Saturday 29 October 2011

Oops, I did it again !

First the background...Well, here's the fabric for the quilt that was conceived in a flash of inspiration on a lovely rainy day. Love the colours. So I go ahead full steam, cutting and piecing. Love the colours so much I wanna take a pic even before pressing..

And then again AFTER pressing ..

..and THEN I measure the finished pieced blocks and they are a full 1/2" smaller than they are supposed to be!! So now I have half the blocks that finish at 10" and half that finish at 9.5" :-(. Disaster!

So what do I do, what do I do? I make myself a nice cup of ginger tea, abandon the blocks and instead fashion a festoon for my bookshelf out of the scraps and selvages to cheer me up :-). (I'd probably have done that anyway, coz I just LOVE the colours and can't bear to throw any bit away.  But then, I already told you that!)


Cheer up, all you folks !!  :-) 

Tuesday 25 October 2011

What goes best with a beautiful rainy day?

1.Chai and pakoras
2.A comfy window seat and the breeze in your hair
3.A wistful smile and bittersweet memories
4.A li'l bit of quiet and the music of the raindrops
5.The freshly washed green of the trees and inspiration for a new quilt...

Snip snip and voila !!


Enjoy the rains !

Saturday 22 October 2011

A quilt named 'Love, luck and happiness'

I'd like to make that someday. A quilt named 'love, luck & happiness'. Sounds so complete an idea of life. But having no luck visualizing that into a quilt. Since 50% of the followers of this blog at the moment are quilters, maybe I should ask them for ideas. So, Aliya, what do you think? Maybe I'll ask the non-quilting 50% too. So, Shiva, what do you think? :-)

Here's a completed block of the stained glass quilt that I am working on :
  
Wishing everyone loads of love, luck and happiness !

Thursday 20 October 2011

Open all of life's lil gift boxes

That was my lesson for the day. Lemme rewind to yesterday. Here I was, minding my own business (quite literally), when I get a call from an old (not literally) friend who desperately needed someone to judge a  'Cabin Decoration Competition' at an IT firm the next day. I've never done such stuff. I don't wanna do it. Sounds like a waste of time. Plus they aren't likely to pay anything. So I say no. She insists. I say maybe not. She insists some more. I say I'll think about it. She says ok. And a few minutes later I am kicking myself wondering whatever happened to my sense of adventure. Am I growing old, or, growing dead? I call back and say a big yes. And boy, am I glad I did.

The event was part of the Diwali celebration week. Diwali, the festival of lights. And sweets. And firecrackers. And new clothes. And weird cabin decoration competitions. Which I very much enjoyed btw. It was a hoot to see the usually staid office spaces decorated gaily with wide ranging themes from 'Jurassic Park' to 'Bachelors' Pad'(don't ask!); from 'Green Diwali' to 'Fire station'. One of the teams claimed to have used only office supplies to decorate their cubicle and I have more than a slight suspicion that the auspicious vermilion that was  smeared on our foreheads (its an Indian Hindu custom) as a welcome, had permanent marker ink in it ! I'm still sporting what looks like a gunshot in my forehead !!

Long story short, had lots of fun, met new people, had the pleasure of 500 young men shouting back a grinning hello, got invited to be a judge at a dance and dramatics event in a college...AND got paid for it all. Too bad I couldn't squeeze in any quilting today.

W.I.P.

Thats Work-in-Progress for the uninitiated. That would be..
One, this :
and two, me !

Okay, thats not really me, but I am definitely a W.I.P. :-)

Happy progress!

Wednesday 19 October 2011

O happy day !

Any day that I finish a quilt is a happy one. If I get to finish one AND start another one, its a happier day. But its the happiest when I do that and that, AND have the pleasure of watching a quilt reach the person it was made for. Today was a happy day of the third degree.

Speaking of happiness, we (hubby, 2 kids and myself) used to have a dinnertime ritual - each of us would declare/describe a happy moment/incident/thought/whatever that happened during the day and the rest of us would join in the celebration with whoops and table thumping and various jungle-cries. This trivial but life-affirming ritual has kinda been ignored the last few months. I think its time to revive it. 

And speaking of quilts, I finished one today but can't post pics until the 1st of Nov. Thats when it will be handed over to the birthday baby. Anyways, the girls and I did a 'victory lap' in it all around the house :-). Also started the next one...140 pieces in 10 different fabrics..all cut and pinned. Pics soon. Also had the pleasure of watching a friend's daughter snuggle up in her brand new quilt. Pics tomorrow if the mom okays.

Have a happy day !

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Gasping for breath

Like a newborn baby pushed out of the womb, I am gasping for precious air, working my lungs for the first time, unaware that in a short while, breathing will be second nature. Okay, did I say second ? Thats funny. It should be first. First and foremost. And I was really talking about quilting and blogging about it. And you my dear breathmates are the unfortunate chosen few on whom I shall foist this blog. Heh Heh Heh !! Cheers!!!