Last weekend I had a birthday. It wasn’t one of those big, round number, highly celebrated birthdays, but it was a significant birthday all the same. It was a birthday to start the end of an era. It was the last of the 40s. And now that it has passed, I guess it is time to start the countdown to 50.

Now, I’m not one to dread the turn of the decades. I don’t have a “Things to do before I’m 50” list. I do have a vague “Things I’d like to do this year” list, but it is certainly not age limited and it generally follows on from what I did last year. I’m far from done with the 40s, after all I have a whole year ahead of me, but at the same time I’m quite looking forward to 50. And so I’ve started a new project to celebrate both. I am calling it The Countdown Quilt.

The Countdown Quilt is a celebration of what has gone before and what is to come. It will count down to the end of one era and to the start of the next. And in the same way that none of us really know what is ahead of us it is a bit of mystery project. I do know that it will be an English Paper Pieced Quilt. The quilt will contain 100 square blocks, each of which will be 6” square. Each block with feature a Liberty lawn background with a highlighted design in a tone-on-tone fabric (probably all white). Finally, I know that the quilt top will take me the year to complete as I aim to sew two blocks each week.

The mystery lies in the design of The Countdown Quilt. I am going to design the quilt myself so it is probably going to evolve as the year progresses. Similarly, I am undecided as to the final size and design of the quilt. I may decide to simply join the blocks to each other so I end up with a 60” square quilt, or I may sash them in rows or on point for a larger finish. Only time will tell what lies ahead, but the countdown has begun.

If you would like to join in the fun and make your own Countdown Quilt then here is the link to the pdf containing the templates for the first two blocks:

As I usually do most of my EPP on my weekly commutes to and from the office I plan to share the latest blocks with you each Friday. I hope to see you here again this time next week when I will be sharing blocks 3 and 4, and in the meantime there will be a few sneak peaks of them over on my Instagram feed.

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