I did it! Goal achieved! Huge thanks to Lisa and Diane for keeping me motivated to finish my Greenhouse quilt and any other phantom quilt alongers out there.
Greenhouse Quilt designed by Elizabeth Hartman. Pieced and quilted by Anita LaHay of Daydreams of Quilts.
I finished my quilt on Saturday and when we took it out for photos after supper it was very windy. There are actually five people behind the quilt holding it against the wind – my husband, son and three neighbourhood kids who were playing nearby.
Ombré 108″ Wideback on the back of the Greenhouse Quilt.
I loved the backing so much that I wrapped it around to the front for binding. As you can see I quilted circular flower heads and leaves on vertical lines on the quilt. The Ombré Spectrum wideback is available in our shop.
Plant themed free motion quilting on the Greenhouse Quilt. Quilted by Anita LaHay.
Prize Winner: The only other person, besides me, to post an assembled quilt top in the #greenhouseqal hashtag was Lisa Taylor so she wins $50 to spend in my shop by default. Congratulations Lisa!
I am thrilled to have my quilt finished and on my bed in time to enjoy for the remainder of the summer and beyond! Thanks for coming by to see my quilt today!
Welcome to week 9 of the Greenhouse Quilt Along! We are so close to being finished. Some of you already are finished!
I’m glad I took this slower route of one row a week because it’s allowed me to work on other projects at the same time. I thought about knocking out the last three rows all at once but that just seemed like work to me. Even though quilting is basically my self-created job now I still want to enjoy it.
These are my Row 7 Plants from last week in my absolute favourite colours! I am looking forward to cutting into the purples today.
Keep working on your rows because these quilts are going to look so fantastic in the end! Thank you for sewing along with me and keeping me on track. Just rows 8 and 9 to go!
Here we go for the start of week 7 in the Greenhouse Quilt Along!
At this point we are experts at sewing these plant blocks so that’s all good but we may be losing some of our motivation so I am here to cheer you on today! We are getting very close to the end! Keep going! You can do it! (I am also talking to myself here as I have lagged a bit.)
Isn’t this “Kona Acid Green” colour crazy? I kind of love it though! It’s great for plants!
If you need to check the schedule on the main Greenhouse Quilt Along Post click here.
Welcome to Week 5 of the Canadian Summer Quilt along! Time is flying! Do you know what this means? This means next week we are halfway and we are having a halfway check-in with prizes from our sponsors. So keep sewing and I will have more information on that in next week’s post!
This week’s block is designed by Lesley Chaisson of Berry Birdie Designs. Lesley has designed a block of one of Canada’s iconic animals – the beaver.
We have quite a few beavers around here (Wainwright, Alberta) in ponds nearby. A couple of years ago we were in an animal look-out tower on the Battle River and we (my husband, kids and I) watched a beaver swimming and dragging branches along the shore for about half an hour. It was quite fascinating as you don’t often see them up close in the wild. I love their leathery tails!
Here is my version of the Beaver Block:
The Beaver Quilt Block pieced by Anita of Daydreams of Quilts. Quilted by Dara of Stitched Quilting Co.
Dara of Stitched Quilting Co. is a longarm quilter in Nanaimo, BC and she quilted by Canadian Summer Quilt Along quilt for me. This is the amazing detail she put into my Beaver block.
Head to Berry Birdy to download Lesley’s fantastic Beaver Quilt Block Pattern.
Check out the main Canadian Summer Quilt Along page for the schedule and links to blocks that have come out so far. Photos of prizes for the grand prize package have been added now too!
Welcome to week 4 of the Canadian Summer Quilt Along!
This week’s block is called “True North” and is designed by Katy who is known as @lethargiclass on Instagram.
Katy’s block is an improv pieced block using improv curves and an appliqued Inukshuk. I was really pushing to get my quilt top finished before the quilt along started so I took a short cut and improv pieced mine with straight lines and used “slash and insert” strips for the Northern Lights. I encourage you to take a little more time and try the improv curves though because they add to the effect.
I love the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and consider it very special when I get to see them. We do sometimes see them here in Wainwright, Alberta and I also saw them vividly in Cold Lake, Alberta (just north of here) when we were there one weekend for a hockey tournament.
Anita’s interpretation of the improv pieced Inukshuk quilt block with “slash and insert” strips and fusible appliqued stones. The applique was finished with blanket stitches.
Katy is here today to guest post and tell you about her block. Take it away Katy!
Hi everyone! Happy post Canada Day 😊
I spent Canada Day at a family BBQ and it was really nice to just be together. I hope you had fun yesterday whatever your activities were.
I have a confession for this block. This was the first time I had done improv curves! So, if I can do it, you can do it. Don’t stress too much about it and start with larger pieces if you think that will help.
I designed this block with my nieces and nephews in mind. They are Inuit, hence the Inukshuk and they live in Inuvik now and so I wanted the northern lights. I have never seen the lights in person as I have only gone up in the summertime and there is no night. I love artwork with the lights and so used some of those as inspiration. I used to go in the northern lights display at the Canada Science and Tech Museum and you can sit there surrounded by videos of the lights and it is spectacular!
I hope you all enjoy making this block and all the rest on our trip across Canada 😊
Thank you so much to Katy for this block pattern and guest post!
Giveaway:
Post your True North blocks in the Instagram hashtag #canadiansummerqal for a chance to win four fat quarters of Heather Ross’ “Kinder” line from Daydreams of Quilts.
Visit the main Canadian Summer Quilt Along post for the schedule and to see a list of prizes in the Grand Prize. The grand prize will be drawn on Labour Day from all the quilt tops posted in the Instagram hashtag #canadiansummerqal.
Here we go for week 3! This is getting a lot easier now. I think it will be smooth sailing from here on in. Each week we sew the same blocks just with different colours. I am sewing mine into their row as I go too so I can watch my quilt top grow (get it? plants… growing).
This week’s Greenhouse Quilt Along Plants. These are not colours I would normally choose but they are going to be an important part of the overall effect of the quilt.
I am enjoying watching my plant collection grow. I hope you are too! Keep sewing along and we’ll have our quilt tops done before we know it.
Exciting news today! The Canadian Summer Quilt Along starts in one week on June 11, 2018! Start gathering your scraps so you can sew along with us. I have made all the blocks using my stash. We have 16 blocks so you can make a 3 x 4 block quilt or a 4 x 4 block quilt. Read a bit more about it and check out the schedule on the main Canadian Summer Quilt Along page.
I have an idea for sashing to share with you today as something to consider for finishing your top. This is completely optional but it will increase the size of the quilt.
My idea is to sash between the blocks with 6″ x 12″ (finished) Canadian Flag sashing blocks. And then just have 3″ vertical sashing strips between the vertical rows. I have done a little quilt layout diagram in EQ7 to show you this idea. I wasn’t planning on sashing above and below the blocks just between the four rows of blocks but I don’t know how to get EQ7 to let me show that so just ignore the top and bottom sashing rows (or go ahead and make that many flags if you like the top and bottom sashing).
Sashing Option to increase the finished quilt size of the Canadian Summer Quilt Along Quilt.
Here is my finished quilt top:
Anita’s Canadian Summer Quilt Along quilt with rainbow Canadian flags sashing.
If you like this idea and want to make flags for sashing you can use this template: Maple Leaf Template
Cut your centre squares 6.5″ from white fabric and the bars on either side 3.5″ x 6.5″ in the same colour as your leaf.
Use the template to make fusible applique leaves using fusible web such as Heat n Bond. Place fusible web paper side up over the template and trace the leaves. Then fuse to the wrong side of your fabric following product instructions and cut out leaves with sharp paper scissors.
