Discover the Art of Quilting with Paul Leger

Paul lives in Ottawa, Canada, where he spent 16 years working for the federal government following a 21-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces. He retired on September 1, 2016.
Paul’s quilting journey began in May 1990. Encouraged by his mother, Doris Bourque-Léger, a talented quilter and dressmaker, to buy a sewing machine “for sewing emergencies,” he unexpectedly discovered a passion that would shape his creative life.
One day, inspired by a vague idea he couldn’t quite explain, Paul began cutting up the good parts of his old Air Force uniform shirts. Only later did he realize he was following in the tradition of earlier generations who repurposed clothing to make bed quilts. Armed with surgical scissors and an idea in his mind, he cut the fabric into isosceles trapezoids and stitched the pieces together. The corners weren’t square, and neither were the blocks, but the process hooked him.

When he ran out of uniform fabric, Paul made his first trip to a quilt shop, The Cloth Castle in Langford, British Columbia where he received advice and purchased additional materials. He completed his first quilt top and enjoyed the experience so much he finished a second quilt top before sending the first to his mother for quilting. That original quilt now proudly safe guarded with so many others.