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!

2019 - A Crafty Review

Yet another year just whizzed by in the blink of an eye!! So here's a crafty review of the past year

Reading:
Here's a snapshot from Good reads of all the books I read

My favorite of these are:
The Help by Kathreen Stockett
Precious Time by Erica James
You are the Best wife by Ajay K Pandey

Baking:

Complete List with Recipe links:
Oatmeal Peanut butter chip cookies - Recipe from HBG group
Nutella Brownie with lemon buttercream - http://www.morphyandme.com/nutella-brownies-eggless-recipe
Avocado brownie - Google
Gulab jamun cookies - https://www.morphyandme.com/3-ingredient-gulab-jamun-cookies-recipe
Lavender cake with lemon drizzle - https://www.peacefuldumpling.com/recipe/vegan-lavender-cake-lemon-drizzle
Cinnamon muffin with cinnamon chips - https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebakersguild/permalink/2016950071680483/
Brookies with sweet cherry chip - http://www.naivecookcooks.com/brookies-soft-chewy-brownie-cookies/
Baklava - https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/baklava/
Peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip bars - https://pin.it/wtykun2qhpnnbm
Choco cranberry cookies - http://www.naivecookcooks.com/easy-cranberry-cookie-recipe/
Gingery brownie crinkle cookies - https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020655-gingery-brownie-crinkle-cookies

Stitching:
The Summer Iris by Blackbird designs was the only finish of the year

My current WIP is the below pattern

This is a free pattern from Pinterest

Here's wishing all my dear crafting friends a very very Happy, Prosperous and Peaceful 2020!!

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

3rd Post in 7 Months!!

Hope this post finds all my dear crafting, blogging friends in great health and happiness

It's almost end of the 7th month and this is only my 3rd post of the year!! Earlier I used to post using my office laptop, simply because I was too lazy to open up my personal one after reaching home. Now, there has been a change in the company's policy, and access has been restricted to all sites even when we are out of office network. This is one of the main reasons that I have not been able to post as regularly. Also, the blogger app is not updated for iPhone or iPad - has others noticed it?

Of late my taste has moved away from chocolate and I have been wanting to try new flavours. Here are some of the new recipes I tried recently

During our trip to Dubai last year, we had bought some dried lavender. I finally took it out from hibernation and used (only a tsp) in this lavender cake with lemon drizzle

Here's a link to the original recipe - https://www.peacefuldumpling.com/recipe/vegan-lavender-cake-lemon-drizzle

Lavender Cake with Lemon Drizzle

Last year when my brother and family came for a holiday from the USA, I had ordered some Hershey's cinnamon chips

Baked cinnamon muffins with cinnamon chips. I got this recipe from a baker's group in FB.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebakersguild/permalink/2016950071680483/

I replaced egg with flaxseed powder

Cinnamon Muffin with Cinnamon chips

Here's a picture of Summer Iris - I am loving how it's shaping up

I am still thinking about how I am going to finish this. Hope to finish this up in a month at least

That's the crafty update today from me friends. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. au revoir

Snail's pace

..That's how my stitching has been progressing since the New Year. But then, this seems to have been a pattern the last few years. What with a whole lot of festivals, exams, and then vacations

So, this is where Summer Iris stands at the moment

It's coming out beautifully so far. I think I might have to change the shade for the borders as the color is exactly the same as the linen. Probably I could use a brownish shade.. 

So, that's from me today friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Keep stitching.. Be Happy.. Au Revoir!!