Postage Stamp Basket : Quilting

In one of my previous posts I had mentioned how I started on a rather ambitious project right after a weekend class on Quilting. This is how it turned out.


A short recap.. In 2004 fall, I had taken this weekend class on Quilting to make a gift for a dear friend. In the class , the instructor taught us how to make a crib-size quilt , and the basic techniques of measuring , cutting the fabric, piecing (i.e. joining the bits of fabric together to make a fabric-"block") , quilting stitches ( i.e. stitches that hold together the 3 layers of a quilt- the top layer of fabric, the cotton batting in between, and the bottom layer of fabric), and finally binding ( i.e. finishing the edges after the layers are stitched together) .

I cant tell you how liberating an experience it was. I was always so envious of Joe, for being so passionate about the things he liked to do : cars, drawing, designing , reading and his list goes on ... and for me I could never figure out that "one thing" which would grip my heart 'n soul...but finally it looked like quilting was that evasive "answer" I was looking for!

At the time one of the fabric stores in our neighborhood was having a Christmas Sale and we decided to take a look. We got back home with pieces of at-least 25 different designs. The next thing that followed was a book called "Quilts! Quilts !! Quilts !!!"- by Diana McClun . For the next few days we made countless trips to the nearby craft-store for other supplies and gadgets and of course....for more fabric. The season also got me one of the best surprises ever, a sewing machine - a very thoughtful gift from my husband .

My inspiration was the Postage Stamp Basket quilt in Ms.McClun's book. The block- construction looked fairly simple and though the possible design layouts were endless , I decided to stick to the basic layout and color scheme from the book (though we had to change the scale).

Below: Joe made this image on MS Word , scaling it down to the size that we had wanted at the time. This was the starting point.
All those specks of color on the white background looked so cheerful and I was sure it would make the perfect accessory to brighten up any room, any day. The blocks were laid out in such a manner that 'same color patches' made a diagonal line, creating a lot of visual interest. It might sound like I was on an easy course , since I had decided to follow the layout and color instructions from the book, but getting the different patches of fabric to create that diagonal-line was tough. I had to get just the right shade of yellow or red, otherwise it would stick out and completely wreck the picture I had in mind.

By the first week of January 2005 I had started working on it , averaging an hour a day. I remember the instructor in my class saying that she preferred to do at-least some part of the process by hand (like the quilting stitches , or the binding ) rather than by machine .. that's what adds the personal touch. I particularly enjoyed the "stitching by hand" part and decided to use the sewing-machine only for piecing and to do the quilting and binding by hand.

It took me a long 6 months to get it to what you are seeing now, "almost finished" ( well, it is still not complete according to my original plan.. nevertheless by finished, I mean , usable and presentable) and it made the perfect gift for Joe on his birthday that year ! He was thrilled.


In case I have managed to pique your interest in quilts by now , here is some more information and specs on it. The finished quilt measures 82" X 96 " . There are 120 finished blocks on it and each block is finished with 8 pieces of fabric ( 2 squares, 3 big half-square triangles, 2 small half-square triangles and the handle applique ) . A finished block measures 6"X6". Here is a close-up of one of the blocks (below). You can also see the quilting stitches on the white background fabric.


Happy Quilts to you all !!
~ Aswathy

Houses on a Row : Back to Quilting (1)

Happy Mothers Day to all Mommas out there !!

This year I am treating myself on Mothers' Day and picking back up on a passion that I had left behind for a while now. 

"Before Prozac , there was Quilting"-Anon.

I cant agree more !! I dont know what Prozac can do for you..but I do know that Quilting can be quite therapeutic and much more !

I started quilting about 5 years back. My dearest friend was going to have a baby in the fall of 2004 and I wanted to gift her with something extra-special. And the best thing I could think of was a handmade quilt. Thinking back, I feel I might have been a little over-confident at the time ;I had very limited knowledge of needlework .. my proudest achievement till then was a cross-stitch I had made for Joe and that had taken me some 3 months to complete. So here I was, with no sewing machine, not even a proper scissor to cut fabric, but just enough enthusiasm to make that "extra-special" gift!

I enrolled for weekend class at one of the local quilting-supplies shop. In the two days I got an overload of information on the "gadgets" needed,how to choose a design, how to pick fabric to make that design successful, the layers that make the quilt, and even how to use a sewing machine .... and also at the end of the weekend each of us in the class had one unique crib-size quilt ready!

I was brimming with enthusiasm the following days . Got myself couple of books from eBay and was determined to learn more. As I flipped though the pages , I was amazed to get a feel of the passion poured into the quilting process by the quilters. I soon discovered that quilters in the US share a sisterhood.

That same year Joe got me just the perfect Christmas gift, a quilting/sewing machine ...and right after New Years I started on my next big project, a queen size quilt. Over the years I have come to like hand-piecing ( joining the bits of fabric by hand ) and hand-quilting ( doing the quilting stitches by hand) rather than by machine.

After quite a long break, I am going start quilting again. This time to pick up on an unfinished project that I started 3 years ago.It was the picture of a row of houses in a magazine I saw at that time, that inspired me to design this quilt (picture below). I made the image below in MS word, just to give me a overall picture of the color composition and the yardage ( fabric needed).. so please forgive the imperfections ( you can see that some of the blocks and borders are out of place).

After I started the project 3 years back, I got distracted with some smaller projects and a cross-stitch ...and of course , my in-house tornado of a toddler! So here I what I have done so far :

The 6 finished blocks ( another 36 to go ). Though I started off with all hand-piecing..I don't think it is going to be practical given the size of the project..hence planning to switch back to the machine now.

Here is what one finished house (block) looks like . Each finished square is made up of 17 smaller bits of fabric. The block shown below is one of hand-pieced ones ( all the bits of fabric are joined by hand).

Here is the stash.. all the fabric that I intend to use in this quilt. I have already cut the fabric for the house-blocks and segregated them in individual bags (lest the little-tornado would swipe away anything out in the open and in plain sight ). I am yet to cut the green , grey and red fabrics for the borders.
The finished quilt would be almost Queen/Full size ( 82" x 92") with 42 house-blocks and adjoining borders.

I hope to get working on this tomorrow itself. Will post updates in a month. :)