Seeing many shades of red

My email account was hacked.

If you receive any email 'from me' asking to open a Google document 'I shared', DELETE AT ONCE!

Thank you Tonya, Kelly, Rachael, Jan and Pam and Palak for contacting me at once. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sujata

Cultural Fusion Quilts

Feeling accomplished! 

I wrote a book!

That's my name on the cover!

Cultural Fusion Quilts is about just that - Cultural Fusion.

The concept is quite parallel to my life. Living in America with deeply rooted Indian lifestyle has taught me one thing -to find the best of the both worlds. It has15 projects, rich and traditional yet bold and modern. It tells you where I get my inspirations and what I see in them. I wish I could show them all to you right now! After all you know how much I love a big show and tell.

Ever since C&T Publishing accepted my proposal, I've wanted to talk about the book. You can imagine my excitement. The acceptance of proposal was thrilling enough to tell the whole world but quite understandably, from the publishers' perspective, that's all I could tell you.

Rather than teasing you all, I chose to blog about other projects while working on quilts for the book. But soon trying to finish the hand quilting and managing all the deadlines took over and blogging took the back burner. I have neglected this blog time and time again in past year but not any more.

Here is the bright side to this all. You don't have to wait at all to have a copy of my book. It is available to pre-order on Amazon right now.

How amazing is that?

My book Cultural Fusion Quilts is due out in November 2014.

Will I ever get used to saying these two words?

My book?

I have had lots of help from family members and friends, both from near and far. You all know who you are. I am so grateful to have had encouragement from Barbara Brackman and Deb Rowden. I learned a lot and every moment spent on this book was all worth the effort. I cannot wait to hold it in my hands and turn the pages. More importantly, I cannot wait for you all to see it.

Download C&T Publishing's fall catalog here take a peek at a few more quilts from the book. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Come back and tell me what you think of those quilts. Tell a friend too. 

I can't wait to hear from you!

One more thing: I have created a Facebook page for this blog. Please visit and hit the "like" button! 

Frustrated

So frustrated!
Has it been that long since I worked on the machine? It can't be!

I can't find anything in my sewing room. The wedding was fun, three weeks of vacation and all... there was a long break before that too. But that is no reason to loose everything in the sewing room.

All I want to do, is piece a backing for this quilt. Find a white thread for the backing (machine is loaded with  darker thread, which will not work) and baste this quilt. Is that really too much to ask?
I was so organized not too long ago.. I need some serious hours of getting back to sewing.

Focus... I need focus.. Hmmmm... need some stitch therapy... as soon as I find my glasses!
:-)

Trying something new

 Photo by Terri Kramzar

I have spent last few days working on my indoor garden. Among all the indoor plants I have, orchids in particular have caught my attention this past year or two. I always thought they were difficult to grow, and them being so expensive, at the nurseries, I never even gave them a second look. What if I kill it? All that money would go to the compost bin. Instead of learning about them, the fear of wasting my money and failing always stopped me from trying. 

It all changed when a friend brought a white orchid as a 'thank you' gift. That orchid stayed fresh, in bloom for months! On top of that, now that I live close to the Longwood Gardens, I have had many chances to go their annual orchid extravaganza show and be inspired.

But having a gifted orchid and all those inspirations still did not change a thing! After the orchid was done blooming, I did not know what to do. I did not go on line or purchase a book on how to take care of an orchid. It seemed too boring to watch that plant grow at a snail's speed and wait for it to re-bloom. So it sat where it was, neglected for a long time. Generally, I talk to my plants! Yes I do, I watch them very closely... every new leaf, every new stem, every pest and every flower - nothing goes without being noticed. But this poor white orchid became an orphan. It dried out and at some point, after two years of not flowering, I considered tossing it in the compost pile.

Last September another friend, who I don't get to see often enough, brought me a gift. It was a complete random act of kindness on her part. She came at my door step, totally unexpected and brought me an orchid!

Now I had two orchids to watch slowly growing. This new one had so many buds still waiting to bloom, it excited me enough to look up on line on how to take care of it. I learned to water, fertilize and find a perfect spot in the house for this new member. It bloomed until I started putting Christmas decorations out! That was almost four months! I had made this orchid live for four months! Not only that, I notice what looked like a new shoot for the next bloom! What? I could actually make an orchid live in my house and rebloom? That was almost impossible! So I watched it grow, watered it once a week and fertilized when I remembered, a new leaf came and then that shoot grew buds! I left for Canada and when I came back, it was blooming!

A success!
This is how it looks this week! It's second time blooming within eight months being in my home!
I couldn't be happier!

