizes and decided what size I wanted to use. Then I cut her out, right at the edge of her silhouette. (I loved paper dolls when I was a girl, so I had lots of practice.)

I cut the light and the red stripe fabric the same size and layered them with the light on top. I basted the layers together along the outer edges. (You could pin them. You could also iron the fabric. I didn't have my pins, or iron, at the time I did this.)

Silhouette placement on layered fabrics

I placed Jane on my white fabric and using a pencil traced around the edges of the silhouette. This line became my edge for the applique. I then basted around the silhouette, leaving a seam allowance between the basting line and the outline.

Using a sharp pair of small scissors I cut into the fabric inside the outline. I cut it little at a time, about 1/4 inch from the line. I cut small cuts into the seam allowance, down to the line, to help the fabric fold under better. (Like I learned when sewing curved seams when making clothing.)

I hand stitched the light fabric to the red stripe, folding the seam allowance inside just like in needle-turn applique. I actually used a red thread to match the silhouette fabric. I used the same stitch as in applique.

After the applique was completed I took out all the basting threads. I flipped the block over and using small sharp scissors trimmed the red stripe fabric, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Then I pressed the block.

Jane's signature

I added Jane's name by finding her signature and enlarging it, tracing it onto the light fabric. I embroidering it using three strands of dark brown embroidery floss.

It was really easy!

Austen Family Album Progressing

This weekend I needed to verify which Austen Family Album blocks I had completed, going through Barbara Brackman's blog posts and pulling out my blocks. I became quite confused, so I started to write names on the backs of the blocks...then it hit me. Why not embroider the names on the blocks? Album quilts often were signed by the block makers, so names on sampler quilt blocks is quite traditional. So I have begun the process of embroidering names.

I also decided to make a Jane Austen Silhouette block. I don't need large bed quilts, and Brackman's suggested settings would be too big. I need to set the blocks side by side, which looks very busy. I thought...a few interspersed blocks with more negative space would give the eye a place to rest.

Here is Jane's before block. It was awfully dull and I decided to add her book titles to the background.

I wanted to imitate Jane's handwriting in the embroidery. I did for the Charles Dickens quilt (which will be layered this weekend for quilting, finally) I went online to research examples. I found a type font based on Jane's handwriting that can be downloaded for free! It is available from several sources.

Here is my Harris Biggs-Wither block. He proposed to Jane, who accepted his offer but after sleeping (or not sleeping) on it she rescinded.

Last night I discovered that Barbara Brackman's January 11, 2015 post on the Austen Family Album blog featured MY QUILTS!!! My Pride and Prejudice storybook patterns and several of my Austen Family Album blocks are featured! I could hardly get to sleep! Thank you, Barbara!

Still Catching Up on the Austen Family Album Block of the Week...

Going away on several trips meant I got behind again on Brackman's weekly Austen Family blocks. I did three these past few days.

Friendship block for Anne Brydges LeFroy, Jane's friend and mentor

 Wheel of Change for Capt. Jean-Francoise Capot de Feullide, husband of Eliza Hancock

Old Maid's Puzzle for Tom LeFroy, Jane's "heart throb" at age 20

Before Friday we had a few lovely days. There are still some leaves on the trees.

I added some little pumpkins to the donkey cart made by my dad which is  filled with Zinnia's still in bloom.

But yesterday it rained and the cold driving wind and rain kept the little kids from trick or treating. Groups of middle school boys were out in droves. One told me it was "worth" going out in the rain for the candy! 

Oh for the stamina of youth again! 

Jane Austen Family Album

One more block done! West Wind for Tom Fowle, Cassandra's fiance who died in the West Indies.
http://austenfamilyalbumquilt.blogspot.com/2014/08/block-21-west-wind-for-tom-fowle.html

I still have the block from two Sundays ago to finish. It has a lot of pieces and I am still working on it.

Jane Austen Family Album Update

I am just about caught up with the Jane Austen Family Album weekly blocks. I did Lucky Pieces for Jane's Aunt Leigh-Perrot.

I laid the finished blocks on a bed to see how they look. I can't wait to get a design wall up! I have really missed one. 

The colors really are not showing up very well. The fabrics are French General, mostly Panier de Fleurs fat quarters I picked up a year or so ago. I added the red stripe and several greens and a cream background fabric from my stash. The gray background of the prints show up greenish in the lighting.

