I am not a great fan of tag games which keeps breaking out like a rash every now and then in the virtual world. Most of the time it is about the stuff that you hate or like or want or ............Well honestly why would anyone on the world want to know the songs I listen to over and over or the books that I cherish except to take a leap from it and talk about their own passions and pet peeveṣ.
So why did I allow myself to be tagged here in this bloghop? As someone who loves to read I enjoy reading blogs especially to find out what makes other people tick. And reading a quilters blog is like icing on the cake. One gets to know the stories behind quilts and that is always a fascinating story. Anyday it makes for better reading than someones' pet peeves! So when Madhu Mathur of http://betukbandi.wordpress.com/ asked me if she could tag me I accepteḍ. Madhu works out of Jaipur and her quilts reflect the vibrancy and old world charm of the city. I fell in love with Madhu's Just takes 2 quilt and went over to her blog to learn all about her. and she helped me with this quilt
And her other avatar as a quilt block designer is what now captivates me. If you want to know the designer in her you should be doing her BOM - it seems like no matter who does a block in those patterns they emerge a winner. The one below is a personal favourite.
I am supposed to answer these questions as part of the bloghop, a self exploratory trip so here I go -
What am I working on
I have just finished a quilt top for my 8 year old niece Mira and will be sandwiching it in a day or two. I want the quilt to be a surprise for her so I hope this picture does not come her way. I have no doubts she will be thrilled to receive this quilt as she has been impatiently waiting for it the last few months She has recently made up her mind to take up quilting as a profession when she grows up and I am so flattered to have inspired her. It makes this quilt all the more special. Here is a peek at the quilt in its half-way stage.
The other blocks from this BOM are in various stages of readiness including one yet to be printed out! Here is my dahlia and then the card trick which is yet to be put together.
I am also doing a BOM with Caroline of SewCanShe - the classic block quilṭ Here is my favourite block from that BOṂ
And then I have this ongoing project that seems like it is going to be a lifetime projecṭ. My grandmother' s flower gardeṇ. Not that my grandmother ever had a garden of flowers.
How does my work differ from others of its genre
In as much as every individual puts her/his stamp on what she/he does. my work is different from others. And yet since Nature has already been there and all art is but an imitation and often a poor one I am a copyisṭ.
I have to admit that I get surfeited once I master an art or skill . All right master is a bad choice . I should say I cannot spend a lifetime just sewing bed quilts even if the patterns differ . That would be too tedious . My craft journey started with crochet and I have runners and complicated table mats that are now mute testimony to the hours I invested in theṃ. And then I fell in love with the ordered beauty of cross-stitch . Samplers and other little and some not so little wall art now decorate my walls and also those of my family who admired them . Then there was this time when I wrote - blogs, novels, fiction, funny stuff - well I thought they were funny at least. Quilts have now taken over my life. But I have to admit that I love the look of wall quilts and art quilts and fiber art and mixed media art and they are all beckoning to me. All this does not make me a 'Jack of all trades'. I see how the tricks I picked up in quilting now helps me in my dress-making, and I end up with crochet trims or a little embroidery on things I make thereby putting my own stamp. This pair of peacocks was a back breaker and took me three years to finish .
Why do I write/create what I do
Writing is simply the easiest way I express myself - I am more comfortable writing than speaking. In fact of late I even avoid the telephone for it seems like I just engage in thoughtless and pointless chatteṛ.Writing however gives one pause - you think and edit and clean up the frivolous or the petty stuff. Any day it scores over talking or in today's world - chatting! And of course as any writer would know it is your little mark on the world - destined to be lost perhaps or some day found and with the cobwebs blown way read by some curious and kindred spirit . And all other creations follows the same reasoning. I create when the mood gets me, to get away from the humdrum, to makes those chores seem just that - things to be done so that I can get on to the more important business of making pretty stuff. I create like any creator to be admired, to be appreciated, to enjoy those fleeting, tiny little moments of triumph that I too mattered, If it were all a matter of commerce one would be happy as long as they are sold . Creating something call it art or whatever, is for those hours you spend in the process and those few seconds of appreciatioṇ Then it is time to move on to the next and the nexṭ....
