The exhibit organized by the Mtl MQG is over.  I can now share a bit more about my two quilts that were part of it. I’ll start today by the quilt I’ve made to represent the alternate grid work category. I named it A Sprinkling of Stars (Sous une pluie d’étoiles).

A few sources of inspiration lead me to that design. First, I love quilts that use traditional blocks but play with scale of blocks and negative space. It was my starting point as this was something I wanted to explore. I chose the attic windows block set on-points. This was a block I wanted to try since I had seen a quilt top by a friend from our guild (see here). I think she had followed a pattern by Kaffe Fassett with some of his stripes shot cottons. Also, I really like this illustration by Vertigo Graphx  and thought it would be interesting to do something similar in a quilt using the attic windows block. When looking for other quilts made using that block, I stumble upon a ruler for making 3D attic windows. It’s a variation on the block that involve fabric folding. I love the texture it adds to the block. And there is no y-seam involved when doing the block this way. I didn’t use the ruler, but I did use the same idea for the block construction.

Starting from their I played with the scale of the blocks and their layout and came up with this design. I quilted it with a straight line pattern using my walking foot. The quilting was inspired by this painting by Max Bill. I turned the quilting design upside down for the navy/purple negative space. And I really like the effect it created.

I just learned last week that my quilt was accepted for Quilt Canada 2016, a juried show organized by the Canadian Quilters’ Association and taking place in mid-june near Toronto. It makes me even more happier to share it with you today, and I hope it will spark some inspiration on your end.

As you probably noticed there isn’t much clothes sewing around here. After sewing so many projects, I thought I might have acquired enough skills to tackle some clothes. I had bought the Washi dress pattern a while ago, and I finally took the time to make one. I made it with some chambray union fabric from Robert Kaufman. It went quite well. But, I must say that I didn’t need to make any adjustment. I was happy because this is really the part that scares me the most.

For the boys, I decided to make some leggings with knit fabric. My older one prefer pyjamas that are tight at the ankle so the pants do not go up while he sleeps. I thought it might be easier for me to make some, then to try to find ones that he would like. I went ahead and bought some knit fabric at a local shop and used the Go To Leggings pattern. Both of my boys are quite happy with their pyjama pants, so I might order nice knit prints to make them more. Sewing with the knit fabric went smoothly and now that the patterns are cut to their sizes, it will be quick to make new ones.

On my side, I still have some nice double gauze by Kayo Haroguchi that my sister had brought me from Japan a while ago (see here). I had planned to make a Washi tunic with it, but I realized I don’t have enough. So, I just bought the Alice Dress/Top pattern and I think it should be a nice fit for it.

As I mentioned in previous post, the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild prepared an exhibit. Just a quick post today to let you know that the exhibit is open since Sunday and it will run throughout the month of February (free admission).

It was really a pleasure to collaborate with Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay on this exhibit, a gallery run by the city of Montreal. They have a great space that enhanced the showcase. They did an amazing job at setting up the quilts. The quilts looked as they were suspended in space and the lighting was perfect, casting beautiful shadows on the floor.

It was such a reward to see the exhibit on Sunday. Members of the guild created beautiful pieces for the show. And even though we had seen them at sewing days and meetings, it was really inspiring to see this great variety of quilts all hanging together. The day went so well. People seemed to enjoyed walking around the quilts and chating. And I think the talk given by me and Cinzia Allocca on characteristics of modern quilting was appreciated.

If you are close to Montreal, I hope this will make you want to come and visit the exhibit. You’ll find the address and opening hours of Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay here. If you would like to see a few more pictures of the exhibit, I invite you read the post on the guild’s blog.

The Montreal Modern Quilt Guild and its members have been working hard at putting up an exhibit on modern quilting. It all started with a challenge organized by the guild. We proposed our members to create a small quilt (30″ x 40″) that would be representative of a design element seen in modern quilting. This was back in June 2014. They had to choose one of the following categories for their quilts: use of negative space (expansive or creative), minimalist design, alternate grid work, asymmetry and improvisational piecing.