Hopefully before the week is over I will do block 17 and be up-to-date. There will be 36 blocks in all. Of course I have no idea yet what I will do with them! But I am having great fun working on a sampler quilt.

Work is nearly over with carpet tiling the finished basement, and the IKEA Hemnes bookcases are all up. Another week and that room should be settled. THEN we can work on the unfinished side, which now is piles of boxes all over. And when we dig out the corner with the fuse box we can call in the electrician. We have taken five more trips to the thrift shop with things to donate. 

Retirement so far seems to be  hard work! 

King's Crown Block for the Prince Regent

Jane Austen had a fan in the proliferate Prince Regent, who sent word that he wanted her next book dedicated to him. The book was Emma. Barbara Brackman's Austen Family Album block of the week includes King's Crown to represent the Prince.

It is hard to tell, but I used a subtly shaded light green print for the background.

One more block and I will have caught up!

Jane Austen's Brothers Quilt Blocks

I am catching up with Barbara Brackman's block of the week quilt Jane Austen Family Album. Yesterday I made the quilt blocks representing her brothers who served in the Royal Navy.

Waves of the Sea is for Francis Austen, who became Admiral of the Fleet and married Jane's friend Martha Lloyd.

Crosses and Losses is for Charles Austen who became a Rear Admiral. He brought his sisters Jane and Cassandra amber corpses and gold chains, a gift forever immortalized in Mansfield Park. I changed the layout a bit to suit my fabrics.

Today I made the Comfort Home block for George, a brother who suffered from some kind of limitations that required him to live in a special home.

I have been using the green fabrics for all the quilt blocks for the men. Just because.

I am so glad to be catching up on at least one project!

Sewing Again!

Today I got my sewing machine plugged into an electric outlet and started to catch up with the Jane Austen Family Album weekly block that Barbara Brackman has been offering. This is Friendship Square to represent Catherine Knatchbull Knight, Edward Austen's adopted mother.

I decided to fussy cut the center per the instructions of Barbara Brown, but with my own twist. I used a neutral stripe and then appliqued motifs from my fabrics in the boring parts! Then I photographed it wonky, as I mean the bird to be at the top of the block.

Getting power to my Bernina 830 and iron was not an easy task. The space I have for my sewing room has no electric outlets...yet. This is what it looked like before we moved in.

My hubby had to get a heavy duty extension cord from an outlet in the finished basement side, over the hanging ceiling, into the unfinished basement side...where it is plugged into another extension cord. 

We went to IKEA in Canton, MI yesterday and picked up five Hemnes bookcases.We had thought we'd get the Billy bookcases, but the white and natural wood were out of stock! Rather than make another trip, we upgraded to the solid wood Hemnes line.

Self serve is a lot of work.

But the real work is ahead, putting together the bookcases. Then we can take our library out of the boxes.

I just loved these chairs and table. I want something like this in the family room for laptop compuers, crafting, or to sit with a book sipping tea. 

Catching Up with the Jane Austen Family Album Block of the Week

I had three weeks of blocks to do!

Philadelphia Block

My last block for the Jane Austen Family Album until after our move and I have a quilt room again. I will have a lot of catching up to do as this is a block a week project!

The Philadelphia pattern was chosen to represent Jane's Aunt Philadelphia Austen Hancock.

Empire Star Block

This week's block for Barbara Brackman's block of the week Jane Austen Family Album is for Napoleon  Bonaparte. Although Jane does not mention the war with France, her brothers and other family members were in the service.

We are packing, sorting things to sell, giving away stuff in preparation for moving next month. My husband is retiring. As we have lived in a church owned parsonage since 1989 we have to move at retirement, and because the parsonages have been huge we have to significantly downsize to fit into our modest, Mid-Century ranch I inherited. I will need to convert Dad's work room into a quilt room.

My fabric and supplies are mostly packed up. I will continue with the sampler as much as I can, but Love Entwined will languish until I have a new work space set up later.

But I can still read! I am working on Nathaniel Philbrick's Bunker Hill right now. Then I have a biography of the first American Saint, Elizabeth Seton and also a novel about German immigrants during WWI called Bohemian Flats.

Jane Austen Family Album :James Austen

Barbara Brackman chose Village Green to represent Jane's eldest brother, who served as a minister.

We have had illness in the family all week, so I was glad this was a simple block!