Where the Wild Things are

At my new home in the hills I've been snapping pictures of the little wild things I discover most mornings on the french doors and on the verandah.   

From being an apartment dweller in a metropolis  for the past ten years, I'm enjoying discovering forms, patterns and textures from the natural world which present themselves. Unexpected surprises.

The Key

Found poetry, an ongoing project.

 Here is the key,

forward thinking. Adopt and adapt it for your own means,

Prepare in advance, ready to go.

it will keep you at the forefront of an upcoming revolution.

If you missed the found poetry created prior to this piece here are the links.....
Dabbling in Distractions
It will make you happy
Spontaneous Combustion
Layers of Flavours

Hope your weekend is gorgeous. I start planning future projects.

Monsoon - A Fiber Book

The fiber book - Monsoon 

It's taken longer than expected what with moving house and settling down but I finally got to photograph the little book on my deck this morning. The book is about things I associate with the monsoon season.

The plaintive call of the Koel or the cuckoo. It's a call one welcomes in India because one knows there will relief from the relentless summer heat. I read somewhere that the Koel a migratory bird flies to the Indian peninsula from Africa on the monsoon winds.  

Monsoon landscape dominated by dark  moisture laden nimbus clouds.

The rain brings an exuberance to the land. The parched land turns green and one of the most beautiful sights is a peacock dancing with its magnificent tail spread out. I have memories of this wondrous sight on the lawns of my alma mater The National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad.    

I choose to eat other meats during the monsoons, it's me doing my bit to give fish stocks a chance to be replenished.    

Hot tea or cutting chai as it's known in India is what every Indian loves to sip when it's pouring and I'm no different. That's the recipe for the masala tea I make and if there are no bhajjiyas I settle for marie biscuits which I dunk in the tea and eat. One of my favourite rituals. 

The back cover of the book.

The prediction for the monsoon this year is that it will be early, probably the last week of May. Usually the Monsoon hits the West coast of India in the first week of June.
I must stock up on Marie biscuits and get tea leaves and spices in place to welcome the Monsoon.

If you shop on line I would appreciate it if you would click on the Amazon link here or the Flipkart link here to browse and make your purchases.

 As an affiliate, Flipkart and Amazon will pay me a small percentage of the total amount you spend.You will not be paying anything extra. Thank you.  

Have a great weekend.

Settling down

I thought I should say hello when I have access to wifi.

The move has been made from the plains to the hills and across state lines and we're in the process of settling down in the Nilgiris.

 One evening last week we spotted a bison (gaur) wandering through the tea bushes on the hill opposite our home. From the concrete jungle to the jungle itself.

 The discovery of strange insects on the spider plant. There's going to be much to discover in this new environment which will have an impact on my work.
Monsoon the fiber book is complete but I beg you to be patient just a little longer. In another week or two when things are out of cartons and everything has a place and hopefully the access to wifi is uninterrupted I'll post pictures of the little book.

Have a wonderful week.

Solace

In September 2014 India Flint formulated the Solace project and invited people to make contributions of natural fiber pennants with stitched words of peace or a line, sonnet or word which evokes a sense of solace. 

This is my contribution. I've since attached ties to the top of the pennant like India requested and the little flag is ready to mail to The Observatory, Andamooka, Southern Australia.
The pennant is made from a piece of cutting waste, it's a slubby cotton.

I was looking for a quote for peace and this one resonated with me.
I believe there's time for you to get involved  should you want to make a contribution.Read about an update here.
Click here to be inspired and to see the contributions some others have created.

Here is what India plans to do:
' During June next year I will be in residence at The Observatory. 

I shall spend time connecting each of the flags in the sequence of their arrival, recording the words on them as one complete circular poem.

Following this I shall prepare an organic indigo vat and on the day of the southern midwinter solstice in 2015 will overdye the flags in the blue of the heavens before installing them as a circle. if there are hundreds, then a series of concentric circles :-))

The flags will be documented photographically over time and the images and text will be available online as well as in a limited edition book. It may even be possible to make a short film. While I do not have the financial resources to distribute free books to participants, each person who makes and sends a flag will receive a limited edition postcard image of the installation, personally addressed to them and posted from the Andamooka post office. ' 

If you shop on line I would appreciate it if you would click on the Amazon link here or the Flipkart link here to browse and make your purchases.

