Block Prints Quilt

Ever since I came home from Sisters, I have spent a lot of time in my sewing room. There are quite a few unfinished projects lingering in my head and in my studio. It is time to pay attention to those and make progress. 

"Block Prints" began in the classroom during Quilters Affair 2023. I always like to do live demo, give pointers and tip as I go along about the technique. After making a few blocks, my head kept going back to Jaipur, India, where the idea of making this quilt originated. 

I took the liberty to follow my own belief and decided to relieve myself from worrying about looking for perfection. I embraced the irregularities and imperfections that come along in this abstract interpretation of a block made with triangles. 

Before the book was published, I wanted to arrange the blocks in this setting but I chose the other way. So this was easy to decide. The picture you see here is the one from 2012 when I was making the quilt for the book.

I love how abruptly the triangles get cut, how they create a movement within the block and then somehow also create the rhythm going upward. 

This time around, I chose the colors and fabrics inspired by my experiences in India. The Pink City of Jaipur has left a lot of great memories. Watching  the block carvers and printers do their magic right in front of your eyes is something I will never forget. 

The colors on the buildings - shops, temples, homes, in old city are painted pink. They were painted in honor of Queen Victoria who visited Jaipur but the City Palace walls remained light gold. Ever since then, the buildings get the pink wash every now and then and so the city is known as The Pink City.

 

For this new quilt, I did not have to pull these pictures out to collect my fabrics. I rely a lot on my memories of places I have been and sites I have seen. Memories and conversations ultimately drive the creative process of making a quilt.

I finished the quilt top last night. It has been a long time since I made such a large quilt. I amused myself. It felt so good to be in the studio with the music on, picking and choosing fabrics in the shades of  terracotta, peachy pink walls and different shades of clay and dirt. In the village of Bagru, and surrounding areas, freshly block printed fabric and/or indigo dyed fabric is laid on the ground to dry and set with the heat of the Sun. The colors of dirt was important. I had also visited potters at the time and clay was important part of the blend.

 

 At the block printers, you can find variety of blocks in size, patterns, and designs.

So here is the quilt top. It took four years from my last visit to India for this to happen and 12 years since I had thought of making this quilt. 

 

 

I hope you are sewing something fun!

Sujata

 

it all adds up

It was little over a year ago when I wrote this post about the good news and the bad news.. My daughter was moving to the bay area and my husband had a new job is San Diego. They both started their new job on the 30th of October. What a year it has been since then!

I made this quilt soon after we moved to San Francisco in 2015. I am not sure if I ever shared this story but it is a good reminder of how life's events make up the life itself and it is never is a one note song.

Back in Fall of 2015 soon after we moved, I thought I could do without the sewing machine for a while. I thought there will be plenty to explore in the city while we looked for our new home in the suburbs. I soon realized that I could not do without the sewing machine. I borrowed my friend's machine to see what I could do. There was a Good will store near by, which became my fabric source. I walked to the store and bought myself some fabric.

Not having any rotary cutting supplies was a non-issue. My friend had given me a kitchen scissors and that was plenty. I was set. I started tearing the strips and made simple blocks without any measurements. They all turned out to be different size. 

With no design wall, our bed became the place to lay out the blocks. It worked just fine! I first arranged together all the blocks that were roughly similar in size. If they were slightly small I added the strips. Chopping them up was not an option. I really wanted to use up all the fabric and make as large of the quilt I could.

Once all the large blocks were arranged and sewn up, I had to fill up the space. There were just enough scraps and strings left to piece few smaller blocks.

The clothes I bought were not all cotton and I am glad that was the case. My focus was on buying prints that were cheerful. The apartment was grey and dull, too modern for my taste, I needed to focus on colors and prints that would make me happy for the time being.

I used every bit of leftover fabric to sew a skinny border all around the quilt top. I figured some day will turn this quilt into a summer quilt and the time has come!

It is time to stitch the next chapter of our lives into this quilt.

I am thrilled to say my husband starts a new job in the bay area next week and coming home in couple of days. 

There have been many ups and down in last couple of years with him loosing his original job, searching for a new one and subsequently moving away from home. We both had decided to hang tight for a year and see how that job would go before moving permanently to San Diego. We all know, nothing is permanent in life but it has been challenging to say the least.

My days and life's events have been as different as these blocks. Life's experiences - good, bad and ugly - they all add up. I've always believed I am here because of the roads I  have traveled and these past few years are no exceptions.

He comes home in two days!

I am happy to be here, waiting.