In as much as this is a way to open your heart and mind to fellow travellers in the path of creating beauty, I want to add another question .
What or who impacts your work the most?
I belong to the period when schools used to have a class devoted to needle-work and samplers, beadwork and bag making and I guess I developed my liking for working with my hands then . No one else in my family ever showed a tendency to ply the needle - not then and not now and most of them do not understand why I 'work' for hours after all the housework is done instead of watching TV or napping or whatever it is that others do. So it was the advent of dh in my life that encouraged the latent interest - from the time I went to classes to learn dresmaking till now. Hhe stays involved to the extent I ask him to - sometimes it is at the point of selecting one design over the other, sometimes it is the colour scheme and of course he is always the first to admire or appreciate or even point out and talk about my work to others . Not to mention all the prosaic work of buying me threads and notions, mailing and picking up stuff. Or whiling away time while I stay cooped up in a room working on my latest passion . So if I were to point to one person who made it possible and makes it work on a daily basis it has to be him . Not surprising then that he becomes the arbiter of the fate of my work. They pass his standards and I am satisfied with my work or fail and leave me with self-doubts that make me bury them in the back of my cupboard . Here is a work that I only executed - everything else from colour and design choice to deciding how it needs to be framed and who it should be gifted to is his choice.
People I tag
It seems to me that blogging is on a slow track now. Micro blogging in social spheres has taken over and I know very few quilters who write.For that matter I had to dust the cobwebs off my blogs to write this but that has been long pending so I welcomed this opportunity. So I am tagging only a couple of people.
I tag Caroline Nagar who not only creates beautiful quilts in a jiffy at that but also is a lovely hostess to the quilters' meeṭing in her city. She has this beautiful home that speaks of hours of housekeeping that makes me wish to give up my crafting and get back to basic skillṣ Ah I am kidding you!!!!! Can't ever do thaṭ. Caroline is from a family where all the male members seem to be in the armed forceṣ. Her blogs are a revelation to us ordinary folk who have never had to contend with absent spouse or parent whose whereabouts are sometimes kept a secret! You can visit her here and here.
And I tag Sandhya Karandikar who combines culinary skills and crochet with her passion for quilting. She blogs at http://sandhyasudhir.blogspot.in/
So why did I allow myself to be tagged here in this bloghop? As someone who loves to read I enjoy reading blogs especially to find out what makes other people tick. And reading a quilters blog is like icing on the cake. One gets to know the stories behind quilts and that is always a fascinating story. Anyday it makes for better reading than someones' pet peeves! So when Madhu Mathur of http://betukbandi.wordpress.com/ asked me if she could tag me I accepteḍ. Madhu works out of Jaipur and her quilts reflect the vibrancy and old world charm of the city. I fell in love with Madhu's Just takes 2 quilt and went over to her blog to learn all about her. and she helped me with this quilt
I am supposed to answer these questions as part of the bloghop, a self exploratory trip so here I go -
What am I working on
I have just finished a quilt top for my 8 year old niece Mira and will be sandwiching it in a day or two. I want the quilt to be a surprise for her so I hope this picture does not come her way. I have no doubts she will be thrilled to receive this quilt as she has been impatiently waiting for it the last few months She has recently made up her mind to take up quilting as a profession when she grows up and I am so flattered to have inspired her. It makes this quilt all the more special. Here is a peek at the quilt in its half-way stage.
Perhaps this gift to her from me when she was born kickstarted her love for craft/art?
Girl at the well - cross-stitched on Aida
I am also working on the Round the year quilt BOM. I tested the second block for Madhu and from that one block this beautiful quilt was born. My test block is the centre piece and everything else seemed to naturally come togetheṛ in this quilt. It also reflects my current mild obsession with circles I love this method of doing the circles and in this quilt used them as a canvas to showcase my passion for FMQ .The other blocks from this BOM are in various stages of readiness including one yet to be printed out! Here is my dahlia and then the card trick which is yet to be put together.
How does my work differ from others of its genre
In as much as every individual puts her/his stamp on what she/he does. my work is different from others. And yet since Nature has already been there and all art is but an imitation and often a poor one I am a copyisṭ.
