Adding a post
Posted by: Anjum on: August 31, 2011
Well i so often use my blog, it was started by my son in austrelia, so i had little knowledge, abut it working, as now he is busy and has no time for my writing to post here, i am trying to use it myself, every time i hit and try and do add something , but by the nest post i seem to forget how it did it last time, and again start from scratch, as a senior citizen i am still glad i can use the computer to match with the younger generation, they say who is not on face book is not on the face of the earth , so i have opened an account there and more clever , i have a business page there as well, Leron Patchwork, some day i will explain what Leron means in local punjebi , and why i chose this word.Well i am happy to use this facility as i can share my thought through writing , do read my article . A trip to urdu bazar. and then i will tell you what my 2 brotheres have to tell about their trip to the same bazar
Trip to Urdu Bazar
Posted by: Anjum on: August 31, 2011
what is the reason behind touchinh a craft
Posted by: Anjum on: July 28, 2011
i always wondered why people want to touch my quilts, no matter how i display them or wrap them in layers od plastic bags, they some how sneak peak a finger from dont know which hole and touch it and love doing it , and dont shy away.in a show i had a bargello fabric wall habginh framed and hung above the normal level , but it dint stop any from toucing it , no matter how high they had to tip toe or even jump a bit..it ws not thir fault in fact, it was all in fire colours with black thin fabric in each seem, it was facinating even to me, people used to come to my stall first just for the reason it attracted them from the chaos of the stall, then they would simply see it , then come closer, closer and the softly touchin it , and were amazed to know it is not a print but stitched, with less than one inch fabric od many many shades of orange and yellow. some even tried to crawl their hand behind the frame and feel it , as if it was some magic trick, believe me i was so carried away by these jestures that i wanted to gift it to them.
smoe professional photograprers honoured it with taking multipel photos if it from different angles. it was a joy to experience it all. eventually i had to sell it , as it was made for selling.
what is patchwork
Posted by: Anjum on: July 28, 2011
I always wonder why we spend hours on all our lives to make a piece of warm cloth , when we can have a cheap blanket any where any time.I work 8 hours a day and ok i work , but its in my blood and i have simply no choice , but to cherish and enjoy this way , but then why one should buy it , buyer is not compelled to do so, why a quilt is fasinating to other, what they see in it, my neck breaking endless hours put ioto it , or the heavy price they pay for it as compated to a local synthetic quilt.
people simly fall in love with it, and are as compelled to buy it as i am to make it.
it makes a bridge inbetween us, like threaded in the same string, doing our part of job,
stiil wondering why
Why Quilts and Not Blankets II???
Posted by: Anjum on: August 29, 2010
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Well I searched the whole web. It’s for the first time I am utterly deprived of any answers. It never happened to me in my entire web searching life. It was a new and sorrowful experience of my small web life. I wondered weather it is an extremely bizarre thing to ask or it’s all hushed up matter, or am I the only one asking this question. But the fact of the matter is not a single website had any keyword to open at all or have some material about it.
Ok then I tried ‘hobby’, and it was some help to my hours of failed research. I made a round trip of all hobbies and somehow found some explanation to what we quilters do. As quilting is mostly a feminine hobby it is not at all mentioned in most websites. Imagine not even in Wikipedia. I felt more alone.
So from the aspect of quilting as a hobby I found that why we quilt? Why we spend hours upon hours of our mortal life to make some piece of fabulous piece of art. It is done by both rich and poor. Poor man’s need is rich man’s art. Ladies in court do it and women in gipsy tent do it. Some men do it too. I saw wonderful work of a Japanese gentleman. It was real art, not an ordinary quilt.
So here it is what I found on the websites definitions without opening them.
Word — HOBBY
A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork horse toy made to ride just like a real horse. From this came the expression to ride ones hobby horse, meaning to follow a favourite pastime .In modern times, sense of recreation.
Wikipedia
First an old proverb,
“A person with a hobby never goes mad, People around do”.
For sure. I can see.
Here are the expressions
1– A hobby is an activity that is undertaken for pleasure.
Good
2– Hobby is time consuming
Very right
3– Hobby is a thing you always want to do in your spare time.
Agreed
4– Having hobbies help to make you an interesting person.
So I experienced.
5– It gives you something fascinating to talk about with others.
Yeah, i talk a lot
6– Hobbies are what living are all about. Find a way to cure your boring life.
Very much agreed as my sister has retired from teaching and she has no hobby and is about to fall in deep depression, may be already is, let me check.
7– Some hobbies result in an end product of some sort; prove to turn it in a business.
A life time job for me. Never retiring.
8– Hobbies are practised for interest and enjoyment, rather than financial reward.
