Finish Quilts - Finally!

The past few days I've been busy spring cleaning (and it's not done yet!). The weather is pretty peculiar this year. We had chilly weather throughout February and turned pretty dry and hot in March. And it's pretty dusty too. I usually start packing winter clothes and duvet around April, but this time I am doing it early. Yesterday,  all duvet is washed and kept away today. 

 I have two quilts that came back from Tina at the Square Inch. The first one is the ground cover quilt top that I did 2 years ago. The top was quite big but Tina suggested making it bigger if it's meant for my elder son, who is 6.1' tall. After a few chats over WhatsApp, we agreed on this green border and black and white bear for backing! I used mostly scrap from wallets and bags, and I am glad I did. I still have lots of scraps that I don't have the heart to throw it away. When I look at this quilt, I can't help remembering what stuff I made with those fabrics. 

I really love the emerald green fabric that Tina suggested. It really framed the patchwork well. For the backing, I chose the bear print fabric and love it!! 

The second quilt is the Jellyroll race quilt in Batik. I think I finished the quilt top back in 2019 when I was doing this quilt. The JR was a gift from my BFF mbak Belly when we first met in Jakarta years ago. At the time, I just started learning about patchwork and quilts. I finally decided to make another Jellyroll race quilt with it. Once I did the top, I was still undecided on what to put for the border and backing. This part usually takes me so long to decide. And when I sent it to SQI and had a discussion with Tina, we decided to use Indian batik for borders and backing. The Square Inch has good collections for Indian Batik. Definitely, 2 heads are better than one, right? 

The quilts are washed and now in use. I may need to make another one for my son when he goes to college, but still undecided what pattern to use. I took out one batik JR and also Indian fabrics in the shade of blue. Let's see which one will I finally make first! Just waiting for the idea to strike. 

Blue Fabrics 

What are you planning next? Do let me know in the comment below. 

Thank you for stopping by and Happy Sewing!!

Elvira

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The Kawandi Style Mini Quilted Wall Decor

 

And here's my first finished quilt of 2021. A mini wall hanging which took me quite a while to finish:)

I started making the Bali batik background in 2019 I think. The plan was to make a panel for a tote bag. I even drafted the bag in detail! But then lockdown happened and we stuck at home. I know I won't need a tote bag! I kept the panel in my UFO Bin and got busy making face masks and whats not :D

And then the Kawandi class happened and I'm hooked to the Kawandi style of quilting. It's therapeutic to just do running stitch round and round, and the result is always satisfying! 

So I decided to make a mini wall hanging. And as I browsed Suzuko Koseki books, I saw the cherry blossom applique quilt. I made the applique before for my kindle cover and I decided to add applique. I chose a chikan white fabric which I have in stash and started making the applique pieces. I have not done applique for a long time so it took me a while to get finish the first flower. Well, practice makes perfect, the second one came out pretty quickly. 

Unlike my previous hand quilting projects (THIS and THIS) where I used cotton batting,  this time I decided to use needle punch batting. Actually, I tried using polyester batting but after I started quilting it, it shifted so much even with a lot of pinning. Although I quite like the result when I did the outline stitching around the flower. 

this is using polyester batting

So I unpicked the whole stitches and changed the batting. The best part about hand quilting is unpicking stitches is so much easier :). Well, there are a lot of learning experiences here, as I incorporated the Indian Kawandi/Gaudi style of quilting and the quilting from Suzuko Koseki's book. In her Playful Patchwork book, she did outline stitching around the applique and then quilt the background in diagonal gridlines. The Kawandi style quilting is done from outward going inward in a circular motion. In this quilt, I did the quilting by section as I quilted circling the appliques. Sometimes, I did the quilting from the back as I can see more clearly :)

As I was finishing the quilting, I drew the last lines using an erasable pen to keep track of where I should go. Oh, by the way, the quilting is around 1/4" apart. It's quite dense :).  While the kawandi quilt doesn't have binding, I used yellow and white stripes as binding here. It gives a good contrast with the indigo block print fabric at the back, doesn't it?

Well, I am happy now it's done and probably I will frame it! I will keep practicing hand quilting this year, Insha Allah, and let's see how this year will unfold. No more resolution for me. I will go with the flow, doing what I can, and hopefully, I can share more tips with you all.

I posted the video on my Youtube Channel from the process and a more detailed view.

Quilting Stats:

Finished Size: 15" x 15" 

Fabric: Bali Batik for background, Indigo block print for the backing, chikan cotton fabric for applique. 

Thread: Anchor Pearl Cotton No. 8

Thank you for stopping by!

Take care & Happy Sewing!

Elvira

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