The BookShelf

The days are getting warmer and very humid, and summer is just beginning. The temperature is already nearing mid-30's!! Though I am looking forward to the holidays to spend time with V, I am dreading the heat.. sigh..

I started working on The BookShelf by LHN

I am loving the way it's shaping up. I feel this is going to be a quick stitch, atleast by my standards :)

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

A surgery and some beading

About 5-6 years ago I noticed that there was a small lump on my back on the left hand side. Doctors initially said that as long as there's no pain and it did not grow we need not worry about this. But over the years the lump grew though there was no pain, and it was quite prominent that people started asking what it was. That rang a bell and I did a checkup last September. It was found to be a Lipoma. Though it was nothing to worry about, I was advised to get it removed soon as it was growing and was beginning to breach into the back muscles.

So finally I had the surgery on 9th February and am just recovering. I am allowed to work from home during this period, so thankfully not bored to death yet

On the crafting front - V and I started the year with some quick beading using some of the beads I bought in South Africa

Finishing 2016 with a finish!!

Here's wishing everybody a very happy, crafty, fulfilling 2017!!

Yesss.. finally seashells is finished. I literally stitched my way into the new year. I was putting in the last few stitches in seashells when the clock struck 00:00 on 1st January 2017!! Isn't that a grand way to finish a year and start a new one

Isn't she a beauty. I started this in December 2011 and finished in December 2016. It has taken me exactly 5 years to finish this - phew!! V was beginning to ask me if I would manage to finish this by the time she reached college :)

So now I am totally excited to start working on my next project. It's going be a pattern from LHN - The Bookshelf.

I have kitted it up and all set to start. I also have accumulated quite a few strands of beads from all the travel this year. Hoping that 2017 is going to be a year dedicated to fulfill all my crafty dreams

Signing off with this today friends. Wishing you all a brilliant year again.

Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep crafting.. Au Revoir

South African Sojourn

Wow.. it's already that time of the year when we look back and think 'WOW the year just flew by'. This has been yet another such year

I have traveled to South Africa twice in the last few months, each trip lasting for a month. There's so much work in this new assignment that I did not find much time to go around. Of whatever I have seen so far, this is such a beautiful place!! Unfortunately, there's not much public transport due to safety concerns

King of the jungles - in all his majesty!!

A panoramic view of the Hartbeespoort dam

Union building - what a beautiful place it was

A panoramic view from atop the Union building

What fun is it if you have been to South Africa and not visited a flea market!! This was one of the higher end flea markets

Hand painting on ceramic. Every single piece was so beautiful. Unfortunately the airlines imposes a baggage limit!!

Signing off today by wishing all my dear friends a very Merry Christmas a very Happy 2017

Till Next time.. Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep crafting.. Au Revoir

A crafty long weekend

Last weekend was an active one - busy and yet relaxing too! We had a long weekend  as we (India) celebrated our 70th year of independence. Usually this time of the year we plan our family get2gether as most of my cousins come down for their annual vacations. It was a low key affair this year though, as one of my cousin's father-in-law is unwell.

Beading
During our trip to the US, we bought some beads from Michael's to gift our nieces. V and I thought it would be better to make necklaces out of those than give just strands of beads. So we got down to do some beading for gifts.

We found these very pretty pinkish tinted metallic accents, which we do not get here in India

 

This is for one of my smallest nieces, who is about 4 years old

We combined these pretty enamel beads with black crystals and a silver accent

 

Baking
Ever since Harry baked some brookies in Masterchef Australia, this has been the craze in the baking world. We found this simple eggless recipe for brookies and decided to bake some for our get2gether

The recipe can be found here. It was a super duper hit and disappeared within minutes of taking out

I also made fairly good progress on seashells. But I have decided that the next picture of seashells I post will only be a completed one!! And that is going to be in just a few days :)

That's the updates from me dear friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching/baking/crafting.. Au Revoir!!

Stashy Update

I was very curious to know how much stash I was hoarding. Two reasons for doing this - one to get an idea of how much I have pending. Second to see if I am allowed to buy more ;)

 Here are a few kits.

Below are a few patterns only

Threads and fabrics

A complete picture

I also kitted up my next project. It's going to be 'The Bookshelf' by LHN!!

Now I am all excited to see the end of seashells, which is not far off. Though there is no picture at this point, I have made good progress. Have just a few more rows of half-cross stitch and the back stitches left

That, my dear friends, is all from me today. Till next time.. Take care..Be happy..Keep Stitching.. Au Revoir!!

Cookie Time

V tried her hand at cookies alone (when I was at work) at my mom's place and ended up burning them. Thankfully mom smelt something burning and woke up in time to find the cookies burning. Ever since then V has been wanting to bake cookies with me only watching while she did everything from scratch

So here was her first one - Cranberry and white chocolate chip cookies

It turned out totally yummy. Everything went very smooth, no burning down the place!! The recipe source is here. We used flax seed powder in place of eggs

Rugelach

We had a tub of cream cheese which we wanted to use up. Found a very simple recipe to make Rugelach in one of the baking forums in FaceBook

Recipe:
150gm each of cold Cream cheese and plain flour, 100 gm cold butter.

Mix the three and rub till they resemble coarse bread crumbs. wrap in a cling wrap and refrigerate for half an hour to an hour. Roll out like rotis, spread any jam/nutella and cut it out into long traingles, roll up each triangle and bake for 20-30 minutes.

NOTE - refrigerate after rolling up and stuffing before baking. This will help retain the shape

We made a mistake - the cream cheese was in room temperature. Hence the dough was very soft and we were not able to roll it out and cut into triangles. So we made a round disc and filled with marmalade/nutella/peanut butter

The saltiness from the cream cheese totally compliments the sweetness. Also the pastry was nice and soft. Very simple and quick snack

Both the cookies turned out great and no burning down the place!! So, I am guessing that V did not get the setting right in the oven at mom's place

That's about the adventures today friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep crafting..Au Revoir!!