Very true! All my savings fall prey to fabric collection.
So we get the point. Like all hobby nerds we are doing it for the pleasure of doing it. The better part is the end with some physical results. Like some piece of material turned into useful thing.
No matter what we say I remember my father commenting one day when I gave him a quilted tea cosy for his favourite evening tea. He looked at the intricate design and all the quilting stitches, and very sorrowfully advised me. Dear daughter if you have so much spare time in your life, go read some good books. It will polish your mind and will help you understand that time is very precious.
I never dared give him another needle work.
So we are the way we are. Maybe God created this universe and all what’s in it. We tried to do so in our own limited ways .I am not sure about this notion. But when it’s in the blood, you have to have an explanation.
Or may be I am wrong, just go ahead and do it.
So here I am going to work on my Nosegay block design. It’s waiting patiently dangling halfway on my sewing machine behind me.
Why Quilts And Not Blankets I???
Posted by: Anjum on: August 9, 2010
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I wonder why at all I quilt. And why most of all anybody quilt. It is a craft since the man knows his history. We see quilted items even in mummy tombs. We see them in Roman era artefacts and we see them in today’s modern world where needle craft is nearly murdered by machines and media. Machines, we understand and blame it for the demise of all crafts, but media we don’t suspect, whereas it has more active part in the vanishing of handicraft.
Now a days young and old don’t have time for any handicraft. Why? Because they spend that time on computer and more so watching TV and the most so they are busy on blueberry mobiles equipped with all sorts of latest features.
So what’s the problem with all the quilters? Do they live in primitive era? They don’t have access to new lifestyle, or they just can’t use them. Why we spend hours ‘n’ hours on quilting? Why don’t we simply use a blanket? It is readily available, it is soft, it is less expensive and it needs no physical and mental burden.
I searched the whole web on the net and could not find any blog or web or any other source to pinpoint any reason on this topic. I felt it is abnormal or rather criminal to waste time and money on this hobby. That’s why nobody mentioned anything about it. Maybe it’s a hush topic, or maybe it is not at all a topic to discus.
So I searched my soul. Why at all I quilt? And since the first day I took needle in my hand, I am virtually unable to put it down, Why? For me it is not a question at all. I have to quilt. I have to think, plan and be constantly in the process of making a quilt. It’s as natural as blinking an eye or my heart pumping blood. I can’t think of any other way of life.
But people around me find it weird and when they cant figure it out they just move on by saying , ‘oh , dear it’s very hard work and how do you do it?’ They love the work, and find it lovely and in the end when they can’t put it in any frame that they can call; very interesting.
But I am not insane or out of this modern tech age. I spend really hours in the morning and at night to search for new patterns, to see what quilt resource companies have and to see what other quilters in the world are doing. I take inspirations from art quilter and from simple quilters alike and my belief strengthens that I am not alone in this vast sea of fabrics. There is in fact rush and traffic jam.
So why people in the West quilt? They are supposed to be like machines, busy 9 to 5, working hard to meet both ends meet. They are not people like us here in Pakistan. We have household help. We have joint family, and we have less stress of running a household as far as finances are concerned.
There is some myth or talisman (magic) about this art form that grips West and East alike without any barrier of age location or time span. I tried to find others view about it. Those who do it can’t do without it, and those who don’t do it can’t stand it for its labour involved in making a quilt.
I remembered once my friend phoned and my son attended. That aunty asked him; what’s your mother doing? He said without a pause; “Aunti something is very wrong with my mother. She buys logs of fabrics, brings them home and starts cutting them. But the worst part is that she sits on the machine and starts stitching them into the whole cloth again”.
Well that’s the simplest definition any child can do. Even my husband who loves this art and encourages all the time throughout my life likes to go shopping with me for fabrics and at times comments that all this hardship can be avoided if this design is printed on fabric by fabric companies. And we do find a lot of quilt designs printed on nice fabrics. It can be used as it is or can be machined quilted as fake quilt. Now China has done all these processes one by one in their quilts and these are very cheap to buy.
So the vital question remains unanswered. Why when we can use this time in other money generating activities? We can buy cheap Chinese quilts, we can buy blankets, and we can do without them if we choose. So why we make quilts?
It’s like any other Nature’s mystery. I will again search the web; my best friend and see what I can find and will share it in my next article because I have a new quilt project sitting on my cutting board by my computer side and I can’t avoid that call. It’s going to be a tulip lone star all in vibrant sun orange and olive greens like all the summer colours of my land.
Clean Sewing Room
Posted by: Anjum on: July 26, 2010
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Whenever I see some pictures in patchwork magazines, I wonder rather envy to see other quilter’s studios, very neat, clean and worth dying for.
