February 2019 MQG Updates

As a new feature for the guild, we'll be posting monthly about events the Modern Quilt Guild is hosting and provide you with the details you'll need if you'd like to participate. Below are the February updates.

Modern Quilt Masters 2019: Jacquie Gering

The MQG will be hosting a retreat in the Fall of 2019 where none other than the fabulous Jacquie Gering will be leading workshops on design and walking foot quilting. The retreat will take place in Kansas City, Missouri and will last 3.5 days. 

Registration will open in March 2019. For more information, go to the Modern Quilt Masters website.

MQG Webinars

Although the webinars here have already happened, you can watch the recordings at any time by accessing the members' community site:

How to Design Quilts using Different Tools - January 7, 2019

Textile Surface Design: Experimental Techniques - February 8, 2019

In March, the webinar will be led by Cheryl Arkison and will tackle improv. Register for the March 14 webinar "Take the Leap: Facing Your Fears of Improv" here.

Quilt Pattern of the Month

In January, the quilt pattern of the month was titled X-Canvas, measures 60" square and was designed by Steph Skardal. This design is very simple, and yet striking with only a few solid fabrics. 

Photo from the MQG

The February quilt pattern is called Maze. This gorgeous quilt was designed by Malka Dubrasky and you can access the pattern here.

Photo from the MQG

Quiltcon

Quilt is happening this week from February 21 to the 24 in Nashville. For those of us who won't be attending, we can get a little bit of Quiltcon at home by watching the Awards Ceremony's live stream on February 20 at quiltcon.com.

You can also follow the #quiltconfromhome on social media.

February 12th meeting - RESCHEDULED!

UPDATE: We have rescheduled the February meeting for the 19th at 7pm at our usual space, the SouthWest Mission in Verdun. We will follow the same agenda as planned just on a different night. Hope you can join us then! 

Living in Montreal means that sometimes the weather has the final say on what we do... and at the moment Mother Nature has decided we won't be having our Feb. 12th meeting. There is a storm forecast to hit us on Tuesday and last into Wednesday with heavy snow and strong winds, so for everyone's safety, we are cancelling the meeting.

We are checking with the Mission if it is possible to reschedule for Tuesday Feb. 19th instead and we will let you know as soon as possible if that is indeed going to happen. But in the meantime, please stay home on Tuesday, enjoy an evening at home with something hot to drink and work on your upcycle challenge projects!

Hari-Kuyo, the Festival of Broken Needles

This was originally posted on the blog two years ago, but I thought it was worth reposting today. Happy Hari-Kuyo, make sure you take some time today or this weekend to thank your pins and needles for their hard work and dedication over this past year! 💕

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Hari-Kuyo is the Buddhist and Shinto Festival of Broken Needles which is celebrated in parts of Japan on February 8th. For the past 400 years, kimono makers, seamstresses and homemakers have gathered at shrines to thank their bent pins and broken needles for the hard work and faithful service they have provided over the past year. They express their thanks by holding a small memorial service and putting the pins and needles to rest in a block of soft tofu or jelly. It is also an opportunity to pray for improved sewing skills in the year to come.

Image courtesy of japan-experience.com

Why hold a memorial for pins and needles? In animist cultures it is believed that objects have souls, so this ceremony was a way for those whose livelihood relied on the humble needle to pay homage to that soul. After a year of rough treatment, the pins and needles are given a soft, luxurious resting place at the end of their 'lives'. It is also, on the most basic level, a way to simply acknowledge the importance of these tools that so often get overlooked.

Also central to the festival is the concept of 'Mottainai', which roughly means a sense of regret concerning waste. (The philosophical concept behind it is of course more complex, if you'd like to learn more about it, Wikipedia has an excellent entry on it) Being a quilter who tries to make use of every last scrap, and a sewist who tries to live by the "Make do and mend" motto, this strikes a particularly strong chord with me.

Lastly, there is an intensely personal layer of meaning to the festival. Historically, it was women who worked with pins and needles, and when those women carried painful secrets that they could not share with others, they would instead share them with their needles while they worked. Then at the end of the year, they would put those needles, and the secrets they carried, to rest in the hopes of being free to move forward. I think all of us have experienced that meditative connection with our work at some point; it can be a wonderfully therapeutic practise for anyone who picks up a needle.

As a sewist and quilter, I found the concept behind the festival so wonderfully reverential to one of the most necessary tools of our trade that I wanted to join in the celebration. I always try to be sensitive about cultural appropriation, so while I come from a different cultural background, my needles work as hard as anyone else's and I hope the powers that be don't mind that I celebrate Hari-Kuyo in my own little way.

February meeting reminder

Just a quick reminder that our February meeting will be dedicated to working on your projects!

Photo by Michele Made Me

Now is your chance to spend some time finishing up binding, finally attaching those labels you've been neglecting or putting a dent in that new EPP project. Also, if you have a project you would like advice or input on, now is a great time to bring it and ask the group!

Looking forward to seeing you on the 12th!

Deux-Montagnes Exhibition Quilts Status

Hello all!

This is a friendly reminder that we have committed to have quilts ready for the Deux-Montagnes Quilt Guild's exhibition in May.

To help keep us (myself included) on track, I have modified the sign-up sheet to show the current status of each quilt, such as piecing, quilting, binding, etc. Please update the status of your quilt(s), and make sure the info on the size is correct. We need to know the approximate final size of the quilts for the display. The link for the sign-up sheet is below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GVhTKUASLKNQ64_Pej3PhKP9mDx8Z2olYodv3EHge40/edit#gid=0

BTW, if someone would like to participate who isn't already on the list, there are a few spaces open, but the deadline doesn't change. All quilts need to be finished for the end of April.

Correction: All quilts must be submitted at the April meeting.

Cheers!
Joanna L.