Yamini - A Jelly Roll Quilt

Meet Yamini.

Yamini

Designed in EQ8 and made using Island Batik fabrics, Yamini is a jelly roll quilt finishing at 60" by 80". Yamini was first published in Make Modern Issue 65. 

Sparkle & Sizzle

 "If you’re after a fun showstopper of a quilt for a gift, this one is a perfect choice. Grab a jelly roll, pair it with a high contrast solid background fabric, and watch the magic happen!" - Make Modern Issue 65.

I love how the bright colors pop on a Solid Black background like night lights in a big city. The binding is also Solid Black. I used my Walking Foot to quilt squiggly lines.

Thank you, Paul

Yamini Quilt Pattern is now available as a standalone pattern in my Etsy shop. Listed at $12, you can get it for just $9 (25% off) till Sunday, 11/23/25. 

The pattern is super-simple. Detailed instructions, with colored graphics for every step, it is a breeze to make Yamini. I have also included a Coloring Page so that you can audition your color choices.

What is a pattern release without a giveaway? So if you'd like a copy of the Yamini Quilt pattern, please leave me a comment on this blogpost and I will announce two winners on Monday, 11/24/25. If you show up as Anonymous, please include your email so that I can reach you. If you need a prompt, you may share your favorite thing about Thanksgiving. 

Update - The two winners are #6 (Cindy) and #27 (Sue). Emails have been sent.

Here is one of mine. On one of the long drives, returning home after celebrating Thanksgiving in Georgia, the following exchange happened

Me -  If I drive, we'll get home sooner. 
Paul - If I drive, the brakes will last longer.

Yamini on the banks of Potomac - Earth, Wind, Fire, Water & Sky

May your conversations be as sparkling. I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties including Yvonne's Favorite finish for November. See full list on the sidebar. 

Creature Feature etc.

Paul works in the IT industry. It means that he sits at a desk looking at a computer screen (actually three screens) all day.  What do you think he does to relax?
Plays computer games!!!

Fire-Breathing Dragon

What do I do when I get frustrated while I am working on a complicated, treacherous quilt pattern?
I make a simple quilt.

Orange Octopus

Yes, we are so different!!!


Remember Sun City. When I got extremely frustrated working on tiny blocks, I put it away and made this. Meet Creature Feature.

Creature Feature

This darling quilt (42" by 42") came together so quickly, is so bright and cheerful and it lifted me outta my funk. The best part - I completed the top in one afternoon. Hurray for simple and happy quilts. It is the popsicle of quilts.

Smiling Whales

Let me explain what I mean by Popsicle of a Quilt - Imagine, you are slaving over a three-layer chocolate cake with ganache icing (for very special guests).  But what you really want to eat is a popsicle. Get it?  It is simple and low-intensity. It hits the spot and makes you giggle like a kid. 

Puppies - Yay!!!

See this fabric with puppies.  I love this fabric. Here is a fat quarter that keeps on giving.
I used it in Homeful with great success. And also in Playschool as well as Pre-K.

Tropical Turtle

All colored strips are from Connecting Threads. Used some of them in Lickety Split.
And this orange fabric was a gift from dearest quilter buddy in Pennsylvania -  Sylvia.

from Sylvia, with love

Knowing my love for cute fabrics, she saved me two FQs of this adorable fabric.
A bunch of 5" squares and some 2.5" strips + on afternoon = Magic!!!

Jelly Fish :-)

As I was quilting this cutie patootie, I was listening to NPR and this show came up - Creature Feature.
"In this adorable rhyming game, each answer is two words: an animal, and a word that rhymes with that animal. So if we imagined a red crustacean gangster that boiled its enemies alive and served them with butter, it would be called a Lobster Mobster."

That settled it. I found the name for my little adorable quilt - Creature Feature.

Labelled!!!

Walking foot quilting using a decorative stitch that looks like Cs. Mirrored it looks like clouds.

Bright Stripes Binding

The backing is blue, cream dotty fabric.
The binding is a bright black/colorful striped fabric.  I am really loving stripes for binding. They look lovely!!!

I do not have a recipient in mind for Creature Feature but I am sure that the universe will take care of it.
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Remember my last post where I talked about Craftsy kits that were great deals etc.
Guess what? Those very kits are now FURTHER reduced.  Check them out here.


I've had my eye on this Rhoda Ruth FQ Bundle for quite some time now, but I refused to pay more than $2 per FQ. Today it is 30 FQs for just over $60. SOLD!!!

Oh, I also bought this Michael Miller Melodies FQ bundle - how rich are these colors and at $1.625 per FQ, this was impossible resist.

Do you remember the KISS tutorial? It uses 6" strips. I used Kaffe Fassett's Design Strips.  Those are now 55% off at $18.45.  That means you could make two quilt tops for just $18.45.

Pastel Strips

Jewel Strips

And if you'd rather make the KISS quilt using batiks, there is great news.  Each of these Tonga Treats 6" Strips are just $21.

