A decade of Blogging!!

Can you believe it.. well, I certainly can't believe that it's been a decade since I wrote my first post here.

I wrote my first post (if you can consider that a post) in a hurry before my brother's wedding. I almost forgot about my bloggoversary.. only realized when we were discussing at home about my brother's 10th wedding anniversary!!

I am unable to remember what exactly triggered me into starting a blog of my own, but am definitely amazed that I have kept it running for this long!! If not for the blog and all the friends I have made here, I am not sure if I would have been able to continue with the crafts - Cross stitch, beading, baking, reading!! Reading all your blogs has kept me totally motivated and pushing myself to achieve much more, setting new deadlines/targets and goals and working towards that

To each and every one of you who have given me advice when required and also those who have guided me in an invisible way, a very big THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!!! You can even say this is my belated Thanksgiving wish to everybody

Here's to my 10th Bloggoversary and many many more years of learning, virtual tours, crafting and friendship

With a great feeling of gratitude and warmth, I sign off today my dear friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!!

Gifts and Stash

Thanks to our blogging world, I have made a few good friends. Meari is one such very good friend and a very kind hearted soul!! Once I had mentioned in one of my posts about V's interests in collecting stickers and that's how our association really started. Every once in a while, she sends stickers and other gifts for us. Just check out the lovely gifts that she sent for us when someone came to India about 2 months ago

The lovely packaging itself stole our hearts away.. we just did not have the heart to open it

2 separate packages - one for me and one for V with lovely hand-written notes 

3D stickers and some eye makeup for V - she just squealed with delight when she saw these

Threads in beautiful shades; there's even a pack of metallic thread!!

There's also some fabric. Totally love the patterned fabric

V and I were so overwhelmed with her kindness that we were in tears!! Never have we seen such kindness. V says 'Amma I want to meet aunty Meari once for sure'. Now I will definitely put all these to good use

 Stash:

I know I had told myself that this will be a year of no buying more stash and that I should only use what's in my stash currently. But who can resist the temptation of ordering some patterns when somebody is flying back from the US!!

Seasons patterns by Lizzie Kate. I have been wanting to do a 4 seasons pattern for a very long time now. Found these very cute patterns on 123stitch and ordered these

Of late, I saw this being stitched up by many people and totally fell in love with the pattern. I had this also in my bucket list and took this opportunity to order 

Another Lizzie Kate. For a very long time, I have been wanting a snowman pattern. When news of Lizzie Kate retiring came out, I checked out all her patterns and found this as well

Now that I have ordered patterns, I do need threads to stitch them up right.. so here goes some threads as well

So, dear friends now that I have quite a haul, I better pull up my act and get stitching!! That brings us to the end of this stashy post. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Deepavali, TUSAL

Belated Deepavali wishes to all. Deepavali is a festival that we all look forward to right from the start of the year. When the annual holiday calendar is announced each year, first thing we look for is Deepavali.
Here's a brief background on the significance of Deepavali. Deepavali is known as the festival of lights. 'Deep' means light. There are many stories associated with Deepavali. One is that this is the day Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and winning over Ravana.
Another story is that this is the day when Lord Krishna killed the evil demon king Narakasura. Hence this is also called Naraka Chaturdasi
Also, this is the day when Goddess Lakshmi is said to have wed Lord Vishnu

In our region, TamilNadu, we wake up and have the traditional oil bath (known as Ganga snaanam) before the crack of dawn. Then we proceed to burst crackers till about 7 or 8am. This is the day when the entire neighborhood is able to meet and greet each other. We share each other's crackers - there is no sense of 'I, you, me, mine' on this day. There is total sense of joy and peace in the air

In North India, the festivities are normally held in the evening to invite Goddess Lakshmi home. There is a Lakshmi pooja conducted at dusk in almost all households and even shops.

As is the norm, V and I celebrated in our apartment along with friends and neighbors. In the evening our entire family gathered at my aunt's place. It was an evening filled with bursting crackers, fun, food. This year we had a time restriction imposed by the Supreme Court for bursting crackers - only 2 hours!! Despite this we had loads of fun

This year we asked our cook to make the sweets and savories. I only tried my hand at Chocolate Peda which turned out absolutely yummy.

 I am a part of this FB group called OPOS, where the only utensil required for cooking is a pressure cooker. This recipe was shared in that group and it turned out very good:

110 gms Sugar 
60 ml water 
A Tsp ghee 
Cook On high for 5 Whistles 
Mixed in 140 gms Everyday milk powder 
10 gms Hershey's Cocoa powder 
Allowed it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes if it is gooey (resting time depends on the texture you get soon after mixing and needs self assessment; if you feel you can shape it immediately do not rest as it tends to dry on resting ), Shape it.

Beading:

I have promised myself that after each stitchy finish, I will do some beading. This way I get to work on all crafts. I am sticking to this promise as much as possible and here are my most recent beading expeditions

I bought this pendant a few years back from 'Jew Street' in Cochin. I found the perfect beads to go along with it, which I think my brother bought from Michael's 

All the beads are imported - the pink beads are ones that my brother got from Michael's. The pendant and the elongated stone beads are from a site called 'Fire N Mountain Gems'

TUSAL Update:
Wow, the months just seem to whizz by!! It feels like just a few days ago that I posted my ORTs update and it's already a month

What with festival season, stitching has taken a back seat. But I managed to start off on Blue Lotus. All Orts for the month are from finishing off Pink lotus and start of Blue Lotus

Orts in the glass jar are year-to-date and on the right are for the month

That's all from me today folks. Till next time.. Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep Stitching.. Au Revoir