 As an affiliate, Flipkart and Amazon will pay me a small percentage of the total amount you spend.You will not be paying anything extra. Thank you.  

Friendships

Finished stitching this while the painters and cleaners worked on transforming the apartment.
Don't you agree with the saying? I think it rings true.
Been given for framing.

Have a great weekend.

If you shop on line I would appreciate it if you would click on the Amazon link here or the Flipkart link here to browse and make your purchases.

 As an affiliate, Flipkart and Amazon will pay me a small percentage of the total amount you spend.You will not be paying anything extra. Thank you.  

The Big Move

The apartment has been packed up and moved.
We're leaving the city for a home in the Western Ghats.
A huge change we have been working toward for the past three years. Looking forward to the change in pace of life and greener, cleaner surroundings.
I'm taking a blog break for a couple of weeks to settle down.

50 shades of Grey

Marvelling at the manner in which nature paints fifty shades of grey.
My mum braids her hair into a french braid which show off nature's magic so beautifully.
Continuing to observe change - with the passage of time, nature is working its magic on me as well.

Twisted into a knot which resembles a shell. my mum is quite the hairdresser too.

Have a good week. 

Change

Change is constant.  

At times imperceptible at other times dramatic. I've made a concious effort to observe change in the past few weeks. The most dramatic change has been my mother's eye sight. An operation has done away with glasses and transformed the quality of her life. We are all so grateful for the advances in medical science and a competent doctor who could bring about this positive change.

While in post operative care my mum and I decided to explore the art form of folded book sculptures and transformed a couple of old Reader's Digest magazines.    

We need to welcome change and look for the positives it brings with it. Not always possible I know.
I've made a list of changes around me.
We changed the flooring in two rooms of our apartment
I've enjoyed the changing seasons with the beautiful display of flowering trees, trees like the peepal have shed all their leaves and the tender pale green leaves will make an appearance soon.
Mum's eyesight improved. It's like a miracle. Simply amazing
A neighbour has adopted a small muddy space outside my bedroom window and plans to create a little garden with her daughter. The little flowering plants in pots  have already brightened up the space.
My routine has changed to accommodate the needs of my aging parents and the requirements of post operative care.  
Cuttings of geraniums have sprouted new leaves on the stem and with each passing day are growing larger. The geraniums and spider plants are going to be a part of the big move my husband and I  are making next month when we go to live in the hills.
Enormous change is imminent, momentum is gathering.
These are just some of the changes I'm aware of, it's right there in my face but the wheels of change are forever turning imperceptible changes which will be noticed perhaps at a later date.
Change has taught me patience and made me more aware of how I use time. I've grown more sensitive to the needs and abilities of people who are aging. It's teaching me efficiency and to multi task better.
How do you see change? What has it taught you?

Have a good weekend.
If you're wondering if this blog has changed from being a fiber and embroidery blog to one that focuses on paper fear not change is at hand there's a fiber book and other fiber projects which are in the works and will be revealed in the coming weeks.      

Dabbling in Distractions

Dabbling in Distractions

Don't you just love to dabble in distractions

that offer avenues for discovery.

To get the hang of fun.

On the slopes, tumbling, flying through the air.

My idea of a great time. 

Hope you're having fun and dabbling in distractions.

I'm going to be travelling to be with my mother who will be having an operation. Great opportunity for dabbling in distractions and discovering where they lead.

Have a great week.

Monsoon inspired fiber book

The Monsoon has inspired poets, musicians and artists on the Indian subcontinent for centuries and it's my turn  to attempt capturing the moods of this season in a small fiber book which will measure approximately 4" x 6" when it's complete.

 Embroidery and applique. I'm exploring and creating a variation of how to make a fiber book. The process of making this little book will serve to make a tutorial which I have promised some visitors to the blog. I request some patience, the tutorial will be posted once the book is completed.

The beginnings of another page. I'm using some of the natural dyed and rust dyed fabrics from my stash. The rusty washer found on my morning walk made that beautiful burning summer sun.

Change is in the air.

Have a good weekend.

If you shop on line I would appreciate it if you would click on the Amazon link here or the Flipkart link here to browse and make your purchases.

 As an affiliate, Flipkart and Amazon will pay me a small percentage of the total amount you spend.You will not be paying anything extra. Thank you.  