How come they have such organized and beautiful place? Because I could never manage to keep my work place in presentable shape for more than an hour. I do clean, manage, and beautify my beloved sewing room; the best loved place of my home, but only for the time, very short indeed. The moment I start a project, the hurricane is on, all the tidiness fall a prey to my sorting, ironing and cutting. It’s emergency time, no rules, pick this, drop that, the main emphasis is on the right fabric for the project and the heat is on.
I have to work on the piece and nothing else seems to matter. And in minutes a look of general chaos is all around the room, bolts of fabric, cutting rags, and books all seem to fly out of their places, seemingly coming to my aid. Please use me, oh please I am waiting for so long, oh no I am the right rag for this flying geese, or no not at all, flying geese is not the right pattern, use me I am a drunkard path left over cutting waiting for ages to be used. I am suffocating in the drawer for so long that I am fading.
So I sit in the mess and create master piece. I don’t allow any servant to touch any piece no matter how small it is. In-fact smaller the piece, more important it is. They are not allowed to sweep the floor till I tell them to do so. Not a piece more than an inch can be thrown.
I have a big cushion cover and I put all the discarded rags in that, if any that I dare to part with and in the end I have a very soft, cosy bean bag for the home or to sell. And it serves as storage for the rags I may need, till I stitch the opening and use it.
But the main problem is always there, no matter how much boxes of shoes I buy, beg, borrow or steal. I am always short of storage boxes. Right now I am in desperate need of some caterpillar shoe boxes; they are the best, good to look at, with sturdy lid, and an impression plus a status symbol.
As I am a professional quilter, I have to work 6 hours a day, so I have to spend a lot of time in sewing room; my first home, but I can’t control the mess once I am on the work super speed train.
Otherwise I am a very organized person, one can inspect my closets, weather be it kitchen, bed or store room , all worth looking at, but I think as I don’t work in those places, they remain clean and tidy, except for my hubby’s under garment drawer.
I think I am compelled to work in mess, as when I am working, the main target is work, in the best possible way, the best shortest time and with the best end results, so when I am done with one project, I do set my heart and body to clean the mess, and sweep the floors, and cherish the scene for some golden moments. May be that’s the fate of my sewing room, and me as well.
But, the main point is still there, how come other quilter keep their work area clean? Either they don’t work there, or keep a working place hidden somewhere in the attic, or they work few hours or they take photos before starting a quilt. Especially a rag bag quilt; A great mystery for me.
Some Body Help Me…
Pineapple log cabin; the fabric eater
Posted by: Anjum on: July 12, 2010
Whenever I have uncontrollable stash of fabric in small bits and pieces, I know I have to start another logcabin, whether it is a sofa cushion set, floor cushion or the end; a bedcover. My sons used to say it won’t finish in cushions; you will have to make a quilt to eat all up.
It pays as I relieve stress and am left with a beautiful project.
And if I have a real problem at hand of even shortage of space for tiny cut pieces of fabric, I start a pineapple logcabin, and it sweeps the whole stash, be it medium, small or large pieces, as in end triangles all vanishes.
Patchwork is my hobby, and it gives me a great pleasure to cut and sew and create a colourful piece of work , which is useful and lovely, and in this whenever I am to relax, I start a logcabin. It takes all the heaviness from my heart and converts it into something I cherish to see.
In fact the moment I start one such project, I know it is already sold, no matter what colour, fabric or size of the strip. It has a charismatic pull.
I put it on the wall when I do exhibitions and clients come mesmerized and say how much this for is and without arguing they buy it and ask for more, whatever the project is. No other design has a chance against one such piece. It seems that all old time classic are in the heart of the people, they are pulled to it .When I make some modern design, computer generated, or from some new designer’s modern style, I have to struggle to sell it. They need effort to sell, or sometimes don’t sell at all. I keep them as samples or stall fill but these have little attractions to most of the clients, even in huge walk in exhibitions. But logcabin actually must be attended, by all walks of life, general, or artistic minded people. The most amazing thing about this design is that it is not from my region. I live in Pakistan where there are no huts, no logcabins, no nothing. We mostly live on plains, have severe hot weather. There is a joke that for 9 months we have severe hot weather and for the rest of the 3 months we have hot weather.
What I think is that it’s simplicity and range of colours is the main attraction, and secondly it has light and shadow effect.
May be it depicts our lives, all time under one spot, either happiness or stress. I am still researching on it and joyfully making it. Right now I have 12 small boxes of charming silk pieces, in plain and print. These are all from the projects I have made at different time and for different clients. They gave me their old clothes to match and make bed quilts, so the range of colour, design and fabric is huge and I believe the key to make a heirloom piece of logcabin.
