I made good progress on preparing my solo show as part of the Carrefour Européen du Patchwork in France next September. Anyway I still have to finish a quilt and four small pieces I planned to mount on canvas.

J’ai bien avancé sur la préparation de mon exposition solo dans le cadre du Carrefour Européen du Patchwork en Alsace au mois de septembre. Mais je dois encore terminer un quilt et quatre petites pièces que j’ai prévu de monter sur canevas.

This is the quilt I have to finish. It will be about 32″ x 32″. It is now basted and I am almost decided on the quilting design. I went for a mix of machine and hand quilting anyway.

C’est le quilt que je dois encore terminer. Il mesura environ 80 cm x 80 cm. Il est maintenant faufilé et je suis presque fixée sur le dessin de quilting. En tout cas j’ai opté pour un mix de quilting machine et main.

Here is the state of progress of the four small projects on my design wall last week. I completed the three blue & yellow quilt tops since then and started to piece the last one.

Voici l’état d’avancement des quatre petits projets sur mon mur de conception la semaine dernière. Depuis, j’ai terminé les trois tops bleu & jaune et commencé à piécer le dernier.

For this fourth project, I planned to use the t-shirt print you can see on my design wall. I fused a piece of interfacing on the back of the print a few weeks ago. I knew the material used on the print was a bit delicate so I was careful with ironing. I used a baking paper to protect both the iron soleplate and the fabric. And everything went smoothly at the moment.

Pour ce quatrième projet, j’avais prévu d’utiliser l’imprimé du t-shirt que vous pouvez voir sur mon mur de conception. Il y a quelques semaines, j’ai collé un entoilage au dos de l’imprimé. Je savais que la matière utilisée sur l’imprimé était un peu délicate donc j’ai fait attention au repassage. J’ai utilisé du papier de cuisson pour protéger à la fois la semelle du fer et le tissu. Et sur le moment tout s’est bien passé.

Last Sunday, I spent a few hours working on the piecing and appliqué, starting with the solid areas of the design. Again, I used baking paper when it came time to add the print and press my seams. I can’t really explain it (the ambient heat in the room this past week ?!) … but this time the material of the print kind of melted. And stained the other fabrics by the way … You can also see marks on the baking paper.

I also noticed that the mere fact of stitching through the print is likely to be a problem … The sewing thread is also stained. Needless to say I replaced my needle straight away!

I am setting this project aside for the moment. The design was inspired by the t-shirt, so I won’t make it with whatever printed fabric. I will try to find another t-shirt from the same brand to make this project happen.

So now, two options come my way. Remove a piece from my exhibit layout, which bothers me … Or come up with a new idea pretty quickly since the deadline to send my final list of quilts is July 15 !

Priority for the week: peruse all the projects I designed lately but haven’t made into fabric yet …

I has been thrilled to discover how the participants interpreted the theme. I spent hours reviewing the entries early June and the grading task is completed on my side. The thirty finalists will be announced by the Carrefour on July 9. Please check their website or subscribe to their newsletter to have a look at the list!

I am also thinking of writing a blog post about my experience. So stay tuned!

J’ai été ravie de découvrir comment les participants ont interprété le thème. J’ai passé des heures à examiner les dossiers début juin et la tâche d’évaluation et terminée de mon côté. Les trente finalistes seront annoncés par le Carrefour le 9 juillet. Consultez leur site internet ou abonnez-vous à leur newsletter pour voir la liste !

Je pense aussi écrire un article de blog à propos de mon expérience. Donc à bientôt sur le blog !