I'm inspired ...I say!

The muse seems to have deserted me but I've showed up and put needle to cloth. Yet, the last pages of the fibre book are incomplete. A week of embroidering telephone numbers with a single strand of thread leaves the 4"x6" page looking incomplete. There's a million stitches on that page already.

The weather is all grey and dull and I have a dry cough.Priya speaks of the healing qualities of black pepper and ginger and I take to brewing and drinking copious quantities of ginger tea. Changes occur. The cough abates ,I'm hooked on black pepper and ginger tea and the last 4"x6" page stares back at me - blank. Ok I'm inspired to use some red ribbon on the page but there's something lacking.

I decide to take a break for a day and step away from my work to indulge the senses and come back refreshed. Click here to see what made me laugh until I had a stitch in my side and here , as well as here for what tantalised my taste buds.

I gave my credit card a bit of a work out and acquired some Putumayo music which I'm listening to as I type out this post and two books.Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi and a collection of short stories entitled Death Dines In.

So much promise.The skies darken and there is promise of a heavy downpour.I must brew some black pepper and ginger tea and settle down to work - I feel little wings of inspiration stirring.

Where did you find inspiration the last time you went looking?

TAST- Crested Chain

TAST - Scroll Stitch

Churches & Chapels

R and I have always been to Goa during the monsoons when the crowds are tame and actually avoidable. Its our favourite destination to recharge our batteries simply by staring at the sea. We're not given to careening across Goa on a bike, drinking and partying hard, so I have no typical pictures of Goa to share but I do have pictures typical of Goa. The little white chapels and

churches which are distinctly Portuguese.

Every lane and community boasts of a little chapel.

This chapel is in serious disrepair but people still seem to be worshipping here. That's candle wax on the doorstep.
The simple refined white forms amidst wild tropical vegetation. The contrast is startling and arresting.
The facade of this chapel appears to be top heavy and I feel it will topple over but then again its probably the angle at which I've photographed it.
The sculpted domes, pilasters and niches on the facades of the chapels and churches remind me of elaborate sugar confections. I don't know why I make that connection but I do.
The monsoon rains which lash Goa take their toll of pristine white facades. Maintenance must be a labour of love.
Beautiful classic proportions. Distinctly Portuguese architecture in a typical Goan landscape of coconut palms. Doesn't feel alien or wrong. How do you achieve eclecticism? ( Is that even a word?)

Textures. Smooth white plaster and grainy rough laterite. Makes an interesting marriage of textures which work. Didn't see it used anywhere else. Is it a new direction or simply new for me?

Goa is also seafood for us. Click here to see pictures of what we ordered.

TAST - Sheaf Stitch

My Sheaf Stitch sample. Elizabeth of Quieter Moments has created some amazing embroidery with the Sheaf stitch and has been an inspiration for my own sample.

Its the Labour Day weekend and hundreds of miles away from the United States here in India we're looking forward to four days by the sea. How bizarre, how bizarre but that's the way it is if you are part of the outsourcing industry. I'm not complaining. Anyways I hope your weekend is full of excitement, I'll see you mid week next week. Stay safe and Cheers!

Text and Biryani

Writing, text, various scripts all facinate me, more so if its embroidered and I'm not the only one. Read more in this post at the Ragged Cloth Cafe Serving Art and Textiles and take the time to read the comments. There are some wonderful insights on the use of text in different peoples work. I have to say I agree with most of the views and opinions expressed there.

The fibre book I've begun for the documentation of biryani is as much about our love for biryani as it is about the exploration and use of materials to express with text our ongoing quest and discovery of biryani lore, recipes, facts, and the best places to eat biryani.

Its our set of wheels which get us to the next plate of biryani so its an apt name for us - hungry hot rods. That's page one of the fibre tome.

I'm using found and recycled materials as far as possible in this project. The silvery shiny material is the foil packet that the museli comes in, the red fabric is a small piece of block printed cotton from my stash and the embroidery threads too come from my stash.
The embroidery on page two is inspired by this and Jude's work. Have you noticed? I'm putting my TAST embroidery stitches to good use.