Sunday 18 May 2014

Handing over of the Blankets of Love

The Desi quilters did it yet again! The target for the charity drive which was a DQ - A 100 hands initiative was 50 blankets. Did we reach the target???? Oh, yes! We certainly did, in fact; we crossed the mark - we collected 57 blankets!!

There were baby blankets and adult sized blankets. There were small blankets and big blankets. There were light coloured blankets and dark coloured blankets..............each one beautiful in its own way, not only for how it looked, but also for the love which went into putting it together! They truly were Blankets of Love!

The D-day to hand over was the 23rd of February - what better month than the Valentine one!!


Here are the blankets all ready for the handing over




Some of the DQs, the blankets and the stuffed car!!!




The handing over of the blankets to Mala and Sonia of A Hundred Hands


Watch this space for pictures of the Blankets of Love..........

Tuesday 6 May 2014

DQ Jan-Feb '14 Challenge - Winner

The DQ challenges aim to nudge you out of your comfort zone and try new styles and techniques. The DQ Jan-Feb '14 Challenge asked for entries in the Crazy Patchwork/Quilting style. Our DQs didn't disappoint and came up with 7 lovely entries. And the winner is...

Entry #4

..the crazy pillow, machine pieced and hand embellished by DQ Damayanthi..





You win a Rs.1500 voucher from BERNINA India

and

Set of 4 coordinated FQs from The Square Inch





Congratulations and well done !

Monday 5 May 2014

DQ Nov-Dec '13 Challenge - Winner

Better late than never, right? RIGHT? :-p

So, here's the winner of the DQ Nov-Dec '13 Challenge :

Entry #7

The fabulous Madhubani Toran made by the equally fabulous Jaya Parker !







Congratulations DQ Jaya !

You win a Rs.1500 voucher from BERNINA India

and

Set of 4 coordinated FQs from The Square Inch



Congratulations !

Sunday 4 May 2014

DQ May-June'14 Challenge

Rules for the DQ May-June 2014 Challenge:

1.Make a cover for your sewing machine with a traditional block on one side and a modern interpretation of the same block on the other side.
2.Email 4 pics (1.of the full front, 2.of the full back, 3.close up of the traditional block, 4.Close up of the modern take) of the finished item to desiquilters@gmail.com. Please do not send more than 4 pics as the admins do not want to have to choose. Or lesser. And please conform exactly to the pic requirements or you risk disqualification.
3.Please include title, dimensions and a short description of your entry.
4.Please mention if the entry is an original work or inspired. You can share your inspiration once the names are revealed after the voting.
5.Please send in your entries by the midnight of June 29th, 2014

 We are still following the anonymous entries format. For more details on the format.. http://desi-quilters.blogspot.in/2013/01/jan-2013-challenge.html

The winner gets
Rs.1500 voucher from BERNINA India

and

Set of 4 coordinated FQs from The Square Inch


Come on DQs, jump in. Look at it as a way to learn something new and sharpen your existing skills.

Best of luck !

Saturday 3 May 2014

DQ March-April '14 Challenge - Entries

here are the entries to the DQ March-April 2014 Challenge which required a finished quilted item that had 3 dimensional elements :

Mar-Apr01A - "A Tree in my Garden Quilt"- 21"X21"
Inspired from pinterest boards.
Hand appliqued, yo-yo's, FMQ and a little desi twist of shisha work and kantha embroidery.



March-Apr02A - The cactus 16.5"x12". The hills and the cactus are all 3D and made by stuffing polyfill. The grass is hand embroidered using picot stitch.



MarApr03A - 'Freedom' - 14"x16". Hand and machine appliquéd, machine quilted. The 3D elements are: the flowers, the girls braids, girls skirt, the wood on the kite, the kite string, the clouds.The border is also 3D: it is a jute rope blanket stitched as the border.
While this is an original idea, the inspiration has been from various projects from the book patchwork folk art byJanet Bolton
PS. This was a fun project. 


So lets see which one is the top favourite. I like them all !

Friday 2 May 2014

DQ March-April '14 Challenge

Rules for the DQ March-April 2014 Challenge were:

1.Make a wall quilt of any size incorporating one or more 3-Dimensional elements.
2.Email 3 pics (1.of the full front, 2.of the full back, 3.close up of the 3D element) of the finished item to desiquilters@gmail.com. Please do not send more than 3 pics as the admins do not want to have to choose. Or lesser. And please conform exactly to the pic requirements or you risk disqualification.
3.Please include title, dimensions and a short description of your entry.
4.Please mention if the entry is an original work or inspired. You can share your inspiration once the names are revealed after the voting.
5.Please send in your entries by the midnight of April 29th, 2014


We are still following the anonymous entries format.For more details on the format.. http://desi-quilters.blogspot.in/2013/01/jan-2013-challenge.html

The winner gets
Rs.1500 voucher from BERNINA India


and

Set of 4 coordinated FQs from The Square Inch

Best of luck DQs !

Thursday 1 May 2014

DQ Jan-Feb '14 Challenge - Entries

Here's a look at the 7 lovely entries we had to the DQ Jan-Feb '14 Challenge requiring a finished quilted item using the Crazy Patchwork Style..

Jan-Feb01 - Go Crazy Quilt' 34"X21". A little madness for loads of fun. Hand appliqued letters, hand-hemmed binding, bead work and shisha work. Inspired from the Indian way of crazy quilting that loves to add some bling here and there.



Jan-Feb02 - Wall hanging with crazy quilted panels embellished with a pair of peacocks that are soaking up the blues, greens and purples. Embellishment done in aari stitch with zari that translated means chain stitch in metallics and thread painted. Noted for future - never combine silk fabric and silk thread and metallics unless in a self-punishment mood.



Jan-Feb03 - Crazy Quilted Wall Hanging 22"x 15.5"
Hand and machine embroidery with embellishments.
More than 25 different embroidery stitches.



Jan-Feb04 - Crazy quilted pillow hand embellished with beads and embroidery.



Jan-Feb05 - Flight of Fancy 16"x16" . Started on a whim, late one night, one thing leading to another, clearing the dust from the box of embroidery floss, untouched for almost a decade (whew), a bit of beadwork, some lace and there you have it, 'Flight of Fancy'!


Jan-Feb06A - crazy quilt with desi twist. ( wall hanging)18"x18". The top was stitched first then the warli design was painted with 3d liner and lastly quilted.




Jan-Feb07 - Peacock in a rose garden 43"x43.5". 9 white blocks with crazy quilting, 'roses' are part of the crazy white blocks, peacock and leaves are appliqued on, leaves and border are string quilted. design inspiration - peacock from purchased embroidered sari border (sections of which are in quilted border).




The DQs have voted and the three top favourite entries are

#1 - Go Crazy Quilt
#4 - Crazy Quilted Pillow
#7 - Peacock in a rose garden

We'll be back with the results tomorrow.