Tote"lly Desi- A Secret Tote Swap at Desi Quilters

It has been long since I posted here. But still I am actively stitching a lot and teaching a lot. In the Desi Quilters group, there was a Tote Swap and I took part in it. Every member created a mood board/ picture collage with what they like and it becomes the inspiration for her secret partner to make a tote for her. We were not aware of our secret partner until we finished the project. Only at the time of shipping the tote, we know about the partner who made a tote for us. I was assigned with Damayanthi and had to make a tote for her. And I was not aware of the member who made a tote for me.

Here is Damayanthi's mood board:

To buy materials, I took my Ipad to the shop. Then with the help of this mood board I bought some fabrics. Made a simple tote according to this mood board.

Here is my creation for Damayanthi according to her mood board.

And here is my mood board:

Caroline was my secret partner and she made a wonderful tote for me

She also sent me a lot of hand made goodies along with the tote.

Thanks a lot Caroline. I am loving it all.

We had a nice time making the tote and I hope my partner enjoys the tote I made...

Pinky Pin Cushion - A simple DIY project

It has been nearly 5 months since I updated this blog. I made this pincushion several months back and took all the step wise snaps for the DIY project. But with so many other things to do, I completely forgot about this blog and the pin cushion. I made one similar to this for a challenge in Desi Quilters. This one is bigger than the one I made for the challenge. This was made from the bits of cloth after stitching a chudidar. So if you have some bits from some other project, then you can use it to make this lovely cute pin cushion. It is also very easy to make and will be very useful if you are going to quilt or stitch regularly.

Select three different fabrics which match each other. Choose according to your wish. The main fabric is cut into a circle of radius 6".

The other fabric is cut into a circle of radius 3 1/2".

For the ruffles, cut a strip measuring double the circumference of the smaller circle and 1 1/2" wide. 

Now cut out batting (I used a sponge sheet) to the size of the inner circle. 

Trim out 1/4" along the circumference of the batting/ sponge.

Now place the sponge in the centre of the bigger circle on the right side and pin it to secure.

Now join the strips of the ruffle fabric. Place one stripe perpendicular to the other leaving 1/4" on both the strips as shown. Draw a diagonal line across the square as shown.

Stitch along the line and trim off excess fabric.

Now when you open it you will see the neat finishing.

Now fold one edge and fold the strip into half. Pin it as shown.

Leaving 2-3" from the pinned edge, make pleats along the smaller circle's circumference, placing the stripe on the right side.

At the ending side, leave 1 1/2" without stitching.

Insert the unfinished edge into the starting edge, make a small pleat and stitch. This will give you a neat finish to the pleats.

See how easy it is to finish this way. It looks neat too...

Now pin the inner circle on the sponge.

Stitch the inner circle on the large circle, inserting the sponge into the stitch fold of the inner circle.

Once the sponge is inserted it is very easy to stitch.

Completed circles look like this.

Now with a needle and thread make a running stitch along the circumference of the larger circle.

Pull both the ends to gather it.

Now fill the circle with synthetic cotton filling and knot both the threads to make the cushion.

Now take a 3-4" square piece of lace or any cloth, place on the unfinished portion of the pin cushion and hand stitch it in place.

Your pinky pin cushion is ready for use. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial...

Sunny Bee Blocks For Desi Quilters

This post has been in my mind for so long but I think I am blogging very rarely here. As I was so busy with my recipe blog, I completely skipped updating this blog. I have been part of Desi Quilters for long and there is a group called sunny bees. Nearly 20 members of DQ are enrolled for this. Each month a member becomes the sunny bee and she asks others to make a block for her. Once all the blocks by the members are received, she puts them together to make an interesting quilt. I got enrolled as I thought it was fun and it is also a nice way to learn different techniques in quilting. I have sent out six block to sunny bees and this month I am the sunny bee. But this post is about the six block I made for friends. 

The first is the block for Bhavani Siddharth. She gave instructions for a sunflower applique block. She also mentioned the colours and the background fabric needed and I stitched it accordingly. As this was my first block, I was tensed but I think I ended up with a decent looking block. 

The second block was for Prasanna Narasimhan who gave us instructions for a sun block. It was stitched on a black back ground and it was quite easy to put together.

The third is for Nikhat who gave us one of the toughest challenges. IT was curved piecing which I have never tried. But her instruction were so perfect that I got it correct during my very first attempt. And I learnt a technique. This is the advantage to be part of this group. You learn something new every single day.

The fourth block was for Sunitha who asked for a log cabin. She didn't have so many rules and we were free to select the colour. But this is where I went wrong. As I searched the web for a log cabin I came across a pattern and I made it immediately. But It was more like alternating squares than log cabin. So Sunitha asked me to make another block which resembled a log cabin.

And here is my second attempt which Sunitha accepted.

The fifth block was for Medha Devdas and this was the toughest block ever. IT was the tumbling blocks. She gave us perfect instructions but putting together the pieces was very hard. I had to redo the block thrice to get a decent looking block. 

The final block which I sent out last month was for Manju Narain. Hers was a pieced rose block. She gave us exact instructions and all we had to do was to take a print out of the pieces, cut the pieces on fabric and stitch as instructed. It was an amazing and easy to put together block and it turned out nice.

I hope all the sunny bees liked my blocks. I will meet you all in my next post. Till then Take Care...

Hearts Quilted Mat

At Desi Quilter's they announce a monthly challenge with a theme. So last month's theme, as it was February,  was heart. We needed to quilt a piece with hearts in it. I enthusistically designed the mat and started putting it together. It was a small project but very interesting. After cutting out all the hearts and joining the base squares, I was stuck at the quilting part. Something went wrong with the machine and I couldn't stitch the hearts to the base. I tried and tried for two whole days and I was so frustrated, I put the whole project aside and decided not to participate. So the last date was gone and then I felt like trying it again. This time I made some adjustments in the machine and started quilting. Even this time there was problem but not as intense as the first time. So after struggling with the machine and my quilt for two days, I completed the mat finally. 

I saw the idea of stitching the hearts on Pinterest. The edges are let as it is with out finishing and when washed they will fray and give a nice effect. I haven't washed it yet but I hope it looks good after washing. 

I made a small pattern around the heart with white thread. They look kind of cute, isn't it??

Cut out a square measuring 5 1/2" on a chart paper and draw a heart inside it. You can fold the paper in half and draw only half of the heart. Cut it out.

Place the heart on the material you have decided on. Draw the outline and cut 5 hearts.

Now draw three more concentric hearts inside the first heart. First cut the outermost line, trace it on the fabric chosen and then repeat with the next two lines inside.

You will end up with 5 sets of four hearts which can be placed inside one another.

Cut out 6" * 6" square on the base fabrics. I cut out 5 pink ones and 4 purple ones.

Now join the squares as shown. Iron it out neatly with seams on one side.

Now cut out batting and backing fabric larger than the base square by 3"

Sandwich the batting between the backing and the base square and pin.

Now stitch along the lines.

Pin the largest hearts on to the pink squares.

Stitch along the outline. Place the other hearts and stitch along the outlines. I also quilted around the heart with an easy design.

The purple boxes were filled with a rangoli pattern.

Now cut off the excess batting and backing.

Finish off the edge with a 1 3/4" binding.

Close up of the heart...

I used white thread in the bobbin and the back looks like this. I need to improve my quilting...