A Finish..

..Yes, here's my next finish in 2020!!

This project is the closest to my heart. I have been wanting to stitch a portrait of Amma for a very long time now. That is still some time away. So, while I work on kicking that off, here's a starter.
This is Amma's official logo and I have had my eye on this for a while now too. About 2 years ago, I tried several online pattern generators and selected one that worked. But, I never actually started working on it. Now, I wanted to start fresh. So, again I generated several patterns and found one that I thought was closest. Though the pattern suggested many colours, I worked only with 2 - blue and red. 
I strongly believe that everything fell in place for this project this time. The fabric is a gift from my dear friend Meari (who blogs here). It has very pretty pink flowers in the background. I think that was just perfect for Amma

Next up is a Lizzie Kate pattern - Snowy Day. This is a part of 6 fat men series, but I am just going to stitch this one up

I love snowy, christmasy patterns, and this will be my first of a festive pattern

I have it all kitted up. I am going to use 14ct aida for this, as I do not have the right shade of linen with me in my stash. I am going to use the anchor threads from my stash. I know that this will not have the same result as WDW ones, but I am not sure when I will be able to get any threads ordered from the USA. I am totally impatient to start stitching this up

So, that's from me today dear friends. Do stay safe.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!

June Updates

Hello Friends, hope you and your families are safe and crafting away like crazy!! 

Number of COVID cases have been on the rise in our city. So, now we are under another 15 days of total lockdown. We wait for Vs board exam results to be announced and school to re-open

So, here's what I have been up to on the crafting front

This is a mini kit that I had bought while we were in Singapore and when I was pregnant with V. I had finished stitching this around the time V was born, but never properly finished this. I did not have an idea then about how to finish this up. So, I had put this away to be happily forgotten. 

Now, during a clearing spree, I found this again and thought that it's high time I finished this up, but how

And then it occurred to me that I could stick this in Vs baby album

So, here it is - all done!!

I have started working on this very special project. I have been wanting to work on a picture of my Guru - Amma. Finally, I was able to start work on this. I used stitchfiddle.com to generate a pattern from my picture. I tried several online sites, but found this worked best for me

The pattern generated involved many shades, but I am just using 2 as the main picture uses just 2. The fabric has a very pretty pink floral pattern on it. This is a gift from my dear friend Meari

The basic pattern is done, I just have the word 'AMMA' to be stitched in now. I love the way the fabric and the threads worked out - like they were all meant to be!! 

My ORTS for the month on the top right are all from this

V has been painting, with the help of videos available on Youtube, ever since her vacations started. She found 2 online classes that interested her - an acrylic painting one and a doodle workshop
Here are some of the works that she worked on

Zentangle - as part of the doodle workshop

The final assignment from her doodle workshop

Acrylic painting 

So, that's the story from me today friends. Till next time.. stay safe.. be happy.. keep crafting.. Au Revoir

Finishes, Finishes, Finishes

Hope all my dear blogger friends and your families are safe and healthy. I am sure all of us are using this time to learn new things, or tick off things from our bucket list, or just be and take things easy

We are in the 4th phase of lock-down now, Lock-down 4.0 as it's popularly known! I have stepped out exactly twice ever since the lock-down began. We have been ordering most of the essentials online and the husband goes out once in 10 days 

Apart from cooking and learning new recipes, I have been able to stitch a lot more. What with no 3 hour daily commute!! 

Let me quickly take you through my finishes

Here's the Rose book mark - stitched and finished up too. This was supposed to be a birthday gift for my daughter, which falls in August. Normally, if I had started this in March I would have finished this probably in time for her birthday, or maybe even later. But now, I was able to stitch and finish this up too

This is the finished up picture. The picture on the right shows the back. I simply could not resist clicking this. 

This is the finished bookmark. As the size of the stitched piece itself is quite big, I did not want to add much to the backing and increase it further. So, used thick handmade paper. I think the finishing could have been much more neater

Next up is Lizzie Kate's sweet summer

I had stitched this back in September 2018 and finally got to finishing this up. Followed the finishing instructions as per the kit. The cording is from Michael's. I am pretty happy with how this has turned out 

Best part of the lockdown is that, my daughter too has taken to cross stitching now!! Isn't that great. Our dear friend Meari had very kindly sent a starter kit last year. 

V finished this and simply loved stitching this. Then she asked me if I will share supplies with her from my stash. Wasn't I glad to hear this. Also, more excuse for us to shop :) 

She then found this cute little pattern on Pinterest and badgered me to give her the supplies

The colors are nice and bright. We finished this up as a fridge magnet

We have quite a bit of Orts this month, from all that stitching.  

