Wednesday, 29 August 2012

Chumkie's Cathedral Windows QAL#2 - Gallery

Chumkie's Cathedral Windows Quilt-Alongs seem to be a big hit, with the blog getting several hits a day via Google from people looking for easy tutes on quilting Cathedral Windows ! 

The second installment of the Cathedral Windows QAL tackled the Flying Geese Method, an extremely simple way of making the complicated looking Cathedral Windows. Here are pics of some completed  projects :


Chumkie

Gayathri

Tina

Elvira

Vidya2

Nikhat

Damayanthi

Aliya

You have done the quilting world a great service, Chumkie! Thank you!

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Queen on me..


On popular demand, here's a small list of tips for Queen Bees, compiled by DQ Madhu : 

1. Please choose a block that does not require very complicated piecing skills! All members may not be equally experienced.

2. Make sure there are no copyright violations and sufficient credit is given to the source of inspiration, if any.

3. If you want member's fabric from stash, please do not have too many or too rigid requirements for fabric colours, prints etc. Not everybody has a stash, and not fair to expect people to go hunting for fabric for a single block.

4. Please give precise instructions. Make your own trial block first, using the instructions to the word. You may find you have missed something which is obvious to you, not to the reader. 

5. May be useful to give in-between-stage measurements, so that the member can check if she is doing ok! 

6. Be generous and ignore minor flaws. After all, everyone does her best! 

7. Appreciate and thank every member for her time and effort.

8. And enjoy queening over the others for a month :-)

Buzz royally !

Monday, 27 August 2012

Buzz said the Bee..


DQ is happy to announce that the second Bee is full too and registrations are now open for the third one. Please write to desiquilters@gmail.com or send a request to our Facebook page if you'd like to participate.

Meanwhile, here are some tips for Bee members, present and future:

1.Please read the instructions FULLY and make sure you understand them well. Go thru any links provided. It is ok to get in touch with the queen bee in case clarifications are required.

2.Please use good quality, bleed-free cotton fabric, preferably of poplin weight.

3.Please be precise in your measurements and cutting. It is NOT okay to send a block that is not pieced correctly.

4.Please make sure your block is not undersized. Slightly oversized is okay if it can be later squared up by the queen bee without affecting the pattern.

5.Please put in genuine EFFORT in making a good block. If you are not happy with the way it has turned out, please make a fresh one rather than send a sub-standard block.

6.Please stick to the deadlines. In case you are unable to send by the deadline, please make sure you keep the queen bee and bee moderators informed.

7.Remember, this is NOT a chore. Idea is to have fun, learn something new and create a memory for a friendly bee.

Buzzz........

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Chumkie's Cathedral Windows QAL#2

Chumkie, with her wonderful QAL#1 on making Cathedral Windows using the Orange Peel Method, inspired a lot of us DQs into taking our first hesitant steps into the world of Cathedral Blocks. See the previous post for pics of a few of the completed projects.

Over to Chumkie for the second installment of the Cathedral Windows QAL...

One Seam Flying Geese Method

For the second method in this series for constructing Cathedral Windows, we will be making a 20” cushion or table topper comprising 16 blocks arranged 4 blocks across by 4 blocks down.

 
16 Cathedral Window blocks

The components of a Cathedral Window block are the foundation/ background fabric, the frame and the window pane.  It is really simple to make this block using two Flying Geese blocks, each made with just 1 seam.

 
Cathedral Windows block constructed with 2 Flying Geese blocks, each made with 1 seam.

In the picture below, the patterned squares will form the foundations, the white rectangles the frames and a variety of printed squares (not shown) will form the window panes.  For 16 Cathedral Windows blocks that will finish at 5” square, cut

64 patterned squares 2-3/4" (foundations)
32 white rectangles 2-3/4" x 5" (frames)
16 patterned squares 2-3/4" (window panes – not shown)

 
Fabrics for Cathedral Windows block are cut and ready to piece

Form two sandwiches as follows:
  1. Place 1 patterned square, facing up, on the work surface.
  2. Fold 1 white rectangle in half, wrong sides together, aligned at the raw edges with the top of the patterned square.
  3. Place 1 patterned square, face down, on top of the white, folded rectangle.

 
Sandwich - make 2

Begin sewing from the raw edges all the way down the right side only.  Make sure that the folded edge of the rectangle is closest to you and notice it is 1/4" shorter than the two squares.

Sew right sides only

Open up the center rectangle, aligning the raw edges with the bottom edge of the unit, making sure the points on the base meet the left and right edges of the unit.  Also make sure that the tip of the Flying Geese is 1/4" from the top edge.  Pin at the base, opening the seam on the back.

 
 Pin the base and press seam open on back

Press the seam open and sew the base of two Flying Geese blocks together.

2 Flying Geese units sewn at base

Press the seam open.

Press all seams open to reduce bulk

Place a window pane square in the center of the frame and pin the bias/dimensional sides of the frame over the window pane.

 
Frame is folded over pane and pinned.

Sew the frame in place and a Cathedral Windows block is complete.

One block is complete

Here's an arrangement of four blocks.

 
An arrangement of 4 blocks

Make 16 Cathedral Windows blocks, arrange 4 across by 4 down, sew the blocks together and your project is almost done!


To make a table topper, cut a square of material the same size as the top, place the two pieces facing each other, sew all the way around the four sides leaving a space for turning, turn it inside out, sew up the opening, press the seams and it’s done!

