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...

Black And White Scottie Dog

I came to know about this scottie dog when Madhu of Desi Quilter's group posted a snap of the dog she made for her friend. That was so lovely and My daughter would love it. So as my daughter is at her aunt's place, I wanted to make this as a surprise gift for her. I know that she would shower me with her kisses when she sees this beautiful dog. This also serves another purpose for me. For this month's Desi Quilter's Challenge, we need to make a quilt with black, white and a printed fabric. So I think I hit two birds with a stone. This is also my entry to the challenge. I searched the web for a tutorial and came across a free download for the pattern at dsquilts. I followed the tutorial and ended up with this lovely looking dog. The toughest part was the joining of the side strip. I struggled to get it neat and it was worth the effort. I recently bought a 1/4" pressure foot and it was of great help when joining squares. The squares came out neat and aligned beautifully.

The dog uses squares black and white along with a long black stripe.

Black- 2 1/4" square -26 nos

White- 2 1/4" squares-26 nos

Black stripe 55" long and 2 1/4" wide

Printed cotton stripe 26" long and 6" wide for the collar

Cut all the squares and the black stripe.

Arrange the squares as shown. You need to make another piece which is the mirror image of the given pattern.

First join the near by squares in the same row. Press the seams flat.

Now join the rows. Press the seams flat.

Make the other side which is the mirror image of the first side.

Join the stripe along the sides and finally join both the sides of the stripe.

Now join the stripe with the other side leaving 5" for turning over.

Bring inside out through the opening.

Stuff it neatly with synthetic cotton.

Finish off the opening with a hand stitched zig zag stitch.

Knot it up.

Join the stripe along the side keeping the fabric right to right.

Turn inside out and press at the seam.

Stitch off both the ends.

Tie it around the dog's neck and secure it with a stitch. Stitch two buttons for eyes and a flower at the knot.

Strip Quilted Mat

There are challenges for every month in Desi Quilters. The rules will be given at the start of the month and we need to make a quilt according to the given rules. For the month of October the challenge was to make a strip quilt. Any quilt involving strips qualify for the submission. I saw the method of paper piecing a strip quilt blog at FITF blog. I used that method for the 8 blocks which form the centre of the mat. Both sides of the centre piece are strips of different colours matching the centre piece. The quilt is completed with batting, backing and binding. This is the first time I am using batting and I was nervous. Though the finished mat looks good, it needs some fine tuning. May be I will get the finishing works perfect in my next quilt.

The quilt measures 34" * 36" and I will be using it for meditation after yoga. The fabrics used are printed cotton. The backing used is also printed cotton and the batting is also cotton. I finished the quilt with a 3" wide binding.

Cut out strips of fabric. I used four printed and one solid white. For the blue strips, I used 1 1/2" strips and the yellow and orange strips measured 2". The white strip measured 1 1/2". Cut out 8 paper squares measuring 8" * 8 ".

In the centre of the paper, stick the white strip diagonally using gum stick.

Stitch the darker blue strip placing it right to right on the white strip.

Open the seam and iron it out.

Now place the lighter blue strip right side facing the darker strip and stitch.

Open the seam and iron.

Continue until you reach the corner of the paper.

Stitch the orange and yellow strips to the other side of the white strip.

Now turn the block and trim the fabric to the size of the paper square.

Your block looks like this.

Now remove the paper from the block. It will be easy to remove as the paper is perforated with the stitch.

Press the block and it is ready to be stitched.

To get an idea of the finished quilt, arrange the pieces on the floor. Now stitch all the pieces together.

Cut out batting and backing fabric to the size of the finished piece.

Pin all the sides and centre before stitching.

Stitch the sides and along the lines of the blocks.

Finish the quilt with the binding.

The backing fabric seen after folding over the quilt. 

Traditional Cathedral Window Wall Hanging

This is the next QAL ( Quilt Along) at the desi quilters. This was supposed to be over last month but due to some illness, I couldn't take up the project. Chumkie who taught us the other two methods of Cathedral Window Quilts ( I did cushion covers using the technique), taught us the traditional method to do a cathedral window quilt this time. It was a lot of fun. First I decided to make a cushion cover but at the final moment changed it into a wall hanging. I loved this method than the other two I have posted already. You can see the tutorial by Chumkie at her blog ( click on the link)

I used 7" square piece of off white fabric for the back ground and 2" square for the window pane. I also added some stones to make the wall hanging.

Quilted Coaster

This is my first quilted coaster. I tried it in a monochromatic theme. I will give the step wise pictures for doing this coaster. I used three printed cotton fabrics and a solid for binding. As I am new to quilting, I followed the tutorial of binding from Crazy Mom Quilts Blog. You can refer it to know about the technique.

First I drew a pattern on a white sheet which measures 6" * 6". For the different fabrics I used different colours so that I can get an idea of the finished quilt.

As the theme is monochromatic, I chose the fabrics with shades of blue.

For 1 coaster you need:

Dotted Blue Fabric: 

3 1/2" *2"- 4pieces 

2" *2"- 4pieces

Dark Blue Dotted Fabric:

2" *2" - 4pieces

Light Blue With Floral Prints:

2" * 2" - 8pieces

Place a dark blue square on the rectangle right sides facing together and draw a horizontal line as shown.

Stitch along the line and leave 1/4" and cut the remaining fabric.

Open the triangle and press it.

Place another square on the rectangle right to right as shown.

Stitch on the line and cut the fabric leaving 1/4".

Open out and press. You get one flying geese. Prepare the other three.

The two squares must be fixed like this.

Join the squares with a 1/4" seam, open and press.

Join it with the flying geese like this.

Arrange the four squares on a table.

Join the two pieces adjacent to each other with a 1/4" seam. Open and press.

Then join the two rectangles. Open and press.

Cut a backing fabric to the same size as the block.

Keep wrong sides facing each other and stitch all the sides.

Cut the binding with the solid fabric. Stitch all over the sides mitering the corners

Finish back with a blind stitch.

Coaster is ready.