Valentine’s a bit late.

February 16, 2017March 6, 2017 / quiltmichele / 1 Comment

My Grandmother turned 101 years old in the beginning of February. I wanted to make a little something to celebrate her birthday . I sewed some hearts and stringed them with a sisal cord.

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(I got my inspiration for the hearts from the Valentine Throw Pillow Tutorial on the Diary of a Quilter blog.)

I wanted to see what it would like hanging on a wall or in my case, the fireplace. I loved my hearts! For a moment, I thought I would keep it.

But it looked even better at my Grandma’s.

Michele

PS Can you image how many quilts we could make if we all lived to 101!!

Two Mysteries – One Solved and One beginning

September 7, 2015 / quiltmichele / 1 Comment

It has been an exciting summer this year. We now have an added member to the Dionne Quiltuplets. My first granddaughter, Elizabeth, was born in July and I am so enjoying her and seeing her grow. She is our youngest member so far and she is definitely benefiting from all our craftiness.

To address the first solved mystery – last February, I posted about “My Stash” (and, yes , it is still growing.) At the end of the post, I mentioned that I had a fabric that I really liked. What could possess me to use this piece of fabric when I knew that the recipient would probably never notice, and it would be thrown on the floor and washed many times?

The gift was a hooded towel for my granddaughter. I used this fabric for the binding. I had chosen the towel and the hood fabric and when I auditioned my fabrics for the binding, this was the best choice. I was only too happy to use it.

The pattern and instructions for this hooded towel is found on the “Stitched in Color” blog (under tutorials, “Repurposed Hooded towel”). I love how Rachel creates all kinds of colourful items. The only comment that I would add is to use a hand towel that is not too big, otherwise, you will have a huge hood.

And for the second Mystery – I have started a new mystery quilt. (I could write an essay on the UFO quilts that I have, but as long as my list is not as long as some of the other quilt bloggers, I am happy.) I normally do not like doing mystery quilts as you can end up with something that you do not like. But in corasquilts.com blog, she describes the quilt as a bohemian, Moroccan, mosaic feel. She also shows another pattern that she has created and mentions that the mystery quilt is most similar to that pattern. ( I have admired that quilt before from Flicker)

I am using colours that are darker than the pattern calls for, but I wanted to use fabric from my stash. And here is the confession, I had to get a bit more fabric so that I had enough of each colour. But I am really excited about this project. Every Friday night, I have the instructions for the coming week. I am impressed so far, as the instructions are very clear.

The first week was cutting the fabric. There are 1325 pieces. The only change that I made was to keep the squares for the half square triangles whole instead of cutting them in two.

The pattern even includes letters for each type of square.

The second week was making squares (40) out of the half square triangles.

And having fun with the pieces. The pieces look purple/aqua so far, but my whole quilt is more in the fall colours.

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There is still time to join this mystery quilt.

http://www.corasquilts.com/quilt-alongs/gypsy-queen/

Thanks, Michele

My Stash!!

February 16, 2015 / quiltmichele / 1 Comment

Yes, I am embarrassed to say that my stash is getting bigger despite my determination to only use my own fabric. Since December, I have gone to:

– A quilt store to pick up batting for my mother. While I was there, I saw so many original prints. They just hopped into by basket. I am also trying to build up my stash in the colours of which I have few. (Well, few depends on the beholder.) And what a selection of unique books!

– A big quilting fabric sale at a different shop. I am planning on making another quilt for the cottage. This time, the colours are in the shades of water and sky. Despite the fact that blue is my favourite colour and thus the largest of my stashes, I actually needed a few more shades for my quilt. (Yes, I did finish my first quilt for the cottage last week. Today is very sunny but since the temperature is -28 C (-18 F), it will have to be a later post.)

– Yet a different quilt shop to pick up fabric for my sister. I was honestly doing her a favour. I seem to be low on plain fabric so this was a good chance to pick up some fabric with warmer colours. But alas, there was a sale on some fabrics. I really did get a good price.

– Back to the second quilt store. I was just in to get a few fabrics for my challenge quilt. Oh, I have not told you about the challenge in our guild. Our guild is having a big quilt show in May and of course they need lots of quilts to display. One of the categories for display is the quilt challenge. This year, the challenge is that you can make any size and type of quilt you want (bed size, runner, wall hanging, clothes) but you need to include the participation of someone that does not quilt. I have heard from others and on blogs that you learn much from being pushed to do things that are not in your comfort zone. So, isn’t is great that I decided to take on this challenge! Well, back to my original reason for going to the quilt store. I needed to get some fabrics for this quilt. But when I got to the store, there was a big event that afternoon. Yes, there were several different areas displaying different quilting techniques. How cool is that! I even had to go home and come back with my daughter. Well, I was a happy shopper again.

If you have not noticed, I have a weakness for fabric. Beautiful fabric!!

