Coming soon (April 26) - Phoenix Flight

About a week back, I'd devoted some time to drafting and writing instructions for another kolam quilt, which I rather fancifully called Phoenix Flight. (There was something a bit bird-like about the pattern?)

I sent it off to my aunt to test out for me. And lo and behold, to my surprise, I got these pictures in my email box this morning.

My aunt rocks!

Now my aunt is a crazy-experienced quilter, who routinely takes on complicated projects that I would never even approach, and finishes them with aplomb. So, this was probably entirely too easy a project for her - she said it took her two days. (In the middle of other life things, of course.)

It won't take me two days, but it is a nice easy project, which finishes up to a lap quilt size.

I do need to have a little chat with her about pattern errors, etc. before the pattern becomes available for sale. (Also, a final pressing, and high resolution outdoor photos...) But I thought it was a fun little WIP...
 

Look for Phoenix Flight to go on sale - probably on April 26th. 

Now available for sale - Intertwined!

If you are finding me via CrazyMomQuilts - welcome!

(If you would like to buy this pattern - the links to the right will take you either to Craftsy or Etsy, where the pattern is available for sale for $4.)

The pipeline got reordered a bit - and this quilt got bumped up the list. It's a nice, easy quilt to make, and I love how it turned out! Each Intertwined block measures 22.5" square, making this a perfect pattern if you need to make a bed-size quilt in a hurry!

In my sample, I used three colours of fabric - a dark blue, a light blue and a green. I made 9 blocks, and added 2 borders apart from the sashing, making this ~80" square. Not bad at all for a few evenings' work!

It's pretty windy outside. I had a tough time trying to get good photos. In the end, I sort of gave up. Here are some outtakes!

If you like the pattern, would you do me a huge favour? Could you go leave a comment on Craftsy? Comments help bump the pattern up, and I'd love for people to see this and buy this!

Infinite Pathways!

Dear readers, I've been really busy the last couple of days, making the final adjustments to my first quilt pattern (woo hoo!), coming up with a company name, figuring out yardage requirements, and adding a second sizing option. Whoa! Lots of good stuff, I'm pretty stoked!

All of this means, I think I'm ready to publish it. For the moment, I'm thinking Craftsy and Etsy. There's a bit of logistics stuff to figure out - Paypal accounts, blah blah, but I'm hoping to put the pattern up in 2012. (Three days, Reethi - get to it!)


Enough talking Reethi - let's get to the picture, shall we? Here's the cover page of the pattern, featuring my mom's completed quilt top. (Well, she still needs to attach a border, but I got impatient.)

This is a relatively easy quilt to make. Though there are a lot of steps, the quilt is easy enough to sew - it's all squares and rectangles, no curves, no triangles.

A Story about a Quilt

Chennai, where I grew up, is hot and dusty. Our floors were mosaic, and they were swept and mopped twice a day to keep the endless dust at bay.
Once the sweeping and mopping of the inside of the house was done, attention would be transferred to the veranda. It would also be swept and washed down, and then, while the concrete was still wet, a small kolam would be quickly drawn at the entryway to the house.

With a small handful of rice flour, the dots that acted as the grid would be laid out. Then, depending on the mood of the kolam maker, either a simple monochrome kolam would emerge, or a complex multi-coloured work of art. It was the most transient of art forms - people would walk on the kolam, disrupting the pattern, and even if we all avoided smearing the kolam, the veranda would be washed and the kolam redrawn the next morning or afternoon.

When I started quilting, I fantasized about a 'kolam' quilt, and wanted to replicate the patterns I'd seen as a child. This thought has remained in the back of my mind for many years, and I'm pleased to say, I've finally brought this to life.

For the last few months, I've been drawing kolam patterns on a grid, trying to map it out into a quilt pattern. A few weeks ago, I sent a completed set of instructions to my mother, my cousin and my aunt - and asked them to test the instructions for me.

Et voila! My aunt, who is a speedy and experienced quilter sent me this picture.

I'm beyond thrilled.

I'll soon upload the quilt pattern for sale in Etsy as a downloadable pattern.