tea mats

Mom is making an apple pie for family's Friday night dessert, while dad is still at work. He is waiting for the last boat to leave. This boat trip seem to be very popular with only 8 pence a ticket and chilled milk & berries at the cafe for excited travelers.

Pillows in the sofa are fluffed, tea and biscuits are ready, elder sister and baby hippo couldn't wait to show new dance steps they have learnt to dad. Little sister is dressed up and looking cute for Friday evening's fun!

I got inspiration for these paper pieced dolls from Kumiko Fujita's book '318 Patchwork patterns'. It is a delicious book with adorable pictures from front page to the last. The patterns are actually meant for hand sewing, but we can tweak them and sketch out on graph paper to turn them into paper piecing patterns.

This girl is in the book but I changed her face and hair style to give her piggy tails.. I find pig tails on little girls extra sweet, even more so when they go up and down swinging to the dance steps!

I was afraid of spoiling their faces if I stitch their eyes with thread, so I thought of sewing black beads but the ones I got turned out too big for the tiny faces. So I couldn't escape this necessary step. It was a relief to see they came out well with twinkly eyes and sparkly smiles ( * v * )

I got a little bit stuck on how to convey the sailing boat feeling. When I was looking through the fabrics I found one border print with clouds.  After fussy cutting, it was perfect fit for a boat gently swaying on the waves.

I used regular batting for the inside and plain linen on back side of the mat. Dolls are about 2.5" x 5" in size if I remember correctly.  My friend said she likes her tea mats, that made me very happy :)

 Thanks so much for visiting! Hope you are enjoying a delightful summer ( ' u ' ) 

Market tote

Hi friends, hope you are enjoying a bubbly summer, going to beach or swimming in a cooling pool ( ' u ' )

I managed very little sewing in the last month, mostly due to my laziness but I could blame it on bird songs and bright blue skies ;)

Have you heard of Guy Latulippe? Guy is a designer and also a teacher at 'Work room' in Canada. He creates unique bag patterns for his Etsy shop. I was completely smitten with the clean lines and cleverness behind each of his bag designs when I saw them for the first time last year and bought three of his patterns.

Market tote is one them. It is generously sized (18"L x 15"H) with 6 outer pockets, 3 on either side and plenty of storage space, perfect to take for market trips, picnics on beach or even for sewing retreats.

Only addition I made to the pattern is the inside pocket for quick access to a notepad or wallet or keys. I was making these bags for two dear friends, when picking fabrics I tried to pick something they might have chosen for themselves. I don't know if I get full marks there but I still hope they find it new and exciting ;)

Guy's pattern was like an excellent teaching lesson, I learned many things while sewing this bag, his instructions walk us through every step and minute detail with lot of care and ease. I am also very thankful for the hand drawn sketches and scribbled notes at every stage which even included pressing directions for seams. Not a small detail was missed.

I bought a hard copy for the full size templates and instructions came in PDF form. It was so nice to have full size templates ready to use without having to worry about taping or enlarging, I really appreciated it.

For interfacing, I used 'Annie's soft and stable'. I came to know about this product through my friend Stephanie. I also lined the lining fabric with SF101 by Pellon to add bit more sturdiness.

Thank you so much, Guy for sharing your insight and experience through these amazing patterns. I wouldn't have dreamed to produce a professional looking bag without your guidance!!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great Summer! ( ' v ' )

wildflowers log cabin quilt

Along with bears and bunnies, I burrowed deep during snowy winter and kept busy with log cabin blocks, Kalyan's old shirts mixed with fun fabrics from stash resulted in this patchwork quilt.

It is loosely based on wild flower theme. I picked a bright orangey red and a mossy green flower print from Heather Ross, Far far away collection for the center squares. 

For almost a month, I did nothing but taking shirts apart and cutting them into 1.5" strips. I had also cut lot of strips from fabrics which reminded me of things Kalyan likes. As I kept making the blocks I had to make a hard decision and leave out a bunch of strips due to their busyness or odd color.

When I had enough blocks I started to lay them out on the design wall and realized some of the dark fabrics I used were making the quilt too dark and not so cheery as I hoped. So I remade 20 blocks and seam ripped dark sections of another 10 blocks as it seemed a waste to remove them completely. That also tested my patience ;)

I wanted to make this quilt light and airy to be able to use in spring and autumn, so I tried a new batting (Fairfield Nature-Fil) 50% bamboo and 50% organic cotton, it is really soft and light weight., and a breezy double gauze fabric for the backing. This print is Fuccra by Nani Iro. I didn't have enough of it, so I combined it with a playful animal print by Mico's designs for the back.

The flowery gauze on the edge makes me think of rainy days when leaves are shining with raindrops and tiny flowers are at their brightest. A wild boar and piglet print was begging to be included, so I sneaked in small pieces into the binding. These two fabrics are Japanese import by Kobayashi.

I thought I chose a simple pattern for practicing long arm quilting, but the smooth curving loops proved tricky with no place to pause when I needed to loosen up and relax my shoulders. The curves I did are not so smooth or shapely, but I was relieved that at least the lines didn't run over each other where they are not supposed to! Quilt size is 72" x 90".

A big Thank you to Elnora and her wonderful IG friends for hosting this lovely Scrappy Log cabin quilt along! ( ' u ' )

✿ Have a Happy Spring  ✿ 

Little letters quilt

Little letters quilt is ready for baby snuggles..

