A finish and a post after a short interval…….

Hi everyone!!  Finally I am here after a small gap,with another wall hanging, which is again a gift for my dear friend who celebrated their wedding anniversary on the 7th of March.  I took a long time in deciding what to make and later with less time in hand, it was quite a hectic  few days wherein I completed this project.  Moreover, with children’s exams going on, I had very limited time in hand to concentrate on my finish.  But I am happy , I managed to finish this one on time and also happy that she liked this so much.

So, without anymore blah, blah let me show you my finish………..

                               

This pattern is by Jane Spolar of Quilt poetry and is given here.     I  have made some small changes as per my convenience in this pattern, and I did free motion quilting on the back ground fabric. Here’s the close up.

                                       

I used a loop and a flower pattern for free motion, which was quite easy and covered the area faster.

                                 

I am itching to do some more new projects, but I am taking it slow now, I have to concentrate on my son’s studies,but will try to do get things done whenever possible.  

Thank you for all your lovely comments and advices, and please continue supporting me with them always.

Regards to all my blogging friends, and I am sorry I was unable to visit your blogs recently, to see your beautiful work.  But I will do so, as soon as I can, meanwhile happy stitching !! and Bye from Preeta.

Trying out cathedral window………

After my hands on free motion quilting, next in my process of learning and adding one more feather on my cap, was to try the cathedral windows.   To start with I just made four windows, I  used machine to sew down the curves, which was quite quick, but the process of ironing  and making the squares  would become a bit boring when it comes to making a decent size wall hanging.
But I was quite happy that I could manage this small piece without much hassles.  Of course , there is so…. much room for improvement, but for the first attempt I was not looking for perfection, rather concentrating more on how to make it.  The next step would be to perfect it.
I finished  this small piece into a mug rug…..
                                                   

I learnt that the background squares  and the folds later should have perfect points, so as to get perfect curves, which is an area of opportunity for me.  I will try making it perfect in my next  cathedral window project.  Before I take leave few more pictures of my mug rug…..
                                                         
                                                            
The coming weeks are going to be hectic, with my kids exams  starting ,  I will have to spend some time with them  looking into their studies.  So my crafty pace will be a bit slow…..
Thank you for all your support, advice and comments on my crafty finishes.  I hope you all will continue encouraging me like this with all your lovely comments.  Till my next post , Bye and take care.

A baby quilt- a gift

As I told you all in my previous post, I have become a confident quilter now, and so, this time I decided to make a baby quilt  to gift one of my friend who was recently blessed with a baby boy.  If it was before, I would have bought something for the baby, but now with my new learnt  skill of free motion quilting, I thought nothing better than a warm personalized gift.

So here’s my finish which will be my blessing and warm wishes to the new born………….

                                                  

The center fabric is a polka dot pastel green and the borders are printed teddy bears.  I am sorry the picture is not clear. I have machine quilted the center …….

                             

For the back I have used the same printed fabric…..

                                                   

I am very happy that I managed a pretty decent gift,  I hope my friend likes it too.

Thank you for all your lovely and motivating comments. It helps me push myself beyond my limitations and do more crafty finishes and learn better.

Please continue giving me encouragement and inspirations  like this.  Till my next post…. Its Adieu from me……

Another Milestone achieved…….

Last one week I have been devotedly practicing and learning to make my hands perfect on free motion quilting.  I also wanted to try out raw edge applique’ and  last  week I was full of energy and eagerness  to do both.

My plan was to make a small wall hanging using raw edge applique’ and to try out free motion quilting on that.  Well, while browsing online I came across a wonderful tutorial from Kellie of  Don’t look now  for a beautiful cushion cover.  I made a wall hanging instead, using the same technique.  I also went through some of the tutorials online on using a fusible web for applique’ .

I started my project with high spirits , and  after deciding on my fabrics  set out to do the applique shapes.  I found using a fusible web to be very easy and was happy at the way things were progressing. Once  I  arranged all my shapes on to the background fabric the result was so nice that I became anxious to use my beginners skill of free motion on it, worried I might spoil the whole thing.

But they say …… take a leap with faith and I did just that and here’s the result of my faith and patience…….

                                       

Isn’t  it beautiful…………. Well I know its not perfect, but for my first proper project its pretty decent and I am very happy.

Click on the picture to see the detailing…..

                                        

Initially I thought to sew the raw edge using the normal foot, but when I tried sewing the raw edge using my free motion foot it was better, though the stitches were not perfect, it was ok. I used the same color thread as the flowers to cover any irregularities.

Finally I machine quilted the back ground which was the most challenging part of the whole thing. ( You all must have seen my previous post about free motion quilting.) With that experience, I was really dreading to do it around my beautiful flower applique.  But again faith, kept me going and it turned out to be beautiful…….  but I must say it was not a smooth sailing, my hands used to really get tired moving the fabric around with all that strain. ( Because of the inexperience)

But this has helped me evolve as a more confident free motion quilter!!  LOL ( Of course a Beginner quilter)

I have finished the wall hanging with a simple binding and loops with some buttons.

                                                  

One final picture of my wall hanging…………(Am  I showing off too much……???   Can’t resist !! Sorry…)

                                                

I MUST THANK KELLIE FOR HER WONDERFUL TUTORIALS…. I WILL BE TRYING OUT MORE OF HER TUTOIRALS FOR SURE.

