Jane Austen seemed to have had a very productive time as a writer in the beginning of the 19th century. She also was a very accomplished seamstress and during that period she, her beloved sister Cassandra and her mother worked on a wonderful quilt.
Somehow I am drawn to her. I love her novels, the story of her life, I loved to watch the movie "Becoming Jane" with Anne Hathaway, and I love her quilt.
So now I decided to make a Jane-Austen-quilt. It will show her arrangement of diamonds, it will be made of floral and black-and-white spotted cotton fabrics, it will have nearly the same dimensions (236 x 155 cm) and a lovely centerpiece, it will be made of about 3000 pieces and it will be completely handmade.
Since each and every individually made quilt is unique I can't and don't want to make a quilt which tries to look as much as hers as possible... it wouldn't turn out right. But I can try to muster the same determination and the love for details as Jane Austen and her sister and her mother did in such an adorable way.
So, I made a start. After some research on the internet about the specifics and doing the maths I now have my templates ready and I found and cut my centerpiece as well as some diamonds.... This project will give me satisfaction and happiness for months and months and months and years to come. I will work on lots of other things, too, but the collecting of suitable fabrics (Jane Austen used 64 different fabrics!) and the construction of this quilt will be some kind of a steady "background melody" from now on.
For everyone who is interested, here are some wonderful and very informative sites about Jane Austen's quilt:
http://www.jasa.net.au/quilt.htm
http://www.jasa.net.au/quiltclark.htm
http://www.janeausten.co.uk/jane-austens-quilt/
http://www.rosaleeclark.com.au/making-janes-coverlet/jane-austen-quilt-pattern/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisabethpix/3464487483/
