Nov ORTS & A New Start!

We are almost at the end of the year (with just a month and a half left) And all our festivals are almost done, we just have Karthigai left. This year has been different, but we definitely had fun. We limited the number of in person visits for Navaratri, and 'met' people virtually. We sent the vethala paaku and diwali sweets via swiggy/dunzo (local delivery apps).

All through this year, I have been posting an entry @ of one post per month - mostly for ORT update. This is another ORT post

Diwali 2020

So, this is how we spent diwali

These were my diwali looks - white saree for diwali eve, garden picture on diwali morning and the red saree on diwali evening

V and I went totally crazy with the sweets, as you can see here. We started preparing about a week before diwali and went on till the diwali afternoon!! We had lots of fun preparing and sharing with everyone

Stitchy Update

I started this new project, which is a free coffee pattern from Pinterest. I am stitching this on perforated paper and using anchor thread from my stash

All ORTs are from coffee progress. The jar shows YTD-am quite happy that it's almost full this year😊

So, dear friends, this is the update from me today. Till next time, Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep stitching.. 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!

November Progress

Getting back into the stitchy mood slowly, made a bit of progress in November on the pinterest pattern

I decided to use perforated paper as the medium for this as this looks great when framed

All skeins are from my stash

We have a just a month more left of the year, and I definitely hope to make good progress this month

Till next time.. take care friends.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Losses!!

This year has been quite a sad one for the family - between December 2018 and September 2019, 3 of my uncles passed away!! Our family is quite a huge one, both on the maternal as well as paternal side. Though we all know that this is life, when it actually hits us on the face, it comes as quite a blow

Especially one of the uncles was very dear to all of us - his nature was such. My brother and I lived with them for 3 years and the kind of love they showered on us, words cannot express. I am still coming to terms with all this.

When we face with reality, we start thinking and there's a total change in the way we start looking at things. What seemed important suddenly become trivial and what used to be trivial are actually the most important. I am trying to change my ways especially in the last 2 months - visit/call people more frequently, put our differences behind and move on, try not to hold any grudges, focus more on mine and the family's health. Hope I am able to work through these

In between all this, our festival season too has started. As always, Navarathri is the first big one. This time I was not at all in the mood for an elaborate festival. But my aunts and cousins encouraged me to keep the spirit up and we had a smaller golu

Finally, I managed to finish Summer Iris

I changed the border color, as the recommended shade was exactly the same as that of the fabric. This was the first time I stitched on 30ct fabric and I found it very difficult. I could not stitch without my glasses on :)

Up next is going to be a gift for one of my cousins. I found this pretty pattern on Pinterest.

I found all the shades in my stash. I am planning to stitch this on perforated paper

Hopefully, things will come back to routine and I get to craft more frequently. That's the update from me today friends

Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep Crafting.. Au Revoir

Framed up and A new start

I got 3 of my most recent finishes framed last week

It took me about a year to finish stitching this!! I remember starting this in the first week of Jan 2017 and put in the last few stitches on 2018 New Year's eve (31 Dec 2017)!!!

The BookShelf by Little House Needleworks

Being a coffee lover that I am, I have been wanting to stitch a coffee pattern for ages and was hunting for a good pattern. I found this pattern on Pinterest and fell in love with it. Here's the pattern - https://pin.it/3tcd4dlwrjw2l3

This is a gift for a very dear friend. She loves coffee as much as (if not more than) I do and our friendship grew over cups of coffee. We met in June 1998 and this year, as we celebrate 2 decades of friendship, what's a better gift than a perfect cup of coffee!!

 This was a no count long stitch kit from anchor. I worked on it for more than a year definitely and I have absolutely no clue when I finished this

I found this finished piece hidden in my crafts chest while searching through my stash for threads!! I had to get it framed. I gave this as a gift to my parents

Isn't it an absolute pleasure making things for others and what happiness we feel when we see the happiness on the receiver's face. 

I have started working on Rose, which is also a pattern from Pinterest. Here's the link to the pattern - https://pin.it/g2g7fwp6b2psjr

I am stitching this on perforated paper and using all threads from my stash. This year I am trying to use up as much material from my stash as possible and put them to good use
The original pattern was a blue rose. But as I did not have any of the called for shades of blue, I swapped to a Red Rose. I think the shades are really working out well together, and I am very happy with the change. I was really scared how this would turn out as this is the first time I am ever changing the shades so drastically
This is going to be a gift to one of my cousins, who has been asking me to stitch something for her

That's all from me today friends. Signing off on a happy, high, satisfied note. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Some Beading & What's next

After a long time V and I had a marathon beading session over the weekend!! My beads stash is much bigger than my cross stitch stash and I have been wanting to get cracking on them for eons now, so finally got down to actually doing it

Here's what we did

This one is a gift for a very dear friend

This is V's bracelet and ear-ring set

I am really happy about the way they all turned out!!

My first choice for next project was this kit below which I bought in 2001 during my first ever trip to the USA. I picked this up several times only to put it back safely

The black background is all completely stitched and not black cloth! When I opened the kit, I only saw the black threads required for the background and all the other threads missing!! Then I remembered that during one of the times I 'picked up' this kit for stitching I sorted out the threads and out them 'safely' in an envelope. Now I am unable to find that envelope, it's really safe even from me!!! I turned my craft chest upside down and found several things that I did not even know I had stored in there, making me highly nostalgic!!

So, after a whole lot of rummaging through my patterns library, books and pinterest I have finally zeroed in on my next project

It's going to be this simple rose pattern that I got from Pinterest

I do not have the shades of blue called for in the pattern. So, I am replacing all the blue with shades of red. This is the first time I am ever making such a huge change and deciding on colors myself!! Hope it works out well. This is also going to be a gift to one of my cousins, so fingers crossed that I am able to finish this in a timely manner and the colors work well

That's it from me today friends. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!

TUSAL - April & A New Start

After finishing Sweet Summer, my next project is one of my favorites and very close to my heart!! I cannot function without this and cannot live without.. this is what I look forward to first thing in the morning - you must have guessed what it is by now.. of course I am talking about COFFEE!!!

This is a free pattern that I got from Pinterest 

Here's the progress till date on this new project. I initially started out on 30ct linen that was left over from my LHN projects. But this thread did not show prominently and almost merged with the fabric. So I switched to Aida that I had in my stash. My aim this year is to use as much from the stash as possible and not to accumulate any more stash

This is my ORTS jar till date after finish of Sweet Summer and start of Coffee

That's the update from me today dear friends. Till next time.. Take Care.. Be Happy.. Keep Stitching.. Au Revoir!!