Sew Think Thursday : Week # 9

I cannot believe it has been 9 weeks since Emily's Linky party has started!

So here's one more thing to think about...

Today's question is

If you were a quilt block which one would you be?

  

 I love this question! ~~ Okay! I say that for all the questions that Emily posts! But yes, I do love them!

She sure gets those grey cells in the brains all over the world acting up!

So if I were a quilt block what would I be?

I think I am a very complex person! I have too many straits and not all of them are apparent. But I also know that when they all come together and synchronize - they create magic - they make me capable of reaching goals that have been distant for a long time. They help me do things that I have never dared before!

Considering all that and the fact that the simple facade that I usually present has a lot of complex layers underneath this is the quilt block I think I'd be!

A Cathedral Window Block!

So what quilt block are you???

Join the fun here.

Sew Thinky Thursday : Week # 7

Emily has a knack of bringing out the best (and in today's case the worst) in us.

Her question today for the Sew Thinky Thursday is

Bad sewing habits. Do you have them? Share with us, what are your worst habits when it comes to sewing?

Have you noticed I always manage to answer the STT Question on a Friday morning?



 My worst sewing habit... Do I have one? I doubt...

I have many... LOL!

1. I turn the iron on to press my seams and have left it on for quite some time (minutes, hours, days... you get the picture?) I recently damaged my iron because of this and had to buy a new one! So far (since 8 days out of which 5 I spent in bed with a Viral Infection) I have turned it off every time I left!

2. Like many others, I do not change my sewing needle as often as I should. How else can I justify using the same "stretch" needle for FMQ-ing for the past 6 months?

3. I do a lot of impulse shopping. I admit, I buy a lot of fabric because I like it and not targeted at some project. I do that probably because it takes a long time for fabric to reach here! But now I think I will first decide the projects and then do my shopping! That will hopefully make me more productive. $$ spent on fabric and Rupees earned from work should match - if nothing else! (Who cares about the exchange rate?)

There are many more, but I think 3 is a good number to stop at. Or else, all my newly gained fans are going to run away top speed!

What are your bad habits?

Let us share!!!

Sew Thinky Thursdays : Week # 6

Another Thursday and its time to think with Emily!

 

Here's her question for today:

What is your favorite color of Kona Cotton*? How much of it do you keep in your stash? Is there a solid that you always find yourself running out of?

To be honest, my experience with Kona Solids is very limited!

I have used Bella Solids more (Thanks to the Bella Parade Season 1 & 2). Two Jelly Rolls (or Roll Ups as Robert Kauffman calls them) is all that I have of Kona Solids!

But I do have something else to share with you! 

We get some of the most awesomest solids in India! And all for 1-3 $ a yard!!!

This is what out fabric shops look like!

And yes, the place where I buy, the guy actually climbs onto tables to get me the fabric I need.

Here's my stash of solids...

And now sorted by color!

And here are my current favorite colors

Quantity-wise apart from the white - I have the green in maximum quantity (its is supposed to be the backing of a quilt!)

But I do tend to run out on this color a lot more often!

Can you believe
1. These are all BLACK
2. They all look the same to the naked eye!
3. I can NEVER find more than 1 yard when I NEED it
4. when I buy new one, it does not match!

Whats your solid story???

We'd like to hear it too!

Sew Think Thursdays Week 5

Another week, another Thursday, another question to ponder over!

Time for Emily's Sew Thinky Thursdays

 And today's question is :  

Tell us about your sewing friends. Have your fabric tastes changed by having friends who like to sew? Do you like the same things or are you completely opposite?

 

To begin with, there are not many quilters in the town that I stay. And for a very long time, I relied on my online friends to share my passion for quilting. But since the last few months, I have met a few like-minded quilters in a town nearby and we do meet up and chat regularly on the phone!

Kausalya and Riddhi are two such awesome friends...

We have been meeting up, chattin on FB and on the phone regularly for quite some time now!

Yes, we're totally different from each other! Kausalya is the wonderful helpful soul who is loving, caring and encouraging! This lady can whip up 10 stockings and 10 tissue pouches in a night and yet look ravishing the whole day!

