Saturday, 14 November 2009

Dear Jane and Australia



If Jane Stickle had been Australian, then she would have pieced a block, perhaps one of the corner diamonds, to represent the Southern Cross constellation.

As some of you are aware, I have joined NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I have included the piecing of my version of the Dear Jane quilt in my plot. Well, as it turns out, the search for my missing Russian has led me , or should I say my main character`s search, to Australia. Thus I wanted to write about a block from the quilt that reminded me of those stars.

here`s the passage from my novel:

Then my mind drifted to my quilt and I wondered what different blocks Jane Stickle might have designed had she lived in Australia. Surely she would have pieced one of her corner diamonds to represent the constellation ‘The Southern Cross’. I’ll never forget the moment when I was standing on a roadside on Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand and I looked up and saw the stars. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I knew the moment I spied that constellation. I knew what I was seeing. Wow, one view I will never forget. Jane could have changed the upper right corner triangle and added two more stars to depict ‘the Southern Cross’. Since I want to maintain the integrity of my quilt by staying faithful to Jane, there are two other blocks that could stand in. Block A-4 Courtney’s Stethoscope has plain triangles to the top, bottom, and left and right sides with a cross in the middle. A second choice could be H-7 Bennington Star with its four quarter triangle blocks in the twelve, three, six and nine o’clock positions. I will definitely have to find orange fabric with tiny stars to use when I piece those blocks.

My question is, what block would you chose from the `Dear Jane`` quilt to represent the Southern Cross constellation

Karen has just finished her version of 'Dear Jane'. Select this link and you can see the corner block that I think could depict the Southern Cross constellation. You need to scroll down a little to the first picture.
Check out Anya's progress on her version of 'Dear Jane'

1 comment:

Hunter said...

What a great passage. You're going to inspire me to get our my quilt blocks yet.

There's just this silly writing thing that keeps sucking up my brain cells. LOL.

Take care and thank you for sharing. Great job.

Darilyn