Quick quilt gift

When there is no time to make to new quilt to gift to a baby... Pick one yard of these from walmart and a roll of matching satin ribbon (around 5" width)...

Fold the ribbon into half widthwise and press it with iron.

You can roll the ribbon back onto the spool for easy storage and usage.

Use the satin ribbon to sew binding to the one yard ready-made quilt.

We can use a decorative stitch for binding. As we are using ribbon for binding, we need not worry about the fraying! :)

A beautiful baby shower gift in 15 minutes...

Got another 15mins? You can personalize the quilt by adding the baby's name.

Welcome little princess Vanshika into this beautiful world! :)

Foundation piecing

Attended an ez-piecing class in the quilt and sewing show held at San Mateo last weekend. Tried it out at home... :)

The Quilt and Sewing festival gives me an opportunity to learn new techniques, attend free classes and buy materials at  a good price. Just like I bought the ez-piecing pattern for New York Beauty blocks... :)

Using this technique, the foundation can be left in unlike paper piecing where we need to rip out the paper.

The combo of the quilt block, the lace and the white back fabric has worked out very well. What do you think? :)

Less than Traditional...

My first visit to a Quilt festival happened in September... I was so excited... I did not know what to expect... But wanted to attend at least a couple of free classes/sessions there...

This festival happened in the Fairgrounds, Pleasanton. It was Quilt, Craft and Sewing festival... I enjoyed looking at all those fabulous quilts, bought a couple of yards of fabric and signed up for the raffle prize. :)

Got a chance to learn a new technique in quilting called "Less than Traditional". This was a quilting technique invented by a person named Charlie. Click here to know more.

As soon as I got back home, I rushed to try out this technique. The results are here... :)

Quilt Rack

Antique or no-antique... I am proud of my quilt rack...

Bought it on Craigslist...

Cherry wood... I love the spiral legs...

and curvy feet...

more pictures...

As of now, I am hanging my comforter on it. Time to make a new quilt for this quilt rack!

What do you think, is it an antique piece? :)

Quilting Along

I read an article by name "Quilting Thin Strips" in a quilting magazine.

This quilting technique involves stitching strips of cloth onto batting.

I tried out this technique recently. This is a very good way to use our scrap fabrics.

First cut the batting and backing for required shape. For a small project like this, we can take batting and backing with same size. Also, take thin strips of fabric for the quilt top.

To get the above design,place the first two strips right side together on one diagonal of the rectangle as shown below. Then stitch with 1/4th inch sewing allowance.

Then press/iron them flat.

Add another strip to one end and stitch along.

Continue till the whole batting is covered. Then trim the edges.

Now attach a 1 inch binding tape to edges of the placemat.

Complete the edges.

The placemat is complete now.

This is how the back looks like.

I did a similar placemat by attaching strips vertically.

I am planning to make two more to complete the set. :)

Strippy Spools contd..

As I said in my earlier post, I cannot get my eyes off this wall hanging... 

A more clear view of the strippy block...

Ain't it beautiful? :)

Strippy Spools

As part of Craftsy Block of the Month 2013 with Laura Nownes, I learnt to make Spool block using fabric strips. 

I loved the block so much that I made more blocks and joined them to make a 25" X 25" wall hanging!

I love the color combinations. I used fabric quarters only and then some unused fabric for binding and backing.

I hope to try out the other blocks learnt in the craftsy class soon.

But for now I can't seem to take my eyes off this wall hanging!

For now, click below to head over to craftsy site and give my project some love :)

Source: Strippy Spools Wall Hanging via Arathi on Craftsy

Daisies - Wall Hanging

Finally completed this wall hanging... This one had been hanging in my closet, half-finished for almost a year... As they say: "Every dog has its day", today's the day of this quilt! :-)

I appliquéd some daisies to squares of green fabric and assembled them together to form this colourful quilt.

I added some leaves as well...

        

The petals of some of the flowers are missing.. 

as though they have been eaten by caterpillar or bugs.. :-)

I love the way it has turned out.

A cover for our Kindle

Did I tell you we bought a new Kindle paperwhite recently? We love it! I downloaded a lot of free classics from Amazon; my first one being "Secret Adversary" by Agatha Christie. It is the first novel of the Tommy-Tuppence series. They are not married yet in this novel. I enjoyed reading it on my kindle. :)

It was time to make a cover for our kindle; and I finally completed making it.

Doesn't it look pretty? Here's how it looks from the inside.

How did I make it? Well here is the list of stuff I used:

1. Two inch elastic and one button for the closure
2. Outside fabric - 21.5" X 5.75" piece and 8" X 5.75" piece (white and pink floral print)
3. Inside fabric - 14" X 5.75" piece (blue and green plaid flannel)
4. Batting - 22" X 6"
5. 2-inch bias cut of the fabric around 60" length

First joined the 14" X 5.75" plaid fabric with the 8" X 5.75" floral print to make a 21.5" X 5.75" piece.

Then prepared the quilt sandwich as shown below: the outside fabric, then batting and then the inside fabric (plaid plus floral print joined piece)

I quilted the pieces together. We can use pins to hold the layers together.

The batting is a little larger than the fabric pieces. This may be helpful while sewing the layers together. Even if the inner fabric gets pulled a little it is okay as it will not be seen from outside. This fabric will be  at the inner side of the pocket that holds the kindle.

Trim the extra batting on all sides and use the 2-inch bias tape for binding the piece.

Now it is time for the button and the loop.

I hand-stitched them onto the cover.

Hmm... Can't take my eyes off this new cover!! :)