Whims And Fancies

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

I was sewing this block last Thursday while we were in the midst of the Spring Fling Blog Hop.  It was a cloudy day here and the weather was unusually cool for this time of year.  I had some lamb stew simmering on the stove which would slow cook for close to three hours.  The place was smelling very inviting and warm regardless of the cool, damp weather outside.  It was very easy to get in the mood that day to sew this castle.

I wanted to make a sandstone castle.  I didn’t like a single sky fabric that I had in my stash for this castle.  So I figured why not build a castle at the edge of a forest on mossy ground.  I imagine this castle is a bit haunted!

Download File : Wonky Castle – April

This 4″ x 4″ castle block I made for my friends in the swap group this month is done in yellow-green.  It was seriously challenging to make this one in a 4″ size.  Some of the pieces are so tiny, no more than 3mm-4mm in size.

I chain pieced the previous swap castles, despite not handling repeated activity very well.  I felt like a conveyor belt, doing a job that merely needed to be finished in a factory.  This time I went back to my previous methods of crafting one castle at a time.  I thought of the old times of before conveyor belts when crafting anything was individual and special.  Made me feel nostalgic and happy while the sewing machine hummed along!

I haven’t painted a single picture for… oh, over a year now.  While I love drawing with fabric in the form of paper piecing, I have been missing the actual motion of drawing and the scratching sound of pen on paper.  One evening I pulled out my notepad and micron pens and made this small sketch of the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, Scotland.  This was the first time I drew with micron pens.  It was a bit challenging in the sense that micron pens come in very limited colors.  I used another kind of pen to add a little bit of light blue for the water.  I thought this post would be very fitting to show this drawing, since we are talking about castles.

I hope you are enjoying the castle blocks.  Here are the Links to blocks from previous months -

January

February

March

Our The Doctor Who Quilt Along starts next Tuesday! I am so very very excited!!  I am also looking forward to showing you what treasure I got from my quilt swap partner!

Happy Sewing!
-Soma

Welcome to the Wrap-Up Post of the Spring Fling Blog Hop!  In order to showcase the beautiful blocks of this blog hop a little  while longer, I decided to delay the posting of the Wonky Castle block for April until tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who played along and left wonderful comments here and also on the designers’ pages.  I am sure I will see more stitched blocks from this blog hop at the Flickr Group in the coming months.

Karen in Tucson won the final prize for her block -

The designers for this blog hop are such a talented bunch!  They really showed the level of detail that can be achieved with paper piecing.  Some of them helped me out on very short notice.  I couldn’t thank every single designer enough for making this blog hop experience so seamless and wonderful!

Now I present to you a collection of all the patterns from this Spring Fling Blog Hop!  Enjoy!

Last but definitely not least, a special thank you to everyone who contributed toward the weekly prizes.  Please visit them if you haven’t already!

Alongside celebrating Spring, on our first-day designer Teri’s request, we are also going to support a cause that is very near and dear to a lot of us women quilters – breast cancer. Teri made this banner herself for this blog hop. Please take a moment from your busy life every month to take the precautionary steps and pass this message along to other women in your life.

-Soma