SAHRR Finished Flimsy

I am just so darn happy to show you my finished flimsy for my SAHRR project #1!

Sorry for the inside shot but once again it was crazy-windy (hello, it's spring and I live basically on the shore of a Great Lake)! There was no sun today but at least I had some natural light on the design walll to photograph this beauty. 

I had no intention of keeping this when I chose the centre block--

but man oh man, this baby is mine all mine! This was intended as a cushion cover using leftover fabric from a runner I made for my aunt in England.

Here is where I left off before we went to Cuba for the first week of March. The final round 6 prompt had been to incorporate the kite block. I made sets of four in the navy floral, using every last bit up, and sewed them into the four-pointed stars to go in the centre of each side. I had the idea to make four burgundy kite blocks to carry the diagonal flow into the corners of the quilt. I used the last bits of the original cream fabric that has gold outline-drawn cats on it. I planned to fill in between the kite blocks with possibly the light pink, (if I had enough, gulp) or perhaps a cream.

However, as seems to happen when I'm designing as I go on the wall (which I really really like btw) inspiration struck just after, or at the moment where, I stepped back to take that photo--I had used my method for making templates that I used during my first ever Quilt Along, Freefall, for the leaf points. 

Could I perhaps make a maple leaf in the four corners?! 

Maple leaf.

Canada's symbol.

We had been under attack, and still are, from the administration to the south of us and this, I thought, would be the crowning glory (ha, they resemble little crowns, don't they?!) to my quilt. It carries the diagonal flow, it fulfills the prompt, and it commemorates a rather scary time in which I find myself, one in which all Canadians find themselves, the time during which I was designing this quilt.

As I wrote on my Instagram post: I am a proud Canadian. Always have been. Always will be. My family will roll their eyes but attest to this. So my quilt is a testament of the times in which I made it and my pride in the red maple leaf forever. 🍁😍

Putting the leaf parts in place in the corners and testing out (top right corner) the idea of turning one of the log cabin blocks into an HST to reinforce the leaf look.

And no, the entire maple leaf block as used in my QAL is not there, but you definitely know it's a leaf, a rich deep burgundy red, much like the huge old red maple in our neighours' front yard that drapes gracefully over a third of our front lawn too, and which is currently in its beautiful red buds bloom.

Below was the point at which all four leaves had the HST idea, and now I had to figure out what to fill in. At first I thought I'd do a triple rail fence border with two cream strips sandwiching a pink one, so I cut a couple of 1.5" strips. Then I realized how little light pink and cream fabrics I had left, and into my brain popped the idea of doing just two strips, and the best part of that? They would echo the second and third rounds where I have a pink row, then a cream row! The pale blue was the fourth round. All these echoes make this quilt seem like it had the overall plan from the get-go! It did not, as you know. Something else you may not have noticed, but hey, full disclosure here: the cream fabric in the final border? Is actually two! I didn't have enough of either, so since this is a stash and scraps quilt (I need to count the number of burgundies I've used!) I found two that were close, and it works just great! There are actually three creams in that final border, now I think of it, because the cream used in the kite block points is the cats. Ha!

 

I love how the maple leaves sort of float over the log cabin corners.

I have the backing picked out and will load it and start quilting it tomorrow. The quilt is 51.75" square, so I will have to piece it. I hope to get it done in one day because Wednesday and Thursday have a few appointments taking up time, so there is a little of real life pressure added onto the actual deadline to link up. I could link this flimsy up because it counts, but I am quite certain I can finish it. The linkup parade opened today and remains open all week.

Thank you as always for another super-fun and creativity-blooming Stay At Home Round Robin to the hosts:

The main host, who dreamed up the SAHRR: Gail @ Quilting Gail

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Brenda @ Songbird Designs

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood 

Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts

For those who may recall, I hope to have my second SAHRR into at least a flimsy by week's end. 😉