Buh Bye October

SterlingFest was on October 8. It was a cold and rainy day. Resulting in a disappointing turnout and very few sales but I did get something.

A cold.

A Soggy Affair at SterlingFest

Since Paul is the susceptible one, I told him to stay away from me.  Fast forward a week - I am half recovered, but Paul is sick.

Me: I told you not to kiss me
Paul: But you are so hot
Me: You can kiss my toes. Why did you have to kiss my mouth?
Paul: Because I like how my mustache tickles your mustache

Rangoli

He makes me laugh even when he is sick.  Love him so much.

Master at Work

Today is Diwali - the festival of lights.  Last night, we (Paul was in-charge) made the rangoli, to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi.

Completed Rangoli with tealights

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Being sick really does a number on your mojo.  Things moved rather slowly.  However, I am relieved that I managed to complete my October goal in October itself.

The first blocks - 10" finished square

Blogging had to take a back seat. I am deeply touched by the emails (from a few friends) and a phone call, asking me if I was well. They had noticed my blogging absence. Aw... you are so sweet.

Finished Flimsy

Well, I am back and I do have something to show for my rather long silence.

Aqua, Blue, Teal and Turquoise

This quilt is for Erica. Erica is my sister's sister-in-law.  My sister is married to Erica's brother. For the sake of this blogpost, we shall call her Erica, but that is not her real name.

Baste? Shall we?

Backing Fabric from Connecting Threads

Erica was in New Delhi when mom was "visiting" the hospital back in April of 2016.  When mom was told that the surgery was required "right now", mom panicked.  It was Erica who made all the arrangements and talked to the doctors before calling my sister.

Quilting the Beast

Erica is a doctor too and she understood all the medical jargon and eased mom's fears.

Mom's follow-up surgery was scheduled for June and we (my sister and I) flew to India to be there for her.

Binding in Process

When we reached New Delhi airport, I was very surprised that Erica had come to the airport to receive us.  It was a very hot, sultry night. By the time, we cleared customs and immigration it was past 11:00PM. As we loaded our luggage into the car, I noticed she had brought cold water for us.  So thoughtful!!!

In the morning

She had also brought my sister's favorite sweets :-) to snack on in the car!!!
Although it would have been perfectly acceptable to wait till we got home to offer tea and snacks, I was completely floored by her attention to our comfort and joy.

A queen size beauty!!!

Erica escorted us to the Metro station next morning and ensured that we were always at ease. Further, she does this with such laid back attitude that I never felt like a guest. Her home felt like our home.

Oh, how those blues sing together

Erica also took us to the indoor mall where we ate street food.  That is such a treat.  Much as we crave street food, we absolutely cannot eat it anymore from the street vendors in India.  Our systems, have been too insulated from Indian germs now and any exposure to unclean food/water will send us to the hospital.  No, I am not exaggerating.  It happened to my sister once and to me in 2012 before we learned our lesson.

I finally learned to make neat bindings :-)

Pictured in soft morning light

As we were finally packing our bags, Erica provided more snacks (sweet and savory) not just for the flight but also to take back with us.

All rolled up

I said to my sister - I need to pay her for the snacks.
Sister: Nah, she is family.
She is your family.  I am a step removed, remember?

When I asked Erica about the costs, she said pish-posh (or the Indian version of it).

A glimpse of me

I asked her - what is your favorite color?
Oh, I like all colors, she said.

This was not going to be easy.  In any case, it had to be done. I will be delivering this quilt to my sister this weekend and her husband (Erica's brother) will deliver it to Erica when he visits her in December.  Hope she likes it.

For Erica

Linking with Red Letter Quilts for the October Finish, and all other favorite linky parties.

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Being sick may limit the sewing, but stash acquisition continued.  I won a giveaway at Scraptastic Tuesday and got this bundle of nine fat quarters from Mad about Patchwork.

Not sure what I will do with them.

However these 6" strips from Tonga Treats are already spoken for  - a queen rise quilt sometime soon.  Will keep you posted.

Please stay well, get your flu shot and vote (if you are a citizen). How did October treat YOU? I'd love to hear from you.

A Tale of Two Minis

When you are a newbie, there will be a lot of things that you do for the first time. Participating in a mini quilt swap on an online forum is one of them.

Fairly simple rules - under 24" square and  anything goes. Full freedom.

After making Sun City that took forever I wanted something simple.  Meet Rainbow Bites.

Rainbow Bites - Sashing in progress

Rainbow Bites is a simple concept.  Nine squares made up of 16 squares.  The essence lies in having enough variety and contrast among those 16 squares.

Gather all your red scraps and pick out 16 fabrics. Cut them into 2" squares. Arrange and rearrange till you are pleased with the arrangement.  Stitch them together, square and put aside.

Purrfect!!!

It sure was fun to pick out and fussy cut fabrics. 

Some of you may think that this would be a great stash buster.   Let me warn you, that this little thing will NOT make a dent in your stash.  Hardly anything. Here is why. For each block, you need 16 squares 2" side.  So, what you will do is empty your monochromatic scrap bin (let's just do one color at a time) and find 16 different fabrics.

