Wishing everyone a Happy and Blessed New Year.....

By the Grace of God ......2010 was a blessed and wonderful year.....
There are only Good memories which I will always cherish in my life.
My crafty side was not very productive, though it has now come on track, this month. I hope my motivation continues throughout the next year.
2011-2012 is going to be very crucial for my elder son, He is in his last year of school...... ie Grade 12. So for me priority will be his things.  I hope and pray that he comes out with flying colours and manages to get admission in a good college. 
I also pray that all of you out there, have a healthy and blessed New Year. Please do keep me inspired and motivated  with your lovely comments and creativity.


                         WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hands on free motion quilting……..

My quilting  classes was a turning point in developing my crafty hobbies further, and it always kept me inspired to do more of it.   Its  been more than a week since I got my free motion foot from Dubai,  (courtesy Nima,  since she frequently visits Dubai)  I desperately wanted to try it.   

That morning, I called up Nima to tell her that I am going to try out my free motion foot, and it so happened that the previous day Nima had tried hers.  She told me about her experience with it and also warned me about breaking the sewing machine needle, since she broke two of hers during her trial.  After hearing that I was a bit hesitant, since I had already broken  mine long back, and I had only one left which I dint want to risk , lest  I would be without  any sewing at all till I get some new ones.

But I think my eagerness won over my apprehensions and I decided to  try it anyway.    Since I was already cautioned, I think I was extra careful , and could manage decently well.  And this is what I managed…….

r                                     

I have quilted the leaves templates, at the sides.  Actually, this was a piece of fabric on which I was trying out some embroidery stitches called basket stitch.  I have tried doing basket stitch on the stem and I just added two leaf applique’ to the stem.  Here’s the close up…..

You will really require lot  of  practice for free motion to work smooth and neat around curves and other detailed quilting.  If you see my work carefully you can see many mistakes but for the first attempt, I am happy.   Before I  leave , one more close up for you to see the mistakes I have done.

A Simple Needle case

Lately,  I am enjoying some hand embroidery and realized that I have been loosing needles here  and  there.  It’s a bit scary with kids walking around the house and I am always worried it might poke someone.   That’s when I felt that I needed a needle case desperately.  I wanted to make an embroidered one but I dint have the patience till I finish the embroidery and also I dint have a felt piece with me. 
Anyway, I decided to make a simple one for the emergency and later make one more.  So here’s my needle case….

I have used a ready made satin ribbon binding,  and its quite slippery, but I somehow managed.  But its always better to used a cotton one  which was learning for me.  I also mentioned that I dint have felt, so would you like to see  what I  used instead….
s
I had  some flannel which my friend Nima got for me from India.  I have cut a piece of that to pin my needles.  I have also added pockets for the threads I need for a project.
My camera is still not  repaired and the pictures are awful.  Sorry for that.  Bye for now, Hope to come back with another post soon.

Quilted Tote Bag…..

As I was browsing online for some pattern for a tote bag, I was really impressed with this tutorial from  allpeoplesquilt.com and wanted to try it  immediately.

And I made this bag with a little variation, This is my finished work….

I am sorry the pictures are a bit dark, since this has been taken from my old camera, so till my new one is repaired I have to manage with this.

This is the quilted portion of the bag, and I have also attached a rickrack to it.  There is one more addition which  I really liked and that is the ribbon passing through an eyelet.  I tried to fix an eyelet for the first time and its come out quite ok .  As usual there is always room for improvement.

Below is the inside portion,  I have used small printed fabric for lining,  and there is big pocket too. Again the pictures aren’t great. The bag is quite roomy and  I really felt happy sewing it.

Please do send in yotur comments and advices, for which I eagerly wait.  Till my next post, Its Bye from me.

Applique tray cloth…..

At the moment I have been bitten by the applique' bug and unintentionally also, I end up doing applique.

It so happened that I was trying to practice raw edge appliqueing with my sewing machine.  I cut out a circle to begin with,   brought down the stitch size to the smallest in my machine, and started sewing the circle leaving a quarter inch on the outer side of my circle.  I just wanted to check out how it looks…..   After cutting away the extra quarter inch.  The circle looked pretty decent.  Then an idea struck and I attached a handle and a spout to the circle, and it looked great but  tilted on my background fabric, which was again a scrap.

But I din’t want to waste that teapot, so I cut out the teapot along with my background and thought of appliqueing it to some decent fabric and make it into a tray cloth.  I added to the look by hand quilting some stitches  as you will see here……..

I have used blanket stitches to applique the teapot onto this linen fabric, and have also used batting to give it some thickness.  The binding fabric is a semi cotton polka dots.  I also added a button for the lid.  My dear friend Nima   got me some lovely buttons from India.   As and when I use you will see them.     I was very happy with the finish and more happy that I could practice binding on this small tray cloth, since its been long I did binding on anything and I need to become perfect in it before I take up a big project.

Here’s one more close up of my finish…..

Thank you for all your lovely comments and advices , please continue  giving them. Till the next post, its Bye from me.

A quilted zipper pouch…..

 

The picture has not come out so well.  This patterns is from make it perfect easy peasy zippered pouch.

It was an excellent tutorial and easy to understand.

I have used four strips of scraps that I had,  for the front and  hand quilted it. I have used batting for this and also  lining inside…. 

de

Below  is the back of the pouch, again since I had bits and pieces of this fabric, I had to join for the back too.

Tr

Sewing the zipper was not so difficult, but I know there is room for improvement.    For the first attempt, I am quite satisfied.

Please do put in your comments as it encourages me to try out more…….  Until the next post  Bye!!

After a long break…….

Well, it was a very long break for me, but lots of things have been happening these past months.  It was quite hectic, but I don’t want to get you all bored with my stories.  In the meantime, I have also been collecting fabrics and lots of fabrics to the extent that I started feeling so….. guilty that I am not doing anything other than accumulating them. 

Finally I decided to start acting and stop going on a guilt ride.  To start with and to motivate myself I needed a quick finish.  So this is what I made……..

 

t

I  started with this cushion cover for this natural fiber  chair from IKEA.  The fabric is  cotton which I had got from my trip to India this time.  This is the first time I tried sewing a cushion cover using four triangular pieces of fabric.  Its quite simple and there are a number of tutorials available online.

I was quite happy with the result.  Here’s a closer look…..

m

SoSo what say folks!!   Do send in your lovely comments on this.

Now that I have got my mojo back, I hope to come up with more frequent post and finishes.  Till then its Bye from me.