52 prompts to blog every week : Week 6

In the 52 prompts series, this week, we are going to talk about our favorite fabrics!



For a very long time, I have been totally in love with Echino! Thats always been my favorite fabric EVER. I do not throw away ANY Echino scraps from my studio!

I had picked up some fabulous Echino on my trip to USA for QuiltCon last year. I recently made one of thoes fabrics into a bag.

I even put some Bag feet on its bottom!!! Love that it looks so professional!!!

Which is your favorite fabric? Do leave me a comment and share!!!

Cheers!!!

Why quality matters?

"Why don't you use cheaper material to make my quilt?"

I get asked a lot of variations of this question when I take custom orders and my customers hear the price I am quoting.

I have already done a post about pricing, if you haven't read it, I urge you to go back to it and read.

When I started quilting, I knew nothing about sewing machines, thread or fabrics!!! It took me a long time and a lot of hard work to figure out what works best for me. One by one, today I will explain why I wont use something that is cheaper to make something for you. It matters to me that you all understand it. Because, I believe, it is important.

First up : Sewing Machines!!!

I had my grandma's treadle - Durby -  and I was absolutely happy with it. I thought I had the best machine in the whole world. Then I bought the Bernette e56 - Betty- and I was on top of the world! Of course it had to be the best sewing machine in the world! I paid a lot of money for it! But then I got the Bernina 330 - my awesome Emily - and I realized how much better my stitching got with the better machine. Yes, I had a lot of experience by then, but also yes, the machine made a difference, Once again I thought I would never need a better machine than that! So when I ultimately found my soulmate Ross (My Bernina 710) I do not expect him to be the best machine in the world! I know that before I know it, I will be thinking about an upgrade. I have used a lot of different brands, but the hassle-free operation and maintenance of the Bernina plus its user-friendly interface has made me stick to it long before I became the Brand Ambassador for them.

Second : Threads

It was the same with the threads. When I started out, I just bought 'thread'. I didn't even know there were any other factors apart from colour to consider! But 5 years in the quilting world has made me a lot wiser. I have tried A LOT OF threads. Right from unkown local manufactured spools to my latest obsession, Aurifil. I used to have a lot of tension issues and blamed my sewing machine before I laid my hands on this awesome made-in-Italy-Egyptian-cotton spool of goodness. Its not that I do not use any other brands, I do. But I only do so if I do not have a spool of Aurfil in the colour and weight I need. After I used Aurifil for the first time in September 2012, I realized what I should look for when I buy a spool of thread. Its not just the colour. It is the way it has been woven that determines if I am going to break it often or have tension issues. I started looking at all the threads I use differently. I prefer cotton, mainly after I had to iron a totally crumpled linen pouch on a 'cotton' setting on my iron and doing so just burnt all the poly thread that I had used to do the quilting! I also need to be sure that the colour of the thread does not run! I learnt that one from experience too! A beautiful pink-grey quilt for a little girl has shocking pink 'highlights' throughout the quilt! When I use Aurifil I do not have to think about all the issues. I know that they have been thought of, by the company!

Moving on to : Fabrics

Fabric is, of course, my favorite of all the supplies i need to make a quilt! And yes, it is the most important one and also plays the major role in making a quilt what it is.

When I started out, like I have said a million times before I didn't know anything about fabrics. In fact I started out as an 'up'-cycler! I took old clothes and made them into something useful. I got to play with a lot of different fabrics. With every item I made (it was not just quilts then) I learnt a little bit about what I should do and what I should not. It was a long road filled with many failed attempts. But in the course of 5 years, I have come a long way and today I can tell the quality of fabric by feeling it.   I had seen a lot of people do that in a fabric shop before I started quilting, I did it too, but never really knew what they (or I) were doing. But now i can.

I prefer buying solids here in the local fabric shops. One - they come in a lot more colours than the branded ones. And two - its easier and better to match colours to actual fabrics than to screen images. I usually take along a few wet wipes. I rub them onto the fabric in a discreet corner to test for colour fastness. Indian fabrics are notorious for bleeding colours! I have observed that the Umaid mills Poplin usually runs less. But any brand I buy, its the pinks and the turquoise ones that bleed the most. So I usually soak them in colour fasterners. My FIL used a mixture of Salt and Jaggery. I have tried that and it works as good as the store bought colour fastners.

I buy a lot of prints here in India, but I love the designer prints that I order online. For prints that I buy in India, I always check for mis-prints. That seems to be an issue with a lot of cheaper print fabrics available. Also a lot of it is garment weight - that is a lot lighter than I need for quilting. So I have to take all these things into consideration when I buy fabric. And price is the last thing on my mind when I do that.

I want my customers to love my quilt as much I do. I spend a lot of time thinking about the quilt and dreaming about how i will make it and what it will look like. It feels like nurturing a baby! And like any other parent I only want what is the best for my baby! I cannot compromise on the quality of the supplies that I use. If you are a dear friend or a returning customer, I sometimes will compromise on the 'making charges' of my quilt to make it more affordable to you, but NEVER on the quality of the material.

