The second round has been completed! Check out what everyone has done! Sorry for the photo quality – these were all taken while at a family party 🙂

A little robin was added in the centre square at the top of this quilt!

This block is to be added to the shirt block – the hearts are made from ties. This quilt is especially meaningful to the Quiltuplets since it’s made from old shirts from my grandfather, who died in 2011 (mentioned in Michèle’s post from 2014).

I love how everyone added their own personality to the starting blocks. What will the next additions look like?

 

It’s been quite a few months since the last post (almost 8!). We’ve all been pretty busy with quilty and non-quilty things, but I have a few posts ready for the next few days. Today’s post is long overdue since it’s about a project we started in late 2015: a round robin. Each of the six quiltuplets prepared a block as the start of a new quilt which was passed on to the next person in the group. At each stage, we all add a bit to the quilt we’ve received with fabrics from the original block and pull some more from our own stashes (if needed). Everyone has a different style, so I can’t wait to see the end results!

Here is what we started with:

Check back later to see what happens after the first swap!

After welcoming a new baby, it’s taken awhile to have enough time to sit down, sew and blog about it! I have about 10-15 projects on the go right now, but none are all that close to completion. I do have quick project to share: ankle bands to keep baby feet in the legs of their sleepers.

Little Lizzie kicks a lot and her feet have a tendency to find their way into the body of her sleepers. She gets very frustrated when the movement of her legs is restricted, so I come up with a solution to this problem! I used coordinating strips of fabric and a bit of velcro to make these little bands to keep her feet happy.

She likes to raise her feet in the air, which is great to show off her ankle bands!

She also likes to spend time on the floor on her new quilt, a special gift from the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild.

I’ve started having more of a daily schedule now, so I hope to post project updates soon! Until then,

Emily

Il y a deux ans, Suzanne m’a donné le patron pour un sac ingénieux qu’elle avait fait.  C’est un sac que l’on peut replier pour faire un genre de petit porte-feuille.  Je me suis dit que j’aimerais bien en faire moi-même pour en donner en cadeau.  Je me suis donc mise à faire des sacs pour donner à des amies pour leur anniversaire, ou pour donner aux professeurs de mes enfants à la fin de l’année scolaire.  J’ai essayé de les personnaliser pour qu’ils représentent la personne à qui je le donnais.  Et voilà que, deux ans plus tard, j’ai confectionné plus d’une dizaine de sacs, tous différents les uns des autres.  J’ai pris la plupart de mes sacs en photo, par contre, j’ai oublié quelques fois…  Je vous montre ce que j’ai fait:

Cette année, ma fille est revenue de la dernière journée d’école en me disant que son professeur avait aimé son sac, mais qu’un autre élève en avait donné un pareil, mais celui-là était acheté!  Même si on n’a jamais assez de sacs, je devrai peut-être me trouver une idée un peu plus originale pour l’an prochain!

Natalie

My local modern quilt guild recently held a mini quilt challenge. Everyone got a magazine and had to make a quilt inspired from page 25, with the final quilt perimeter measuring 48-60 inches.

We recently moved, and in the upheaval I lost my page. I took the closest magazine handy and tore out page 25, which turned out to be about an upcoming museum exhibit on Pompeii. It’s mostly text. I decided to use my new found love of curves (ha!) to make an image to represent the eruption of Vesuvius.

I have one process picture:

I made a lot of little circles in different shades of grey for the smoke from the eruption. I sequentially sewn in a circle, then cut out space for the next circle.

The final quilt:

I cut out the bottom of the mountain to look like people to be like the cavities they found left behind in the ash. I made it so these ‘cavities’ are looming over the unsuspecting city below. I have to say – cutting out those people and sewing along the edge was a pain. I started regretting it about a quarter of the way in. I am happy with the result though, now that it’s done!

I used quilting to emphasize the turbulence of the eruption as well as lines straight down the mountain to represent the pyroclastic surges thought to be responsible for most of the deaths.

The back is a print of boats to show the people who tried to help the inhabitants of Pompeii.

I didn’t win, but I had a lot of fun trying to come up with ideas and making the quilt! I’m definitely up for the next challenge!

-Emily

We’re expecting a new quiltuplet in July! Of course it needs a quilt! Just in time for my baby shower, the remaining quiltuplets made a beautiful ‘I Spy’ quilt as a gift.

I am amazed at the collection of different fabrics they were able to pull together. Animals, food, cartoon characters… there seems to be one of everything!

The back is cozy flannel owl print with a personalized label.

And it looks great in the nursery!

A cotton version of the owl print made an appearance in a Christmas gift from Michele.

I know there will be many happy memories with this quilt! Thank you Quiltuplets!