Jupiter 6" Strips

Citrus Mint 6" Strips

City Lights 6" Strips

Speaking of KISS, Kat of Scrapbox Quilts made a baby bargello quilt using my tutorial. I am tickled pink!!!

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All addresses have been received from the winners of the Orphan Adoption Event. Packages going out today with the quilt top to Cindy, pens to PK, and template to Shelley.  In your packages, I have also included one small surprise item.  Exact same in each package - because I don't want any fights wherein anyone says - Why is her surprise item better than mine?
Just kidding :-D  Thank you for adopting these orphans and hope you enjoy your surprise :-)
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I made another smaller quilt.

Someone had abandoned these triangles at the free table at our Guild Meeting.

I added some green sashing, some striped border and made a small quilt top.

It is only 32" square. It will work for a newborn baby girl.  But I am going to send it to NY Sue for the Stillborn Bereavement Group.

I used this stamp fabric for backing, received with love from Jake in SC.  I am thinking of you Jake and all the wonderful things you do :-)

A muted turquoise binding completes it.

Paul: Ooh, I like that fabric with the stamps.
Preeti: I can make you another coaster from that fabric, if you want.
Paul: Can you make me a little bag?
Preeti: Like with a zipper?
Paul: Yeah.
Preeti: WHAT??? WHY???
Paul: For travel, you know, to keep little things together.
I said fine while I rolled my eyes.
I did not think that my pouch making frenzy would have a negative side effect.  Further, I did not think that guys would want a travel bag in anything other than leather or leather look-alike. Well, I stand corrected.

I guess if I am going to use him as a quilt holder upper, he needs to be compensated!!!
How do you compensate your quilt holders/models?
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Here is the fabric audition for the next project.  I need about ten fat quarters.
I am considering these Pashmina batiks from Timeless Treasures.

Pashmina Batik FQs, Grey Background

More in my next post.

I will be linking with my favorite linky parties.
I'd love to hear from you, as usual.

Hugs,
Preeti.

Wins, Waters and Wisdom (Math)

Let's start with the good news. Shall we?  Here are the winners of the American Hustle? Orphan Adoption Event.

American Hustle Top - Cindy
Pigma Micron Pens - PK_Sews
Mini Wacky Web Template - Shelley

I will send you emails asking for your postal address, so that I can ship your items to you.
Karen, even though you did not win the quilt top, I will send you another quilt top to finish.  The cause of Marine mothers giving up their babies for adoption touched my heart.

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The theme of the 2016 Quilt Show challenge is "Virginia's Beautiful Waters".  
Here is my entry.

Skipped a Stone

The challenge - Create a quilt that best expresses your idea of the theme - Virginia's Beautiful Waters.  It can be an art, pictorial quilt or a quilt in "theme related" colors such as blues for ocean, white & green for waterfalls in the woods, green & brown for "Dismal Swamp", etc. 

Texture in the Sun (Wood Grain quilting near the bottom right)

The quilt uses 2.5" strips of blues/teals/aqua with white strips.  The blocks were created using the 
Missouri Star Quilt Company's tutorial - Summer in the Park.  

Walking Foot Quilting

I loved the blocks and the various possibilities of arranging them.  I started with placing four blocks making a colored square (at 45 degrees) in the middle.  That became the focal point. After that, I placed blocks all around as if they were rippling out from the center.

Gentle Curves

It did take a few iterations to get it right here.  In the end, everyone who saw it said nice things about it.  Either they really liked it, or they are being incredibly kind :-)

Sunny & Rippled (May favorite picture)

I believe that the slightly off-center design creates more interest.  The layout of the blocks creates concentric waves, but more angular than circular.  When it came to naming the quilt, I did not want to go with the obvious - Ripples or Waves.

Radiating outwards

Fortunately, that night Paul was watching the French movie "Amelie". When I saw Amelie skipping stones, I found the name - Skipped a Stone.

Blue, Aqua, Teal & Navy = YAY!!!

The choice of the border was definitely tricky.  Wanted to make sure that it was neither blue nor white, so as to keep the focus in the main quilt.  Any color from the warm side of the color wheel would be too distracting. A medium gray (thin) and a wide batik (navy+aqua) worked just perfectly.  Did you notice that the batik print looks like aqua droplets on navy background.

Off Center Focus

I love the navy and aqua grouping. I am sure you will be seeing it a lot more :-D right here.
The quilt top finished at about 57" by 70".  A wide backing acquired from Connecting Threads (on the 40% off sale day YIPPEE), was my choice. Yes it is very Christmassy.

Winter/Christmas Backing

This way it is Summer in the front and Winter in the back.
The batting is Warm & Natural.  Quilted in gently waving lines, with a few wood grain like curves.  Someday, I will learn FMQ. For now, thanks to Jacquie Gering, I do not have to send my quilts to a longarmer.  I can do this.