Now here is the problem. Well, some would call it that but I think it's a blessing! Our local produce center sells orchids for next to nothing!
Since I have gained confidence in growing them, I bought few more!

I figured, I am learning as I go and they are fun to grow. They were so rooted in already, I decided to re-pot them. I read on American Orchid Society's website that it's best to re-pot them in early spring or summer. I bought clay pots from local Walmart for $1.99 and special Orchid-mix from the hardware store. 

 

Before 

After

 Check this out, it has freckles!

This one already started budding a new shoot! 

Isn't this a beauty?

I had an antique plant stand I picked up a while ago from a Goodwill store for $4.95 - which became a perfect stand to keep them up right. Now there is enough air circulating around them.

 All happy in one place!

My poor white orchid, was re-potted last fall just when the temperatures were about to dip.

I have learned that orchids are easy to grow as long as you keep them away from direct sun, near north facing window, don't let them dry out and keep the potting material moist but not soggy. Watch for the new buds just below the spent flowers. I made a mistake of cutting the stem back all the way down on my white orchid. I am still waiting for a flower stem to grow.

It is a little slow at growing but I have a feeling it will survive with it's new roots and leaves. Especially now that I have started 'talking' to it.

I hope I have encouraged you to try something you thought you would never do.

I know you are also wondering what is that first picture for? Check out my friend Terri's post today. It will inspire you to try something new in that area too. I know I am and can't wait to try it myself.

Have a happy day you all!

The wedding

Time flies when you are having fun and lately I have been doing just that! My nephew got married couple of weeks ago in Toronto. My mom and brother's family flew in all the way from India, as well as my kids from all over to attend the wedding. Although, professional pictures of the ceremony are weeks away, if not months, I thought I would give you the glimpse of the day.

I must warn you, this is a picture heavy post.

My nephew, Chintan and his bride to be, Lisa  

I got to see my kids all dressed up for the occasion.

Yes, that's frozen lake in the background! Burrrrr....It was so cold and windy, we were trying so hard to fight off the wind!

We got to experience both, Indian and Jewish ceremony. Lisa looked amazing in both outfits. Can you tell her dad is a big Elvis fan? He also performed as Elvis after the wedding, I must say, he was pretty good!

Happy couple!

 The knots were tied, literally :)

My sister, Kalpana and Lisa

My contribution in the wedding was to design the containers for the return gifts for the henna ceremony. I put my age old henna drawing skills to work and my sister in law glued the beads. We had fun catching up with each other while working on them.

I will come back with more pictures on that ceremony another day.

Henna design by a professional artist.

After the ceremony and dinner it was time to party! No pictures of me dancing here but trust me when I say this, my sisters had to drag me out from the dance floor. I am the only self appointed dancer, designer and the photographer in the family since the beginning of time! 

Us three sisters with mom and sis-in-law, Heena. 

Whenever I visit India, days are too short with many people to visit and places to be, we hardly get to sit down and just talk! I can not tell you how good it is to have mom here in north America again. Glad I stayed back extra days at my sisters' to spend some one on one time with her. She talked about my dad, my grandmothers and her childhood like it was just yesterday! I wish her stories stay in my memories forever so I can pass on what I have learned to my children.

Kavita with her baa

By the way, Lisa loved the quilt! It was a perfect gift to welcome her to the family.

It has been a very busy week since I got back entertaining family members and guests. No time to sew or even to think needle and thread!

Not for long though!

S words

 

Sewn with small salvaged scraps. 

Squares and rectangles and few long strips.

Confetti, 16 1/2'' x 18 1/2''

Stitched with Perle Cotton thread.

Sewn with salvaged bias strips for binding.

Had some serious fun while shooting pictures.

"Spring is around the corner" they say...

 I don't care what the weather is like today. 

Original pattern by, Jeanna Kimball

I am stitching away...

Keeping my thoughts aligned with my stitches.

As far as I am concerned... 

Spring is here!

First finish of 2014 and Reflections on Machine Quilting

My first quilt of 2014 is complete! Thank you all for your encouragement on machine quilting. It's been helpful to know that I am not the only one who gets stressed out over this whole process.

Although this wasn't my first ever machine quilting experience, I realized that the time in between two projects also dictates how I feel when I start these projects. I am almost certain that if I were to baste and quilt another quilt this week, I wouldn't be so worked up about it.

Thread
LeeAnn suggested using a thinner thread. It's a great tip! In the past I have used the thinner thread, it helps a lot since you are not refilling the bobbin as frequently.