Mostly I make simple logcabin, but at times I try ideas of me and of other quilters. I have a full file of innovative designs; thanks to the net and all the people who have the big heart to share it with others.
Pineapple logcabin is bit stressy to me although I love the intricate end result, and the imagination of my clients who look in wonder at the block setting and stitching and can’t make it out. How I made it? It is simple in making, but very complicated in appearance. The only stress in it is that I at times lose the angle, so in the end the block is either lopsided or moves out of the backing.
At times end triangles don’t match the neighbouring block triangles. Secondly I find it very fabric wasting as I make and cut straigt strips and when the next strip overlaps most of the fabric hides under the next one. Now I have started cutting it in to strips with slant ends to match the angles of the block. It gives me a lot of relief to see that now I can use fabric more wisely and whatever I use, it shows.
So another problem solved. Still remember the day I first saw it in a magazine and was amazed to see the quilt in such vibrant colours and still so composed and elegant to look at. I am still in the same condition, learned it all by myself from some quilt magazine, and still remember the first block. It was a classic piece of modern abstract art, and believe me it was sold for its ingenuity to one art lover. I hope she still has it.
So the day I saw it till today, I myself am hooked to it. I cannot wait to start another logcabin design, modern or old fashion. They both have the same pull. When ever I conduct patchwork classes or workshops, I start with this designs as it has minimal cutting, no template, no special colours, and most of all it is stitched, quilted and finished by the time it comes off the sewing machine and the student loves the effect and end result. But I teach the pineapple logcabin in the end of the class, as its angles and double strip setting is stressful and takes time and is difficult to understand.
No matter what both the designs are all time favourite by all or I can say the whole world.
Seminole patchwork
Posted by: Anjum on: June 27, 2010
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Hectic Matchwork
I love patchwork; delicate, fine and complicated, and whenever there is fine work in any form, may it be knitting or needlework, my family and friends can tell, I did it 
So is the case with patchwork, and I think Seminole is next to none. It is very fine in cutting, sewing and in final results, I feel like painting; the only difference is with fabric. As painting is my dream; but I can’t.
My first encounter with this form of work was just by accident, once as usual on old bookshop I saw some very unusual book with fine thin designs and colours on the front page. I took it or the rest of my life; it took me.
I read it, tried some designs, as usual with 3 times the grid, as I believed it can’t be done ¾ inch per strip. I made some but dishearten put the book away.
After some time again worked on it this time actual size and tried hard to match the tiny squares and whenever needed added some tucks and streaches. The results were clumsy but promising. As a professional I applied those strips on some pillows etc and they were loved and sold promptly. I found that even the first one was also in the same category. It has some pull, magnetic, or what. Then I practiced it with full effort and it paid, .So I started making it in voile and thin cotton, with summer and winter colours.
I used them on ladies dresses, all designs, shirts, stoles, and party wear. Used silk, cotton and other materials and when needed I stabilized light fussy fabric with wondaweb; real wonder.
I do exhibitions and take as much of Seminole as I can as it takes the burden of all expenses and takes the lion share in profits as well. Ladies fall like autumn leaves on my stall and others come to see what is happening there and fall too. These laces are so eye catching and fine and out of this world that people abruptly say; it is the fabric itself, no no it cant be stitching and when they hold it and feel it, the look they have on their faces, is utter disbelief. I love that part the most, Next they declare, she does not make them; she gets them made. In my country mostly ladies of high class don’t work, they get it done. So what! I say, appreciate the one who made it. It’s no secret that I make them my self and right now I am sitting close to a pile of cut strips in rainbow colours. How can I deprive myself of joy of playing with colours, without spilling them?
This is the book I believe I can weigh in diamonds, or if there is some more precious thing in this world.
I searched the web for more books or designs, but not much. Rather I have worked a lot in this field. I have worked in different mediums and on different pieces, such as clothe towels, bed linens, wall hangings, gift-bags, cushions, curtain-valances, and much more. I work in different sizes of strips for different uses. My colours and themes are quite different from the book, as I adapted them to my lifestyles and demands.
Seminole patchwork is loved by me and all my clients without a doubt. In Pakistan only I make them and try to teach if I find someone, but as it is very time and labour consuming nobody dares learn it . Only they want it done.
Ladies from boutiques see it, grab it, the whole roll, at times the whole range of that colour and flee with bounty as if it will vanish. They see new dress designs in it and are sure that it is a rare commodity. I make sets of colours and designs such as I work from 3 strips to 6 or seven strips, in colour gradations, and one biased strip to work as pipping, so when you get a whole set of design ready to use , you sure are to headstream for it.