Finished!!!

The binding is aqua solid which works beautifully with the front and does fine with the backing.

You make me happy!

One more picture.  When I was piecing and squaring, while trimming the pinked edges, I noticed a tiny heart shaped bit of fabric.  Had to capture that picture :-)

Yes, I love this one.

I heart YOU!!!

The Quilt Show is June 3 - 5, 2016 in Chantilly, VA.  I will be volunteering a couple of the days, just so that I can stand near my quilt and watch folks react to it.  Is that too self-absorbed?  Please let me know.

I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties!!!
 
Here is a peek into my loot.  Acquired these Good Neighbors (Amanda Jean Nyberg) fat quarters and the supercute cows fabric yardage from Connecting Threads when it was a whopping 40% off.

This blogpost contains affiliate links.

Diamonds - Girl's Best Friends

Meet my first finish of 2016 - Diamonds in the Rough!!!

Diamonds in the Rough

Diamonds take a lo........ng time to make.  This quilt is no exception.

I started this quilt in 2014.
One day, while shopping online for a sweater, I noticed the argyle pattern.
Immediately I thought - how would that look in a quilt?

I had never before made a quilt with diamond shapes.  So, this was going to be a new experiment :-)

What is the worst that can happen?
I'll ruin some fabric.  I have plenty of fabric to ruin.

Sew and Cut

So, I started with a few 2.5" wide strips of fabric and started playing.
First, I stitched two strips together and cut them into diamonds.  If two is good, won't four be better?
Only one way to find out.

Of course, I cut one strip set this way and one strip set the other.

Design wall 

And then I started playing with them on my design wall.

I played and played. I could align them vertically or at an angle.
Like these peaks and valleys.

What does that remind you of?
Rise and fall of the waves? Or does it look like the rise and fall of the ECG line on the heart monitor?
Obviously, I had forgotten all about the Argyle by now.

Seams to Match

Before I proceed further, I decided to stitch a few of those diamond strips together. 

Oh boy, that was fun.  I quickly realized that I need to pin 1/4" from the edge of the fabric, on the stitch line of both pieces if I wanted the points to match.

Pinned Properly

I hope these pictures convey what my words fail to do.

Matched Points!!!

In the end, I decided on this layout. Eight simple (may be) diamonds, arranged in a staggered layout.

Final Layout

All I needed to do now, was to fill in with a background.

That was more challenging than I thought. Oh well.

Adding the Background

I proceeded in angles. Not the best way.

Next time, I will take each diamond and place four triangles in background fabric around it - something like an economy block.  That way I will end up with a rectangular shape. Much easy to piece.

Nevertheless, I managed to finish the top!!!  Sorry, I forgot to take pictures at that time.
I took the left over diamond blocks to make a pieced back and I am very happy with that.  I am kicking myself now for not taking more pictures along the way. Grrrrr.....


Let's try something new in quilting. Shall we?
How about using a charcoal thread, instead of a beige/cream one.

Hate the charcoal thread

Quilted a few lines and hated it.

Rip it out

Proceeded to rip them out.  See, I told you it takes a long time (many ups and downs) to create a diamond.

Tweezers to the Rescue

Seam ripper and a pair of tweezers, followed by a lint roller.

Finally, a Lint Roller...

Finally, it is all gone.

Can you believe this? I have pictures of the disasters, not the accomplishments.
Guess you just learned what not to do.

So, now the good news.  I have plenty of pictures of the finished quilt and the back too.

Finished!!!

Since Paul was not around to hold the quilt, I placed it on my design wall, secured with a few pins and took it out for a better daylight picture.  The finished quilt measures about 40" by 57".

I love love love this grey background fabric. But I cannot find it anywhere. It is grey hatch by ModKid. Have you seen it anywhere?

Hello Beautiful

The quilting is wavy lines using just my walking foot.

Love the Blue-Greens on the Grey Background

Yes, I know the diamonds are not uniform. Hence the name - Diamonds in the rough!!!
It does not have to be perfect to be pretty.
Besides, this one quilt taught me several lessons in piecing!!!

Speaking of piecing, are you ready to see the back?

Pieced Backing

I like it  a lot.  And here are a few more pictures.

Wavy Lines Quilting

 I used the same grey for the binding, hoping to create an artsy look to the quilt.
At one point, I considered naming it Desdemona's Jewels!!!

Imagine large shimmering earrings dangling from the princess's milky white earlobes.
What? I have a fertile imagination.

Walking Foot Quilting

Labelled

Girl's Best Friend!!!

I am so proud of this one.  I tried something new. I learned a few things. It is my original pattern.
It is not perfect but I love it.

On Tuesday, I took it to Show & Tell at my Guild Meeting. And, Jennifer asked me to submit it for the Quilt Show.  I was speechless.  But, I want to hear from you.  Your comments make me smile :-)

I will be linking up with favorite linky parties.