Version 2.0 Quilt

Version 2.0 has been a long project that started roughly in 2020. I first mentioned it in my 2020 Planning Party. Here is what I wrote:

"A long time ago (apparently at least 5 years) I promised my son that I would redo his quilt, the one that his grandmother made him when he was a young boy. He has loved it to death 😊. With his input, I have bought the Kona solids that are closest to the original fabrics. He had drafted the design for me, so now all that's left is to iron the fabric and start cutting and piecing."

The original quilt - loved to death😊 

I started the actual project on February 12, 2020 and was quite anxious. "Why was I anxious? Well, my mother made the quilt based on a picture in a calendar. That means no pattern. Although she had made a few quilts, her piecing doesn't follow standard quilting block style. She didn't use HST and frankly I'm not sure how she constructed the quilt but lets just say that her MacGyver skills were excellent 😊"

I called that post, which was my 350th post, Learning quilting math the hard way.  I chose the top left section of the quilt to start working on. I added many HST to the piecing to make it easier for me. You can read more about it in the post.

Starting with Section 1

Doing the math - not my forte!

I was easily side-tracked from piecing this quilt. My next post was November 23, 2020: Progress on my son's quilt.

Piecing Version 2.0 one section at a time

In May, 2021, my One Monthly Goal (OMG) was to finish piecing Version 2.0 and amazingly enough, I did it! At the beginning of the month, I had pieced it all but the borders which I finished on May 27, 2021.

Pieced with borders

I had hoped to sandwich it as soon as I had pieced the borders but discovered that I didn't have enough fabric for the backing (😔my math skills!) For June, my OMG was to sandwich the quilt. I also started planning my free motion quilting (FMQ) and then went to my girlfriend's home to sandwich the quilt.  

Thanks Lyne! 😊

For the FMQ planning, I started by making a map of all of the hand-quilting that my mother had done. She had created a duo-tang of the story of the quilt for my son, so I referred to it a lot. 

Part of my mother's book about
the quilting in the original quilt

I used a copy of my son's draft of the quilt, coloured it in and added notes on the quilting. I also took a lot of photos.

My first notes on the original quilting

I soon converted this to PowerPoint and kept track of my progress that way. I made ✔ on the sections finished and added notes on the sections that I was going to change. It was a great way to keep track of everything over the next two years!

PowerPoint map of my quilting plans

After the sandwich came the thread decisions. I had hoped to use only one thread colour in the back but tension issues made that impossible. It was just safer and easier to use the same thread in the bobbin as on top, so these are the threads that I chose. They were all Glide thread except the brown, which are Omni thread. 

Thread used to FMQ Version 2.0

I quilted everything in-the-ditch, which is always a good practice run and test for thread etc. Everything was FMQ on my Jag. 

My FMQ set up in my studio

I didn't start on the FMQ until the fall. The first sections re-created the hand-quilting that my mother had done on the original quilt. 

FMQ friends and hearts

In January 2022 I finally settled down to FMQ Version 2.0 in earnest. I started by quilting Canada's natural beauty, from West to East. 

FMQ the Canadian mountains and prairies

Then came Lake Louise as seen from the back of the quilt. 

Heading west with mountains, forests, river and a bear 

I continued with the west of Canada and also FMQ a red stripe with symbols of the weather.

Weather stripe

At the end of February I was FMQ bird feathers on a maroon stripe and playing cards on the blue and red stripe. 

FMQ bird feathers

FMQ playing cards

In March, I added all kinds of sports in the blue area. 

Tennis and golf - some of the many sports depicted

It took forever to pick the tracing paper out of
those snowshoes! Finished FMQ in April. 

In April 2022, I finished the sports section, added the North to the Canadian nature section and then FMQ some stars and planets. 

North section as seen from the back

Lots of fun FMQ the sky elements

In May came patriotic maple leaves.

Maple leaves in the red stripe

Using tracing paper
to stitch the maple leaf

In May I also got in some music symbols in one of the black stripes. 

Music symbols in a black stripe

June was all about starting the First Nation section. That took quite a while to plan and quilt.

Dream Catcher

My version of Turtle Island

July was the time to fill in a stripe with books! It looks good next to the sky stripe 😊

Lots of books free motion quilted!

In September, a variety of wild flowers that grow in Ontario was added to the quilt. They photographed better from the back of the quilt.

Cat-tail as seen from the front

Wild clover, as seen from the back

At that time, I also FMQ a quick tan line with squares and triangles.

A quick line of squares and triangles

In October, birds were celebrated with a few areas of their own.

Three birds

Canada goose and bird as seen from the back

Next, near the end of October, it was all about Places & Communities. These represented all of the places that my son either lived or that were significant in his life. I used many of Lory Kennedy's FMQ designs and had lots of fun.

Places and Communities as seen from the back

The next section to come along was Travelling Adventures. These were based on a couple of trips that we took as a family to the South-West of the US. 

Travelling Adventures was a on blue section,
where the FMQ is best seen from the back

In December my son helped me design the Games section of the quilt. I also started thinking about how the quilt would look when it was finished, and therefore started quilting a little more densely. 

Images from his Magic games

At that time, I also adding the outline of the Sun to the middle part of the quilt.

Creating the Sun with a walking foot

I then FMQ swirls and flames to the Sun.

Adding swirls and flames to the Sun

The end of December was spent FMQ more details to some previously quilted sections, such as the birds, 

Adding FMQ details to the birds sections

In Version 2.0 - Almost done! I filled out the space around the sun. What goes well with the Sun? What about clouds, a rainbow and stars?

It looks great from the back of the quilt!

At that time, I also filled in a last tan line with mine heads and other mining designs, since my Mother's family were miners going back a few generations.

The Mile of Gold in Kirkland Lake, Ontario

All that glitters is not gold....

I also filled in the First Nation section at that time.

First Nation section filled out

My final Version 2.0 post for 2022 was about FMQ feathers in the two side borders of the quilt. 

FMQ feathers

Once the quilt stores had opened again in January, I bought more Kona solid in Bordeaux to make the binding. I even took the time to watch a Craftsy class to see what tips that I could pick up. You can read those here.

By January 12, 2023, I have finished FMQ Version 2.0. In the Finishing up Version 2.0 post, I talked about filling out the Travel Adventures section, finishing up the Eastern section of Canada natural beauty, and creating a tapering feather heart for a small section that was still empty.

Travel Adventure section as seen from the back

Travel Adventure includes Kokopelli

The Eastern Canada section was FMQ on a bigger scale so there were less scenes than in the West.

A Puffin on a rock

A light house in Eastern Canada

Finally, a tapering feather heart for Stéphane and Sarah 💗

FMQ a tapering feather heart

The final post was published on January 18, 2023. Here is the finished Version 2.0 quilt.

Version 2.0 ✔

Version 2.0 in its new home 😊

Here is the label. The translation reads: "The Stéphane quilt, Version 2.0 Created by grandmother, Thérèse Lamontagne, June 2000. Adapted by Mom, Andrée G. Faubert, January 2023. 💗"

Version 2.0 quilt label

Feel free to check out the original posts for more details and thanks for following along on this quilting journey with me.

FYI, the quilt is 90" x 74".

This weekend (June 14, 2024) Version 2.0 was displayed at the Common Thread Quilt Guild (CTQG) show. It was wonderful to see it hanging properly. Here are a couple of pictures!

Posing with Version 2.0 😍

Version 2.0 displayed at the CTQG show