Herringbone Quilt – Work In Progress

I have been away from the blog for much too long. Unfortunately, a little family emergency has kept me mighty busy. Everything seems to be pretty much back to normal now, but of course there has been no time for any sewing. So instead I thought I’d share a work in progress (WIP).

This past March the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild held their latest sew-in. We’re currently making baby quilts for the École Rosalie-Jetté, a secondary school welcoming teenage mothers and their babies. All of the fabric has been donated, we sew it up into quilts and the school distributes the quilts to some deserving young mums. You can read more on the project on the MMQG website.

You may have seen this fabulous grey herringbone quilt by Erica of Craftyblossom. It’s really quite lovely.

Not knowing what fabric would be available, I thought I’d do something similar, since it uses small pieces to make half-square triangles and just requires a bit of contrast to work well.

Here are all the half-square triangles up on a design board. The blue is actually a teal colour, but I took these photos in a rush with my iPhone, and the colour is a bit off.

I’ve been working on this quilt with the very talented Cinzia Allocca of Deux Petites Souris. We only had a few hours to work, but I’m quite impressed by how much we were able to do. And I love how it’s turning out. I may have to make my own. I especially like the checks.

I have a big pile of half-square triangles (HST) that need to be trimmed before the next sew-in. Hopefully, we’ll finish up the rest of the quilt then. I’m so optimistic when I’m excited about a project.

The fabric isn’t what I would normally choose, but it’s quite liberating sewing with donated fabric since you can try pretty much anything.

Instead of sewing, today we made some Easter cookies. I know, I know, a little late. If you count the fact that I bought this cookie cutter for Easter last year and am only using it now, it’s actually a lot late. Oh well. And of course the kids are responsible for the rather (ahem) generous portion of sprinkles.

By the way, the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild is looking for new members. If you’re interested, you can attend our upcoming sew-in in May and see what it’s all about. Membership fees are quite low ($30 per year) and you can attend just one meeting and pay for just the one month, which comes out to about three dollars, I think. You’ll have to check with the organizers for the exact amount. I’ve been corrected! You can attend your first meeting for free (yay!) and after that, membership is pro-rated.  We alternate with a sew-in or a meeting each month and there are also some special events like workshops and lectures. You don’t have to be an expert (I’m on my fourth and fifth quilts) and I even saw people sewing (gasp!) clothing at the last sew-in. It’s all very friendly and laid back.

Author: Shannon Smith

Data scientist, journalist, sewist, hiker, modern quilter, slam poet, and mum of four. My best friends are trees and my favourite food is granola. View all posts by Shannon Smith