WIP!

My family tease me as they say I can never sit still and just Chill!!  The fingers have to be busy all the time! True that!!! I miss the sewing when I am traveling though, so always carry something with me. The other great love in my life in the craft category, is crocheting!!! I find it so relaxing and have some work in progress amongst my multiple projects. This month has been one of travel...so the bit of work that has been my constant has been this table cloth which I am making as a gift for my daughter! The pattern is from a friend who made a very successful one.

Its a lovely star design and will look lovely on her dark polished wood dining table.

I've used a slightly thicker cotton thread this time....and like the effect. Plan to make linen napkins edged with a narrow crochet border!

Cards for my babies!

New Bernina and a renewed love for quilting....I have decided to make birthday cards for my babies!
Nishka's

Nitasha's

Bee 2

This is the first block in the 2nd Quilting Bee I am participating in! Bhavani wanted us to make her a sun flower, the main petals in shades of any chosen colour appliqued on to a white square!....I have taken a little artistic license, and added a little more colour, but the effect is great! The Bee's are such fun as it challenges us to create something new, people have such great imaginations and I benefit by being part of their new ideas!
Applique with the Bernina is such fun. I like the blanket stitch look effect, and am now furiously experimenting!

The picture is complete!

I finally finished the wall hanging! I have to thank Martin Wadell and the story 'Owl Babies' for the inspiration and of course the fact that it is Sufi's bestest story at the moment! Viveck critically looked at my fabrics for the binding and chose this one, so now feels he has had a hand in its creation!!! He certainly is totally appreciative and encouraging of all I do, so that's true in a way!  I hope Sufi likes it and it brightens up her room! I loved making it!

Percy and Sarah owl

Followed by little Bill!

WIP, A wall hanging for Sufi!

This month's Challenge in DQ is to make a single piece quilt. I decided to make a wall hanging  for Sufi's new room in Mumbai. It was also a way to use my brand new Bernina sewing machine....which Viveck got me! With an assortment of quilting foots as well!!!
Sufi loves the story of the 3 owls, and I read it to her many times when I was last with her. Now there are 2 barn owls that come to her flat in Mumbai some evenings, so this seemed a good picture.
I found a great design on the net and adapted it to finally come up with this one! I wanted a night scene, but just couldn't find the right kind of fabric. After a frustrating afternoon looking for the correct fabric in the market, I decided to paint the background using fabric paint. Since this is going to be a wall hanging I have used a heavy cotton. I had great fun actually splashing 5 kinds of blue on to the fabric with a really fat brush!

I next made the templates on paper. I chose an assortment of fabrics and stuck the bits onto fusible backing which stiffened the fabric. I then cut out the pieces.

I have now placed all the bits on to the fabric and am ready to use my new machine to applique them on!

Tiny pieces!

The August Challenge for DQ was to make 'a mini not bigger than 12'x12, using pieces not bigger that 1.5' finished...and the colours were saffron, white and green only, the colours of the Indian flag.' I thought about it quite a bit and decided I would try something different. I would try and use my favourite method of quilting and  crazy quilt mini squares. And the 12"x12" finished piece  would also make a great cushion cover.

So first I got all the bits and pieces of fabric in place...Artistic licence to vary the colours a little to make it more appealing (I have never liked the green on the flag). I started by making a really wonky wonky block...and loved doing that.

I then cut the block into tiny 2" squares, in a random sort of fashion, keeping half inch for sewing, so that would give me the 1 1/2" square that Tina had specified!

I wanted to use the green as a frame so that each tiny square would stand out, so cut the little 2 X 3/4" rectangles and connected them together.

I was leaving for an extended visit to the States and decided this was just the thing to take with me to sew on the long 4 X 15 hour flight from Kolkata to New York! So all the piecies were cut and packed into a little travelling kit, which fit neatly into my bag. All the joining was done by hand and I enjoyed that as I like sewing by hand! 

Patterns in Nature

Walking through Central Park in New York, the weather was warm and the sun streamed in through the trees. So many images and so many designs that one could use on the quilts I keep planning to make. Images and colours I can use for painting my water colours as well!