Blocks in this quilt being sharp and square, I tried to soften the look by rounding the corners. A bright blue bias tape with orange fruits and white flowers was so attractive that I fell hard for it.

It is my first time trying bias binding on a quilt. I followed this tutorial. The step where bias tape is set in place around the corners by pressing with an iron was very helpful. This allowed the bias tape to settle in without any resistance.

Since the alphabets wanted to keep every bit of attention for themselves, I left them alone and did a simple stitch-in-ditch quilting in the sashing. And the borders are slightly different widths on different sides.

Pattern for this quilt is available on Temecula Quilt Co. blog.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend! Thank you for stopping by! ( ' u ' )

a month of minis

We had unusual visitors in February, four friendly turkeys took to sleeping in the trees in our neighbors yard, but in the morning, they stretch their legs, hop and skip to places they are not supposed to be in. I made a Turkey tracks block to remember these guests.

This is my first block using a feedsack print, I am hesitantly dipping into more of these feedsacks I got from friends. 

Amanda created a lovely tutorial for this Hashtag block. I changed the name to peek-a-boo as a little yellow chick and her fluffy friends were bent on playing hide and seek.

A fly is bothering this deer so early in the morning.. eek! what a pest! 

Friendship block in browns and blues is a free pattern @ sentimentalstitches.net in Midget blocks section.

Mouse family is tired of cold, they are sailing to a far away tropical place where sunshine and cheese crackers can be found in plenty year around.. lucky lucky mice!

I keep making transportation blocks in one form or other, with a faint hope to escape this cold myself!

Mr. Pig is out picking flowers in the pine tree forest. 

Old maid is puzzled why her chores are never ending.. she is miffed that a pile of broken dishes is also waiting to be cleaned up so late in the day!!

Bear is looking jolly, he has great plans to go on a hike and gather pot full of honey.

Rabbit wants to know if having two carrots with cake and ice cream on the side can be counted as balanced diet?

Most of the blocks are from Susan Briscoe's '130 mini quilt blocks'. I am also using '500 quilt blocks' book by Lynne Goldsworthy and Kerry green, adjusting measurements to make them into small size. I adore this book and starting to refer to it often. It is a must have on any quilt lover's book shelf.

Wish you a Happy new month! ( ' u ' )

chocolates

Valentine's day is almost here with pretty chocolate boxes in mouthwatering flavors tempting at every turn. I got to thinking about making a cute candy of patchwork kind with our own favorite fillings and shiny wrappers that won't disappear in a matter of seconds but are safely satisfying.

A short tutorial if you are also in a chocolate mood :)

Candy block size = 2.75" square.

Choose a fussy cut center ( a ) - cut 1 square - 1. 5".

choose background ( b ), candy wrapper  (c ) - cut 1 of each, 1. 5" square.

background (d ) -  cut 4 rectangles - 1. 5" x 1 1/8" wide.

background (e) - cut 2 squares - 1 1/8".

Make 2 Half square triangles with b, c. Trim to size 1 1/8".

( steps to make Half square triangle block is in the above photo )

For a snowball like center piece..

* Cut 2 squares from background ( f ) = 3/4" 

* Take center square ( a ). Place ( f ) on opposite corners. 

* Draw a line from corner to corner diagonally. Sew on this line.

* Trim the edge leaving 1/4" seam allowance. Press corner piece to outside.

* Now follow the above photo and sew the pieces together one row at a time, pressing seams toward ( d ).

* Sew top row to center row, press seams open.

* Now sew the last row to the center row, press seams open. 

* Enjoy your colorful candy!

I don't know if a pattern for this block already exists, I just made this out of a whim and I hope the measurements are correct. I did test them on two blocks, if there is a mistake or a typo, please forgive me ( ^ o ^ )

♥ Have a Happy day! ♥

minis

waiting for spring and baskets full of posies

sweeping stars in the sky is a rare sight these days

ladybugs on the lawn are even rarer

itsy bitsy bear waved a hello

we went to yummy house and had a round round cookie, all our worries melted like snow.

These are the blocks for Amanda's Block-a-day quilt along. I came to know about it recently and got so smitten with her mini patchwork blocks that I couldn't stop myself from tagging along. Only rule is to use scraps and have fun. 

Some of the patterns I followed are from 'Quick little quilts' book which has neat lessons for piecing tiny blocks including pressing directions which was very helpful for my first blocks. Quilting.about.com also has nice tutorials to make them in different sizes. I am waiting for Susan Briscoe's '130 mini quilt blocks' book in the mail, then I can simply turn a page and make a block for that day :)

Have a cookie and stay safe in this wild weather! ( * - * )

play mat in the making

Freshly made blocks baked golden brown

with raisins like squares shining in the centers

finding a clock, a milk carton or a flower to fussy cut for these squares was lot of fun.

The quilt in the original pattern was a bit small to be a play mat. So I changed the layout and separated the blocks with creamy yellow dots, a vintage pillowcase in its past life., nice to see it blend in and get along so well with new fabrics.

In the end, sadly, Z got left out, so I reserved a spot for it in the border ;)

Hope you are enjoying a great start into the New Year, Happy weekend! ( ' v ' )