Making of a Diary Quilt - 2

Getting on with the Making of a Diary Quilt - Part 2.

Day 9 - Making yo - yo's or Suffolk puffs.

I made seven yo- yo's because there are seven stars which make up the Saptarishi Mandal or constellation also known as the Big Dipper in the Western World.

Day 10 - Applique the yo - yo's onto the quilt top.

There is an interesting story about the Saptarishi Mandal, which you can read here - The Story of  Vashishtha and Arundhati. 

Day 11 - Connect the yo - yo's with running stitch.

I chose a yellow silk for the yo - yo's because these yellow Angel's Trumpet flowers release a beautiful fragrance at dusk and the night air is beautifully scented.

I suspect the flowering has something to do with the cycles of the moon as well.

Day 12 - Improv patchwork. Make it as large or small.

I decided to represent the many moods of the Nilgiri sky.

The brilliant blue winter sky, which is all blue with not a single cloud in the sky, the moody monsoon sky with dark rain clouds and the cloudscapes which will have one day dreaming for hours.

Day 13 - Attach the improv patchwork anywhere on the quilt top.

Day 14 - Hand yoga.

Day 15 - Choose a piece of fabric, trace the outline of a familiar object and applique it  anywhere on the quilt top.

I used this fabric which I got in a giveaway. It matches the teal blue of my phone cover.

Day 16 - Trace the outline of a familiar object and embroider it.

I wear a gold chain with a gold sovereign or coin given by my paternal grandmother, so that's what I placed on the quilt top and traced the outline of and embroidered.

Day 17 - Onto a piece of fabric, trace out a part of your body and applique it onto the quilt top.

Decided to trace out my foot. Symbolic of the all the walking I do in the garden.

The fabric is Shwe shwe fabric from South Africa. 

Thank you Helen van Zyl for all the shwe shwe fabric swatches you sent me when we had a fabric page swap.

Day 18 - Embroider or appliqué a piece of clothing. The size is left to you to choose.

These are my  patched black trackies.

I have two pairs which developed holes because my cat Gin has a tendency to dig her claws into my legs when she wants to be fed.

The track pants are of knit fabric and I patch the holes with the fabric from old panties.

These trackies are boros in the making, one patch at a time.

The quilt top is slowly filling up.

I think a third part will be required. Shall have that up in a couple of weeks.

I hope you have a creative weekend and get to indulge yourself making , messing around or learning something new.

A Tribute Book

This tribute book is for my father who passed away on the 5th of February 2022. 

Made with the pages of the #buriedearthbookproject. 

The fabric pages of the book which was buried and unearthed after close to three months were quite fragile.

I thought it was fitting to make a book with the fragile fragments appliqued onto pages of unbleached cotton. 

The verse from 2 Timothy 4:7 was what we chose to have engraved on the headstone.

My sister wrote a beautiful tribute message which she read out at the memorial service. I had her handwrite the same in a little booklet which is put into a pocket.

A mild mannered person who loved the outdoors, animals and was always up for travel and adventure. He was a basketball player and watched cricket matches and tennis on television.He loved caramel custard and laddus. 

There was a laddu in each snack box which was given out at the memorial service.

A card distributed during the memorial service is there in two other pockets.

He is remembered very fondly and with deep respect by friends, family and the members of the church he belonged to.

Infinite Hope

Infinite Hope - a mini quilt and my entry to the Great British Quilter, Hope Mini Quilt Challenge.   

I began with a nine patch hand pieced base.

On the center patch I embroidered a Martin Luther King Jr quote.

The central square is white surrounded by dark squares and this is a metaphor for light at the end of the tunnel signifying hope.

A spiral composed of appliqued circles, Buttonhole wheels and French knots.

The spiral is a metaphor for growth and therefore hope.

Ready to start quilting.

I decided to quilt the mini quilt the same way kantha quilts are quilted - an all over running stitch which creates these soft rippling texture.

For the binding I decided to use white.

Another metaphor for Hope - Every cloud has a silver lining.

Infinite Hope quilted and ready to be bound.

Like the rest of the quilt, I was going to hand sew it. 

This was a first for me but I managed to do it thanks to YouTube videos this one by Missouri Star and this one without which it would not have been possible. The binding is not perfect but it's not bad for a first attempt. Encouraged to try again when I make the next quilt which is going to be a crazy quilt.

Traditional Indian quilts don't have a binding.

We must accept finite disappointment, 

but never lose Infinite hope.

 

12" × 12", entirely hand stitched, hand embroidered, hand quilted and hand bound.

We are in lockdown so all the materials used are from my stash. All the fabrics are upcycled. The batting and backing are old bedsheets. Similar to traditional kanthas which use layers of cotton saris. 

Waiting to hear from the Great British Quilter.

Blooming in my Garden

My first quilt ever - Blooming in my Garden is  completed and ready to submit to the India Quilt Festival 2021.

That's the quilt. 3' x 4'  entirely hand stitched except for the binding which was machine stitched by Govindraj, the friendly tailor at Darlington Bridge.

I started the quilt during the lockdown, so apart from designing the quilt I decided to make it an exploration of thrift and sustainability.

So the rules I set myself was to use what I had in my stash  be it fabric, embroidery thread etc. 

The only things I had to buy were a metre of unbleached cotton fabric and iron on paper fusing which I ran out of.

The lovely vivid colored cotton fabric are those I got from a friend who makes garments, the fabric cutoffs from her garment collections.

My garden which has different flowers in bloom as the seasons changed were the inspiration for my motifs.

Every little bit of appliqué,  quilting and joining of blocks was done by hand. I don't have a sewing machine and I couldn't justify buying one just for this project.

All traditional quilts in India are hand sewn be it the Kanthas of Bengal, the Kaudis and Kawandis of Karnataka. A unique artistic expression of the women who make them. Embroidered motifs of flora and fauna found in their environment. They use what they have - give old or torn clothes a new lease of life, a sustainable way of life.

My quilting too is to hold the many layers together so it's simple free-form quilting. The quilt Police will have a lot to say I'm sure.

I used the cartons of Monsoon Harvest  to cut out the paper foundation for the English paper piecing method of patchwork.

For the batting and the back of the quilt I used old bedsheets. Sheets with use and washing have become soft.

It's been a labour of love a project with so much to learn from.

The last big project for 2020.

I'm completing smaller projects for the festive season. A nativity garland to add a Christmas touch to my mum's home. Making batches of easy white chocolate fudge and sending in an application to a gallery which I hope will represent me.

Stay safe and well this holiday season.

Blooming in my Garden - a quilt

I'm making my first quilt, hoping to have it done by December to enter The Indian Quilt Festival 2021.

Very ambitious some might say but I'm taking a swing at this challenge.

Quilt purists will in all probability shudder at my plan but I'm approaching it as a fun learning experience.

There's appliqué and embroidery. Techniques I gravitate to when I want to express myself.

My garden with all the shapes and colours in it are the inspiration for my rather fanciful flowers which I'm drawing.

There will be these appliqué and embroidered blocks, hand pieced patchwork and I intend to join the patchwork and appliqued blocks with faggoting. Not exactly a technique used in making a quilt top but I don't have a sewing machine and hand sewing is what I know to do.

I will enter the finished quilt under the Floral Raphsody category.

These four floral blocks will be in the four corners of the quilt. The finished quilt will measure 48" × 36" or 3' × 4'

I'm going to start working on the hand pieced patchwork sections.

How are you doing? Keeping well and safe I hope.

What creative project are you involved with?Have a good week.