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

Quick update

The weekend I should say just whizzed by and here we are, Tuesday already gone!! V and I went shopping for her birthday last Saturday. M fell sick, so it was basically a girl's day out. We had a great time picking out clothes for her.
As it had been more than a month since we had pizza last, we decided to order pizza for dinner. Yummy stuffed garlic bread and peppy paneer. And to finish it properly, goooeeey choco lava cake.

My dear bro sent some goodies from US through a friend. Sunday we went to pick those up. He sent  these pretty little magnets that he bought at Niagara and a t-shirt for V.

The teddy on the right can wiggle his arms and legs. He's sooo cute!! He also got me this great magnetic nail polish that is the latest in US. It's a set of 4 pretty colors. Will post pictures when I apply them.

As I said I have been working on sea shells the last 2 weeks. Here's where it is currently

It does not look like much, but I got quite a bit of filling up done. Now, am going to keep this back in and take up June cottage.

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

Fantastic Friday..

Isn't it fantastic, it's already Friday :) Yay weekend!!

Now, what did we do last weekend, it seems so far away. We decided to visit a temple on Saturday as it had been really long since we last did. It was pouring when we left home, but stopped by the time we reached the temple. So, the roads were pretty slushy. After paying our respects and seeking blessings, we decided to stop by a small eatery nearby for a cup of hot filter coffee and ended up ordering some keera vada (spinach vada).

This temple is surrounded by gypsies selling lovely beads in all sizes and shapes. Of course I have to stop by to check out their latest collection, which I did. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of my purchase.

On the way back home we realized that V had developed a mild fever, which later graduated to much higher temperature. So, we were stuck at home the better part of the weekend.

To cheer ourselves up, V and I made a few pairs of ear-rings for her

On saturday night I was sooo craving for something chocolaty, that I decided to bake this 5-minute chocolate cake. I got the recipe from good housekeeping. It tasted exactly like the "Sizzling brownies" that we've tasted in restaurants. Also, like brownies, it hardens up on getting cold. Again, I have no pictures of it

On the stitchy front, I have been working on shells. But it is not quite significant to post a picture yet.

That, my dear friends is what has been happening over the week. With that I take leave today. Hope to come back with more pictures next time
Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Wonderful Wednesday Update

Wow, can't believe half the week is already gone!! My weekend was a totally AT HOME weekend, except for V's PTA.
We had to complete 2 assignments over the weekend. First was to make something with coir or coconut shell. Options were aplenty no doubt, but did I have the time to finish? So, I took permission from her teacher to just create a chart with pictures of various items made out of coir/coconut shell.
Next project was to create a scrap book of TamilNadu. Now that was quite interesting. We had some colored A4 sheets and some hand-made papers, which we used for this. We loved putting these projects together.

Next V and I (yes she's a part of all my projects these days) decided to bake some cookies. It was to be chocolate choco chip cookies.

Oooh they were absolutely divine. V was totally thrilled that her cookies came out so well :)

And guess what, I actually FINISHED May cottage. I cannot believe it myself

I completed it in less than 3 weeks. This is definitely my fastest finish ever!!! Now I am going to take a short break from cottages and work on my seashells for a week or 2.

Looking back at the weekend, looks like I've spent a lot of time with V. Wow, it was absolutely great. One of my cousins says that these days V's like my best friend. Because, I do everything with her, and every time I step out (other than to work of course) V's with me, haha.

And guess what, V wants to start her first cross stitch project. A few months back, we saw a cross stitch kit for 8yrs and above. I apparently told her then that I'd get it for her when she's old. She turns 8 this month. So today morning she "gently" reminds me of my promise. Haha, so can you guess what my birthday gift for her is going to be?! ;)

So dear friends, with that I take leave today. Till we meet again.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

TUSAL - July

I am late again for my TUSAL. Nevertheless, here it is

These are all from the April and May cottages.

Speaking of cottages, from the pictures I saw of May, I thought it was blue. But it turned out to be Teal. Am enjoying it :)

Till my next update.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Mid-week update

I've decide to call my updates just that.. mid-week updates :)

The weekend was another stay-at-home weekend, where we cooked a bit and stitched a bit. Was lot of fun just to laze around and not do too much.

On saturday we had a nice dinner with Rotis and Reshmi kofta curry, recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor

It was a fat-laden one, with a lot of cashew, fresh cream, paneer and yoghurt :) So, needless to say it tasted absolutely yumm

V again wanted to cook something. So we decided to bake some cup cakes and try our hands at frosting and "decorating" if you may call it that

I think the initial attempt was not bad at all. I used vanilla and mint butter cream frosting. I did not have green food color, so used yellow for the mint. For the "art" we added some cocoa to the left over frosting and used that up too.

We then caught up on a movie called "No one killed Jessica". This is based on a true story and was an awesome movie

On the stitchy front, I have a fair amount of progress on May

So, that is all the happenings from this front today. Till my next update..Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir :)

And one more...

It happens that this is the second consecutive Tuesday that I am posting my updates. So, why not call it a Terrific Tuesday update. But then, what if I cannot continue each Tuesday?! Hmm, point to think

Well, I tried my hand at another new recipe over the weekend. It's basically a classic and very easy. The simple, yet classy Apple crumble.

Wow, I just love the flavors. Apple and cinnamon are a match made in heaven for sure. These days V wants to lend a helping hand at anything I bake. So I allowed her to put together the ingredients for the crumble topping. Am still a little scared to allow her to use the knife. So did the apple dicing myself. I got the recipe for the crumble from The Kitchn.

Guess what friends, I have completed April!!

Doesn't it look adorable. Love the colors. The french knot did not come out as well as it did last time. Did a "work-around" of a semi x-stitch there to fill up, haha

I really have to speed up on my pace to be able to achieve more. Just 4 finishes in 6 months is too less.

Welcome to all my new followers :) With that my dear friends I take leave now. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir