Happy 150th birthday Canada

This year Canada celebrates it's 150th anniversary.  Quilter's all across Canada are encouraged to mark the occasion with a red and white quilt. Fabric lines have been made with this in mind.  Most of the fabrics have red maple leaves that represent the leaf on our flag.  Some have Canadian themes, like hockey and other stuff.

I am joining in on the challenge to make a red and white quilt to mark the occasion.  I have been collecting red on white and white on red fabrics for a while now.  This gives me just the right incentive to start cutting them up. 

Above is my drawer with fabric lined up and block pieces in the back.  Below is all the smaller pieces I took out of the back of the drawer to start cutting up.

I have decided to make a quilt by Marsha McCloskey's Quick Classic Quilts called Northwind.  I thought I would name my quilt Canadian Northwind.

I will be making my quilt larger.  I did all the calculations already.  In my quilt, I will have 168-6" blocks, laid out in rows of 12 blocks across and 14 rows down.  With the borders this will make the final size 88" X 100".

This means I will need to cut a total of 168 large white half squares, 168 large red half squares, 840 small white half squares and 840 small red half squares.  Of these 840 red and white half squares I will need to make 504 red and half square triangle blocks, and put all the blocks together.

A lot of this can be done as leader/enders, so my Winter Solstice Star quilt will have to share my time.

I know what some of you may be thinking.....that I don't need to start yet another quilt.....but you would be one of the few.  Most Quilter's get it and are cheering me on.  I am aiming to finish this quilt this year, so I will need all the encouragement I can get.  Wish me luck!