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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Collaboration Quilt

This quilt is made for our friend, wulan's daughter, Anisha. She's the most adorable miscivious 2 years old with her big brown eyes and her super cute pout:D

Agnes from Smurfing Time was doing all the applique. The idea was taken from Indonesian book. Unfortunately the book doesn't have actual size pattern, hence Agnes drew everything herself and then doing the appliques by hand. She used button hole stitches all over.

There you are the details, aren't they cute? I especially love the bees and the mushroom

I did the patchwork and quilting. I used flannel as a batting and did simple and straight hand quilting.
Btw, she didn't know she's going to receive this..it's kind of secret :D. I hope she will like it ^__^