Guest blog post from Janome Canada Artisan Jeannie Jenkins.

Jeannie Jenkins is one of our Janome Canada Artisans, sews on the Janome 1600P  and she has a neat project to share today:

This is Canada’s 150th birthday and I wanted to create a quilt of the Canadian flag out of
scraps of red and white fabrics. I thought I would make log cabin blocks. Early log cabin
blocks were pieced using strips of fabrics around a central square. If the central square was
red, it symbolized the hearth of the home. I thought this was appropriate for this project. Even the white blocks have a subtle red and white print in the central block.

There are 6 red and 2 white log cabin blocks and 7 blocks to be paper pieced. Starting with
the easy blocks, I threaded the machine and set the seam allowance. Normally I am not a
particularly fast sewer. I would rather sacrifice speed for accuracy.

Janome cloth guide: After discovering this accessory (see above) I decided to see just how fast this Janome1600P could go without sacrificing accuracy. I was amazed! Such control, the fabric hugged the edge of the seam guide. It was like getting into a fast car and hopping on the freeway. My blocks were done in no time!
Now to start the paper pieced portion of the project. Block number 1 done and it’s a 1/2 inch smaller than the other blocks. Ooops, better check seam allowance. Maybe I should have slowed down was my first thought. Nope, I had actually set the seam allowance at a scant 1/4”  instead of a 1/4”. It doesn’t sound like much but with that many seams per block it made a difference. Okay now what?

Option 1: rip out all 8 log cabin blocks and start again.

Option 2: Keep the blocks and piece the rest of the blocks without the paper foundation. I
chose option 2.

I figured if I used the paper pattern to get the angles right and made my strips a little longer, I could trim away the excess later and continue to use the scant 1/4” seam allowance for the rest of the blocks.

This proved to be an easy fix to what might have ended up as a UFO (unfinished object). It
wasn’t finished by the first of July but it hung proudly at Quilts at the Creek quilt show in
Toronto at the end of July.

Thank you, Jeannie, for sharing this with us.  We Canadians are proud alongside you!