Centre the leaves on the white 6.5″ squares and fuse in place again following product instructions. Blanket sitch or zig zag stitch around the edges. (Or leave to stitch when quilting.) Here is a link to a little YouTube tutorial video I made on how to hand blanket stitch.
Sew the 3.5″ x 6.5″ rectangles to either side and press seams towards the rectangles.
This week we are cutting our background fabric and making our plant pots. This way we will be all set to plant our plants in their pots as we quilt along over the next couple of months.
Week 1 Plant Pots and Background
Let’s talk about the background cutting first:
Looking at the cutting list can be quite overwhelming. Take it one step at a time and check off each cut on your list. Watching your check marks line up will help reduce the overwhelm. Splitting up the cutting will help too. I cut the left column of the cutting list one one day and the right column on the next day.
Labeling and organization will be critical here:
Often I skip labeling my fabric pieces but in this quilt I strongly recommend labeling each stack of cuts with the name given in the pattern. You can use Ziplock bags and write your labels on the bag if you want to. I am trying to cut down on how much plastic I am using so I am just keeping them laid out in baskets with sticky notes. (As long as none of my kids get to these all will fine.)
Background fabrics labelled for the Greenhouse Quilt.
Plant Pots:
I followed the instructions and created cutting guides with template plastic. If you don’t have template plastic you could print the two pages with the cutting guides on card stock (or photocopy onto card stock if you have the paper pattern) and cut them out. You will still want to use your acrylic cutting ruler because neither the template plastic nor the card stock will hold up the way an acrylic ruler will to repeated cuts. This is also safer for your fingers.
I am thankful that Elizabeth has allowed for trimming the plant pots to size so there is a little bit of wiggle room when piecing the background pieces to the sides of the pots.
I think it’s a good idea to get all the background cutting and plant pots finished first so we can be finished with that and can put our vertical rows (or columns) together as we go.
What’s coming up?
Next week is vertical row one!
If you get finished your plant pots and you want to work ahead you can get your plant fabrics cut and labelled for row one. If you haven’t already sorted your fabrics into groups according to Elizabeth’s fabric placement guide please go ahead and do that. Visit the main Greenhouse Quilt Along page for information on where to download the fabric placement guide.
Why are we sewing in order of vertical columns?
Originally I thought we would sew one type of plant each week but I felt it would be more difficult to keep the colours and fabrics organized for those of us creating the same colour spectrum as the original quilt. That is why I have decided to organize our quilt along into vertical rows. This way we have less plants to sew each week and a little more time to finish our quilt tops too.
Share your progress:
Are you sewing along? Leave a comment and let me know. Post your plant pots in the hashtag #greenhouseqal on Instagram and/or share your progress in the Daydreams of Quilts Facebook group.
The Greenhouse Quilt Along starts next Wednesday May 30th! Are you going to sew along with me?
Here are a few ideas for getting ready so you have something to do while you’re waiting for the start.
Gather Pattern and Supplies:
If you don’t already have your pattern make sure to buy it from Elizabeth Hartman or your favorite quilt shop and give it a read through.
We will also be using her free fabric placement guide. You can find the download for that here. Choose the one for the large quilt.
If you haven’t already purchased a kit of fabrics you can find one in my shop here. This kit includes fabric for background, plant pots and plants. (Pattern, binding and backing are not included in this kit.) Prices in my shop are in Canadian dollars. If you prefer to see prices in your own currency you can also find this kit in my Etsy shop. The Greenhouse Kits are now 20% off!
Preparing and Organizing Fabrics:
In the pattern you will see instructions for sorting your fabrics into groups (page 8). Use this in conjunction with the free fabric placement guide to organize your fabrics into groups for the vertical rows we will be sewing in the coming weeks. I suggest creating a sticky note label for each group.
Now is also a good time to cut your background and plant pot fabrics so you are all ready to start sewing next week!
I hope you are able to join in with me. See you next week!