Now to know me is to understand that I am very good at budgeting, saving and being organized in my finances. So if you consider my stash as my bank account, you might also appreciate that I might hoard some of my more beautiful fabric, especially when I have a small piece. I tend to imagine that I will make something so beautiful with it, that the colours will inspire me and that the finished product will be wonderful. I think that I dream in Technicolor. Or perhaps, I should say technifabricolour!

The other day, I was working on a project that was not grand, that was going to be washed very often and that was probably not going to be admired a whole lot. I was auditioning quite a few fabrics. And then, I auditioned a fabric that I have been admiring and of course hoarding. I loved the colours of my fabric. This fat quarter was going to be the inspiration for a quilt. The cathedral window pattern, which I have yet to try, is one of my must try patterns. But over all, I saw much potential from this little piece. Hmm! Well I kept on auditioning fabrics, but kept on coming back to this fabric as it seemed to brighten up the project.

So here is my fabric. It might not be much to you, but I had a soft spot for it. So, I cut up in pieces. What would possess me use a fabric that I really liked for a something that was not grand?

Stay Tuned!

Michele

It Sold!!

August 23, 2014 / quiltmichele / Leave a comment

I am so excited.

I just found out that the baby quilt that I made for the church exhibition and sale sold! Someone really liked what I made. Some child somewhere will be wrapped in the quilt that I put together. It seems hard to believe but how awesome is that!!

I better get back to my sewing. I am not quitting my day job yet!

Michele

Baby Quilts

August 8, 2014August 8, 2014 / quiltmichele / 1 Comment

After Emily’s quilt for the Michael Miller challenge, I have but a small token to offer to the blog

When our church put on a garden show / baby quilt show and sale / afternoon tea in the beginning of July, I was excited. I was not able to be there on that particular weekend but I could make a quilt. Suzanne very generously provided the fabric and the pattern “Friendship Quilt”. It was a very quick quilt to make. And of course, it meant that I got to practice on the long-arm machine again.

I do not have a name for this quilt, but going forward I will name them. This quilt seems lonely without a name

I used a kite pantograph to quilt it all together.

These are last minute pictures I took just before I gave it away to our church. I usually like to have things completed well ahead of time, but when it comes to quilting, can anyone get their quilt made in time to take good photographs?

Check out the binding. I was so lucky to find this striped fabric.

I had much fun creating this quilt. I have offered it to our church to be either sold or given to a mom in need. I hope that some child enjoys it as much as I had fun making it.

Happy Quilting this Summer!

Michèle

How we got started

May 11, 2014May 13, 2014 / quiltmichele / 1 Comment

I thought that I would explain how we all became the Dionne Quiltuplets. My mother, Lise, was the first mentor to my two sisters and me (Suzanne, Michèle and Natalie). We all learned to sew when we were young; we were often found making dresses, shirts, shorts, jackets, prom dresses and in the end our wedding dresses etc. When we turned 20, we all received our own sewing machines. My first sewing machine was a Singer. It did not do many fancy stitches but it would sew and sew.

And as usual, life carried on. Suzanne had a son, Michèle had three children and Natalie had two. I, Michèle, have two girls who also love to sew and a son who knows how to use the sewing machine. And at 20, my two girls received their first sewing machines.

Quilting came to us later on. Baby quilts were made at the birth of Natalie’s two children. It was great to get together to work on a project. But the real love of quilting began a few years ago. My father, a wonderful compassionate man, was in the last years of his struggle with Parkinson’s. When he was in a nursing home, my mother and the three girls would visit him often. As we all know, taking care of someone you love means there is not much time left to be with the others you love. And so our monthly get-togethers to sew began as a way to support each other and do what gave us life and excitement. My father has since passed away, but we still get together. Our group now includes Lise, Suzanne, Michele, Natalie, Michèle’s two daughters, Emily and Stéphanie and Natalie’s son Jérémie. We can’t all be there, but at times, train trips home have been rescheduled to not miss the “sewing day”. Sometimes, we talk more than we sew, but our “sewing day” always brings us together and gets us strength.

During the last 2 years, we had two new beginnings. Emily began the Dionne Quiltuplets blog. Thank you very much Emily; you have done a great job. The second acquisition is a long arm machine. With the six of us and then one more, we figured out the cost of having others machine-quilt our quilts was more in the long run that owning our own long arm machine. Last July, a Handiquilter long-arm machine was installed in Lise’s basement. A big thanks to my mother for the joy that it has brought and will bring. My father, who always encouraged our activities, would have loved to see us enjoy our time together.

The first quilt that I present is the first quilt that came off our long-arm machine (which has yet to be named). I patched the top of the quilt using the Yellow Brick Road pattern and fabrics from the “Noteworthy” design. Lise, Natalie and I all had a hand in the machine quilting. And when we were done, we all danced!!

“Creation”

I called this quilt “Creation” because for me, after the dark days of missing my father, I felt alive creating something. From my faith background, I love that God calls us to create beauty. Although this is not the most stunning quilt you will see, to me, it has been created with love, healing and the most fond memories of my dad and friend.

Michèle