The lose Orts are from this month and the jar is year-to-date

That's all from me today friends. Till next time.. Stay home.. stay safe.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Dear friends, hope all of you and your families are safe and healthy. This pandemic has turned our lives upside down. None of us even dreamt that we would be facing a lockdown. I stepped out exactly twice in the last 40 days! V did not step out even that many times. Stores (only essentials) are open from 6am - 1pm country wide. We can order food from a few select outlets, but we are skeptical. 

We have been using this time for some spring cleaning. I have accumulated a whole lot of recipes from magazines and newspapers. Also, my aunt passed on a huge bunch of clippings when she moved away to another city. There were paper cuttings, hand written note books and some books too. This was the first I cleaned out - kept only those recipes which I am sure of trying atleast once and threw out those clippings which involved lot of effort, but I fancied trying at some point

To keep up our spirits, V and I are trying out new recipes - things we love but always thought were complicated. Sharing just a few highlights from the cooking expeditions

Cooking

Hummus - I had bought Tahini, a few months back, hoping to make hummus soon. It took a lock-down to make me take the leap finally 

Pizza from scratch - this is a no yeast pizza base. Yeast is a big demon that I am yet to conquer, but hope to tackle that too during this period. Here's the super simple base and pizza sauce recipe link. Pizza base recipe - https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/no-yeast-pizza-dough-recipe/

Tomato sauce recipe - https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/5-minute-pizza-sauce/

Stitching
Here's where Rose book mark stands now

I have finished the main stitching, only the blue background is left. The lose ORTS you see are from the past month's progress. ORTS in the jar are year-to-date. Am really happy with the progress in one month

I feel this might be slightly big for a book mark. Am looking for ideas to finish this 

That's all today from me friends. Stay home, stay safe. Till next time.. Keep stitching.. be happy.. Au Revoir

Crafting Away

Hope everybody is safe and healthy, staying at home. We are using this time to catch up on many long pending tasks

I had taken a 3 weeks' break from work for V's board exams. She loved studying in the drawing room, so I used to sit beside her doing my thing. There was a kind of peace in doing our own thing sitting side by side :)

I used this time well, catching up with my crafting. The beads came out of hibernation and saw the light of the day

Beading

I have been wanting to re-do this necklace as it had become very tight. I got it strung during my pre-beading days, and it did not fit any more. The left pic is the how it was earlier and the right is how I re-did it - added some red crystals and pearls to go with the pendant

The big orange beads in the center have been in the stash for quite a few years. These were part of the first bead stash that I bought, at least 8 years ago!! Added black crystals and orange seed beads

This was another necklace that I wanted to re-do. The left pic is how I had done it earlier, but was not happy even then. My friend had bought these beads for me from Singapore. The pic on the right  is how I re-did this now. Added black onyx and rose gold shaded metal findings 

This one is for V. She loved the pendant and wanted me to string something for her. So, used these green wooden beads with silver metal findings

I had bought these beads from South Africa in 2016. The middle part of all these are a set - pre-strung. 

Stitchy Update

 I also made a start and good progress on Rose

This is the progress in a week

Here is the ORTS for March

This is the update from me today friends. Stay healthy.. Stay Safe.. Stay home.. Stay Positive and keep crafting!! Till next time dear friends, Au Revoir

Finished & Framed!

Dear Friends, in the wake of the Covid 19 Pandemic, I hope everyone is safe and healthy. Do take necessary precautions, but at the same time please stay calm and do not panic. Probably, this is the time to slow down and take things easy, while we stay indoors

So, I have finished the project I was working on from Pinterest.

Worked on Perforated Paper with the anchor skeins from my stash

This is how it looks framed. I am going to gift this one to my cousin

Next up is a project that has been in my to-do for a very long time. One of my very close friends has a  Needlepoint by William Morris book, where the projects are just drool worthy. Every once in a while I borrow the book from her just to drool over them. Finally, I decided to work on one such project from the book

This patter is called Rose and it's a book mark. The fabric will be a 28ct linen from my stash and the threads will be Anchor from my stash too

I want to stitch this for V, my daughter. Her birthday is in August and I hope to finish this before that. Initially, I wanted this to be a surprise for her. But with her around, nothing escapes her sharp eyes. Even while I was trying to decide on the next project she asked 'Is this going to be for me'!! She has a collection of bookmarks and changes it with each book she reads. So, I thought that this would be a good gift

That's about it from me today friends. Stay safe.. Stay healthy.. Stay Calm and take it easy. Till next time.. Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep Stitching.. Au Revoir

TUSAL - Feb 2020

A very quick post to show you my progress on my current project, which is a free pattern from Pinterest

In the bottom left you can see the ORTS year to date. Very little left and I do hope to finish this by the weekend

V's 10th grade board exams have just started and I am taking a short break from work to be around and provide moral support - you know, just be around. Oh, talking about V and her exams, she has a post up on her blog about the same - http://vaishnavithinks.blogspot.com/. Do drop by and leave your comments

That's about it from me today dear friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep Stitching.. Au Revoir!