Finishing star quilts

Hello everyone,

It's almost end of August and I have not written any blog post this month. There are so many things going on this month. Sometimes, I open my laptop and trying to write something but I can't think of something. Too many things going on in my mind. 

source : Pinterest

Well, sewing wise, I finished 2 quilt tops (yay!!) and now are with Tsala Studio in Bangelore for quilting. 

The quilt top above is from the quilting bees we did in Desi Quilter in 2013 (OMG!!). Thank you Sudha Sekhar, Prasanna Narasimhan, Nikhat, Damayanthi Bhat, Manju Narain, Tina Katwal, Sandhya and Aliya Mir for making these blocks for me *group hugs* 

I posted the tutorial for the block in HERE in case you want to try it :)

For the backing, I wanted in yellow. I have another yellow and blue print which I thought I will use but when I put them together, I feel it's too busy. So I stick to the original idea. I found this mulmul cotton fabric in yellow with small white flower print. It's perfect!! 

The second quilt top is this Double Friendship Star quilt. The block is based on MSQC Youtube Tutorial. I started this quilt last year. I posted my progress in Instagram . I used batik Jellyrolls and white cambric cotton for the background. The batik part finish at 40" x 48". I thought I will finish it as another throw quilt but then I want the quilt to be usable. I have a few throw quilt which mostly end up in my cupboard :D

After browsing Pinterest for idea, I decided to add wide borders in white. I added 9.5" wide on the sides and 12.5" wide on the top and bottom. I love how it turned out! 

For backing I chose multi color ikat print in glace cotton. Glace cotton is very soft and it has a glossy finish. I love it!! 

Oh and I have 2 blocks left which I will make cushion covers! Yay! 

Well, finished is always better than perfect, right? Finally this winter, we will have new quilts. yay!

I still have one more bee blocks to assemble. I already got an idea and hopefully it will work out :D

Thank you for stopping by and have a nice weekends!

~ Elvira ~

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TGIF - Hipster Cat

Square in Square Bright Quilt

Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will. 

 ~Vernon Howard

I finished my 2nd quilt this month! yay!! it's something that I was afraid to do. I can't imagine how to quilt in my home sewing machine. I watched lots of you tube tutorial and became more scared ..LOL. Then I just started doing it. And by my second quilt, I can say I manage well, no wonky stitches at the back.

I call this happy quilt because of the colors. I thought I will make a baby quilt with the fabric but ended up make another single quilt. The size is 60x70" 

So, here's what I learned:

1. Using this Micro Stitch is really help to hold the quilt together. I won this on one giveaway some 3 years ago !!..

2. Using fleece as a batting is easier than poly-batting, because the fleece doesn't move much/not slippery.

3. I'm rolling  up the sandwich while tacking it. I find this easier and once finish I have a nice roll, ready to quilt. I quilt NOT from the middle like one tutorial I read. I started from the side. Maybe this is not the right way, but I managed fine with this method.

and 

4. scrappy binding is always a choice. It gives a happier look, I guess..;)

So, here's my happy quilt sitting on the swing:D

I used polkadots at the back. It was a bedsheet actually :). It's difficult to find a wider fabric here, so instead I go for bedsheet which works out cheaper and easier plus I'll get a matching pillow covers ;)

One more look :D

Until then....happy sewing

Simply Square Quilt

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' 

You must do the thing you think you cannot do. "

~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~

I've been too scared to start making a big quilt, until the other day. It seems so hard to do the quilting part on my home machine. I had this king size polyester batting I brought from Indonesia 1.5 years ago. And it was sitting pretty in my wall cupboard waiting to be covered. Finally, the other day I completed one, a very simple design. I did a couple of unpicking, tagging and pulling and almost gave up cos there's always one part which gone wonky at the back. Then my IMQG friend, Tina, told me to "never look back" and I gain my confidence back. It took me two days to complete the quilting part (yay!)

I used scrappy binding there

for the back, I used cheery orange cotton fabric which was supposed to be for salwar kameez (Indian dress). It has continues Indian batik pattern. 

Now, can I say I graduated to the big quilting now? :D. I still need to finish my 36 patch QAL  :-/

One more shot, inspired my Shruti 

until then...Happy Sewing