Friday, August 18, 2017

Amazing Canadian Women Update

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that last week I finally caught up with the 150 Canadian Women QAL with Next Step Quilt Designs. I'm still on track, having made this week's blocks two days after they were released. We only have 30 left! Which means...I can't believe I'm letting myself think this, let alone write it: there are 10 weeks until the final week of October. Perish that thought! Let's take a look:

Eeep! Just seeing them all together like this makes me just get a big ol' grin on my face!  Okay, explanation required. There are 150 blocks total. I have the first 75 in a ziploc bag. Those you see in this photo are from 76 to 117 inclusive. I did this a couple of times during the first half of the QAL just to see the effect of them all side by side. I love that I used several values of the neutral background, not just white, but off-white, ivory, cream, light tan, light beige, and even a bit of light grey. I also love the effect of the various shades and values of red, and don't forget the tints of red: pink! Too much fun.

I have decided (well 90% sure) I am going to make two quilts, and I'm leaning heavily to the sashing and cornerstones layout. Much as I love the crazy of the above layout, I would like a bit of separation and the 1" finished sashing/cornerstones plan of Kat's is a good one. Also, I specifically bought a fair amount of 150 Canada fabric from Sew Sisters Quilt Shop. I see aqua sashing and black cornerstones for one perhaps, and grey sashing and black cornerstones for the other. Thoughts?

I haven't shown any blocks for some time, from my 150 CA Women photo file, it looks like the last you saw was the whirling tulips block, second row from the bottom, second column. To expedite things (my writing and your reading) here are closeups of just the last nine with a note about each woman they represent.
112 - Kim Campbell: I knew she was Canada's first female Prime Minister, but wow, she has so many other firsts! Just one that should make your eyes open wider is first woman Minister of National Defence of Canada and of any NATO country (YEAH!!!); 113 - Grace Annie Lockhart: first woman in the British Empire to receive a Bachelor's Degree; 114 - Elizabeth Catherine Bagshaw: from 1932-66 she served as the unpaid director of Canada's first planned birth control clinic (did you know birth control was illegal here until 1969??!). In 1954 she retired at 95 (not a typo!) as Canada's oldest practising physician.
115 - Audrey McLaughlin: another name I knew, she was the first woman to lead a political party; 116 - Jenny Dill: She was the first woman to walk across Canada in 1921; 117 - Emily Howard Jennings Stowe: first woman to apply at and be denied entrance to Toronto's School of Medicine in 1865; finally in 1880 after practising without a license (she went to New York Medical College for Women to obtain her degree) she was admitted entry.  (15 years later!! - her perseverance awes me.)
118 - Kaila Mussell: bronc riding woman who competes against men, I gave her the red and black gingham for a cowboy shirt look; 119 - Shaa Tláa, aka Kate (Klondyke Kate) first woman to be part of the Gold Rush and likely the one who discovered gold but has been largely erased from history and that accolade given to the men she was with; 120 - Taqulittuq: she and her Inuit husband spent nearly 2 years in England learning English and then became well-respected guides in the Arctic, helping Europeans reach the highest latitude ever reached in 1871; the group later shipwrecked  but thanks to her and her husband's skill and knowledge, they survived for 6 months on an ice floe and pack! 
Well after re-reading her story and paraphrasing it here, I certainly don't feel the need for AC! Thank goodness for a hot August day.😎 Rather hilarious that last group that I posed on the hood of the car, isn't it? But look in the top left corner and see the tree shadow and a bit of a super-cool ring of clouds formation.

I have enjoyed this QAL on so many levels.  So many of these blocks are challenging to make, or totally new to me (that last one, 120, isn't it the coolest star? And what about the intertwined ribbon effect of 119? That flying geese block? That very first star of these last 9? Love. I love using up fabric that has such a variety of meanings for me, love mixing the old fabrics with the new ones, love using fabrics that have a meaning for the woman the block represents...and so on.

The following two paragraphs contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog (wow! two readers have already made a purchase today from Craftsy through moi - thank you!🙏😃) and for allowing me to use the money to try different fabrics/patterns/products so I can tell you about them!

I'm sure you've had the email, but there is quite the sale going on over at Craftsy, "Makers' Black Friday." I've found many quilt kits for small lap (48X60") quilts for less than $30CA, just sayin' so that's probably under $25US. Rather than show you a bunch, all you need to do is go to this Quilt Project Kits page, and on the "Sort by" drop-down menu, click 'price low to high' and you can see for yourself! Even a Kaffe Fassett one! I've told you that Craftsy's Boundless fabrics are superb, and I should have a quilt that uses the Botanicals to show you shortly, Suburbia, that I bought at a previous sale. The hand and richness of the colours of the botanical blenders for that quilt are divine. That little Steamfast iron I continue to sing the praises of? Cheapest yet.

If that isn't enough temptation for a Friday, remember Connecting Threads still has their tools up to 50% off sale going on as well as their wide backing on sale for 25% off. And Amanda Jean's newest fabric line for $6.96/yd. You can click that link or the link in my sidebar, which I still haven't figured out how to make it more prominent, sorry, but I have tried. Need to talk to my good friend Tish...

Happy Shopping!
I'm off to teach my yoga class, but I'll be perusing the wares afterwards. Caution: don't wait too long or you might have an item removed from your cart if it gets sold out...ask me how I know, waaah. I'll be back tomorrow to show you my progress on my three (yes! three!) RSC2017 projects.

Linking up
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Busy Hands Quilts

13 comments:

  1. One quilt or two, the results are going to be stunning.

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  2. don't talk about the end of October, far too scary a prospect. The craftsy sale .... I nearly ordered something a couple of days ago, then I waited. Aren't I glad I did! But I was very good and only ordered the one thing. Love all your blocks, are you able to remember them all?

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  3. Wow! Those blocks are all so beautifully done. I would have so much fun taking them out, arranging them, rearranging them, and rearranging them some more. Have a great weekend! Andrea

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  4. Your blocks look fabulous together. I don't want to think about October, but here are were almost to the end of August. Where does the time go????

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  5. Good gracious those blocks are gorgeous! I have yet to convince myself that I'd stick with a project of this magnitude. But seeing the stack grow (especially near the end) must be awesome. I can't wait to see the top and the finished quilt when you get there. Show lots of pics while you play and arrange them. Oh, and I really like reading the short bios of each woman. We forget how many women have gone before us and paved the way.

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  6. Glad you're all caught up now. I love reading all of the stories behind the blocks but I had to laugh at Kaila Mussell because I misread it and though she was a bronco rider who competed against you, it was men and not me and said to myself, "really"--it's late and I'm still laughing about it. Good Night.

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  7. I am so far behind not sure if I'll ever catch up or just make the one quilt. Decisions hmm I like your sashing idea, black cornerstones with either the aqua or grey both would be yummy.

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  8. I love seeing all the blocks together and wondered if you could get them all in a quilt and how large it would be; making 2 makes sense to me!

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  9. The blocks look amazing together representing some amazing women. How do you plan on separating the blocks?

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  10. You know how every quilt has a story. Well, this quilt has a few stories. And each one is worth telling - which you do so beautifully. Sometimes in words and sometimes with the twisted fabric blocks. Who knew there are so many shades of red? It is amazing what we can discover, only if we start to search. Love all the blocks, all the stories and all the shades of red!!! This will be a gorgeous quilt or two :-D

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  11. I love all the red and beige tan blocks. Your plans for both quilt sound interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing both quilts come together.

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  12. No one comes close to us Canadian women

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