Canada 150 Quilt Finish

The Canada 150 quilt project is finished and I'm happy to report that the binding, label and even a hanging sleeve are complete!  This was a huge job, but very enjoyable.  I did not really enjoy sewing the sashings and borders on, but persevered so it could hang in the Shedden Quilt Show April 13 and 14.  A deadline always helps to complete something on time.  A big thank you to Kat Tucker of Next Step Quilt designs for hosting this journey.  Click on the label at the bottom of this post to read the story about the year long project.  For those interested in the pattern, here is a link to the cd with all the patterns on it. 

I decided to sash the blocks with a black Kona cotton solid and a narrow border of black all around the quilt.  I was planning to put a red Stonehenge border around it.  But, I happened to visit a quilt shop and they still had the poppy fabric from the same line so I bought 2 metres and used that for the border.  That was my favourite fabric from that line, but it had been sold out for quite awhile.  I was so happy to find it just as I was finishing the sashing on my blocks :-).  It was quite a job turning that stack of 150 blocks into a finished quilt!  I will be putting it on my bed and since the walls do not match this quilt, my daughter in law has offered to help me paint the walls.  We're contemplating one black wall!  That could be really radical.  It was quilted by long arm quilter, Julie Cassidy using a pantograph called Maple syrup. 

Stack of 150 finished blocks

I fussy cut the Canada 150 circle from fabric to get an extra block

Another fussy cut Canada flag with 1867 - 2017 to get one more block

This map of Canada worked perfectly to make up four blocks to finish off the 156 needed to make the quilt top.

The finished top with the added poppy fabric for the border!  This top is huge!

The quilt was hung in a local quilt show a couple of weeks ago so I could finally get a photo of the complete quilt.

I'm very glad that this quilt is finished!

Canada 150 Blocks FINISHED!!!

I can't believe it was the end of September when I last posted on my blog!  I had a friend over from Holland for two weeks, we celebrated Thanksgiving, went on a quilt retreat and a retreat with my Bible study group so it has been a busy couple of months.  I've been steadily working away at my Canada 150 blocks and only got a few weeks behind a couple of times.  Last week the final blocks were posted!  Wow, I can't believe I've actually kept up with this project til the end.  Here are the blocks I've finished since my last blog post:

Blocks 136 - 138

Blocks 139 - 141

Blocks 142 - 144

Blocks 145 - 147

 Block # 150 had a very interesting twist...it was dedicated to Moms all over the world!  So, I made that block using fabric I had used in the Elgin Piecemaker's Challenge to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday.  You can read about the pillows we made here.  I had used a fabric with tiny tulips and bicycles on the back of my pillow which was dedicated to the memory of my Mom immigrating from Holland in the mid 1950's and who taught me to sew.  This was the back of the pillow:

I used a scrap of that fabric to make my heart block for the 150th block and used a background print which says "stitch" all over it.  This block is my tribute to my Mom's memory.

Blocks 148 - 150!!

The stack of 150 FINISHED blocks :-)

Now to lay out all the blocks and figure out a layout!  That will be a challenge on its own.  Thanks so much Kat Tucker of Next Step Quilt Designs for this wonderful project and for all your hard work posting the blocks and the stories about Canadian women for a whole year!

All caught up til tomorrow morning :-)

Just finished the Canada 150 blocks before the next three patterns are posted tomorrow morning.  Only a few more weeks to go! 

Blocks 127 - 129

Blocks 130 - 132

Blocks 133 - 135

Canada 150 blocks - the end is in sight!

I managed to get behind again on my blocks!  This has been a busy summer with lots of grandkids over and lots of sewing machine work in the garage.  But school is starting up next week and my husband has been occupied with school work and meetings at school, so I got to work on catching up again.  I'm all up to date!  And, we're at block 126...only 8 weeks to go and all the blocks will be finished.  Then it'll be time to put the blocks together.  I need to decide if I'll make one queen sized quilt or two smaller lap quilts.  This project has been keeping us busy for a year and it's become like an old friend :-).  I'll miss the weekly posts, but I will be happy when the blocks are finished so I can get to some other sewing again!  But, it's been a great project to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday.  Here are the blocks from the last four weeks.  There were some really fun designs in here and they were fun to put together.

Blocks 115 - 117

Blocks 118 - 120

Blocks 121 - 123

Blocks 124 - 126

And here is the stack of blocks #1 - 126

Canada 150 blocks almost caught up

We were on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks so I got a little behind on my blocks.  But I did sneak a little sewing in on my vacation as we were able to stay in a friend's trailer for a few days.  I took a little FW along and set up a sewing spot and finished three blocks.  I have just this week's blocks to finish and I'm all caught up again :-)

Block 106 - 108

Blocks 109 - 111

Blocks 112 - 114

My trusty tablet with the pattern

All set up to sew a few blocks :-)

Ironing station

Canada 150 blocks update

We are over the 100 blocks in our Canada 150 project!  The pile of blocks is growing each week.  Here are the blocks for the last four weeks. I have been able to keep up each week, sometimes finishing late Monday night before the next blocks were posted :-).  And we're learning about a lot of Canadian women that we never knew about.  I also got to test a Singer 411G, which my husband had restored, to sew the last 6 blocks.  Sewed like a dream!

Blocks 94 - 96

Blocks 97 - 99

Blocks 100 - 102

Blocks 103 - 105

Testing a Singer 411G on the last 6 blocks :-)

Major catch up on the Canada 150 blocks

It is not good to procrastinate on these blocks!  I got very behind as I was away twice for a few days in the last few weeks and just did not have time to catch up.  I tackled a few blocks yesterday and then decided to really focus today and cut all the rest, including today's posting, this morning and finally got completely caught up.  There were some very time consuming blocks in this bunch and I was glad I saved block #77 for last :-).  That went together really quickly.  Now to see if I can keep up every week again!

It was a lot of fun choosing fabrics for the various blocks. I managed to find a few prints in my stash that fit with the story to go with the block.

Blocks 76 - 78

Blocks 79 - 81

Blocks 82 - 84

Blocks 85 - 87

Blocks 88-90

I had purchased these mini templates on keychains years ago and they sure came in handy for blocks 91 and 92

Blocks 91 - 93

Canada 150 blocks caught up

I got a little behind on the Canada 150 block project, but am happy to report that I'm all caught up again (up to this week that is LOL).  These blocks are going to look very nice in a quilt.  Here are blocks 58 to 75.  We are half way finished.

Canada 150 blocks 49- 57 caught up

Tuesday is the day the new blocks are posted for the Canada 150 blocks from Next Step Designs.  I finally finished last week's blocks this morning and got today's blocks finished this afternoon!  Nice to be caught up again :-).  I had not gotten around to taking a picture of the week before so here are the blocks from the last three weeks.  Really enjoying working on these blocks every week.

Blocks 49, 50, 51

Blocks 52, 53, 54

Blocks 55, 56, 57

Catching up on Canada 150

Tonight I caught up with the Canada 150 blocks again.  These blocks are a lot of fun to make.  Lots of different techniques to use as well.  I had the first three finished last week already, but hadn't had a chance to blog. (click on the photo to enlarge)

Blocks 40 - 42 I picked up this awesome crow fabric recently and figured crows are pretty Canadian so they found their way into a block LOL. 

Blocks 43 to 45 I changed block 43 to a mitered corner so I could get the stripes to make a 3D effect.

Blocks 46 - 48