Hope you all will surely send in your lovely comments and advices.  I eagerly wait for them.  Till my next post , Take care….

My free motion quilting journey……

Warning : Long post…

After doing my hand quilting classes, which really requires time and patience… I had decided that I would definitely prefer machine quilting, since it would be faster and get me quicker results. But we human beings, don’t learn from our life experiences, that anything fast may end in furious results too.

Well this was an episode wherein I forgot that lesson of life, and along with my free motion foot plunged into my free motion quilting journey, not expecting what was going to come in the process.

I had that much sense as to start with a small project like some coasters.  All motivated and charged, I downloaded some simple templates, transferred them onto my fabric, sandwiched my batting and backing and started off…….

To my disappointment , all my stitches were going haywire and moreover, the quilting stitches were not even seen.  It looked more like an applique stitch…. very minute.  I understood that there was some problem with the speed of my foot presser and my hand movement in moving my sandwich.  I tried and tried but to no avail.

Frustrated, I called up my dear friend Nima, ( We call each other, during our ups and downs in our crafty process).   I told her about the challenges I was facing with my free motion. 

In fact there was a time when I felt like running away from my machine, I also felt hand quilting is much better since everything is in our control. Here everything is controlled by the machine. Though at the back of my mind I knew its only a matter of practice, I was so…. obsessed with getting quicker results. 

Then later during the day, Nima  called me up with some great information about quilting and forwarded me this site and this blog  which was of great help. Next day I started with all new found knowledge and motivation. This time I din’t  give up since I also realized  that everything fast also needs patience and perseverance.

I hope I din’t bore you all with my quilting journey and long post. Before I end I would like to show you all  the result of my trial and tribulations…..

And after seeing this I am  sure you would also agree that these can’t be made into coasters. So please suggest what can I finish out of these.

 

  

The above are my first few trials…. and below is the one wherein I felt that I am improving so I can manage to show you the back of the sandwich too.

This is the front.

This is the back.  Haven’t I progressed a bit??

There is still a long….. way to go till I even become half as good as many great quilters out there.  But I would certainly not give up.  I would also like to thank all those expert quilters who comes up with great tutorials and discussions.

With all hopes that I come up with better free motion finishes, let me take your leave.

Do send in your comments and advices, please………

A nice little tote…….

Bags and totes are my all time favorites,  and it can be made as quick gifts too.  So this time for a quick finish,  I decided to make a girly tote.  As I have mentioned before, nowadays I am in love with embroidery and want to add a touch of embroidery in whatever I make. I am always inspired by the flickr embroidery group and now and then browse through them for some inspirations.  This particular embroidery on my tote is from there.  I loved the bunny in one of the finish and tried to draw it for transfer. Well I loved the result.  Here it is……

The tote is not from any particular pattern, I have just used a basic pattern but I wanted to have a zipered pocket inside  and also a magnetic clasp for closing.  And I have used D- ring for the sling strap. I have to thank Nima for getting me some magnetic clasps and D rings from India.  Thank you Nima, it was kind of you.

 

 

And here is the little embroidered bunny…. I have used simple back stitch and satin stitch for the eye.

 

 

One last look at my tote…..

I am happy with the finish and am planning to gift it to my close friend’s daughter.

Please  do send in your lovely comments. I eagerly wait after every post to see them. Hoping to come back with more crafty posts.  Take Care …. and Bye.

My small garden……

The weather here in Muscat is pleasant and beautiful….. I eagerly wait for this season of the year, since it is during this time , that I can grow some lovely flowering plants in my little garden.  Back in India we are so… used to the greenery, that I long to have some green space around me. But sadly due to the extreme summer here its  quite difficult to maintain. 

But  I don’t l leave any chance I get,  to do so in my little space  during winter, which is quite pleasant here.   And when I saw the result, I just couldn’t stop myself from showing it to you all.  So have a look at my  little garden…….

I love color  and so I get colorful plants.  These are some Zineas… and Marigold.

 

 

Aren’t they  beautiful !!   Well I don’t know the name of this one, but I love it and  am awed by the perfectness of the petals and the color combination.

 

We can really use these colors from nature for our craft too.  Believe me, you get great ideas with regards to combinations.  And of course!  make our life colorful too…

Will come soon with a crafty post.  Till then enjoy the colors of nature…. Bye!!

Embroidered Needle case and pin cushion……

This will be the first post of 2011, I know the start has been very slow  and I am also not happy about it.   So many things are there in my to –do list  and I am confused.  So I thought to take it slow and steady.

Anyway ….., if you all remember I had mentioned about making an embroidered needle case …. Though I had finished this quite some time back, I wanted to add a pincushion before I blogged about it.   So, here it is…..

The needle case is made of  scraps that was lying in my scrap box, I had seen this idea in one of the crafty blog, sorry I don’t have the link now.  I have added a hand embroidery to it, and most importantly I tried attaching a magnetic clasp  to close it.

The pincushion is also hand embroidered, and one of the patterns online.  I really love surface embroidery, but too much time constrains.

I would really love to get your comments and advices on my finishes. Hoping to come up with some good finishes  regularly….. Till then its  Bye from Preeta!!