It has been a pretty quiet month, with not much baking or beading. The onset of tamil month aadi is the start of our festive season. So, baking will take a backseat and it's going to be more of traditional cooking for some time now

I have been able to stitch this month fortunately. After a busy day's work, I find that stitching really calms me down. So, I try my best to put in atleast a few stitches daily

Here's a picture of my ORTS for the month. The lose threads are from working on mandala lotus and the jar has YTD

 

Here's a closer look at the progress. I am loving the colours and how this is taking shape

So, dear friends, this is my update for the day. Till next time.. take care.. stay safe.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!! 

Sweet 16!!

Guess who turned 16 this week.. that's right, V is sweet 16 now!! 

She wanted a chocolatey cake this year. A friend had shared this recipe for Salted Caramel chocolate cake sometime back and I had a bottle of store bought salted caramel. 

Basic recipe idea is from this link - https://bakerbynature.com/salted-caramel-chocolate-cake/. I used my go-to eggless chocolate cake recipe from Nita Mehta's Eggless Bakes book. Used the buttercream frosting recipe from this link. For the first time, tried caramel shards as topping

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel buttercream frosting

Stitchy Update

Here's progress on Snowy day

All I have left now are the whites. Hope to finish it by next weekend

So, that's the update from me today friends. Till next time.. be happy.. stay safe.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

August ORTs

Another new moon and time for our ORTs display!! Time sure does fly

I started on Lotus and all ORTs for the month are from there

The loose thread are for August and the ones in the jar are year-to-date.

This is the pattern I am working on now. This is a pattern I found on Pinterest

 I changed the pink to a slightly lighter shade, from my thread haul

That's from me today friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Holiday and TUSAL

Am back after an absolutely wonderful, week long holiday to Kerala. I should say this was more of a spiritual trip and a refresher.

The place we visited is called Vallikkaavu, a very small island village surrounded by the Arabian sea. In the middle is situated the beautiful ashram of our beloved Amma, Mata Amritanandamayi.

There were pooja sessions, meditations, bhajans, question and answer sessions with Amma Herself. We had a meditation on the shores of the beach one evening.

Meditating with Amma during the sunset was absolute bliss. V's bday fell during the week and we celebrated it in Amma's presence.

We got a cake baked at the ashram canteen and was cut by Amma!!! An unforgettable experience for all of us.

And now we are totally re-charged and refreshed. A trip to the ashram always makes this to us.

Hehe, Meari I thought magnetic nail polish was the in thing!! Am yet to apply it as we went off on our trip almost as soon as we got the gift. Will definitely post a picture once I do :)

With so much said, it is quite obvious that I did absolutely no stitching. And yes, am late for the August Tusal.

All the progress is from sea shells this time. And now to start with June cottage

That, my dear friends, is all I have today.. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir