Quilts

  1. Cats Wallhanging
  2. My First Quilt
  3. Windmill Quilt
  4. Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam
  5. Best Friends Quilt
  6. Panel Fabric or Cheater Quilt
  7. Log Cabin Quilt
  8. Three Pillow Quilts or Quillows
  9. Arin's Quilt
  10. A Wallhanging For Mum
  11. Paper Pieced Project
  12. Single Irish Chain
  13. Triple Irish Chain
  14. Star Baby Quilt
  15. Log Cabin
  16. Charity Quilts
  17. Stack and Whack Quilt
  18. Tulip Quilt
  19. Fan Quilt
  20. Craftsy BOM - January's Asterisk & Slashed Blocks 
  21. Craftsy BOM - February's Balkan Puzzle & Chevron Blocks
  22. Craftsy BOM - March's String Block and Broken Spider Web
  23. Cathedral Windows
  24. Foundation-Pieced Miniature
  25. Snippets & Threads Catcher
  26. Star Windows Mug Rugs

Cats Wallhanging

This was my very first attempt at quilting. 
I'd just had surgery and was on sick leave for six weeks.  After a week, I was pretty much back on my feet and looking for something interesting to do, so I visited a quilt store, QuiltNFriends, close to home.  The store owner was very friendly and helpful and suggested I take a class to learn the basics of quilting.  Well, that class was to take place a week later and I was raring to go, so I bought a pattern for the wallhanging above.
The instructions were very basic and I had no idea how to use a rotary cutter, so I believe I used scissors to cut all the necessary pieces.  Fusible webbing was used to attach the cats to the background pieces and having no experience in the patchwork process, I assembled the blocks first and pieced the corner pieces last.  What a mistake that was because I was faced with Y-seams which was a nightmare!  The center seams must have been really crooked and wonky, which is why I applied the red bias tape.  Why I chose red is beyond me!

My First Quilt

Here is the queen-size quilt I made in that first class. 
The pattern is called Sunshine and Shadows. 
The squares adjacent to the white squares have some red in them,
which the camera didn't pick up, so it isn't completely monochromatic. 
It took 4 weeks to complete the top.
Son #2, Pran, has this quilt. 
I took a follow-up class to learn how to assemble and pin the three layers, and another class in hand-quilting.  I initially started out machine quilting it, but since I was working with an old, old sewing machine which didn't have a walking foot, I gave that up in a hurry! 
It took me 3 years to complete hand-quilting this quilt!
There was enough material on the back of the quilt which allowed me to fold it over to the front to simulate binding.
This quilt was started in March 1991 and finished in September 1994.

Windmill Quilt

 
My next quilt was much smaller. 
It's a lap-size (40x60") quilt I made for my husband.

Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam

This was a square panel of fabric which I made into a wall-hanging. 
I have since fallen in love with Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam.

Sunbonnet Sue hanging out her little quilt to dry.
This is an appliqued wall-hanging made with lightweight fusible webbing.
Overall Sam admiring his flowers.
Another appliqued wall-hanging using lightweight fusible webbing.

 This adorable quilt hangs in my sewing room.

Best Friends Quilt

 This was an enjoyable quilt to make.
My quilt instructor made acrylic shapes
from the templates in the pattern. 
She gave me a one-on-one tutorial on piecing
the quilt.  That kept me right on track and
I finished the top in record time!

This baby quilt was made for a cousin's first child. 
The giraffe is carrying a monkey by the tail.
The quilt was started and completed in March 1996.
It was made from panel (or cheater) fabric and machine quilted.
By this time, I had purchased a quilting machine with a built-in walking foot!
:)

This is the smallest quilt I've made. 
I'm not fond of pink, so I'm glad to
have used that color in this wallhanging.
This is a lap-size half-log cabin quilt.
I donated it to the Homeless Veterans of America.

My first pillow-quilt, also called a quillow. 
It is folded into thirds vertically, then folded from bottom to top
and tucked into a pillow case that is sewn on the back of the quilt.
It was made from panel fabric.
This was presented to son #1, Sid (short for Siddhartha), and his fiance, Alison.
Here is the second pillow-quilt I made that is folded into a pillow.
It is a lap-size quilt made from panel fabric.
I made this for a friend's mother for her birthday.

This is another pillow-quilt I made for
my niece, Anisha, when she was
born on August 21, 1996.
Anisha's quilt folded into a pillow.
I made this baby quilt featuring the animals from Noah's ark.
It was made from panel fabric.
Started in January and completed in March 1998 ,
this baby quilt was presented to my nephew
when he was born on March 21, 1998.

This wall-hanging was my project when I joined a quilting group in my home town. 
We met for 3 hours every Monday morning during the summer of 1999. 
My boss at work was most accommodating and allowed me to make up the time in the evenings.
It's a Christmas tree with ornaments made out of circles of fabric, folded six times to shape the hexagons with 6 Sunbonnet Sue buttons to represent Mum and her five daughters and 4 Overall Sam buttons to represent Daddy and his three sons.  So the top two are Mum and Daddy, the next row has two sons and two daughters, and the bottom row three daughters and a son.
I presented this to Mum at Christmas that year.


This was my first and only paper-pieced project. 
It hangs in my TV room in October
for Halloween.