Even if you are okay with it, I am not!
And I will NOT use cheaper material just so that a lot more people can buy it.

Abhalmaya : The largest portrait quilt I ever made

My mentor in Architecture - Pramod Chaugule, wanted me to make a portrait of his father, who is known as Pappa among all those who are close to him. So after two years of pestering me I agreed. Why was I putting it off? He wanted me to make a HUGE quilt. And I wasn't ready for it!

Like I said in my earlier post, I started making this quilt in June. It was a daunting project and for a long time I could not decide which technique to use.

In the end I decided to make it into a pixelated porrtait.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the colours, and in the end acted smart and just created the pattern on You Patch. If anyone of you wants to make a pixelated quilt, PLEASE save yourself a lot of time and headache and frustration and just design your pattern on You Patch. They're quick, easy and most important, they tell you the shades of Kona Solids that you can use! It just eliminates all the hassels of fabric selection.

But of course I could not have done it the easy way, could I?

First, all those blocks... They made my head spin! So many pieces to cut in so many different sizes! And I suck at precision peicing! My 6.5" Tula pink blocks are ALL of different sizes!!! Don't ask me how.

So what do I do?

I had some Pellon Tru-Grid that I had ordered from the USA a few weeks back. So I decided to just calculate the number of squares I needed of each colour and fuse and stitch them, one block at a time! Easy, right?

Wrong again.


Firstly, I did not have all the Kona shades I needed and ordering online isn't an option when you live on the other side of the world.

And secondly, the very intelligent me had ordered a nun-fusible variety of the Pellon Tru-Grid!!!

I was almost in tears when I realized that!

But you know me. I always find a way out! So I matched the Kona Solids to whatever fabric I had and used a glue stick to 'fuse' the pieces!!! This is how I organized my fabric squares while I worked with them!



Thus began my adventure with the 4096 (8 x 8 blocks of 8 x 8 squares each)

Was it an easy road from there. Well yes, until I finished 3/4th of the quilt and made a startling discovery!

I had completed 48/64 blocks. Just finished putting them all together and laid it on the ground. I almost had a heart attack!

It looked NOTHING like the photo! I was, again, on the verge of tears! All the things had been finalized by then. Pramod Sir was eagerly awaiting snaps of the portrait! And I just could not see it!

I sent for Rohit. I thought a new set of eyes might see what I'm not seeing. And meanwhile, I thought i'd just click a photo of it and send it to my quilting peeps to investigate what went wrong.

When I looked at the screen of my iPhone I was surprised and so happy!!!

This is what I saw!!!



It totally looked like Pappa!!! Phew!!! The last 16 blocks came together super fast and the quilt top was ready.



Time to baste it!!!

I actually had to move out ALL the furniture from Aadi's room to baste it! It took 3 gruesome hours, down on my knees!!!

Now came the time to decide how to quilt it. I had a whole array of Aurifil threads in Greys. I had a very hard time determining how I was going to quilt it. 

In the end I chose to go with a simple stippling design with the Monofilament thread in the top and 50 wt White thread in the bobbin.

It took me 3 days of a quilting marathon to finish this one! But it was ready - 15 days before the exhibition - bound and with a sleeve!!!

This quilt was placed behind a curtain at the exhibition. About 5' from it we had put up a board that read "Look though your mobile phone camera". It was like magic! People loved it. It sure was a crowd puller. Kids called it a magic quilt! They were totally fascinated by the quilt.

Quilt stats :

Name : Abhalmaya (Love - as big as the skies)

 Size : 88" x 85" (The largest portrait quilt I've made)
Material used : Solids by Moda, Michael Miller, American Made, Robert Kaufman and Umaid Mills India
Thread : Aurifil Clear Monofilament thread on the top and Aurifil White 50 wt in the bobbin

 Technique : Patchwork!
Experience : Awesome! Terrifying!! Energizing!!!

Bella Parade 2015: Week 2 giveaway

I cant believe that we are at the end of week 2
 What a lovely week we had...
 Five opportunities to win Bella solids and Aurifil ...
Plus one Mega opportunity to win this week's super hamper!!




Bella Parade FQ Bundle (25 FQs) and 25 Aurifil Spools of 40 wt!!!

Drumroll please !!

Here are the winners ...

Day6: The Bella solid was SUNSHINE

and the winner is Heather J

Day7: The Bella solid was COBALT

and the winner is jacklynngt (from Instagram)

Day8: The Bella solid was DILL

and the winner is Sangeeta Chabbra

Day9: The Bella solid was AMELIA ORANGE

and the winner is Clara (@Sorcha83 from Twitter)

Day10: The Bella solid wasBOYSENBERRY

and the winner is Sneha Deshpande (from Facebook)

Congratulations to all the winners and than you for all the lovely comments you have posted. I have read through each one of them I greatly appreciate the effort to share :)

To be eligible for the weekly prize,which is this mega loot aboe,  you have to participate  at least once throughout the said week.

The winner of the second mega weekly giveaway is 

Aarti Durvasula (from Facebook)

If you aren't a winner, don't loose hope, there are three more weeks of fun and opportunities ahead and larger giveaways to vie for!!