I have to admit that I get surfeited once I master an art or skill . All right master is a bad choice . I should say I cannot spend a lifetime just sewing bed quilts even if the patterns differ . That would be too tedious . My craft journey started with crochet and I have runners and complicated table mats that are now mute testimony to the hours I invested in theṃ. And then I fell in love with the ordered beauty of cross-stitch . Samplers and other little and some not so little wall art now decorate my walls and also those of my family who admired them . Then there was this time when I wrote - blogs, novels, fiction, funny stuff - well I thought they were funny at least. Quilts have now taken over my life. But I have to admit that I love the look of wall quilts and art quilts and fiber art and mixed media art and they are all beckoning to me. All this does not make me a 'Jack of all trades'. I see how the tricks I picked up in quilting now helps me in my dress-making, and I end up with crochet trims or a little embroidery on things I make thereby putting my own stamp. This pair of peacocks was a back breaker and took me three years to finish .
Why do I write/create what I do
Writing is simply the easiest way I express myself - I am more comfortable writing than speaking. In fact of late I even avoid the telephone for it seems like I just engage in thoughtless and pointless chatteṛ.Writing however gives one pause - you think and edit and clean up the frivolous or the petty stuff. Any day it scores over talking or in today's world - chatting! And of course as any writer would know it is your little mark on the world - destined to be lost perhaps or some day found and with the cobwebs blown way read by some curious and kindred spirit . And all other creations follows the same reasoning. I create when the mood gets me, to get away from the humdrum, to makes those chores seem just that - things to be done so that I can get on to the more important business of making pretty stuff. I create like any creator to be admired, to be appreciated, to enjoy those fleeting, tiny little moments of triumph that I too mattered, If it were all a matter of commerce one would be happy as long as they are sold . Creating something call it art or whatever, is for those hours you spend in the process and those few seconds of appreciatioṇ Then it is time to move on to the next and the nexṭ....
In as much as this is a way to open your heart and mind to fellow travellers in the path of creating beauty, I want to add another question .
What or who impacts your work the most?
I belong to the period when schools used to have a class devoted to needle-work and samplers, beadwork and bag making and I guess I developed my liking for working with my hands then . No one else in my family ever showed a tendency to ply the needle - not then and not now and most of them do not understand why I 'work' for hours after all the housework is done instead of watching TV or napping or whatever it is that others do. So it was the advent of dh in my life that encouraged the latent interest - from the time I went to classes to learn dresmaking till now. Hhe stays involved to the extent I ask him to - sometimes it is at the point of selecting one design over the other, sometimes it is the colour scheme and of course he is always the first to admire or appreciate or even point out and talk about my work to others . Not to mention all the prosaic work of buying me threads and notions, mailing and picking up stuff. Or whiling away time while I stay cooped up in a room working on my latest passion . So if I were to point to one person who made it possible and makes it work on a daily basis it has to be him . Not surprising then that he becomes the arbiter of the fate of my work. They pass his standards and I am satisfied with my work or fail and leave me with self-doubts that make me bury them in the back of my cupboard . Here is a work that I only executed - everything else from colour and design choice to deciding how it needs to be framed and who it should be gifted to is his choice.
People I tag
It seems to me that blogging is on a slow track now. Micro blogging in social spheres has taken over and I know very few quilters who write.For that matter I had to dust the cobwebs off my blogs to write this but that has been long pending so I welcomed this opportunity. So I am tagging only a couple of people.
I tag Caroline Nagar who not only creates beautiful quilts in a jiffy at that but also is a lovely hostess to the quilters' meeṭing in her city. She has this beautiful home that speaks of hours of housekeeping that makes me wish to give up my crafting and get back to basic skillṣ Ah I am kidding you!!!!! Can't ever do thaṭ. Caroline is from a family where all the male members seem to be in the armed forceṣ. Her blogs are a revelation to us ordinary folk who have never had to contend with absent spouse or parent whose whereabouts are sometimes kept a secret! You can visit her here and here.
And I tag Sandhya Karandikar who combines culinary skills and crochet with her passion for quilting. She blogs at http://sandhyasudhir.blogspot.in/
