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14.3 – 54-40 or Fight – Challenge 3 of Project QUILTING Season 14

Hi it’s Trish, and I swear for Project QUILTING this week I won’t do anything as scandalous or controversial as forcing you to use the color PINK. As a matter of fact, I’ve decided instead to dabble in politics (only sorta kidding).

But first: you sewists are amazing! For all the pink-grumbling that went on, there were a record number of quilts completed for our Week 2 challenge. And we all lived through it.

Side Note about Prizes! Every week that you enter a piece for the challenge you are entered into a random drawing to win one of the amazing prizes from our sponsors!  Be sure to check out THIS post for all the prizes up for grabs this weeks and to thank our awesome sponsors!  Our Ultimate Weekly Sponsor this week is Sarah Goer Quilts. AND, if you finish the challenge in the time allotted your name will also be added into the final drawing at the completion of the season for an opportunity to win the GRAND PRIZE!  Inspiration, quilting, fun AND Prizes!?  Can it get much better?

We also have support sponsors that I’d like to take a moment to give a quick shout out to! They have made monetary donations which helps me with the shipping of the prizes and keeping this website up and running. Thank you to Patchwork Posse and Oliso for the support.

Now on to some politics …

Challenge 14.3 – 54-40 or Fight

Let’s look at the super-traditional, historic and beloved block “54-40 or Fight.” It’s not especially complicated – four-patches and triangle-in-a-square blocks. But there’s something so appealing that makes it more than the sum of its parts: I adore those pointy bits, and when you set together more than one block the delightful chain threatens to steal the show.

Why the weird name? Well, it’s debatable, historically … but if you wanted you could blame the 11th US President James Polk, who may (or may not) have used the phrase as a campaign slogan.

But before you get excited about elections run on a quilt block platform, it wasn’t about the number of thread spools a sewist should own or the hours in a week you should set aside for quilt work. It’s about land acquisition, and in the 1840s many suggested the northern edge of Oregon should be drawn at the 54°40′ north line of latitude. And they were willing to go to war to make that happen. “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!”

After much negotiation (but no war), eventually, the 49th parallel instead become the US-Canada border, and the phrase lives on only in history books and quilt blocks. I can find no real link between the quilt block and the politics – other than if something’s in the news enough you KNOW we’re going to quilt about it.

Back to the block. This week, I want you to be inspired by and use the traditional 54-40 or Fight block. Twist and edit it as you wish. Add to it. Use it to explore your feelings about land acquisition by non-indigenous peoples (or not). But spend some time with this classic and see where it takes you.

Rule One: you must be inspired by the traditional 54-40 or Fight quilt pattern.

Kim created a bonus post HERE with some links to tutorials to make this block and other tips and tricks if you’re interested.

You have one week to meet the challenge. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline – that is, started on or after January 29, 2023, and posted by noon Central Time February 5, 2023.

Each piece must stand alone as DONE to count toward prizes.

Your project does not need to be a traditional quilt, but must meet at least one of these requirements: include patchwork, include appliqué, have 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine.

Incomplete or unfinished does not qualify. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline.

Link up at the bottom of THIS POST by Sunday, February 5th at noon CST (here’s a link to time zone converter to calculate for Central Standard Time: www.thetimezoneconverter.com)

  • Add to the linky the URL of your project’s blog post, public instagram picture, or public facebook posting.  This post – How to Link Up a Link Up may help  you. At this time, if you choose to link up to an instagram or facebook url you will have to manually upload the picture to go with it – look at the section “upload a link” on THIS POST to see how to do this.

  • Alternately, by 11:30 am on Sunday, February 5th you may email a picture and description to {projectquilting@gmail.com} with PROJECT QUILTING in the subject line.

Good luck, and remember to HAVE FUN! Don’t forget to post progress pictures because that’s part of the fun.

SOCIAL MEDIA SHARING

Link Up

Please be sure to link up your FINAL project just below HERE.  VERY IMPORTANT!  If you do not link up you cannot win a prize! If you are having trouble linking up email me – projectquilting@gmail.com the picture, story behind your quilt, and where you are from and I will do the rest for you.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

~|~|~

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