Last One of the Bunch

I had every intention of quilting this little top before I sent out all the quilts to C&T Publishing for the in-house photography but that just did not happen.

I have been hand stitching a lot lately. If I don't have hand work in the evenings, I miss it. Winding down while 'Watching' tv is just not the same.

It is far from perfect, just the way I like it. No two triangles are the same in spite of being made from a stack. These free-form blocks are pretty cool!

It must be my publisher's favorite quilt since it made it in two of the chapters in my book. It is one of the reasons why I chose to teach Hourglass Twist class at MAQ. Some of the blocks from this technique land themselves into more than one quilt. The possibilities are endless and I can not wait for my students to explore more. 

It has not found it's permanent home yet. I am still wondering what to call it.

Movement, texture and contrast all in one - It packs a lot of punch for it's size.

  
It would be an Amish quilt if the HSTs were precise.

It would be an Indian ralli quilt if it had borders and some reverse applique added to it. 

It is somewhat close to perfect to be a Gee's bend quilt.

 
But it reminds me of all three cultures. I am calling it The Red Quilt. 

I finished it with freehand, organic hand quilting using Valdani silk thread.

If you would like to read about my classes, please visit earlier posts. 
I am ready for some piecing fun.

I hope you all are having a great week!
Sujata

Super Bowl 2014

About a week and half back I had my quilting friends over for a sew day.

Kelly was working on her applique class sample she will be teaching at out local quilt shop. Terry and Stephanie worked on their applique. Christine got some cutting done for a new quilt and all I did was talk!

I decided to sort my scraps while we chatted away. I had brought couple of my bins at the table to iron and cut as I go. My friend Terry was curious on how I organize my scraps.  The fact of the matter is, I don't always have them in boxes. It all depends on the mood I am in. Sometimes I have only one way to organize them and that is to toss them in bins until I have enough to make a quilt. If I was organized by nature, I could learn a thing or two from many quilters. I have tried that in the past. Look at the side bar.. that handkerchief quilt is still in the making. I did add few blocks to that pile. Mostly, I do like the unpredictable nature of scrap quilts and so I just dive in and see where it takes me.   

After they left, the bins remained on the main floor of the house. I was determined to not take them back in the studio until I did something about that explosion of colors in my dining area.

The following weekend was the Superbowl Sunday. 

I am not a football fan but have always been interested in the commercials. This year the Seahawks were playing! Needless to say, I paid less attention to the commercials (they were not impressive anyway) and watched the game. As unexciting the game was, I did have fun watching it with my husband and over the phone texting with my kids. I should also admit that I am just starting to 'get' the game. 

Next day, almost 10 inches of snow dumped in the tri-state area of PA, NJ and NY which also followed by freezing rain the following day. I felt guilty for even having the power when most of my friends were without heat and electricity. If it wasn't for my dear husband being sick with flu, I would have had everyone for camping at our house. I don't think anyone of my friends would have appreciated being sick in this bad weather.

While this all sounds like The Root Connection Channel news, believe me, I do have a point.

The snow storm brought everything at stand still except for my sewing machine! I have been busy with my scraps like a kid in a candy store!

Here is what I did with what I found in the bins.

A Seahawks victory quilt. Would Domination be right name for this quilt?

Super Bowl 2014

It looked a bit smaller when I thought it was done.

So I added few more pieces.

Once I got going there was no stopping.. Sorting of the scraps was quickly replaced by sorting and making of the quilt at the same time.

Or should I say quilts?

Here is #2 with an Amish theme. Don't know if I should hand quilt or machine quilt.

Can't decide which way it looks good either. I guess I will wait until it's done make that decision.

You can read about the process behind this quilt here.

And to answer Terry's question, Since I don't have any specific method, I keep working on multiple projects at a time. When it comes to dark scraps, I piece them together into strips. Eventually they all will get put together in a lap size quilt. To keep it a true scrap quilt, I resist cutting up new fabrics and keep adding new strips made from scraps to already existing WIP. It's a slow process for some quilts but I am not in any hurry.

This quilt is going to be a copy of my confetti quilt but I chose to put all the dark fabrics together instead of brights.

And lastly, I found some large chunks of large floral prints and some 2 1/2'' squares. I am going to have to look into cutting some yardage to add more to this.

This should be fun.
Few 4 1/2'' x 8 1/2 '' or/and  4 1/2'' x 10 1/2'' strips paired with 2 1/2 '' x 2 1/2'' squares, all randomly sewn into long strips. Long enough to cover a twin bed. What do you think?

Back to the news, last I heard, few of my friends are still without power. There is another ice storm on it's way and it is snowing at this moment as I end this post.

I am leaving you with a teaser.. I almost never do this but for this quilt, I want to wait for a full reveal until it's all finished.

I have got my machine well oiled and bobbins full. After a long break, I feel like I am back in the business of making quilts!

Thank you for being interested in what I do.

Summer Dreams!

I decided to clean up my sewing room over the weekend. Of course, then came the domino effect! While cleaning I found all the left over scraps from my Ferris Wheel quilt.

I had also started a 15 Minutes Play with some of the leftovers. But still had enough left to create whole another quilt.

The cleaning went out the door..  I cleared the sewing table with one swipe and decided to answer the call  of my creative energy.  

 It needed to let loose..

 

I had just enough of those triangle scraps left to make four fans.. Even though I am planning on appliqueing centers on each of these, I have decided that these deserves to be fans.. 

They have a certain kind of movement to them as if they are whirling! 

Besides, It has been too cold.. 

I am dreaming of hot summer day and the red background is pretty hot and keeping me warm.  

I believe that often times a quilt 'happens' because it wants to. 

Do you believe in that? 

What it takes to make the quilt is immaterial. It is almost as if I become the instrument when it wants to come to life..

I still have my red and green on the design wall. Isn't it funny how I am gravitated towards reds right now?  

 

This quilt was inspired by all the red and green quilts that were floating in blogland over the month of December. I decided to do my own version of it. Slowly and steadily, it will grow.

 There are lots of new details to put in this and 'Summer Dreams'.

As they say, "If you are dreaming, why not dream big?"

So, Dream away.. Big or Small,

We know it will be warm and cozy when that dream comes true!