Hi everyone! Welcome to Day 32 of our Glorious Autumn Block Party. Today we have Soma Acharya as our featured designer.
Visit the Block Party Headquarters for more info and upload your completed blocks to the Flickr group.
Featured Designer: Soma Acharya
How did you get into quilting?
I love to draw and paint with watercolour. Screen printing also fascinates me because I love drawing pictures which are blocked off by shapes.
I love the concept of drawing pictures with fabric, and paper piecing lets me do that. Paper piecing method is a lot like screen-printing to me, only with fabric. When I saw the beautiful paper piecing designs out there, I couldn’t wait to get my feet wet. It is the reason I got into quilting.
I only started quilting earlier this year, so I don’t have many quilts to show. Here is the very first and at this point only lap quilt I finished making.
How/when/why did you transition from a quilter to a designer?
I believe I was a designer before I was a quilter. I designed my first paper piecing pattern for a blog hop even before I made a quilt. Quilting came much later because I had to do something with all the blocks that I was designing.
Which quilt is your favourite? Did you design it? Why is it your favourite?
I don’t have many quilts to pick from at this point. Winter Accessories would be my most favourite because nothing makes me happier than winter. I drafted the pattern in the middle of summer of this year!
Currently I am spending more time designing and making blocks rather than quilts. So, I thought I would share my most favourite block: Weeping Angle.
How many UFOs do you currently have? If you consider WIPs as UFOs, then 4.
What size of quilt do you prefer to make/design? Lap quilts – I like to make lap quilts using twenty 10″ paper piecing blocks. I and my husband read a lot in the living room; lap quilts are perfect for keeping our toes toasty. Mini quilts – These are usually made with a grouping of four 10″ blocks of a related theme. I love to see my quilts being used, so my kitties use them.
What colour do you use most often in your quilts? I mostly make paper piecing blocks. The colour is really directed by the theme of the block. If I have to pick a colour, then lately I have made a lot of blocks with sky in it, so I think there is a bit of blue in a lot of the blocks.
Favourite one-sentence tip for a new quilter: Get a quarter-inch foot if it is available for your machine.
Favourite size and brand of rotary cutter: Olfa 45mm
Favourite quote or mantra: Design what makes you happy!
Block Party #32 – Autumn Harvest
Here’s Soma’s block, Autumn Harvest. It’s a gorgeous paper pieced block. Head over to her blog to download the pattern.
See the previous free quilt blocks!
Designer Give-Away
Soma is giving away a combination of three Christmas fat quarters and a 10″ winter landscape pattern from her shop called Winter Meadow. Winter Meadow can be combined nicely with her Autumn Harvest block. Visit Soma’s blog to enter the give-away.
