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

Dear Jane - 63rd block

We got together with our little support group this past Monday and I completed I 13 Sweet Harmony.  This is block #63.  This block is paper pieced.

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.

Dear Jane!!

I finally made a bit of progress on my Dear Jane Quilt.  The last blog post I did was September 22, 2011 when my friend Els was over from Holland for a visit.  She has made 2 Dear Jane quilts.  We met on the Dear Jane internet list and she has now visited me five times and I've visited her twice.  

My Dad had just passed away when Els visited and my Mom passed away in January of 2012.  I lost interest in working on it that winter as my Mom was always so interested in the progress of these blocks.  And, then it became "out of sight, out of mind"!  This year, I realized that I had started this quilt in 2007 with the idea that it would be my 10 year project!  Yikes....this is 2017!  

A few friends here in town were also motivated again to keep working on our quilts and we decided to do a once a month get together to spur one another on.  I have a lot of work to do to get this quilt together by the end of the year!!  I now have 62 blocks finished.  

This morning Beth and I worked on our blocks and I got one completed.  Last month, Jane and I got a block done as well and I also finished an easy one which I found while getting organized for our monthly get togethers.  I got my hand crank machine out for some paper piecing and here are the results:

Paper piecing DJ blocks on my Singer 28 handcrank.  I received this machine from a lady named Jane :-).

I didn't get the points lined up too well on this block, but I'll let it languish in the binder until I decide if it bothers me enough to redo it.  It will never be noticed from the proverbial galloping horse in the overall scheme of things :-).
 

A 12 Framed Fancy

B 13 Four Corner Press

I 12 Fred's Fair Square

Sinterklaas

Last week Saturday, the next pattern was up for the Jolly Little Christmas quilt a long hosted by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts.  Santa Claus was the next block.  Santa Claus was not a thing in my household when I was growing up.  As I am of Dutch heritage, Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas, was an exciting event.  On December 5th, we would put out our shoes (we didn't have wooden shoes anymore :-) and we would put hay in and a carrot for Sinterklaas' white horse.  In the morning, we would find candies and a chocolate initial and a few little trinkets in our shoe (if we had been good lol).  That evening, many little packages and surprises would be opened complete with little poems which had something to do with the gift or recipient.  

When I saw the Santa Claus block before the quilt along was launched, I emailed Lorna with some links to the Sinterklaas tradition to see if she would be able to design a Dutch version.  Sure enough, when the pattern was posted, there at the bottom was a 'bonus' block which really made my Dutch heart go pitter patter.  Thanks so much Lorna for your generosity!  This just makes me happy! And, the pattern went together so nicely.

Here is the good old Saint himself...isn't he awesome!?  Complete with his trusty staff.

A Cardinal

Last week, Sew Fresh Quilts posted the next pattern for the Have a Jolly Little Christmas sew a long.  This was another one of those blocks that has lots of little pieces and angles and seams that need to be matched precisely.  So, I decided to only do 1 block!  Wow, can't believe the self discipline LOL.  Once it was done, I was already sorry I hadn't done a second one, but I can always do one more later, "when I have time", right?  Hmmm...I'll bet that'll never happen!  Here is the cardinal...it also had an eye that required cutting a 3/4" square.  Good practise for precision sewing for sure :-).

Love this cardinal.....the greens are off on the colours..they are much prettier in real life.

I find it a lot easier to lay out all the pieces on a small cutting board as I cut them.  I also press the squares in half and lay them out properly to get the right angles.  This helps a lot when sewing them together and you don't have to label all the pieces with the proper size.  I can then carry the board to my sewing machine and stitch it together.  Works for me :-).