Thursday, February 25, 2010

Another challenge

All the strings are sewn together and patches are cut. 

  I always wanted one of those southern quilts, so I decided to make a wheel quilt.



 I started playing with the patches on the design wall and got lost in it! 

There were so many ways I could arrange those wheels.




As I started putting the patches on the wall I noticed the secondary pattern appearing!

   I said to myself, " Would you look at that!"


I kept putting them on the wall for a while. 

And it took me to that happy place!

A little girl looking at the Ferris wheel  at the fair-grounds thinking to herself, "Wouldn't it be nice to see the

world from up above? "
 

 

 My challenge?

I am afraid of heights and complicated piecing...



How do I put this together?

Except for the centers, I intend to machine piece this quilt. I have never done anything like this before!

So, wish me good luck and off I go to my sewing room to get busy!

I will give it a good try or come back and graciously accept the defeat!

Happy quilting!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Strings


I must be in the cleaning mood! Still using all those scraps from the scrap bins and looks like I am creating a monster! The scrap pile has gone down considerably and I am feeling pretty good about it! Now the question is, what to do with all those pieced strings?

 

 Bowls?

 Baskets?
 
Plates or something else?

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Wet Paint

This quilt took me back to my college years. After finishing an art project my friends and I used to spend precious moments chatting while washing the paint dishes. I was always amused by those ever-changing paints streaks as they blended with water and each other!
Good times, good memories and still as much fun!
Today, I am thinking of my two best friends from college!


Sunday, February 14, 2010

Just for Fun

 

'Inspirations from the quilts of 'Gee's bend'
 
I pretended that I had an old sheet ( solid green),  some scraps of a dress ( floral print) ,  a wool coat and pants and kitchen towels and a few other odds and ends. I limited myself to using only what was in that pile. I also added some corduroy that was left over from my previous housetop quilt.

There were unique challenges involved in making this quilt. By limiting the pile of fabrics,  using every scrap to the last bit was a must. Adding new fabric from the stash was not an option.

The patches and strips were randomly cut. With no measurements in mind, I started by using the bigger patches and strips first so that I would not waste any fabric by cutting them too small.. The number of the blocks grew along with my desire for making it into a bed size quilt. When it came to stitching the blocks into the rows, I added all of the leftover small scraps and strings to the smaller blocks to even them out and continued further.  

Often times, the final outcome of my quilts has been completely different than the vision I started out with. And most of the times I have been happy in the end. I wonder if limits and restrictions make me work harder?
Or
In the quest for perfection or preconceived ideas, we miss out on fun and surprises that are involved in the process of making a quilt!
This quilt was an experiment just for fun and that it was!
   

Monday, February 8, 2010

The Kite Festival

You never know what inspires a quilter at any given moment to start a quilt. Last week I was going through my scraps, hoping to reduce the load in a day! I thought of making a string quilt and add it to my collection. As I was going through all the strings, some pieces of solid, colorful fabrics caught my eyes. In that very moment, I went back to my childhood dreaming of  'The Kite Festival"

On 14th of January each year the skies in India get filled with kites. Children, adults, men and women all gather on the terraces of their homes and fly kites. From early hours of morning till the sun sets in the Arabian ocean you could hear the loud cheers and screams of happiness!

Those paper kites are made from bright colorful tissue paper as light as feathers. The string on the other hand, so strong it could easily cut into hands! They are coated with powdered glass mixed with glue. The trick is to fly the kites and cut other kites that are in the skies. 

As a child, I loved watching those kites sore into the blue sky. It was a special treat to watch the kids on the streets run after the cut kites and claim the ownership of those they found. If the kites were still in good condition, those kids would find a way send them up again. As fragile as they seemed those kites left lasting memories. I looked at those strips of solid fabrics and decided to make some kites instead.

 
I decided to hand quilt while I strolled down the memory lane.

 
 Could not stop at just one!

 
This is how it all began!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Linen, Corduroy and Cotton shirtings

The Goodwill Store

There is a special joy in making a quilt out of used cloths. I have always enjoyed the challenge of creating patterns out of solid cloth. I am inspired by the women of Gee's Bend and was fortunate enough to meet them. They are as beautiful, simple and strong as their quilts. This is my take on it.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Garden Party

An applique project, I designed and started as block of the month few years back with lots of good friends.  These two love birds arrived yesterday, all happy and chirpy!
More to come!

Enter to Win Bernina 455 QE Kaffe Edition

Hey everyone! It has been a while! I have to share some great news! I have some great giveaway announcement!     Alex and Ricky at TheQuiltS...