Riddhi - this girl is the doer! She does SO MUCH work! I recently visited her sewing room and was totally awed by her work!

I'm the dreamer! And these two help me get my dreams into reality! :) I'm so happy to have found them.

Both these girls are so tidy! Well, Riddhi did apologize for the mess in her sewing room the day I went there and I actually had to look around for it! And Kausalya, I guess she can tell you right now what is where in her N.E.A.T. sewing box!

There's a lot we get to share! There's a lot we get to learn! We might not exactly have the same tastes in fabric or otherwise, and I dont think we have influenced our fabric choices in any way, but we sure have inspired, encouraged and pushed each other in the right direction!!!

Love you girls!!!

Cheers!!!

Sew Thinky Thursday # 4

Emily has put up the question a little early this time so that all those on their way to QuiltCon can put up their posts before they leave!

Well, I'm not going to QuiltCon, but even then I shall put up mine early enough!

 
"What is one regular thing you do for yourself to keep up your creative mind? Do you go to a guild, out for coffee with a friend? Are there people / activities you do regularly or as needed? "
 



This one was surprisingly a tough one...

There are so many things that I do, not consciously though, that help me keep my mind creative! I had never given it a thought before...

The first thing I do is get up early! For those who know me since childhood, will be surprised to hear that I get up at 4.30 in the morning! That gives me an hour of undisturbed time before I cook and then wake up Aadi for School! As I type this, he has moved from the bed to the sofa for "another five minutes, Mama". I was never an early riser. I still remember my mom waking me up early to study for my board exams in 10th and 12th and I used to HATE it! After that I went to Architecture College and my entire timetable changed! When we had submissions we didn't sleep at all! And other times, well to say things simply - I never had to make my bed! I got into the habit of getting up early when I was practicing architecture. My client used to come to my home-office after his morning walk - which was 6.30 am! I had to get up and make necessary changes to the drawings before that! But that was only while I was working on his project. After that I lapsed into sleeping in late! Especially during my pregnancy, I slept ALL THE TIME!

But since after Aadi was born, I have begun realizing the importance of getting up early! Don't you just love the idea of having a few minutes by yourself to do anything! You learn to appreciate it only after having a minimum of one child! LOL!

The next thing I do is follow some awesome blogs! Every morning, when I log into my Google Reader I get my dose of creativity from them! I really appreciate the openness of the online quilting community! There are so many chances that your design will be reproduced by someone, but yet, they are ready to share not just photos of the creations, but also the thoughts and process of the design of those beautiful creations! If it weren't for the online quilting community, I don't think I'd be a quilter at all!

Lastly, I carry a square line pad with me - most of the times! Even when I go away on holidays, I carry it with me! I love to get up early in the morning at the exotic locations and spend some time sketching possible quilt patterns for me to make! How many of them actually get to the sewing machine is a different story altogether! But right now, I have enough patterns to write a whole book!

I also, though sparingly, write a journal... My diary started in January 2007, is still going strong! Actually I have 2 diaries! One for my positive thoughts and one for the negative ones! That way the positive diary keeps on inspiring me without letting me down even for a moment! And the negative diary lets me vent stuff so that after that when I come back to my positive diary I feel a lot better!

There are other things I want to do too! But have never managed to... I want to be a little more organized. I want to make to-do lists AND stick to them! Most of the ones I make are perpetual to-do lists! I keep on doing stuff apart from the list and it just gets side tracked!

I have begun making a more organized approach since I'm kicking off my new business venture on 31st March 13! (31.3.13). From that day - 13 Woodhouse Road will not just be a blog, but a business dedicated to handmade goods. I will be selling patterns, quilt kits and quilts plus a whole range of handmade goods. I will also be offering people the option of selling through my store - but that will come later! Right now, I will get my etsy store going - one which has been dormant for quite some time.

What do you do to keep the creative juices flowing???

Link up to Emily's blog hop and tell us all about it!