Bee Crabby :-D

Do not, please, do not open scraps for more than one color at a time. Only after you finish one color block and put away all those scraps, should you open the scrap bag for next color.  Ask me how I know.

A little birdie fishing for a compliment?

You will have major tidying up to do after you make each block.  I spent a LOT of time picking out the colors and tidying up. Since I did not tidy up after each color, I had a MAJOR mess and had to redo major sorting as well. UGH!!!

Ok, Pumpkin!

Yes, it is worth it. 

Matching sashing lines

Pinned carefully

Checked twice

How can something so small inspire so much joy?

Quilted!!!

Quilted simply in wavy lines, and used a  rather boring fabric for the backing, since it will be up on the wall, where it won't be seen.

Used dark navy solid for binding. 

Rainbow Bites

I love this little gem so much, I have decided to not part with it.   In fact, I have registered this little beauty for the quilt show in June!!!

So here is the quilt I made for the swap.

Ocean Crossing

Quilt Swap Mini

Of course there is more to Ocean Crossing and the Mini Quilt Swap process.  However, somethings are best left unsaid.  I won't be participating in any more swaps. 

Honestly, I am happy to make charity quilts.  The expectation of receiving something in return (which is the essence of a swap), is not for me.

I'd like to hear from you. Did you participate in a swap? What was your experience? 

Now, if you do not care for sales, do not want to know about Craftsy classes available on a discount and other freebies, STOP READING NOW!!!

Ready for some excitement?

I do have a few things to share with you.

1. March is National Craft Month, and Craftsy has grouped complementary classes together. These bundles are now discounted starting at 50% off for the next few days. Hurry, the offer ends Sunday! 

2. Bag of the Month deal. Side Note Satchel project kit is 40% off!

3. National Craft MonthGiveaway. Win a mystery supplies box for you and a friend!!!

This blogpost contains affiliate links.

Fit for a Princess & Puppyfish

These are quilts 5 & 6 from the Festival.

The inspiration/design for these two quilts came from Moda Bake Shop.  The pattern is called Bricks.

Once again, I made a sketch...

...while I was drinking my morning cup of chai...OOPS!!!

27 squares and 27 rectangles will make a baby quilt.

Now, you can make this super-scrappy but I wanted to stick with a theme.  Pink and girly.
Here is a hint when you choose fabrics for a project. Pick 5-6 different fabrics  - a dot, a stripe, a near solid, 1 or 2 focus prints, and 1-2 small prints. Make sure that there are some that are dark and some light.

Fit for a Princess

Focus Fabric

Sweet & Pink

Small Print, Dots and Stripe

A simple pattern keeps the focus on the fabrics.  Stare away at the princess and her castle - no major distractions here.  I chose a red/pink hearts backing.

Sweet Hearts

Choosing a binding was easy - a hot pink solid worked well with both the front and the back.

Cherries & Cherry Blossoms

Cherries, Cherry Blossoms and Cupcakes - Can it get any more Girly???
Yes, look at the Princess and her castle :-)

Labelled!

The quilting was once again the simplest (fastest) possible. I used the Cs and mirror image stitch and went over the ditches.

Pretty in Pink

When Mary saw this quilt, her eyes widened.  This would be perfect for her nephew's baby girl.
I was just thrilled that the quilt found a loving home.



Now let me talk about Puppyfish - the twin brother of "Fit for a Princess"
I struggled with the fabric choices.  There were two focus fabrics, but after that I could not find enough fabrics in my stash to make the whole thing work.  Felt limited by the colors in the focus fabrics.

Fishes and Puppies

Did not want to use grey or black from the Fish/Whale fabric - too gloomy.  Although some orange would be fine, it did not seem to be cohesive with the others.

In the end, I chose two dotty fabrics, one stripes and one small print with the two focus fabrics.  Fewer fabrics resulted in only 24 blocks instead of 27 in the original pattern.

Puppyfish

To get to a respectable baby size, I added a navy blue border.  That seemed to work and brought the whole thing together.  The backing was a light green soothing print fabric.

Owls and Birds

I think this was the last of this fabric.  Served me well in a few backings.

Simply quilted with Cs and mirror image of Cs, this was one fast finish.  I may have spent more time picking the fabrics than putting the top together.

Black Binding

Labelled

Jess bought Puppyfish for her granddaughter.  Are you sure, I asked.

Don't you want something more pink?  She was absolutely sure that this was it.

In the Sunlight

This is what I have learnt - Boys won't do pink. Must avoid any trace of fuchsia too.  Florals are a big no-no as well.

But girls are fine with all colors. Happy to be a girl - I get to play with all the colors!!!

I am so happy with the success of this pattern. It is fast and easy, really highlights the focus fabrics, requires only 5-6 fabrics and I am sure you have all of them in your stash.

I can see this getting made into several quilts.  What do you think?

Linking with my favorite Linky parties.