My awesome new studio...

Did I tell you about my brand new studio???

Of course I did. But did I mention how awesome it was?

Pull up a comfortable chair and take along a cup of coffee - on second thoughts - maybe you should stick to something cold! You might drop it on yourself after seeing the studio!!!

Ready for the tour???

Welcome to the brand new studio of 13 Woodhouse Road

 

This is my personal sewing area! I have my stash of designer fabric near the ironing station and the cutting table. I sit on the table with my back to it! The wonderful overhead light is my favorite one and has been with me since 2005. It was first in my office then in my son's room and now in my studio!

 

 Here's what the entire space looks like. Out of that door is my own private toilet block!!! Yippe!!! What more Can I ask for?

The ironing station is actually a kitchen platform. I have retained the sink and its fixtures so that I can use it for soaking fabric as well as for my dyeing experiments!

 

The cutting table is from my days before my marriage! It used to be my office table back home (@2002) and then moved to Sangli with me! I just love it!

The cutting mats are all worn out. But I haven't had the time to replace them, yet.

 Thats my sewing machine set up along with my miscellaneous shelves and my wonderful design wall. On the DW hangs my first finish in the new studio! It needs a separate post of its own though!!!

I keep all my regular sewing supplies in that small orange bowl next to my machine. The shelves under the machine have my threads in boxes sorted by color. Will get a separate picture of them later!
The same shelves also hold my machine accessories and maintenance stuff!

See that small hole in the flooring next to the table? That is an old tool used in Indian kitchens instead of the modern Mortar & Pestles. It was carved out of a stone and used in the flooring! A wooden stump would be used as a pestle.






I sit facing my small "Office" space. The black top table is where I have put up my computer. It also has an inspiration board next to it and a wall shelf for keeping my books and notebooks.

I am so in love with my new space.

There's more on the other side too.

The large table is waiting for something - HUGE! I'm waiting for it with my heart in my mouth! Not one but 2 arrivals at 13 Woodhouse Road scheduled in the next few days!!!

More on them when they arrive!

I finally found the PERFECT place to hang my Apsara Quilt. It can be seen right when you enter! And looks awesome!

The table against the wall holds my Bernette and my HV E10. 

 

This is my "Shop" corner. It has all my for sale stuff! iQuilt is here on a visit before he flies off across the oceans to participate in various quilt shows.

And I found him the perfect place too!!!
my God and my brother's iGod sit side by side looking over my Grandmother's machine!

I'm so happy with my new space!!!

And do you know the best part? I did not buy anything new except the paint and the 2 chairs!!!

I am a firm believer in recycling! And so decided to make EVERYTHING from the material that I already had in the studio!

My partitions became the shelves along the wall. The top part went under the two flush doors to become tables!!!

EVERYTHING is recycled!!!

Now you know why I have been MIA for the past few weeks. But there are things that happened in these past few days that are worth mentioning!

So await my next post!!!

P.S. Want a sneak peek?

Sunday Stash and more...

It is very rare that I do a post on a Sunday.... Sundays are meant to be spent with family!

 But today I could not resist showing off a few of my picks from my stash...



Here's my loot...

Some of them are from Fat Quarter Shop

The RK bundles, Aurifil thread, Angela Yosten FQ Bundle, The book and the yardages...

The Type is from a new to me etsy shop - Sew Me a Song...

The dot bundles are going to be used to make some cutesy baby quilts...

I'm thinking of using the Angela Yosten Bundle to make the Bay Area Modern Block of the Month quilt! IMQG is participating in the BOM!

The yardages will, most probably go into making bags / journal covers...

What do I do of this? I have ordered 6 yards of it! I had also ordered 2 yards of the sunglasses, but Becca sent me 2 yards of the journal print by mistake. I already had bought 1 yard of it from FQS! But being as nice a lady as she is, she has told me  to keep the 2 yards and she's sending me the original 2 yards of Sunglasses! One more reason to love Etsy shops!!!

In other news,
Kiddo ordered me to make a bag to carry his lunch box and water bottle to the school.
Here's how the conversation went :
A : "Mama, you NEVER make anythign for me."
Me : "Don't I? Who made you the quilt that you sleep under? Or the bag you take to the playground?"
A : "Yeah, but you know I NEED a bag to take my tiffin to school. And  you still haven't made one for me."
Me : "Okay, I'll make one today. Which fabric do you like?"
A : after selecting fabrics "Make sure it does not sleep (read collapse) when you put it on ground. And it HAS TO BE ready by the time I come back from school. Understood?"
Me : after recovering from the shock, "Okay, sir. It will be done"

I decided to keep my word and make him the bag. When he came back this was waiting for him.

It is a simple tote 9" x 12" x 3". I used the fabrics that he selected and straight-line-quilted it with Aurifil 28 wt 22602AI thread...

I KISSed it (Keep It Super Simple)
And he sure loved it!

and in further news,
I cut into the Poseidon FQ Bundle I had bought quite some time back.

I'm making it into a quilt that I'm writing a pattern for...
Having fun along the way...

What name would you suggest for that pattern? I want something with an "ocean" feel...