Final meeting reminder

I'm not entirely sure how we got here so quickly, but the final meeting of the 2016-17 year is this coming Tuesday June 13th at 7pm at the CRCS St-Zotique.

We will be wrapping up the year and discussing plans for next year. Claudia will give the treasurer's report and we will discuss final steps of the #QuiltsforQC project. We will also be raffling off some goodies from Craft de Ville, QuiltCon and Quilt Market, so make sure you wear your name tag for one last entry in the draw.

It will also be a potluck, so if you will be bringing something to share, make sure you put your name and what you're bringing on the sign-up sheet. We will wrap up the year with a nice, relaxed meeting and start off summer vacation in style! Look forward to seeing you there!

UPDATE! June Sew-In

Due to the cool and rainy weather, we will be holding our last Sew-In of the year at Atelier Fiber Arts (3993 rue Wellington, Verdun) tomorrow June 3rd from 10am to 4pm. 

Everything else stays the same for the sew-in, just the location has changed. And the fact that you won't need sunscreen. ;)

Remember, if you'd like to help with the #QuiltsforQC binding, please either join us tomorrow to work on it, or swing by to pick up a quilt and some binding to work on at home. This is your last chance to help out before we wrap up the project at the June 13th meeting! Hope to see you tomorrow!

Meeting reminder!

Our final sew-in of the year will be a Sew-Out! Weather permitting, we will be holding our sew-out this coming Saturday, June 3rd from 10am to 4pm at Parc Du Square Sir-George-Etienne-Cartier, the park directly in front of the CRCS St-Zotique where we normally meet.

Parc Du Square Sir-George-Etienne-Cartier

Please bring with you a picnic lunch, something to sit on and a project to work on that does not require electricity. If you don't have a project to work on, you are welcome to help do some binding on the #QuiltsforQC quilts. The forecast currently shows sunny weather for Saturday (here's hoping), but if for some reason it rains, Amanda has kindly offered to host us at Atelier Fiber Arts in Verdun. If that happens, I will post both here and on the Facebook event page about the change of venue.

If you want to help with the binding but can't stay for the sew-in, I will have all of the quilts and supplies with me, so you are welcome to swing by and pick up some to work on at home. Just remember that we need them all back at the meeting on June 13th. We will also take the opportunity to photograph some of the finished quilts, so if you have any that are ready please bring them by so we can document them. All of the quilts for #QuiltsforQC must be turned in by the June 13th meeting... no exceptions! We will be making plans to deliver all of the quilts in late June or early July, and of course we will post photos of all the finished quilts here once we are done. :)

And finally, our last meeting of the 2016-17 year will be on Tuesday June 13th from 7-9pm at the CRCS St-Zotique. We will be having a potluck, so if you would like to bring something to share, please add your name and what you'll be bringing to the sign up sheet in the Members Only section of the blog. We will be wrapping up the year, discussing plans for next year, and we will be raffling off some goodie bags! Hope to see you there.

Metro Challenge - Complete!

So at our May meeting, we finally had the presentation of the Metro Challenge quilts! It's been a long time coming, and while some of them were still in the process of being finished up, it was lovely to finally see them all together.

If you want to know more about the challenge itself, you can read the original blog post here. And with no further ado... the quilts!

Marlise tackled Lucien-L'Allier station. She did a beautiful job of capturing the monumental interior spaces of the station and depicted them using material from men's shirts. 

Member Spotlight: Nathalie Forget

Pour le mois de mai, notre membre vedette est Nathalie Forget.

1. Vos coordonnées de médias sociaux (blog/site web, Facebook, Instagram, etc):

Je n'ai pas de blog et je ne me sers pas beaucoup des médias sociaux pour publier ou communiquer. Je les utilise plutôt pour m'inspirer. Mes adresses:
https://www.pinterest.com/forget0440/
https://www.instagram.com/forget.me.knit/
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/forget-me-knit

2. Qu'avez-vous étudié à l'école et/ou que faites vous comme travail?

J'ai complété un baccalauréat en sciences informatiques en 1984. J'ai travaillé par la suite au développement et à la gestion de solutions informatiques pour plusieurs entreprises, mais surtout pour une institution financière. J'ai pris ma retraite et suis revenue à Montréal en mai 2015 après 29 ans d'exil à Toronto.

Canadian modern quilting resources

We get a lot of questions about where to shop for fabric or quilting supplies here in Montreal, both from visitors and locals, but sadly, there aren't many local options for us. We have two chain fabric stores, Club Tissus and Fabricville, and a few independent shops like Craft de Ville and Effiloché, and even Atelier Fiber Arts and La Société Textile which are maker spaces for sewists/quilters.

Beyond those few though, options for Montreal-area modern quilters are rather sparse and most of us end up shopping online. Luckily, there are a number of online Canadian shops (woohoo, no exorbitant shipping costs, exchange rates or duties!) sprinkled across the country. Below is a list of the Canadian modern quilt (or at least modern-adjacent) shops I have come across online... if you know of one that isn't included, feel free to share it in the comments!