Sew Thinky Thursday # 3

I am really enjoying the Sew Thinky Thursdays with Emily!

 Her questions have made me think so far, and I'm looking forward to a lot more thinking and soul searching with her...

Today's question is:
Describe your quilting style. Who or what influences you? How do you see your style changing over time?



Part 1 : What is my quilting style?

If I have to sum up my style in one word, it has to be

Daring!

Yup. Why? Because I dare! I look at something I like and I want to make something similar - I DARE! Even if that means putting together thousands of pieces! I DARE! Even if it means testing my limits as a quilter, I DARE! Even if it means agonizing over why I started that stupid quilt in the first place, I DARE!

And in the end, I think even though my UFOs have taken up a lot of space in my cupboard, I'm happy to have attempted them! I am happy that I DARED! I am happy that I now know what I cannot do / am not comfortable doing (Matching corners surely is one of them - that is why I have 84 HSTs waiting to be trimmed and squared in the UFO shelf!)

here's what my Facebook Friends had to say about my style :
Emily thinks its Fabulous!
Sunita say's its Fresh!!
Kelly thinks its Modern!!!
And Suzanne thinks its Innovative!!!!

:)

I'm happy to have friends who respond within seconds to my post to help me think!

Part 2 : Who or what influences me?

Anything and Everything! Absolutely! I find my inspirations anywhere...
In fabrics and pictures, in poems and phrases, inside books as well as on their covers... In people and relations! Online and offline too!!!

:)

Part 3 : How do I see my style changing over time?

I do realize I have come a long way from my first quilts

 
 to today...

But that is only because I have dared more an more difficult (to me) stuff!

I so look forward to dare some more!!!

Whats your answer??? Do link up here.

Sew Thinky Thursday # 2

Its Thursday today, and its time for me to link up to Emily's Sew Thinky Thursday

 I designed that button for her! Isn't it cute?

Today she asked :  
What is the most meaningful thing you've ever made?

I did think about it for a while, but my mind kept going back to THE one quilt!





Last year, just after Diwali, my Brother-in-law, Ketan, informed me that the family business will be completing 100 years this year. He needed my help with ideas for celebrating it.

While thinking about those ideas, my mind kept going back to the photo of the person who had founded the shop, back in 1913! My husband's great-grandfather. I have really grown to admire him over the years. His story is an inspiration to all.

You can read that story here.

I did a lot of brainstorming about what gift I should give to my wonderful family on this special occasion. I knew I wanted to give them something meaningful, but I also had budget constraints, being out of work for quite some time!

Around that time, I came across this quilt by Sandra Bruce.

And I just knew what I wanted to do!

We had only one photo of Dada-ajoba (as he's known to the family).

I took that and started my adventure. My first idea was to pixelate the image and use 1" squares to make that image! The plan sounded great. But with the fusible that I had here, the joints were getting too thick. 

Change of plan.

I decided to do raw edge applique. It was something that I was comfortable with and knew I could pull off.

I got down to work and started off...

For the first few days, it looked like this...

I was a little worried that it might look like someone else... But it did not bother me much... Since nobody knew I was making it and I could just chuck it away...

But one night, DH walked in on me working on it. Though the quilt did not look anything like Dada-ajoba, there was this on the wall!

An actual size blown up photo. I had put it such that it was on the wall behind the door. The door was usually open and so nobody saw it. But that day I was working on the quilt and the door was closed since I needed to refer to it.

Oops!

I told him what I was doing and he was happy.

End of my happy days!

I was a nervous wreck ever after. All these years that I have been quilting, my husband never looked at it as more than a hobby. But now that I wished to make it my profession, I wanted him to take it seriously. Here was the biggest opportunity of my life. To impress upon him that quilting is not merely my hobby, but something much more serious.
And I was nervous. Now I HAD TO make it perfect! It HAD TO work. A lot was at stake. If the quilt did not look like Dada-ajoba I'd be disappointing not just myself, but also the person who is the most important to me in this world.

I got so nervous at a point that I did not touch my work for days at a stretch.

