Monday, September 14, 2015

Pouches for all my friends and family!

Some pictures of the pouches I made as gifts for my friends and family on my recent visit to India. 
I love receiving personalized gifts and I guess it goes the same to give unique gifts. One of the first pouches I made was for my brother, Jonathan. I was so happy to see it complete that I forgot to take pictures of it. I wish I did because it was my first pouch gift. My brother says that he loves using it as a toiletry bag. On one of his camping trips he received quite a few remarks on his travel pouch. 

Since then I have made and gifted several personalized pouches but have no pictures to account for most of them. On my trip to India, I decided to gift pouches with embroidered names for each of my friends. I used the built in quilting stitches and decorative stitches in my Janome MC9900.


I made two different pouches for my mother. I love the color combination of this avocado green with the floral fabric. The other other pouch has an embroidered heart, a built in design in the machine, on one side and this amazing fabric with Bible verses on the other side.
I got this Expressions of Faith fabric from Fabrics N Quilts. I love the verse that says "the Lord is my strength and my shield"



This pouch is more like a toiletry bag that I made for my brother Joel - I monogrammed his initials on the back and his name on the front. This was made a pair of retired black jeans. I love how the color combination turned out. I used the bible verse fabric as a lining for the inside.


I love the inbuilt decorative stitches in the machine. I used a different decorative stitch in each of the pouches. The border decorative stitch has a dual purpose - it defines the border and also serves as a quilting stitch in combining the lining and the inner fusible web.




I filled the pouches with assorted candy and all of my friends were thrilled to receive their very own personalized gift. Some of them remarked that this was the first time they received a personalized gift. Seeing their smiles and appreciation paid off all my efforts in getting these done after work.

Quilt for my mother


I bought the fabric for this quilt when I went to the G-Fabric store to redeem my Groupon coupon. I saw this beautiful blue and white fabric with crabs all over it and thought of Cancer the zodiac sign that my mother shares. I bought a yard of the fabric, without a definite quilting pattern planned in my mind at that time but felt inspired to buy the fabric.

It was nearly a month later when on my mom's birthday on July 2nd, I decided that I had to begin a quilt as a birthday gift. The idea was to gift the present when I actually meet her in person, someday. I loved these pictures of the economy block with a 9 patch block in the center that saw on Bryan House Quilts. I had saved this as a possible future quilt idea on my Pinterest account. And so on her b'day I began cutting out 3" strips to make a 3X3 square block. I enjoyed making the 9 patch blocks. It was a delight to find them line up and square up perfectly - this would be one of the many moments of delight to follow.

I knew that the quilt could be personalized even more. I decided to embroider the names of all the four kids in one of the blocks. I decided to also embroider words describing my mom on the border. I emailed my siblings and asked them to send in their messages. List of words on the border included - tenacious, loving, caring, inspiring, master chef, bold, faithful, cheerful, smart, classy, wonderful, nurturing,nutty, wise, thoughtful, creative, compassionate, beautiful, brave, strong, kind, classy, dynamic, selfless, friend, comforter, intelligent, teacher, patient and mother. I alternated the fonts between upper and lower case to draw the eye to the different words and make it appear less monotonous. 

I used an easy out and bought a queen set that came with a cover and fitted sheet and pillow covers. The idea was to use the cover sheet as the backing for the quilt. This idea served a dual purpose - my mom could now use a matching set on the bed when using her quilt! 

For the backing I used this warm and natural batting that I found on Amazon - made of natural cotton fibers, ideal for using the quilt in India. I also got a good deal on the price, there was a half price off sale going on Amazon and the timing was perfect!

During the process of making the quilt, I planned a trip to see my ailing grandmother in August. This unscheduled trip forced me to work in a frenzy after work every evening to complete the quilt. This also meant that I had to forgo my plans of free motion quilting and stick to something more basic and quick. And so straight stitch in the ditch it was!

It was a delight to see my mom's face when she received her present. It was worth all the time and effort put in creating this quilt. My mother was very impressed by the finished product. I used to recite many prayers and blessings for my mother when working on the quilt. I am sure my mother will fill the warmth of the love and be uplifted by the blessings in quilt when she tucks herself to bed every night.

This quilt is the first of the many to follow for the rest of my family. I intend to complete one for my father and my siblings. My siblings might most probably receive theirs on some momentous occasion. For now I am trying to decide on a pattern suitable for my dad. I love the double wedding ring pattern however am not feeling confident of undertaking the challenge as yet!
My next quilt will have free motion quilting - I know that I want to try this out. 

In the meantime, any suggestions for a male/man quilt pattern are welcome!



Check out the perfect points in the piecing!