Natural material for packaging

Last week we were on a road trip and somewhere on NH 7 we saw men waving these conical packages. Curiosity got the better of us and we stopped to buy two. These are packages of Palmyra leaves.   

Knotted and tied with a couple of fronds. 

The palmyra leaf  opens to reveal five of six pods of the palmyra fruit.

The Palmyra leaf is circular in shape and has a naturally occurring accordion fold which aids the creation of the conical packages. Pure genius whoever created this package. 

Summer is round the corner. 

With the onset of the summer heat, the fruit of the Palmyra palm makes an appearance on the carts of   fruit sellers on the streets of every neighbourhood in the city. The fruit seller cuts open the fiberous  black fruit and removes three jelly like pods which are filled with a cool liquid. These jelly pods are just the thing to beat the summer heat.

Wish they would use the Palmyra leaf for packaging instead of the thin plastic bags which are ruining our environment.  

We've embraced the use of plastic for packaging and forgotten the use of natural materials for packaging.

Have a good week. 

Senbazuru

Senbazuru refers to sen - one thousand  tsuru - cranes.

I'm attempting to fold 1000 origami cranes this year.

My research has revealed I need to fold all one thousand myself and they can't be given away. 

First 100 of 1000. In Japan one can buy a senbazuru set which comes complete with paper, string and bead.  I'm putting a recycling angle to the challenge by using only paper flyers which I can get my hands on. 

An ancient Japanese legend promises a wish will be granted to the one who folds one thousand cranes. I'm hoping to fold a thousand cranes for a wish for someone very dear to me.

Keeping with tradition I'll be stringing 25 cranes on one length of string and the 40 strings of cranes will be hung  in a place  where the element will act on the paper cranes and as they fray and get tattered the wish shall be released.
The story of Sadako Sasaki has made the little origami crane a symbol of peace all over the world and  and I've read, that the Japanese space agency had the folding of a thousand cranes as a test for aspiring astronauts.

100 cranes folded and made, 900 to go. Would you like to learn to fold a paper crane? here's a link.

It will make you Happy

The next found poem - It will make you happy.

It will make you happy

The joy outweighs the costs.

There is data - heroin makes you feel rare pleasure.

Memories of the highs brings joy.

Those moments few and far between, everybody ought to have it, 

because it will make them happy.

Super Matter

The second set of the English alphabet for A Letter A Week 2014 has now been compiled into a flag book. I call this book of Tamil slang - Super Matter. 

Everday Tamil is liberally sprinkled with English words. 

In Tamil these English words have meanings far removed from the original meaning in English 

The back of each letter has the english word or phrase in both the Tamil script and English.

Bright fluorescent colours for the flags in the flag book. In keeping with the love for bright colours whether its clothing, colours for exterior of houses and decor in Tamil Nadu.

 I've now made two books for ALAW 2014.
 One with the theme of place is  'Footprints and a Wishlist' and the second is Super Matter.
To read about the Engish words and their meaning in Tamil click here,
From e to h click here.
for the next four - i to l click here.
for those from m to p click here.
Click here for meanings of words from q to z, here.

To view the creations of all those who participated in A Letter A Week 2014 click here.
I was fortunate to participate in 2014 because ALAW has now come to an end.

Spontaneous Combustion

Found poetry has caught my fancy. I decided I would find a poem daily and make a little tome of found poetry bound into a book with Japanese stab binding. It's going to be the book I make in 2015. 

I soon discovered a found poem daily was not happening and the other thing I figured was that if it was going to be found poetry there has to be an element of unexpected discovery so I'm looking to discover little gems without watching the clock and getting stressed out. 

This is the second poem using the newspaper blackout technique. Spontaneous Combustion. 

 Spontaneous Combustion

We touched

The result was spontaneous combustion.

How do you measure "really, really hot?"

I'm weaving magazine pages together to create the pages of the book. I feel it's in keeping with the whole found aspect of this book.Weaving and embroidery have found their way into the creation of these pages. This is the double spread for the first poem Layers of Flavours.

How has your week been thus far? Hope its been a time for unexpected discoveries.

Stitching Forever

If I didn't post anything here last week it's because I was stitching.
I completed a red-work,cross- stitch sampler which goes for framing along with the winter sampler.

The cross-stitched statement - Stitching forever.... Housework whenever! and a spray of flowers found a place on My World.

Hope your week is all about doing what makes you come alive. Now back to my stitching. I'm going to start another sampler :)