If you are close to Montreal, you’ll be able to see the result of all this hard work soon. In just a few weeks. Yeah! Our exhibit is named “Vitrine sur la courtepointe moderne”. It will feature 25 small quilts (5 quilts in each of the 5 categories). It will be presented from January 31st to February 28, 2016 at Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay.

Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay is one of the different cultural sites of Ville de Montréal. They host shows, conferences and exhibits in their beautiful spaces.When the guild was looking for a venue last year, they proposed to have the exhibit for a complete month. We were so excited!

On the opening day of the exhibit, there will be a vernissage starting at 2 pm. It will be followed by a conference at 3 pm on modern quilting (in French) presented by my friend Cinzia Allocca from Deux Petites Souris and me. I have two quilts in the show that I’ll share later on. If  your are close to Montreal, come and see all the beautiful quilts made by the members of the Montreal MQG.

I got great news yesterday night! I have a quilt accepted in QuiltCon 2016. Yeah! It’s a quilt I have made for the Triangle Quilt Challenge using the EZ Quilting Triangle Templates. I had signed-up for the challenge and received the mini 45 degree triangle. I was happy to have the opportunity to play with triangles once again. But,those triangles were small! Their final size was 2″ wide.

I love playing with reflections and triangles. So, I went with a design similar to my Amalgam quilt. But this time, I wanted to highlight contradictions: color contrast, line directions, foreground/background. I had the perfect white and navy stripe fabric for this combined with some matching solids.

This quilt was inspired to me by my youngest boy. He is gentle and affectionate, but also strong-willed. I guess that this will become his strength in the future. It will help him climb mountains and achieve the goals that he will set for him-self.

The final size of the quilt is 30″ x 39″. For the quilting, I went with straight line quilting. I wanted to integrate the triangles in the borders, so I left some triangle shapes unquilted. Here are clos-up of the quilting.

I had thought of taking pictures of my quilt outside for my blog post. But since the weather is not cooperating, I decided to use the picture I took for my submission at QuiltCon. When I’ll have a chance I’ll take other pictures with some of the back. Let’s hope that we do get some snow before Christmas!

Just a quick post today. You know how much I love triangles. When I saw this thread catcher, I thought I need to make one for my-self. I actually made one for me and a second one for my aunt who just started sewing more seriously.

The exterior fabric is canvas leftover from my new bag. The lining is a design I had made for one of the Spoonflower challenge. I had ordered some and I thought the fit was perfect for this little project.

I used the pattern I found here, which is a modified version of this one. If I were to do it again, I think I would make them a bit more larger.

It’s a quick and fun  project and it would make a great gift for your sewer friends.

I needed a new bag. My previous purse was falling apart. The Essex linen did not withstand being carried around on a daily basis. So back in spring a settled on a pattern and ordered some fabrics. I really love the design of the Uptown Saddlebag by StudioKat Designs.

I like its shape and how it folds. For the fabrics, I chose some canvas that I found at MissMatabi (a Japanese Etsy shop). I was so surprised by how fast the shipping was and didn’t cost much. I’ll definitely order more from her. I also bought a Echino bias tape by Etsuko Furuya and a print from Ellen Baker, both for Kokka. I’ve been a long time follower of Ellen Baker’s blog and I love her simple designs. Both are linen blend canvas and have a beautiful texture. So, I ended up using both in my bag with the canvas.

The purse was my summer sewing project. As I said in previous posts, I was pretty busy with the kids this summer. So, I was doing bits and pieces here and there. And I finally finished it at the beginning of fall. I would say that this pattern is a intermediate to advance level. I’m not a big fan of pattern cutting and this one involved a LOT of darts to align pieces. Even though I’m pleased with the result I’m not sure I would use it again for my next purse. I much prefer using my ruler and rotary cutter for cutting!