I thank the authors and the CnT publications that did such a great job in publishing this book. It’s a treasure for me. Recently I wrote my comments on their web as well about this book. Luckily I have 2 of these, and believe me will buy again if I find some .These designs are joy and income in one go.
PAMBONO: Yes Yes, No No
Posted by: Anjum on: June 13, 2010
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I always wanted to make beautiful Pambono designs. I don’t have access to any of the books here in Pakistan. I tried to get some free patterns from the net but I could not make any presentable pattern. Once I tried to print a design from a website (I am actually the subscriber of that site). I took the print, enlarged it, made templates of the pattern and tried to make it my way! Some good was done. I made a quilt from that design. It was beautiful and I liked it.
One day searching in the old book shop in Vancouver, Canada I saw what I could never believed what I was seeing there. One no 2 books of Pambono, right before my eyes on the quilt books shelf. I picked them like a loving new born, felt them, cherished them, took a stool, sat down and opened the book and went through the whole like a journey long desired. Then I bought both in less than 7 dollars, old book shop, shrine of love.
I selected one design, read all the instructions of how to use the book then selected the fabric and set to cut the pieces.
I am a template lover that I can’t do without one. That’s why I find paper piecing very difficult although I do make templates for that method as well. But for this I was determined to do as told. It’s my habit to follow the book first and then change any if I can’t adapt the original method.
So I tried to cut all the pieces in the way the book mentioned, but right from the first cut I was unable to follow. I couldn’t understand 3/8 or 7/8. I found for the first time that I don’t have the ruler with 8 margins, I have a collection of rulers including rotary, so I tried approximate method such as ½ inch or ¾ inch, but I had to make enormous calculations, and in general the piece cut was not accurate, then I found one ruler with 8 sections in an inch, and tried to cut again, but there were so many pieces of the same size that I could not make out which one for what. I cut small pieces of paper and with tiny clips put details on each. Sometimes the piece was so small that I had to wrap the paper around it. But anyways I did cut some. Then as old habit dies hard, I thought if I have to cut one size in different colours, why not make a template of that number. I took out my stock of old X-rays and made a lot of templates for that design, and tried to write the details with marker, but again the 3/8 piece was too small to write.
I tried that method along with the books method, but in the end I had very out of size pieces cut and stacked in the trays, like candies in the basket.
Next I sat down for sewing. I am very fabric conscious. I can’t stand any wastage, whenever I cut with templates I try hard to set them in the manner that least fabric is wasted. At-times I keep squares and triangles templates handy to cut from the sides’ leftover fabric, such as lone star sides cut triangles. So when I sewed one small side square to the sides of main piece, on four sides, and cut the square along with the main piece, I had a pool of cut triangles under my feet. I was deviated. I can’t stand so much wastage: its murder! But since I wanted to follow the book I carried on, next was cutting each piece separately. I am used to cutting 8 layers at a time, saving a lot of time, but now had to cut each square from 4 sides individually. It put a lot of pressure on my fingers and time was another factor of waste feelings.
I still thought that I was new to this method, so don’t worry. I will learn with the passage of time and will learn the tricks of the trade, and these problems will reduce as well.
But I was wrong! Through out the project I had to follow the same rules and time and again I was up to abandoning the project. On the other hand this long time patch-working had planted some patience in my habit, so I carried on. I could not take the piece in exact size, so the next was out of setting. I had to cut and re-size all the time, but didn’t give up. Sewing was pathetic and backside miserable sewing room was a mess with wastage and all that. Emergency was declared and nobody was allowed to enter. Fans were shut and in this summer heat I kept on working.
To add salt to my injuries, not knowing the true number of pieces for each block, I had cut 28 flowers, and now I was determined to sew all, for the guilt of wasting the left over, as I knew I will never be able to distinguish the pieces form the cut wastage. I made 28 flowers, and don’t ask how many discarded and out of size were left to mourn. I will make some thing out of them some time.
Now to my delight I have 28 complete set of patterns to use any where I wanted. I made pillows, some bed runners and some complete bed set out of them, for my upcoming exhibition at the Expo Centre. It is the inaugural exhibition of this centre, so I thought the design was real set for the occasion.
Apart form all the pain; I am happy with the lopsided end result. I will soon make some more as I can’t resist the beauty of the patterns. It’s a must have, only if I can reduce the wastage and convert the design to templates; fools paradise, but all is well if the ends well! I love the drawbacks as much as the correct ones, as my life time wish had fulfilled.
I will find some new rulers and practice it time and again, as the tininess is the beauty. I will choose some more free time and better season to stitch.
