It's already the end of August and my boys are getting ready to go back to college. Summer breaks came and went pretty fast. In between, me and my younger son, we went to Indonesia to visit my family. It was rather unplanned trip, as we saw the Malaysian Airline ticket was pretty reasonable, we quickly book the tickets just a few days before we left. Alhamdulillah, I can meet my mom, my sisters and their family in Indonesia even though it was a short visit. I met a few friends from my working days in Jakarta and few college friends too. It's always nice to be able to meet and catch up with family and friends personally, even though we keep interacting via Whatsapp or social media.
After I came back home, I can't help feeling "guilty" for buying so many new fabrics! So the next best thing I do is taking out one charm pack from my stash and make them into table runner!. I always think of making more table runners for my small quilt shop in Etsy. I barely get any time to refresh the shop hence the sale does not happen every month! But I love making small quilts and put them in the shop. Many I ended up gifting them to my family and friends :).
I also finished the block print table runner! The plan was to start quilting a few UFO that I already basting, but I always end up doing something else.
This time, I am happy with the result. I quilted them in my Husqvarna Viking machine using my fave serendipity stitch lines!
This modern table runner size is 14" x 39" which is prefect for kitchen table or even long coffee table.
I used cotton batting for both runners and it turned out very soft, especially the block print one. The skinny block print table runner is finished at 9” W x 37” L (23 x 94 cm). It's great for those narrow side tables or foyer tables.
This table runner took a bit longer to complete than expected. It's sidetracked so many times because I have to complete other works first and sometimes the mood to quilt is taking vacation!
Actually I was inspired to make this table runner after cutting fabric bundles for the shop. The bundles are sold out now but I have a few more indigo blue bundles in the shop. For the backing I am using this pretty indigo fabric with white floral. It's just a perfect match.
Since the fabrics are hand block printed and some of them are screen printed, I pre washed the patchwork top and the backing before quilting it to get rid of the excess dyes. I used mild detergent and added color catcher too.
The quilting is my all time fave serpentine stitch just like the green patchwork runner in my previous post. I think serpentine stitch is the most effortless good looking stitch! It's my go to stitch. I am using cotton batting for this table runner too.
I personally love how this table runner turned out. Especially love the mix of Indian floral and geometric pattern. When arranging the pieces, I try my best to balance dark, medium and light. A friend of mine suggested long ago, to take photos after arranging the pieces and set the photo in black and white to see the color balance. This trick always worked for me.
Here's a short video of making this table runner. I hope you enjoy it!
I have a few more table runners to quilt. They are all basted and ready, hopefully I will have time (and mood) to quilt at least one next week, if I am not tempted to do other stuff !
This is another quilt project that I recently finished. A simple quilted table runner! When I am feeling uninspired, I like to dig into my fabric stash and found this green fat 16th pack Japanese fabric, which I got long ago from my trip to South Korea.
To make this table runner, I cut the fabrics into 5" squares and decided to make a simple table runner. The finished size is 13.5" x 39" , it's great size for dining table, kitchen table or even coffee table.
Sometimes simple project is very satisfactory. Nowadays I don't feel like making complicated project, especially quilts. Maybe because I am in my perimenopauses stage now. Although I keep saving a lot of projects on my Pinterest board, maybe one day I get excited to try more complicated pattern again.
I used cotton batting and quilt it in my Husqvarna viking machine using serpentine stitch. That's another fave stitch! Looking good without too much effort - which I wish I could do the same with my body, hahaha.
As for the backing, I used this pretty green and yellow floral print cotton fabric. It's local fabric and the cotton is really good. Sometimes we get pretty fabric like this locally, it's 100% cotton, the print and color is good and it's fast color. It's a quilting weight cotton but the width is only 35-36 inches. I used to go to the wholesale market to source these fabrics. I wonder if those shops are still exist because the market was caught on fire a few years ago.
Anyway, the quilt came together pretty fast and I am happy because I can finish another quilt in one go! I have a few table runners that I need to quilt. Some are simple and some are not. I hope my quilting mojo is not disappear!
Here's a short video of the process making this table runner!
The table runner is now available in my ETSY SHOP and my WEBSITE if you are in India.
That's all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by.
Finally another finished quilt! Nothing fancy, just a simple 25-patch table runner. It's been on my mind for a couple of weeks to make a simple scrappy quilt in blue. I pull out a couple of blue fabrics and came one with this table runner.
I only used 1 jellyroll strip from each blue fabric to make this 14" x 38" table runner. Practically we only need 5 jellyrolls for the main patchwork, 4 jellyrolls for the background, and half a yard for the backing. Now I know what to do with the leftover jellyrolls!
On the back, I have this pretty blue and white floral Kota cotton fabric. This print is my fave. I had one in green and I made it into a tunic. Ha!
On my center table
And here's the green runner. I used the leftover from the jellyrolls race quilt I made two years ago. I love the combination of green and teal in this one. The size is just perfect for a center table to maybe the foyer table.