The pattern suggests to use some Soft & Stable for the interfacing. This was the first time I was using it. I was afraid that with the canvas it would be hard to sew. But no, it went quite smoothly. And I’m really happy with the result. It does make a big difference on how the bag holds itself. Beside that, I did make a mistake when assembling the back panel. I think my seam allowances for the zipper were too large. I ended up with a panel a bit too short (about ~ 1/2″).

I didn’t want to redo it. So, I decided to shorten the front panel and lining. That is why the magnet is so close to the zipper on the front.

I’ve been using my purse for about a month now. I would say that I’m satisfied with the result. I particularly love the heavy canvas. I also enjoy the different pockets that were part of the pattern.

Camelot Fabrics is a Montreal based fabric company.  So, very close to me. I had never worked with their fabrics before, beside their printed felt. But, they have a great selection of modern prints. Last year, they contacted me to work on some projects for them. I had to make two pillow covers for one of their clients and wrote a pattern for each of them.

The first one is made using fabrics from the Gypsy Lane collection by Jane Farnham. The pattern was inspired by the the Golden Wedding Ring block. But, the ring appears to be floating as the background color is the same as the negative space around it.

The second one is made using fabrics from the Zoey collection. It’s my own design and reflects my love for triangles just like in my Amalgam quilt.

I had fun with the quilting for both projects. I like seeing the patterns it creates from the back of the top panels.

I finished the projects back in June. But, I couldn’t share them with you at that point. I knew it was to sell kits with the pattern, but I was surprised to learn that it was for Craft of Quilting. My projects are featured on pages 36-37 of their late summer catalog. It’s always fun to see your projects pictured in a nice set up. Too bad they don’t mention the name of the pattern designers, at least I didn’t see them. If you are interested by a kit to make one the pillow covers, you can find them here and here.

When testing out the patterns, I first made a version of the pillow covers using fabrics from my stash. I thought I’d share them with you as well. Here is one for the first pattern. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the finished pillow before I gave it away.

As for the second one, I still need to quilt it and assemble it.

I hope you enjoyed the projects!

With Halloween approaching, school started already 2 months ago. For me this means a whole new beat, since my two boys are now in school. Here is a lunch bag and pencil case I made for my younger one for his entry to school.

After my second child was born, me and my husband decided I would stay at home with the kids until both went to school. This time has come and since the beginning of September I have been working on a Portfolio website to work as a freelancer. I had fun doing a custom logo, pattern for background and Processing animation for it. If you are curious, you can have a look at joseecarrier.ca.

In the coming months, I will be looking for projects in web development and generative design. I don’t know how much time will be left for sewing, quilting and blogging. But, I do have a few projects I want to share in the next few days.

It’s been a while since I’ve published a pattern in a magazine. But now that Stitch Fall 2015 is out, I can let you know about my latest one. It’s a pattern for a set of 3 folding trays. The fall issue is filled with great projects, and I’m happy to have this fun and quick project part of them. You can you can preview the other projects in the issue here.

Folding Trays, Stitch Fall 2015. Photo by JackDeutsch.com

I initially proposed my project for the Eastern Influences theme. The Stitch team decided to include it in the Simple Lines section, which I think is also a great fit. I love the simplicity and functionality that characterize Japanese designs. This is what I tried to achieve with these trays. Their design was a also inspired by the Japanese art of paper folding: origami. The main feature of the trays is the use of buttons and string to hold their shape. It makes it easy to unfold and carry them with you in your luggage.

I proposed a set of 3 trays with two smaller square boxes and a longer one. This way the trays can be disposed in a square layout.

For the trays published in the magazine, I used the Fletching Chant print from the Wild & Free collection by Maureen Cracknell for Art Gallery Fabrics for the lining. I combined it with different colors of Kona cottons for the exterior (Navy, Curry and Cayenne). Here are a few other versions I made for my-self.

I definitely plan to sew some more. These make great little gifts. The longer one is great to put on a desk for storing pens and pencils. The smaller ones could be great for keys or pocket change.