• Craft de Ville (Montreal, QC)
• Effiloché (Montreal, QC)
• Atelier Fiber Arts (Verdun, QC)
• La Société Textile (Montreal, QC)
• Phyllis Home Decor (Pincourt, QC)
• Mad About Patchwork (Stittsville, ON)
• Fabric Spark (Toronto, ON)
• My Fabric Spot (Markham, ON)
• Fridays Off Fabrics (Toronto, ON)
• Sew Sisters (Toronto, ON)
• The Workroom (Toronto, ON)
• Canadian National Fabric (Melancthon, ON)
• Flare Fabrics (Perth, ON)
• Fabric Please! (New Dundee, ON)
• Spool & Spindle (Waterloo, ON)
• Modern Bee (Niagra-on-the-Lake, ON)
• L'Oiseau Fabrics (Calgary, AB)
• Dragonfly Fabric (Hinton, AB)
• Sparrow Quilt Co (Edmonton, AB)
• Hamels Fabrics (Chilliwack, BC)
• Dinkydoo Fabrics (Pitt Meadows, BC)
• A Great Notion Sewing Supply (Surrey, BC)
• Clothesline Quilts (Hawke's Bay, NL)
• The Big List of Canadian Fabric Shops (various)

Wavy line quilting

To those of you who 'adopted' one of the #QuiltsforQC quilts at Tuesday night's meeting to take home, there were a lot of questions about how best to quilt them. You are welcome to be as simple or as complex as you like with the quilting on these quilts; it can be simple straight lines or it can be decorative free-motion quilting. it is really up to you and your comfort level. The only thing that we ask is that you keep the quilting no more than 3" apart. We want these quilts to be sturdy and long-lasting, so they need to be able to stand up to wear and washing.

The quilting needs to be completed and the quilts brought to the May meeting so we can move on to the binding stage; if you find yourself unable to complete your quilt in time, please let us know as soon as possible so we can find a solution.

For those of you who were asking about the wavy line quilting, there are two ways to do it. Personally, my sewing machine has a decorative stitch that comes in handy when I don't want to be fussy with the quilting: 

The 'wave' decorative stitch

I select the wave stitch (above), put the stitch length on the longest setting and the stitch width on the widest setting, and it gives me a nice, gentle wave. 

Otherwise, if you do not have that kind of stitch on your machine, you can imitate it by simply moving the quilt itself as you quilt, as demonstrated in this video: 

Izzy uses this technique on her straight-stitch sewing machine and the results are fantastic! 

Good luck and we look forward to seeing the quilts at the May meeting!

April 2017 Meeting Minutes

April 2017 Mtl MQG Meeting Minutes
Tuesday April 11, 2017 at 7pm at CRCS St-Zotique

• Quilts for Quebec: 
• It looks like we will have about 45 finished quilts for the mosque.
• We have 20 or so ready for quilting - we need quilters! 
• A few are ready for binding.
• We might be organizing another basting party over the next few weeks once we have all the tops pieced as well as backing for everything.
• Visit to the McCord Museum to see the Expo 67 Exhibit:
• We will meet in the lobby of the museum at 6 PM on Wednesday, April 19.
• The cost on Wednesday evening is $9.50 per person.
• For those interested, we will most likely have dinner and a drink after the visit.

Show and Tell:

• Francine: Fancy Forest quilt based on the Elizabeth Hartman pattern.  This is for her 2nd grandson's room.
• Maurice: Showed off his amazing Monopoly quilt top - all made to scale. 
• Nathalie: Worked on a Quilt of Valor with two other members of the South Shore Guild. All black and white flying geese with pops of red.
• Patti:  Patti not only made blocks for the CQA bee, she put them together in a massive quilt top.
• Marie-Eve: Made a quilt for a friend - all purple and yellow HSTs arranged in a gradient layout. She quilted it with the Ultra Wavy quilting tutorial by Better Off Thread.
• Isabelle:  Showed a beautiful reverse appliqué and hand quilted mini.
• Jen: Completed a cute baby quilt with squares and wonky stars.

Next meeting: 

• May meeting  - May 9:
• Garage sale: bring anything you would like to sell, swap or give away.
• Metro Challenge quilts are due
• We will discuss the results of the survey
• We will also reveal plans for the June "sew-out"

Annual Survey - last call

If you have not already filled out the annual member survey, please take a moment to give us your feedback. It is anonymous and helps us plan activities and improve the guild for next year! 

The survey will be closing tonight, so last call for responses! And thank you to those of you who have already filled it out... we will be going over the results at the May meeting. 

Meeting reminder!

Our April meeting is coming up next Tuesday, April 11th at 7pm at CRCS St-Zotique.

Cinzia will be giving a talk on quilt labels, and we will be finalizing the details of our next social outing - a visit to the McCord museum to see the Mode Expo 67 exhibit. It is also the deadline for filling out the Annual Member Survey, so if you have not yet filled it out, please take a moment to share your feedback!

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!