I hope you have as much fun as I did making these Cathedral Windows!
 - Chumkie

Friday, 24 August 2012

A new milestone & a giveaway!

Its barely 4 months since Desi Quilters came into existence, though that's hard to believe looking at the lifelong friendships that it has given birth to. From a mere 2, the vivacious group has grown to 154 members and has been a hotbed of quilting activities right from the beginning. The DQ blog was but a natural consequence of a group trying to document its growth. 

In celebration of our blog reaching it's 50th follower milestone, our sponsors BERNINA India have offered to give away their ever-popular Step-by-Step patterns to not one, but THREE lucky winners!!




To qualify for the giveaway
1.Make sure you are a 'follower'
2.Leave a comment telling us of your thoughts on the blog
3.Tell us which pattern you'd like to win

So, hurry up and leave a comment people ! Winners will be chosen next week.

Cheers!!


Monday, 20 August 2012

Chumkie's Cathedral Windows QAL#1 - Gallery


Chumkie, with her wonderful QAL#1 on making Cathedral Windows using the Orange Peel Method, inspired a lot of us DQs into taking our first hesitant steps into the world of Cathedral Blocks. Here are a few of the completed projects and WIPs :

Chumkie

Tina

Nikhat

Gayathri

Dipanwita

Vidya1

Nirmala

Damayanthi

Kimberly

Nikhat

Elvira

Aliya

Aren't they beautiful?! Now try resisting QAL#2  :-)

Friday, 17 August 2012

Chumkie's Cathedral Windows QAL#1

Its exciting to be tagging along with Chumkie on her Cathedral Windows journey. After the lovely intoduction, here's the first installment of her QAL..

An Orange Peel Quilt

5 out of 16 CW blocks completed!

This first technique makes an Orange Peel Quilt which is a variation of the Cathedral Windows pattern. This pattern is also called Rob Peter to Pay Paul.

I'm fascinated by Cathedral windows quilts!  Here's the easiest variation, but it sadly lacks the dimension of the traditional Cathedral Windows quilt.  I've decided to make a cushion cover, approximately 14 inches square, for each of the techniques by this series of QALs.
14" cushion

You will need:
1 background fabric and a variety of solid or printed fabrics
Hand sewing needle and beige or grey thread to match background fabric
Scissors
A cushion insert approximately 14” square

Let's begin by selecting the fabrics for our Orange Peel quilt.
1 white background and
5 marbled batik fat quarters

Templates are available for Orange Peel quilts, but we’re going to make our own by recycling a CD that would otherwise be discarded.

You will need a piece of paper, a CD and a pencil

We need to make a template of a circle and a square.  The CD, which measures 4-3/4”, makes the perfect circle template.

Now make a template for a square that fits within this circle.
Draw a circle around the CD on a
piece of paper and cut it out

Fold the circle in half, open it and fold again in half.  Mark each crease with a dot.
Mark each of the 4 creases with a dot

Draw a line from dot to dot and measure one side of this square.  Mine measured 3.5 inches.  This will be the finished size of each of the 16 blocks that will be joined to make the Orange Peel cushion cover.  The square template for the pane of the Cathedral Window should be cut 1/4” smaller all around, at 3-1/4”. 
Draw a line from dot to dot to make a square

Transfer the dimensions of the 3-1/4” square to cardboard, cut it out and set it aside.
Make a cardboard template of the square

Pick a color of fabric for the window pane and place it face to face with the background fabric.  I’ve chosen white for the background and frame, and green for the pane of the Cathedral Window.
Pin at each corner

Draw a circle on the background fabric.  I was able to draw three circles (using the CD) on the 18” side of a fat quarter.  Cut between the circles to make 3 units.
The squares of fabric are
approximately 6” square

Using a needle and thread that matches the background fabric, hand sew around the circle with a running stitch.  Keep your stitches close together to get a good round shape when it is turned inside out.
Sew on the drawn line of  the circle

Place the square template on the coloured/printed fabric within the circle and cut a slit just above the top of the template and under the edge of the circle, without touching the sewn line.
Draw a line and cut a slit between
template and sewn line

Leaving a ¼” seam, cut around the circle.  Snip at ¼” intervals to aid in turning the circle inside out. 

Turn the circle inside out through the slit.

Press the seam.
 

Place the square template within the circle and press the frame over the template.  
Doing this one block at a time
makes it a great take-along project. 

Pin the frame in place and sew down by hand or machine to form a Cathedral Windows block.
One completed Cathedral Windows block.

Make 16 blocks of varying colours and arrange them (4 across x 4 down) to preview the top of the cushion cover. To join the blocks, place two of them right sides together, and whipstitch on the back of the blocks. Whipstitch all 16 blocks together to make the top of the cushion cover.
Pieced top of cushion cover

An alternative method to assemble the Cathedral Window blocks would be to join adjacent blocks and then applique the flaps down.  To do this, first mark the lines along which the blocks will be joined.  (These pictures are from another project.)
 
Draw lines for sewing

Align two blocks, wrong sides together, and sew along the drawn line.  Do this in pairs or rows.
 
Join two adjacent blocks

Applique the flaps down.
 
Sew flaps down

Follow instructions for How to Assemble a Cushion Cover and your first Cathedral Windows project is complete!

Stand back, admire and enjoy your Orange Peel cushion cover!
Orange Peel/Cathedral Windows Cushion