But then I gathered courage and worked on it. It really helped that DH was away for a while with his friends. I got a lot done on that weekend!

And in the end, the quilt was ready.

I had done it!
I had captured the expressions in the photo PERFECTLY! And I was so happy with it.


And now it was time for the big reveal!
Once again I was nervous. I invited BIL & FIL home one day even before the binding was put on. I knew if I did not have a deadline, I'd never finish it out of sheer fear! So they were coming at 5 in the evening. I was sitting with the quilt at 2, hand sewing the binding on!

But I got it done.

And they ---- well, they were speechless!

FIL made me move back and forth with the quilt so that he could look at it again and again... He was totally floored!

The best part was when he called up my Dad to tell him about it. My parents were so proud of me! And so was DH. He was beaming!

I'm so happy to have done this for my husband. I know Dada-ajoba means a lot to him. He is an atheist, he does not believe in the existence of God. For him Dada-ajoba is the person he believes in. He is God for him. And me making Dada-ajoba's portrait was the best gift that he could have got from me!

:)

I guess, I can never make anything more meaningful than this, can I?

Cheers!

Sew Thinky Thursday!

Okay, its Friday here... But its still Thursday where Emily lives and so, I can join her new weekly blog hop! Sew Thinky Thursday!

How can I not join my best friend in her First ever blog hop!

Hop over yourselves to join the fun!

 

This will be your place for some thoughtful blog reading. Each Thursday she'll post a different question regarding sewing and quilting, then she'll write my response to that question. She'll have the linky tool at the bottom of the post so that you can link up a post sharing your response.

There are no wrong answers here. Many of these questions are open ended  personal stories. She'll leave the linky party open for a few days so that everyone has a chance to write up their post. Her hope is that by having this linkup on Thursday we'll be able to stop in over the weekend to read each other's responses! 

This week She's starting off simple. Here's her question:

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

 

And here's my answer :

 

 I started sewing in January 2010. I had never touched a sewing machine before that and never even thought of doing so. Like many Indian women, the image that a sewing machine brought to my mind was always that of Niroopa Roy stitching to make ends meet in the Eastman Color Bollywood Sagas...

 

I just could not imagine myself with a sewing machine!

 

Everything changed in January 2010! Actually things started changing in October 2009 itself. 

 

Rewind to October beginning ans I was enjoying myself - a full time Chief Assistant Architect at a reputed firm in town, a nice hefty paycheck coming home every month, a trip to London planned with my cousins! Wow!

 

And then IT happened. CHIKUNGUNYA! The most horrible and painful thing that can ever happen to anyone. For the first few days, I just could not move! Gradually I could move - but I used to dread getting out of bed - even at 10 am! 

 

Managing 3 fronts - A hectic workload, a chaotic home and a super-energized son - was becoming impossible. I decided to give up the one thing I could - My work - even though I loved it a lot. 

 

It was in Dec 2010 that I started Shrutiz - the 'up'cycle shop. I collected old clothes, employed women from the slums and made them into Bedspreads, Cushion Covers etc. I loved my work. I saw a lot of raised eyebrows - since it was kind of stepping down from being an architect - for a lot of people who knew me. Even my Mom was not happy with what I did.

 

 

 

In January, I brought my grandmother's machine home - just so that the women, who otherwise worked from home - could do minor changes right there in front of me. It was then that I started sewing. I remember I had even threaded the machine wrong the first time!

 

Later, in March, when I was looking for a better machine, I came across Elizabeth Hartman's blog. From there, there was just no turning back...

 

I fell in love with quilting! I was hooked. I enjoyed it.

 

With my new machine - a Bernette - came innumerable possibilities! And I experimented, learnt, enjoyed!

 

 

 

When, after using the machine for a while I was already thinking of upgrading it, I realized I was hooked! I even started planning my projects when I was lying in bed. It actually helped me cope with my joint pain and motivated me to get out of my bed!

 

Now that I have a new machine that does not restrict my creativity, I just love it!

 

 

What about you? How and when did you start sewing? Are you hooked to it?