Sergeant Sesquicentennial

Completed Sergeant Sesquicentennial
block from Quilting Pleasures

The Sergeant Sesquicentennial block from Quilting Pleasures is done! No offence, but I hope I never have to write those two words again! I keep spelling the first word wrong and I don't even want to pronounce the second - thank goodness for copy and paste. Canada's 150 will have to do!

This gentleman is part of the Northcott's Trans-Canada Block Party and is sold exclusively at Quilty Pleasures in Orleans. I picked up the kit for the block and fabric for the border and binding last month.

The piecing went fairly well, except when I reversed his torso and gave him huge shoulders and a tiny waist! After fixing that, it was all good.

I really wasn't sure how to quilt it. In-the-ditch around the guy was easy but what next? I wanted a background that might look like wallpaper behind a portrait. With all the straight lines in the pattern, except for the mustache, I thought that something linear would be appropriate. I chose to FMQ blocks since vertical lines would have accentuated my accuracy-challenges.

Do you like the buttons? I was supposed to applique circles, but I'd rather use real buttons, It's hard not to add embellishment...

Details of the FMQ in the background and borders

In my last post, I hadn't quite completed the quilt. I still needed to bind  it and then finish quilting the borders. If my order of doing this sounds like a mistake - it isn't. When borders are not very large, I will often FMQ the body of the quilt, square it off, bind it and then quilt the border. So far I haven't found any reason for not doing it this way. 

Growing Up QAL - Block 5

I had such a good time making this block! I went through my scraps of pink fabrics and found two great pieces to add to the pink and grey solids of my other blocks. The grey and maroon flower fabric is a scrap from a quilt my mother made a very long time ago.

Block 5 of the Growing Up QAL - Improv Piecing

Improvisational blocks are some of my favourites - few rules and lots of potential!

What I learned

• I need to try different techniques if I want to keep making Canada 150 quilts. I get very easily tired of making conventional quilts and blocks. I've started on a couple of Canada 150 art quilts - using some of the techniques I learned from Hillary Rice's workshop. Hopefully I will have something to show you soon.
• I've been using a bit of Best Press to starch my daughter's appliqué. I used it on the block today - it makes it look great for photographing. I've heard of people starching fabric when piecing them. I may give that a try.

Related Links

• Quilting Pleasures, Orleans Ontario
• Northcott's Trans-Canada Block Party
• Growing Up QAL

Sergeant Sesquicentennial posts:

• Celebrate - Fêtons 150 in June, June 1, 2017 
• Celebrating 150 with Quilts, May 18, 2017

Project Details


Sergeant Sesquicentennial
17" x 22 3/4"
Pattern: Sergeant Sesquicentennial block from Quilting Pleasures.
Materials: cotton, buttons
Techniques: piecing, appliqué, free motion quilting

Linking Parties: I will be linking to the Growing Up QAL and Celebrate - Fêtons 150 in June as well as the following blogs. Check out what everyone is making. Oh Scrap!, Main Crush Monday, Monday Making, Moving it Forward Monday, Linky Tuesday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday,