Men at Patchwork in Montreal

In one of my favorite books, "The Gentle Art of Domesticity", Jane Brocket talks about allotments, and how they remind her of quilts. She calls them an example of "men at patchwork". The part of Montreal where I live is mostly populated by brick homes and duplexes.

Most of them are somewhere between 70 and 100 years old, with newer homes mixed in. Almost all of the houses are made of red brick. The newer homes tend to maintain the red brick and the same shape as the older homes, though, and even many of the apartment blocks are built with red bricks.

It seems that when you are a bricklayer, and you are building hundreds of houses that have the same basic shape and size, you feel the need to do something decorative, to make the homes distinctive. So, many of the homes in my neighbourhood have these wonderful little brick patchworks decorating the space between the windows of the top floor and the roof.

Okay, so this one is actually the new stone path at the rec center, but still, a great quilt-y idea

I love finding these surprising little brick quilts everywhere I go. Although I have to remind myself only to look at them when I am walking. I don't know what the insurance company would think if I rear ended a car because I was distracted by decorative brickwork.

I can tell this city is going to inspire many, many rectangle quilts.

We took a detour on our way home from the park so we could get these photos along a street with a really good variety of patterns. I don't know what the neighbours thought of me photographing right above their windows . . . ah well. The things I do for you, dear readers.

Maybe the rectangle is the new square?