Single Irish Chain Quilt

 I love this quilt.
 I take back a previous comment I made.
I do like the pink in this quilt.
A close-up view of the fabrics.
Triple Irish Chain
This king-size quilt was started in 1999 and completed in 2000
 and was presented to son #3, Prem, and his wife, Cheridy,
for their first wedding anniversary on June 2, 2001.
Once again, the camera turned the yellow chains to white. 
Too bad because the yellow is quite striking and really livens up the quilt!

Star Baby Quilt

I found the pattern for this baby quilt in a magazine. 
It's a one star block that made a perfect baby quilt.
 
Our adorable grandson used it as a
play-quilt until he began crawling.
In the winter we use it in the car to keep him warm.

The quilt was fun to make and even more
fun to quilt because of its size.
A single block from the quilt. 
It's a twin-size quilt. 
A birthday present for son #2.
He picked out the star formation in the layout.
He likes stars.  There are stars in the fabrics too.
We're both happy. 
I because the quilt's finished and
he because it's going to keep him warm this winter.

I joined a group of quilters who make quilts for the Homeless Veterans of America.
Here is the top of a 60x72" quilt made from 12-1/2" blocks. 
The finished quilt. 
 I love the colors in this block.

Here is another quilt I made for charity, also from 12-1/2" blocks.
I tried my hand at the quilt-as-you-go method
and ended up with a reversible quilt. 
The blocks are first backed with a square of batting and sewn in vertical rows.
This, in effect, is the quilting part of the process
because each block has now been "quilted in the ditch". 
The first vertical row is backed with a long strip of fabric, placed right side down,
and this first row is sewn on all sides with a 1/8" seam.
Each succeeding vertical row is then placed face down on the preceding row
and a long vertical strip is placed face down on the back and sewn to the preceding row. 
The new row and backing fabric are then folded out and the next vertical segment is added on.   
 Once all the rows are attached in this manner,
all that's needed to complete the quilt
 is for the binding to be attached.
 The finished quilt.
 A view of the back of the quilt,
which could also have been pieced.

This was probably the most interesting quilt I've ever made.
I chose an oriental theme for my focus fabric.
 The repeats in the pattern of the fabric were segmented
and stacked on top of each other six times,
triangles cut from each set of six,
which were then pieced into a hexagon.
The resulting pattern for each
of the 18 hexagons in this quilt is unique.


 I've shown only 6 of them.
 I like the 'movement' in each block.
  The colours are incredible.
 I couldn't stop sewing this quilt because
my expectations kept on building.


It isn't until all the blocks are sewn
that one can appreciate the magic
that is created from one focal fabric.

Tulip Quilt


 I made the quilt for Mum.
 A close-up of the interweaving blocks.


A close-up of the focal fabric
for which the quilt is named.

24 comments:

  1. Enjoyed looking at your quilts. Can't pick a favourite..I love them all.

    Happy blogging!!

    tinakatwal @ gmail . com

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  2. Wow... Chumkie, your quilts are fabulous!! Brad and I really enjoyed looking at your amazing work. THanks for sharing :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Inna and Happy New Year! I'm flattered you like my quilts.

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  3. lovely quilts. love them all :)
    Leena

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    1. Thank you, Leena. I enjoyed every minute of the process!

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  4. They are beautiful Chumkie! I wish I had started earlier....but hey there's lots of time still!

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    1. Thanks, Brinda, for going through this chronicle. Considering how busy you are, you've also accomplished a lot. And yes, there's still so much time.

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  5. Love the quilts. Wonderful work and lovely to see pictures from when you started off!

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    1. Thank you, Carol, for visiting my blog! I'm glad you appreciate my quilts.

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  6. You're a real quilter! Even your first one is so beautiful! I love all your quilts, fabulous!

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  7. Excellent work and all are very pretty!!!Nice to go through your blog....

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    1. Thanks, Nirmala! I appreciate your visit :)

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  8. Chumkie, What beautiful work !! I loved looking at all of them and hopefully one day I'll master the skills and even try to make some !!

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  9. Thank you, Vee! I picked up most of these techniques by taking quilting classes, which also helped to keep me on track. All the best as you continue on your quilting journey :)

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  10. Hi Chumkie, All the quilts that you made are wonderful... love them all... Loved going through your blog too.

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    1. Thank you, Preeta! It's was satisfying and fun to make any one of these.

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  11. A lovely quilt show. I couldn`t choose just one to love, they are all so nice. I sew with panels occasionally some of them are just so perfect that I have to purchase them. They are also very popular as parents of little children don`t seem to be afraid to use them as they are with pieced quilts. I`ve heard that from many quilters who sell crib quilts in the tourist shops near here.

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  12. Hi Chumki,

    I'm a beginner. Wanted to know if its possible to quilt on an old Singer sewing machine. Pls drop me a line at thimblequilter@yahoo.co.in


    Thanks :)
    Vipul

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    Replies
    1. Hi Vipul:
      Sorry it's taken so long to reply. You can piece a quilt on any sewing machine that can sew a straight line. However, to quilt through the 3 layers of a quilt (the pieced top, batting and back) your machine will need a walking foot to quilt straight lines and/or a quilting foot for free-motion quilting (FMQ). These feet are available for most sewing machines, including the Singer. Get in touch with a Singer dealer in your area and they should be able to help you.
      Chumkie

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Thanks so much for reading and commenting on this post.

Chumkie.