Monday, April 17, 2017

More Quilts to Celebrate

Canada Quilt by Michelle Gagné
Canada Quilt by Michelle Gagné
I was finally able to attend the Common Thread Quilt Guild meeting this month. Our guest speaker was Michelle Gagné, an Ottawa professional long-arm quilter and prolific quilter. Here is her Canada quilt. I really like the way she made her centre red leaf.

Quilts completed for
Canada`s Biggest Quilt Bee










As for Canada`s Biggest Quilt Bee, our guild members have completed over 30 quilts and over a hundred blocks. I handed in my 6 blocks at the meeting since I`m not likely to finish a quilt top before they send these to Toronto.

The postcard quilt made last fall by guild members is part of the Eastern Ontario Inter-Guild Canada 150 Celebration Trunk Show. It will be travelling across eastern Ontario and can be seen at local quilt shows. If you live in the area, look out for it!

Common Thread Quilt Guild Canada 150 Postcard Quilt
Common Thread Quilt Guild Canada 150 Postcard Quilt
I'll be attending the Ottawa Valley Quilter's Guild Quilt Show - Festival of Quilts 2017. There will have a special 150 exhibit, which will include our Guild's Postcard quilt. The event is on Mother's day weekend, May 12-14. I'm really happy that it's their turn to hold the quilt show this year. I'll get to see the quilts without having to do a lot of work, It will be a real treat!

Since hosting these Celebrate - Fêtons 150 posts, I figured that I should be working on something for the celebrations. Do you remember this free pattern of the Canada 150 logo? Well, it's coming along. The paper piecing went well, although I learned a lot (from my many mistakes). Not the pattern's fault. I also want to make it longer to include the words "Canada 150, 1867 - 2017".
This picture has 2 obvious mistakes..
can you spot them?

This first image is both pre-ironed and pre-fixed - if you enlarge it, you may see that there is a piece of white missing between the top blue and yellow pieces. That was the easy mistake to fix. I used the Crafted Appliqué method to add a small piece of white fabric. It will be fine once it's quilted.

The other obvious mistake is not easily fixed. I would have had to start that section over and undo a lot more since I didn't realize my mistake until I started putting the sections together. We all make mistakes and I can live with this one. It sure will make my logo easy to spot compared to anyone else's!

Canada 150 logo - all paper pieced

If all goes well, I will add the "Canada 150 1867 - 2017" below the logo and quilt it by the first of the month for Celebrate - Fêtons 150 in May.

Here are a few other quilty ideas found on the internet,

Maple Leaf Quilt Block Flag by denna's ideas
Denna made this for the 50th anniversary of the Canadian flag a couple of years ago. She explains how she did it in her blog. (See the link in Related Links below)

Maple Leaf Quilt Block Flag
by denna's ideas
Purely Canadian Quilt Pattern
by Quilts by Jen

Purely Canadian Quilt Pattern by Quilts by Jen
Here is another quilt pattern celebrating aspects of Canada.

What I learned
  • It always takes me a while to get into paper piecing. It's like I partially forget how to do it. 
  • The Canada 150 logo was relatively easy to follow, but I did find it tricky to put the finished pieces together. I don't think that it was the pattern, rather I need to stop when I'm tired before I make all of those mistakes!
  • I did make a few mistakes - some that I could easily fix and others that I would have had to start the pieces over. Since I could live with the mistakes, I decided to leave the piece as is. We can call them slight creative modifications :-)
  • I'm happy to report that I've found space in my home for a couple of the art quilts I recently made. It's great to live with them!
Related Links
If you're making anything to celebrate Canada`s 150, please join the link-up on the first of every month this year. The linking party is open all month long. You can also win some very cool prizes - this month it's a pattern donated by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts.

Here is the button, if you want to add it to your blog!
Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!

Linking Parties: I will be linking to many great link-ups. Check out what everyone is doing! MOP Monday, Monday Making, Moving it Forward Monday, Oh Scrap!Let's Bee Social, Linky Tuesday, Main Crush Monday, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday,






14 comments:

  1. Beautiful blocks and inspiring lessons! Thanks for sharing!!

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    1. Thanks Alida, I'm so impressed with everyone's creativity in celebrating with quilts!

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  2. I have that logo pattern downloaded for, like EVER, and still can't find time to get it done. Must do! I cannot spot the other 'obvious' mistake...yay for Crafted Appliqué! Joanne at Canuck Quilter has a great 150 Canada quilt on her blog, Canuck Quilter, and I appear to have a QAL that is rather Canadian in theme, as some people are doing it for Canada's birthday (and I now need/want to!) :-)

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    1. Hi Sandra, good luck with the QAL - if you make it, be sure to link to the Celebrate - Fêtons 150! The second mistake is in one of the green sections. If you compare it to the orange, you'll spot the mistake. I'm thrilled that it's not as obvious as I thought!

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  3. This is like an 'eye spy' quilt....I can't see the second mistake. :) The block looks good the way it is. Thanks for linking to MCM!

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    1. Thanks Beth, I'm surprised that it's not obvious, but then when you work on something, the mistake just flashes at you! Check out the green section and compare it with the orange one. You'll find it!

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  4. It is so much fun to see all of the celebration quilts that are being made - they are all so beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing these on Midweek Makers, and do continue to share more!

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks Em, wait till you see it finished. I'll be posting the finished piece tomorrow!

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  6. The quilt and block are so lovely! The block is so colorful! Thank you so much for sharing such joyful projects!

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    1. Thanks Miaismine. Aren't all of these project amazing? Everyone is going all out for the celebrations!

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  7. I love that pixelated maple leaf--what a cool logo! And I didn't see either of your mistakes, so you're all good! I have often noticed that I'm usually the only one who spots my "mistakes" anyway! <3

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    1. Thanks Kitty - you're right. Our "mistakes" glare at us but other people don't usually notice (except my son!).

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