Pincushion Swap

The Montreal MQG held is last meeting before summer break last Wednesday. To celebrate our first year anniversary, we had  a potluck, some giveaways and a pincushion swap. We had a great time. You can read more about it here.

I had prepared this little pincushion for the swap.

I followed this great tutorial. The only thing I made different is that I hand stitched the curves of the windows instead of machine stitching them.It was great to try out cathedral windows. I'm not sure I would have the patience to do a whole quilt like this!

We all had brought our pincushions in brown bags to keep the surprise. It is Louise who picked mine. And I picked Melanie's pincushion.

Isn't it cute? It was really fun to see all the variety of pincushion that were made. I'm sure this is something we'll do again next year.

Messenger Bag

I've sewn this messenger bag for someone special who got 18 years old a few weeks ago and who will be finishing high school in a few days. I decided to make her this bag to highlight those important steps in her life. She had seen my purse last summer and she had asked for one with pastel colors. She got a rain coat in coral earlier this spring. So, when I saw the print I used as for the flap, I thought it would look lovely together. The print is from In My Room fabric collection by Jenean Morrison for Free Spirit Fabric The remaining outside fabric is Essex linen by Robert Kaufman in flax. The lining and side pockets are from a older collection by Robert Kaufman as well, Made in Japan. I just love that wood grain print.

I followed a pattern by Michelle Patterns to make the bag. I had bought this pattern a few months ago just for this. Unfortunately, I can't give you the link to the exact pattern, because it was retired recently. But, Michelle Patterns just got a new messenger bag pattern out! I can say that I just love using her patterns, always filled with pictures and clear instructions.

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Blogger's Quilt Festival: Bursting Star Quilt

If you are reading this post, either you are a regular reader of my blog or you come from the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll enjoy what you'll see. Also, thanks to Amy from Amy's Creative Side for organizing this event and to her sponsors for all the lovely prizes. This is a great way to get to know more quilters and be inspired.

“Bursting Star Quilt”

November 2012

36″ x 36″

Machine pieced

Home machine quilted (FMQ) by myself

Home Machine Quilted Quilts category

It's the first time I participate in the festival. We are allowed to submit two quilts. For my second one, I decided to add my Bursting Star quilt to the Home Machine Quilted Quilts category. I did this quilt with half-square triangles leftover from other projects. If you want to know a little more about this quilt, read these posts: here, here and here.

I decided to submit a quilt in the quilting category because this is a part of quilt making I'm enjoying more and more. And it is something I want to continue to improve. I submitted this quilt because it is the quilting I did that I'm the most satisfied with up to now.

Below are some pictures I took while I was quilting it. I did a boxy allover design combined with some chain squares for the borders.

Here is a little close-up of the quilting after the quilt was washed.

I used some a bamboo/cotton blend batting and it felt so soft. I hope the little baby who got it feels that too!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival : Windmill Quilt

If you are reading this post, either you are a regular reader of my blog or you come from the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll enjoy what you'll see. Also, thanks to Amy from Amy's Creative Side for organizing this event and to her sponsors for all the lovely prizes. This is a great way to get to know more quilters and be inspired.

“Windmill Quilt”

January 2013

60″ x 60″

Machine pieced

Home machine quilted (FMQ) by myself

Quilt Photographers category

It's the first time I participate in the festival. As a first quilt, I decided to add my Windmill quilt to the Quilt Photographers category. I did this quilt for the Madrona Road Challenge organized by The Modern Quilt Guild. If you want to know a little more about this quilt, read these posts: here and here.

Below is a picture of it after piecing the top. It is one of my favorite pictures I took in the past year. And it is the reason I decided to submit this quilt in the Quilters Photography category. It was taken from the back. I just love the sunlight that we see coming through. It really shows how the quilt was pieced.

Finally, here is a little close-up showing the quilting lines.

For me, taking a photography is part of the creative process in making a quilt or other sewing projects. It is the part I get to share it with you! And I really enjoy taking the time to make a setup for featuring it. I have a good reflex camera, but besides that I don't have a lot of equipment. Until now, I took most of my photos at my place. In the future, I definitely want to go out more to find some locations that would offer great setup for taking quilts photography.

First Publication in a Quilt Magazine

I have published a few patterns in the past. Most of them in Stitch, from Interweave. But I just got published in a quilt magazine. It makes me quite happy since I'm loving quilt making more and more. I particularly enjoy designing them. This time I designed a playmat quilt that just has been published in Modern Quilts Unlimited. In the third issue of this new modern quilting magazine, Spring 2013.

I just got my copy of it and I really enjoyed reading an article by Jacquie Guering from Tallgrass Prairie Studio and article on Victoria Findlay Wolfe. It's great to have a pattern featured in the same magazine. Both are inspiring quilt makers!

About the design of my quilt, the idea was to make it look like tumble blocks babies play with. Blocks with different colors on each of their faces. The quilt consists of 3 diamonds that are joined to represent a cube in 3D. Each diamonds are assembled in a courthouse step fashion alternating between solid color fabric and a coordinating print. I wanted to accentuate the three-dimensionality this way.

For the back, I used a print from the Mod Century collection by Jen Ski for Moda Fabrics.

I made a label from leftovers strips from the front.

If you have a copy of the magazine, I hope you'll enjoy the pattern. And if you make a quilt based on it, I would love to see it. If you are on Flickr, you could add a photo of it to The Charming Needle pool.

Sewing for Boston

This weekend I did a bit of sewing for the people of Boston. Did you here about the To Boston With Love an Quilts for Boston initiatives?

A few members from the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild offered to help out the Vancouver MQG branch to make some flags. I made two of them. One following this tutorial and a second based on this tutorial. Both are paper pieced.

All the flags are collected by Amy from During Quiet Time and they will be displayed in the city of Boston later on (details to be announced next week).

I also made a block for the quilts that will be made by the Boston MQG.

I wanted something that could represent a marathon, abstractly I mean. I realize that it looks more like a race with the colored parallelogram in the different corridor.

It's great to be able to show support to people of Boston after the atrocity that happened at the marathon. We have them in our hearts, particularly the ones who had to face some lost. A big thanks to the people who put those initiatives to life, to the ones who will be setting up the flags and to the ones who will be assembling the quilts.