Nowadays I really enjoy making shorts videos and uploading them on Youtube. Shorts videos are easier because I can edit them on my phone. Although I enjoy making longer videos, it needs more planning and of course editing. For now, I just do what I can and when I can, at my own pace.
Finally, I finished the Kawandi QAL! I said that I am not good at following QAL but this time I did it and I am pretty proud of myself. Even though the quilt is not big, but this is the first bigger quilt that I pieced and quilted by hand. The finished size is about 19" x 42".
If you're on Instagram, you can see all the progress I put up in my Instagram Stories. Especially when I do the motif. I really love the motif and upon seeing Brinda Ma'am's kawandi, I really want to learn more about making the motif.
I learn a lot of things while working on this Kawandi table runner.
1. Batting or no batting?
Well, if you following the Kawandi Quilt hashtag on Instagram, you can see the Kawandi are making a comeback in a big way this past year! Many that I saw are using batting and so I wanted to try. But the problem is I ended up with a bulky batting in the center as I am finishing it. I thought I should not have a problem as I've done many small quilts which I quilt the Kawandi Style, including this Batik quilt.
For this table runner, as it is done in the quilt as you go style, I found that the batting - or least the needle punched batting that I used, is stretched in the process. Which did not occur in the quilts that I made using pieced top. So, I carefully cut the batting and overlap it. This solves the problem!
So, my vote will be no batting! Also, working without batting like in the first Kawandi I did during the workshop is so much easier on my fingers. Also, it will be a perfect summer quilt!
2. Don't worry too much!
Brinda Ma'am keeps reminding us to let go. Let go of the urge to do perfectly matched colors, the even stitches, perfectly straight lines. The Kawandi is about embracing imperfections and being proud of them! In the end, your quilt will reflect your personality. Your mood while you're making the quilt, your state of mind. I did unpick lines of stitches in the beginning, as I go along, slowly I was able to accept that it is OK if the stitch length is not even, it is OK to reinforce the stitches even if it looks odd.
Imperfectly Perfect
Learning Kawandi, first, we must unlearn all about quilt making, be it the color theory, the matching seam, the quarter-inch seam, etc. Don't worry, it will turn out unique and beautiful!
In this table runner, I mostly use leftover fabrics from making fabric bundles in the shop and also, a few pieces from my kurtas' sleeves. During summer, I usually cut off the sleeves of my quarter or long sleeve kurtas and keep the cut pieces.
I recorded a video as I was working on this quilt for my own record as well as a reference. In the video, you will see how I bury the tread in different ways. Do check out the video and let me know if you have any questions. If you want to learn to make Kawandi Quilt, you can contact Brinda Ma'am via her Facebook Page.
Now, I have one small Kawandi WIP and thinking of starting a bigger one, maybe a single-size quilt. It's going to be a long-term project. I really enjoy doing the hand quilting and wonder why took me so long to try it.
For the past 2 weeks, I've been having trouble accessing my business emails which I purchased from Google Workspace. It was started when I created another email in Godaddy for the newsletter. After back and fro chat with Godaddy's agent and doing some reading, finally, I understand that we cannot create different emails from the different email providers. I wish I knew!
I apologize to those who tried to reply to the newsletter or email me regarding your orders and bounce back. If you like please resend your email. I also added a backup email so that I won't miss any important emails. Hopefully, now the emails will all be back to normal and I can focus more on the work at hand.
This week, I'm able to finish 2 table-toppers still in my fave pattern - the one from Suzuko Koseki's book (I call it moonshine and valentine). I've made and sold a few in different sizes in my Etsy shop. This time, I decided to use a red poinsettia print and a green cotton handloom combo. Added a mustard yellow stripe in the center.
Also, instead of hand quilting, I decided to do serpentine quilting on my Husqvarna Viking machine using the golden thread I got from the swap last time.
Another new thing I tried this time is instead of the usual binding, I did facing binding!
What is facing binding?
A facing is similar to a binding on a quilt, except that it's turned completely to the back so there is no visual line around the edge of a quilt. (source: We All Sew)
I love the clean look of these table toppers. Binding is great to finish a quilt but sometimes I don't want to spoil the look especially when the quilt has a different color on the outer border.
I used a 1.5" wide binding strip and also tried a 2" wide binding. The end result? I prefer a 1.5" wide binding as it gives a narrow binding on the back.
Serpentine quilting with golden thread
facing binding
I have a few more small quilts in the same pattern in the WIP stage that I plan to hand quilt. Now that I have 3 C-dramas to catch up on, I should be able to finish the quilting before the end of the year.
Even though it's been a pretty stressful week regarding the email things, but I'm happy to finish a few on my WIP list. Time blocking really helps! Last week, we went to a wedding party for the first time. My SIL's nephew got married. it was a small occasion but felt good to meet and greet people in person after almost 2 years!
The boys' board exam also just started and as the weather is getting cooler, the younger one needs a new set of winter clothes, so we went shopping!
And one more thing, I made a sofa cover! Upcycle from my old Kantha quilt. It's removable and I can easily take it out to wash and put it back again. Now, this corner looks cozier :). I still need to make the sofa's back cushion covers though. I am collecting ideas on Pinterest right now!
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