I would also think little harder when I choose the color of the thread. With busy patterns and vibrant colors of this quilt, it was difficult to see the variegated thread I was using. I am okay with variation in the stitches but when I don't see the pattern forming with thread, it was hard to navigate through stitching.

My stitching was better when I could see the design and on darker or busier surfaces I was almost blind stitching. If that's even possible!

Handling the Quilt on the Machine
Most of my stress comes when I am working on the center of the quilt. Bulky quilts are hard to maneuver on a home machine. I was feeling the tightness in my shoulders, which was then slowly and surely creeping down onto my hands. I was pressing down the quilt so hard that it was holding me back from guiding it gently through the machine. As soon as I let go of that tightness, the quilting was better.
I guess that glass of wine must have helped but I don't drink wine so I settled for some music. Listening to CNN was not helping at all!

Owning it all!
In my earlier post I said my quilt was ruined. That's true, that's how I felt then. But the fact that I have still kept it the way it is, some how it suggests that I am thinking of someday redo the quilting. . Even if I said that to any of you, I know, it's never going to happen. I would rather be making new quilts than tearing old ones apart. They are truly the marks of my journey as a quilter. I like to be reminded on how far I have come from the first baby steps I took in 2006 with machine quilting. But the fact that I haven't bound it, suggests that I'm not owning it. Guess what I will be doing this weekend?

Why Machine Quilt when I enjoy Hand Quilting?
Belinda said she has 25 quilt tops hanging in the closet. I do too! Barb says she machine quilts some quilts for the assurance on wear and tear on the quilt. Nat Said she sends some of her quilts out to a professional machine quilter.
They all have good points. I need to have some of my caterpillar quilt tops turn into quilts. Unless I choose either one of the options of quilting, they are not magically turn into a butterflies. And there is no way I am going to quilt all of my quilts by hand. Then there is this theory I followed for a while - I would be okay with all stacked up tops! Now it's starting to bother me too. Not because of the number of quilt tops I have but because they are all folded and stored away, out of sight. I want to see them more often and use them as quilts.

The Stack!

I love my stack of finished quilts.. Not only they keep us warm in the evenings but they bring such excitement in everyone's eyes when they see them. I want that for myself for my old quilt tops in suitcase. I want them to be new quilts in the family room. This winter has been so cold, we have practically used every single quilt I have.
I have sent my quilts to the long-arm quilters in the past and still planning to for some of the large quilts.
If I were comfortable with my machine quilting, I would make more quilts for charity and for gifts.

Practice makes it better, if not perfect
I am not looking for perfection. For so many reasons, I would like to just get comfortable with machine quilting and enjoy it. We all know that everything gets better with practice. I have no doubt that if I continued, I will loose all the anxiety and figure out easier ways to handle the stress in this process and eventually completely avoid it.
I have tried practicing on smaller quilts and it works like magic! But when it comes to larger quilts, it's trickier. So now I am going to practice on larger quilts. I am not the kind of person who worries about the irregularities in my work. In fact, I love that about quilting. I just want to be comfortable. I have machine quilted large quilts before, just not as gracefully, that's all!

Respect for the Process of Machine Quilting 

Kavita's Ferris Wheel, 2011, designed, pieced and machine quilted by Sujata Shah

By no means I think machine quilting is easier than hand quilting or, it has lesser place in my mind. Whether I  machine quilt or by hand, I personally go through the process, I am guiding my quilt, if free motion quilting is done, I am designing as I go, so I do understand that it is still hand work. I am very much involved, almost too involved. I can't look up, I can't talk while I quilt, I am pretending to be listening to the music but all I am hearing is the sound of my machine. It gets tiring and frustrating if I let it get to me.

Julie said it right -" I so respect and admire the work machine quilters do (domestic, mid arm, and long arm - especially those who do hand guided stitching)." I so agree with her.

I made super queen size Ferris Wheel in 2010, it was for my daughter's bed so it had to be machine quilted. I quilted this one with all my mighty! 

All that quilting created heavy texture on the quilt and it's been washed a few times. I love textures of all kinds!

Sometimes you also need that feeling of accomplishment. Machine quilting allows me to do that. I would not have been able to finish three quilts on time for Christmas for my kids any other way.

Snow Blossoms, 2014

Snow Blossoms is done! It's still snowing. Another snow storm is around the corner. Glad I was working on this quilt and not crying over the endless winter other than few occasions.

Thank you! Each one of you, for participating in this conversation by leaving comments on the previous post. None of us love it but we all agreed, it has to be done!

It gave me lot to ponder over which I did by hand quilting one of the mini quilts. That was a great way to wind down from all that machine quilting.