2 mangoes, 1 stone

Orey kallu le erandu maanga! I know this will bring a wistful smile to Tamil speaking readers as they fondly remember their childhood summers spent pelting stones at unripe mangoes on the neighbours' trees in an effort to knock them down for a bitter-sour-sweet treat with equally mischevious friends ! The line when transliterated means knocking down 2 mangoes with 1 stone, meaning getting two jobs done with the effort of one. Which is exactly what I have done with this block.

This is a block, the Fractal Mandala, I tested for the insanely beautiful MMDQ BOM (Madhu Mathur-Desi Quilters Block of the month) series, designed by the beautifully insane Madhu, a dear friend and quilter par excellence. You can find complete instructions to the other blocks here.

It involved a lot of paper piecing, like all the other blocks in the series, but the end result is striking. I chose a soft palette as these are not my usual colours and I did want to do something different. It so happens that we are having a medallion quilt swap on my FB group 'Desi Quilters ' and this block would be perfect to pass off as a medallion center with a 4 sided border ! So there, 2 mangoes with 1 stone, see ?!

Apart from a half a dozen points that don't match, I am pretty pleased with it. Here it is under different lighting...

Actually this isn't the first time I've done this whole 2 for 1 thingy. One other MMDQ block, the Evening around the Pond, that I made earlier got converted to this cushion cover for another swap :-)

 

And these are the 2 other MMDQ blocks I have made so far..the gorgeous Dahlia and its ribbon version..

Do hop over to Madhu's blog 'Betukbandi' for a lot more eye candy. I shall go and enjoy my mangoes :-)

Beauty and the Beast go to Bangalore

Beauty and the Beast go to Bangalore to do a quilting workshop.

Here's Beauty..

..the beautiful Bernette E46.

And here's Beast..

...yeah, me, and we are both going to Bangalore to do a quilting workshop! Oh, pardon me if I repeat myself... its the excitement of meeting other DQ ladies !! :-) I have promised to whip them tho, if they do not finish their quilts by the end of the workshop.

Buhahahahaha

My Own Cathedral Windows

Cathedral Windows, whether in churches or quilts, are to be admired from afar. With respect and awe. Daunted. Dwarfed. Until a kind soul comes along and thrown open the vistas (ha ha) and lays bare the mysteries and secrets of their construction, breaking them down into shards that you can grasp.

Long story short, Chumkie, the kind soul, led a QAL for Desi Quilters on Cathedral Windows. With clear instructions, she taught us, the uninitiated, not one, but three methods of constructing them.

The first was the Orange Peel Method:

This was also my entry to the July'12 Challenge on Desi Quilters which required us to make a quilted item in monochromatic colours. Though it looks funny in the pics, I swear its all green. Ish.

The second was the One seam flying geese method. Here's what I made for my sewing room...

..and thats all the batting waiting to be despatched to members of  'Desi Quilters'..

..and here appears Max claiming yet another quilt as his own !

The third was the traditional method of making Cathedral Windows and thanks to Chumkie's QAL, I am forever exorcised of my fear of them.

Linking this up with Chumkie's Linky Party over at her blog, 'My Favourite Things'. 

May the tribe of the windows multiply! Amen !

I am a Slasher !

Sometimes Life has this horrid habit of slipping a lemon or two in a lovely box of chocolates. Just when you are heady with the taste of something so sinfully yummy and are enjoying it in all its gooeyness and mush, you bite into this wedge of bitter sour lemon and all your senses are thrown out of gear with a mighty jolt ! You are angry, you are hurt and you want to kill someone. Don't. Kill, that is. Slash.

I got a lemon slipped to me yesterday. Or was it two? They say hold your words when you are hurt or angry, for words are like arrows and can't be retrieved to the quiver once shot. So I decided to put my arrows aside and get slashing instead !!

As part of the fun QALs on Desi Quilters, Vanita is doing a Faux Chenille QAL and I thought it was just the thing for my mood right then. There is nothing more meditative than sewing rows and rows (and rows and rows) of parallel lines. It soothes your nerves and helps sort out the things that matter from the garbage in your head. With every line, you sew down whats important in your life..

 ..and then you get out the blades !! Slash ! Slash ! Slash ! Slash away at all the hurt and the anger....

....and voila, you have back your calm mind and a lovely bit of Chenille to boot !

So, go ahead and slash people ! No, no, I mean, go ahead, and slash, people ! It has enormous therapeutic side benefits :-)

Bee Desi

In case anybody's missed me, I've been a bit caught up with my fabulous quilting group, Desi Quilters. By some lucky happenstance, a group of highly talkative excited and talented women have found each other through the world wide web and there's been a lot of sharing and caring, both quilting and otherwise. The action happens in our 'drawing room', the Desi Quilters' facebook page. The group has a lot of activities going on and  one of them is the BEE DESI. Its a bee of 12 members and I am one of them. Have enjoyed making blocks for my fellow Desi Bees the last 2 months.

For Vidya2

For Veena

The popularity of the BEE DESI can be inferred from the fact that even the 2nd one is full and registrations are now on for the 3rd Bee. Do join our group if you'd like to participate in a quilting bee.

Btw. here's a block I made for my very first bee elsewhere, but unfortunately, that hive didnt last:

So, life'great..everything's buzzzzing ! Enjoy !