-Emily

It’s been awhile since the last post! I think we’ve all been busy, so it was nice to finally sit down together and get some sewing done. We all have our own WIPs, although some of us have been more productive than others (but we’ll see the results soon in later posts!). For my part, I’ve barely sewn a stitch in several months and I have a million projects on the go. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I do tend to start many projects and take awhile to finish.

Here is a project I started about 6 months ago when I decided to design a pattern with curves:

I started with two layer cakes of Kate Spain’s Sunnyside fabric. I’ve made some progress on putting it together, but I’m learning very quickly that curves can be tedious!

There are many WIPs on the go, so I’ll do a quick tour:

Natalie was paper piecing a warm batik design.

Michèle was working on a geometric design for an art quilt to submit for to an upcoming quilt show. The story behind this one is quite interesting, so I look forward to seeing it complete in an upcoming post!

She was also making cupcakes for a special birthday we celebrated later that day.

Suzanne was working on a vibrant quilt made with Art Gallery fabrics.

Lise and Suzanne have also given their own twist on the same pattern.

 

I love seeing how different two quilts turn out when done using different colour schemes. I can’t wait to see how they turn out!

Lise was busy preparing her finished quilts for entry into the quilt show.

She is now the most productive member of our little group! Each of these quilts will be featured in later posts, along with the other quilts she is working on.

She used to help everyone else on their quilts, but it hasn’t really been until the last year that she started to make her own and now she is probably responsible for half of our total output!

We had a great afternoon of chatting, sewing, cutting fabric, snacking and baking. In the end, the only finished project was the cupcakes.

-Emily

 

 

What could be a better gift? Or a more difficult one to choose by a non-quilter, given the unknown (and expanding) size of Emily’s stash?

Happily, our non-quilting (but sympathetic to the obsession) bro M gifted us some lovely fat quarters this Christmas.

Stéphanie’s are the beautiful array of Kona solids (left), and Emily’s are the polka dots (right).

Stéphanie also received, from the parents this time, some fat quarters of Shweshwe fabric, made by Da Gama Textiles. It has a neat history of being starched for shipment by sea, and so is very stiff (and smells oddly perfumey). Da Gama Textiles explains the history and process on their site.

 

Although not a textile, Emily received some hide, with the intention of beading and hand-sewing some moccasins. We can’t remember if it is moose or deer, but either way is soft and will be a good project between quilts!

Bought with the intention of drying dishes, Michèle was gifted some linen tea towels, made by Rain Goose Textiles. They were declared too nice for such a menial life, and will probably be re-purposed as pillows. Go figure.

Michèle also received a beautiful woven wool table runner (or shawl) from a trip to a weaving cooperative in Peru.

Stéphanie, taking pity on poor quilt-less M, made him placemats (…mini quilts. sort of) for Christmas. The backs are a linen-cotton blend with a neat feel and look, a bit more rugged than just cotton. The rest of the fabric (bought at the same time but not a set so of unknown identity) is cotton, made from 5 fat quarters. It was close with that amount, and she actually ran out of binding for the last placemat but he didn’t seem to notice.

For a family friend, Stéphanie made a trivet. (I love love love making trivets.) They are fun to choose the fabric, have simple quilting, and are finished so quickly! She used Australian Aboriginal fabrics by M & S Textiles, specifically “Wild Bush Flowers Purple” by Layla Campbell and “Yalke Blue” by June Smith along with some batik print on the front, and again an Australian Aboriginal print on the back with an unknown name (should really start labelling the stash….). There are 5 layers of batting inside, but in retrospect, should have used an old ironing board cover we have to make it more heat resistant. It was quilted pretty simply with a walking foot, even the circle.

Michèle also caught the trivet bug, making a bone themed pot-grabber for a friend working in Diagnostic Imaging (X-rays). The bone fabrics come from a Hallowe’en line, but the eggplant purple binding will let it be used in any season.She used the old ironing board cover as batting. The pockets make it perfect for grabbing hot dishes! (Pictures coming soon)

Michèle made a beautiful basket using the “Divided Basket” pattern from Noodlehead and fabrics from the Riley Blake Designs’ “Fancy Free” line and Kona solids among others. It is lined with a very stiff interfacing, and will be perfect to store cloths or diapers.

Not only that, but we were surprised by gifts from L for each of us to take home; a Christmas table runner for Michèle, and appliquéd reindeer pillows for Emily and Stéphanie.

So I guess you can understand why we’ve been so absent from posting in the rush for Christmas! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday, and look forward to sharing more (and perhaps more frequently!) in the New Year!

All our best,

Stéphanie, Emily, and Michèle