Whims And Fancies

I am very excited to introduce the second block for the Doctor Who QAL, the Time Lord.  This is one of the Doctor Who quilt patterns I always wanted to make.  After all our favorite Doctor is a Time Lord, and I just love the grandeur of the headpiece!

It’s a fairly easy paper piecing quilt pattern.  You will find all the instructions in the pattern file.

For the Doctor Who – Time Lord Quilt Block you will need -

1 fat quarter for the background

1 fat quarter for the collar

One shade of red for the gown

One darker shade of fabric for the neck or collar area of the gown

Download File : Time Lord

You can also download the file on Craftsy.

Please remember to upload your finished photos to the Flickr Group.  The TARDIS blocks have been great so far!

Have Fun!
-Soma

Blog posts for already published patterns -

May 7th – Tardis

I recently found out about the Blogger’s Quilt Festival :: Spring 2013 at Amy’s Creative Side.   I noticed there is a Wall Hanging category and I decided to enter the Rainbow Star in that one; this is my second entry in the quilt festival.

If you are a current reader of my blog, you have seen this one being made and quilted in the past.  I will recapture the moments for the new visitors from the Blogger’s Festival.

I love making paper piecing patterns.  Every time I get an idea in my head, I can’t wait to draw it, draft the pattern, pick out the perfect colored fabrics and stitch it.  I used three 10″ paper pieced blocks of my own design to make this wall hanging.   I used white for the background and gray for the borders so that they would not steal focus away from the colors of the blocks.  I echo quilted the blocks and used straight line quilting for the borders.  The finished size of the wall hanging with the borders is 37″ x 14″.

Starlight Converging

It all started with this block called Starlight Converging to represent the birth of a star.  This was going to be the only block I was going to make – a small 10″x10″ wall hanging.

This block was put aside for a week or so because I was trying to figure out how I was going to quilt this piece.  In the meantime, I was reading a astronomy paper on stars and I thought it would be wonderful to create two more blocks to further represent stellar evolution.

A New Star

Starlight Diverging

Because I occasionally draw/paint, I wanted to make a color wheel wall hanging one day.  These blocks presented a perfect opportunity to use rainbow colors or color wheel colors to represent the visible light spectrum.  This wall hanging was my take on merging two of my passions together – art and science.

Since publishing this post, I got a few emails and comments about links to these patterns.  All of these patterns are available individually, or as a collection on Craftsy and Etsy.  Thank you so much!!

Please visit my other entry Geese Around The Sun in the ROYGBIV Quilt category.  Thank you so much for visiting again and please come back to visit me any time you like!  Enjoy rest of the festival, it’s really a wonderful one!

Shortly after I made this blog post, I learned about the Blogger’s Quilt Festival :: Spring 2013 at Amy’s Creative Side.  I asked Amy if I could enter this already-published post, and she was gracious enough to say yes.  I am super excited to enter Geese Around The Sun in the festival.

I made Geese Around The Sun last month for a quilt swap while the Spring Fling was in full bloom.  My partner likes rainbow colors and Flying Geese.  I thought she would like the Startlight Diverging and I was wondering how to add the Flying Geese to that.  I went through a few design iterations but none of them was anything special that I could hold on to.  Then this idea came to me and it stuck.

Close-up of one of the sections

The Finished 18″ Wall Hanging – Pattern on Craftsy and Etsy

This is the first time I didn’t draw straight on the quilt-top for quilting.  I got some tracing paper, pinned it on the quilt, and drew the lines on it using a ruler.  The process worked like a charm and the tracing paper tore off very easily.

My partner was very happy with her mini quilt.  I am going to make another one for myself; it will have a dark background and Northcott Stonehenge fabric.

If you would like to make one for yourself, I have the pattern available on Craftsy and Etsy.  It’s not a beginner pattern, but if you have done paper piecing before, you can easily make it.  I would also suggest trimming the whole piece only after you finish quilting it.

Thank you for visiting!  I hope you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you in the future!  Enjoy rest of the festival!

-Soma

I have been out a lot since last weekend began, but still managed to sneak in a bit of sewing.  I am working on a set of patterns to make a wall hanging with, and this little Flax flower is part of that.  While I like the paper pieced version a lot, I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn Y-seam.  I redesigned the pattern to be sewn with Y-seam, and now I have this extra paper pieced block.

I have never made a tote bag before.  I figured this little block would be so perfect for that.  I found this tutorial at Skip To My Lou.  If you haven’t made a tote bag before and are a novice in the sewing world like me,  I highly recommend this tutorial.  I only made a couple of changes.  I used interfacing to give a bag some stability, and I trimmed the box corners.  That’s It!  I followed the instructions step by step and here is my little bag!

I used a 2″ strip of the lining fabric in the back.

I made this quilt-top months ago using Take 5 from Teacher’s Pet.  I finally pulled it out last weekend and trimmed all the threads in the back.  I also finished piecing the back together.  So this one is ready to be pinned together this weekend.

Of I course couldn’t have done it without my little helper Charlie!  I am sure he will be the first one to test the new quilt once I am finished with it.

This will be something new for me as well,  to quilt a queen size quilt.  Some of my online friends gave me some very helpful tips and I will try to remember them.  I am very nervous, but I have to take the plunge some time, right?!

Occasionally I get custom pattern requests.  They are always very special to me because these patterns are going to be used for someone special in the quilter’s life.  I got an email from a lady who wanted to make a camera wall hanging for a family member as a thank you present.  Her family is currently deployed in Germany, and she wanted to get this done before they came back to the States.

She has never done paper piecing before and she really wanted to give it a try.   I made two patterns for her – one completely paper pieced and another easier one with an appliqued lens.  She learned how to paper piece using the Schoolhouse tutorial I have.  Then she made this!!!  She made the complete paper pieced wall hanging!  The fabrics she picked are also very special and significant.  I was so amazed that I had to share it here with her permission!

Here’s to trying something new!
Have a colorful and creative weekend!
-Soma

The long-awaited day is finally here!!! What else would a time traveler use but a TARDIS for this fun adventure!  You – the smart Whovians – probably already guessed long ago that our very first block would be the TARDIS!!

This is my block from Caroline’s fabulous TARDIS pattern.

Before you hop on over to Caroline’s blog to get the pattern, I have a very quick Show-and-Tell for you.  Very recently, I participated in a quilt swap.  When I took this small quilt out of the envelope, I could not believe my eyes!  My partner Thalia is also a fellow Whovian!!

This is the front of the swap quilt.  She made this in silk using my favorite colors from Autumn and Winter.  Then she added layer upon intricate layer of embroidery.  You could literally get lost in that embroidery for hours!

This is the back of the quilt.  Yes, you guessed it, it’s Gallifraean!

As I unfolded the quilt, hidden inside was this fun treasure!  She made finger puppets for me of all the incarnations of the Doctor and his Plus One!!

It was late at night when I checked my mail.  I went to bed with everything in my arms and a huge grin on my face!  How lucky was I to have Thalia as my swap partner.  She is just amazing!  I also couldn’t thank my swap mama enough for pairing us up.

Now “allons-y” over to Caroline‘s blog – Trillium Design to get the TARDIS pattern.  I hope to see you back here on May 21st for the next block!

If you haven’t already done so, join us at the Flickr Group. You can check our full schedule there for this event. We will update the schedule there as we post new blocks.

-Soma