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Monday, January 28, 2013

Hello to my new visitors!

Hi all,

Welcome to 13 Woodhouse Road...

If you're coming here for the first time, via Sew Mama Sew, let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I'm Shruti, a 34 year old SAHM to a wonderful 6 year old son - Aadi. I live in India with my husband and my wonderful son.

I studied to be an architect. I was pretty good at it, considering that I finished 16 projects in 3 years before I got married and shifted to a new town altogether...

I started quilting when I took a break from my job following a bout of Chikungunya. And then I just fell in love, all over again! There's just no going back to architecture now that I am here!




I had not touched a sewing machine before January 2010, and I believe I have come a long way from there  till today...

If you want to compare, here are a few projects that I have done

The Lemon Quilt - I made this using scraps from my mother's dresses and some cheap cotton. This was my first FMQ project. I used old curtains as batting thinking it was awesomely intelligent to 'up'cycle them, but when my fingers went numb for 8 days, I realized it was a bad idea.


Or this quilt, which has a lot of things that can be termed "wrong", but I adore it for the memories associated with it!


And there is this one... This is special, because this is how I met my Best Blogging Friend! Emily! :) She was the recipient of this quilt!


Or this - Gardens of India - my first commercial pattern!


Or Paalvi - my favorite one! This is where the transition from an amateur quilter to a more confident one began...


How can I forget to mention the one I made for my little one - the Dr. Suess Quilt!


Or the one I made for my big boy - my husband - the Hex-ed Quilt



And nothing else can beat my best work so far! The Portrait Quilt that I made for my Husband and his family to celebrate 100 years of the family business - a portrait of the founder - his great-grandfather - Dada Ajoba!



Apart from making quilts, I am also the founder President of the India Modern Quilt Guild.
We are a wonderful group of women who have fought a lot of negative criticism and survived... We're going strong and are getting stronger!



Whatever the reason you're here, I am glad that you are! :)
Welcome to 13 Woodhouse Road!
Follow me to keep in touch... leave a comment if you like my work!

Cheers!!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes, a little something,
 is all you want...
even if you're surrounded by everything you might possibly need...

Sometimes a little someone,
is all you miss...
even when you've got people who adore you!

Sometimes a little further...
you need to go...
To know what you're capable of...

Sometimes a little excitement,
is all you need...
To bring life into your days!


Just a random thought I needed to share...
Just tell the people who care...
Just want you all to know...

Something exciting is happening...
Even though its not, yet...
I am sure it will!

Because I believe in us!

Everyone wish us luck! With your wishes, we'll make our dreams come true!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Meet me on SMS!

Have you ever met a film star you have adored unexpectedly at some public place?

What would you do if you met Sean Connery when you next visit Starbucks?

Or if you stop your car at a traffic signal and turn around to see Amitabh Bachchan in the car next to you!

Or better still, you're waiting at a bust stop and a he comes along and offers you a lift!

Something similar happened to me!

 I have been a huge fan of the Sew Mama Sew blog. I have been following them right since the day I started quilting!

And to be a contributor on that blog was a kind of dream come true for me!

So catch me there later today!




What am I posting about?

here's a sneak peek...


for the complete details, you'll have to visit the blog.

About the choice of the colors, I chose these to celebrate the Republic Day of India!



Come back here and tell me if you liked it!


Friday, January 18, 2013

To do or not to do...

I finished quilting the white part of the Harry Potter Mini Quilt...



The final size is 33" x 23"


 It turned out to be be a lot of work (18+ hours just for the quilting), but absolutely fun to do!


This is the first time I actually had a PLAN when I started quilting. Usually I let my creative instinct take over, but this time, I took time, I deliberately quilted it the way it is!


I have used 4 designs for the quilting - Pebbles at the bottom, Waves in the middle, Spirals on the top and Paisleys for the Stag (Patronaus)... I also quilted a few spells here and there... 


My original plan was to quilt the white part with all the 'good' spells and the black part with the 'evil' ones... But looking at the quilt now, I am loving the trapunto-ish quality! I used a heavy loft poly batting and hence the un-quilted part has a nice puffiness... I am liking it, but then I also liked my initial plan...


 So now what do I do? Do I keep it the way it is? Or go with my initial plan and quilt the black part too?
Help me decide... Leave your suggestion in a comment... While you do that I'll finish up the binding!


 Do you like it?


Thursday, January 17, 2013

My rearranged sewing room!

I showed you the mess my sewing room looked like last week...

It did look like a bomb had gone off!

But now its done!

Actually it was done last Sunday. But I had taken a time out and did not show it to you guys!

Here's my rearranged sewing room!




The wardrobes are assembled and line one wall of the room, providing me some awesome sewing space!


And the rest of the room? Its filled with CLEAR surfaces!

And there is LIGHT!

I am so happy to have SO MUCH space to play around!


I can put up 5 machines if I need to! And the 30" x 2" table in the centre with the cutting mat gives me a wonderful surface for FMQ!

My room is so sew-in ready!

Hoping to have a blast at the next one!

Wanna join me?

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

WIP Wednesday!

I have a WIP to show you guys!

It was quite a few days before, that Emily and me stumbled upon this image on Pinterest!


We both loved it and decided to make identical quilts!

"Nothing big", we said, "Just something A4 size-ish!"

A quick raw edge applique and it would be done!!

Ha!

If only...






I did spend some time tracing it onto pellon and fusing it and then scraping the project and starting raw edge applique and then I scrapped it too!

Why?

Just like twitters "character limit" is something that turns me off it, the projects tiny size turned me off!

I have grand plans for this one!

And here it is...

Just a few sneak peeks!


Some super-intense quilting!


Pebbles and waves and words...


Some spirals to stir up the storms...


Can you read what it says?

Cannot wait to finish this one! This is the longest that I have taken to quilt something (That is a first for me!) I have been working on this today for about 8 hours and its not even half done!

Linking up to WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced



What are you working on?

Sunday, January 6, 2013

My first "holey" finish for 2013

The first finish of every year is really special...

But since the beginning of this year (even before the end of the last one) my sewing room has been looking like this...


 I haven't been able to get much done...


The fabric is all folded and sorted though...

But I did manage a few moments of sewing and then hand quilting! And here's what I made...

A 12" x 12" Wall Art!


My 'Holey' Wall Art...


Fabrics used :
Modern Citrus Mosaic Squares by Robin Zingone for Rober Kauffman
Maasai Mara Green Diamond Ikat by Dear Stella Fabrics
And an Indian red near-solid from my stash


I used Aurifil #2325 (Mako wt 50) for piecing and #2260 (Mako wt 28) & # 8880 (Lana wt 12) for the hand quilting...


This one is up for sale. I'll also be willing to take custom orders... Contact me for details.

Whats your first finish of 2013?

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Simplify : My mantra for 2013

Since my birthday is on the day after  the New Year's Day, a new calender year also brings a new year in my life...

It gives me a chance to ponder over things about myself and my life and make new beginnings!

I read on Kate's blog today about how her friend who chooses a "word of the year" every year... I really like the concept... I had read something similar somewhere last year too, not sure where...

I decided to give it a thought and come up with my own mantra for 2013!

and here it is...



Our lives today are crammed with just so many things that we do not have the calm and peace that we desire... Many of us have spent sleepless nights tossing in bed... There is palpitation, pimple breakout... A whole lot of things... These are all signs of stress...

And the major reason our lives are so stressed is that we have forgotten the importance of simplicity...

I realized today that I have complicated my life too much and need to simplify a lot many aspects of it...

And that's the reason my mantra for 2013 is Simplicity!!!

What's yours?