Saturday, April 30, 2016

QuiltCon Charity Challenge 2017, part 2

As outlined in our first Charity 2017 blog post, Michèle and I are trying to motivate as many of you as possible to participate in whichever way you choose in this project. Together, we will create a memorable quilting experience together.

You can see in this year’s challenge rules that the color palette is predominantly blue, ranging from teal to indigo, with its complementary colours in yellow and shades of golden yellow, possibly accented with pink. The only neutrals permitted are snow white and silver gray.

The design challenge is to play with scale. A few examples of directions to explore on design include going very big to very small, or mixing several scales of a chosen design motif, as well as going for pixelation.

I suggested to Michèle to look at Ruth McDowell’s book ‘Pattern on Pattern’ as an interesting way of manipulating scale. Michèle will be bringing her copy of the book to the May meeting. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend, but my sketches and suggestions for an approach will be present. So bring your ideas and help map out our basic choice for motif. Each person can then develop her block or section individually into contributing components for our quilt top.

Then, in order to keep the creative juice for the project simmering over the summer, we are proposing two follow-up challenges to you:

Challenge 1  Color Play: Go through your stash and pull out prints that coordinate with the colours in this year’s palette in preparation for our first sew-in this fall. The posting QuiltConCharity Challenge: COLOR! for last year's challenge gives a very good tutorial on how to go about doing this.

Challenge 2  Design Exercise: Based on the scale and shapes decisions reached at the May 10th meeting, try your hand at sketching some possible overall quilt designs that could highlight the notion of scale by combining the different blocks or sections: try interlocking large and small scales of the selected motif and placing them using Alternative Gridwork. Get inspiration from the McDowell book, and take another look at this posting QuiltCon Charity Quilt: Alternative Gridwork for a refresher on gridwork.

May to August will be our Brainstorming phase:
  • Tell us what inspires you and what you have discovered. (All members) 
  • Tell us what expertise you like to contribute or new skill you like to learn by doing it for this project. (All members) 
  • Solicit vendors for material donation. (Anyone with good connection) 
  • Pick out prints from your stash that might work well with the palette of this year. (All members) 

Let’s have fun together!

- Lily

Friday, April 22, 2016

QuiltCon Charity Challenge 2017

We want your opinions for making this Quiltcon 2017 Charity Challenge fun! No sewing is needed before the fall, but a lot of thinking needed now...

The theme for this year's challenge is Scale; the approach for Mtl MQG might be Pattern on Pattern and we are thinking we could use HST's (half-square triangles) within rectangles or another proposed shape, depending on your suggestions. We thought you might want to pick a buddy to work with and inspire you.


Read the rules at the QuiltCon 2017 Charity Challenge website, and rummage through your stash for some prints that coordinate with the challenge's palette:


Then think, think, think and bring your ideas to the May 10th meeting (or post them below in comments). Tell us what you might want to learn, contribute or help us provide for this challenge.  

- Lily and Michèle

Sunday, April 10, 2016

I love my guild

I often tell people about "my guild"... and I use that term not because I am temporarily wearing the title of president, but because my guild, the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild and all of its members, is my source of inspiration, my creative outlet... my tribe.


I love my guild because... we support one another. We are a group of people who come from vastly different walks of life, different backgrounds, different situations, we have different tastes and opinions, and yet we get together every month; rain or shine, snow or heat wave, we gather together and support one another. We offer help, we offer a sympathetic ear, we offer resources and sometimes we offer sarcasm and tough love, but all with the goal of lifting one another up and seeing each other grow and succeed.

I love my guild because... we all have something important to offer. Each and every member of our guild, from the oldest to the newest, plays an important part and during our meetings it is amazing to see the worries and problems of the day left at the door as everyone spends a little time sharing part of themselves. Speaking in front of a group isn't always easy, but sooner or later everyone in the group opens up and shares that important bit of themselves, their voice and their viewpoint, that only they can bring to the group; and as a guild we become richer and stronger because of it.

I love my guild because... we create. These days it is all too easy to end up with a list of bookmarks and 'pins' a mile long and never get anything accomplished. But our group manages to juggle jobs, businesses, families, friends, obligations, responsibilities, growing children and aging parents, problems, celebrations and tragedies... and still bring something to share. It might be an epic finished quilt, it might be a half-finished tote bag, it might be only a single block or even just a word of encouragement... but we all create.

I love my guild because... we f*cking rock. Pardon my language, but we do ;) We represent so many different points of view, so many different levels of experience and so many different styles. I can't tell you how much I enjoy spending time with this group each and every month and see the things that you bring, hear the stories behind your works, share your joys and frustrations, and occasionally learn from your mistakes ;) I count myself incredibly lucky to be a part of this group; you inspire me, you motivate me, you challenge and educate me, and I am a better quilter and a happier person because of it!

We are not perfect... we make mistakes and have regrets, but as humans it comes with the territory. That's what seam rippers and the word 'sorry' are for. I happily count each and every one of you, imperfections and all, as part of my 'tribe' and I can't wait to see what we do next. :)

- stephanie