Tideline

The last day of the year. Its been quite a year. A bit like the lines I've embroidered on the scarf Tideline - a mixed bag of highs and lows.
At the beginning of the year I joined a fabric book page swap - The Story of the Traveling Pages and created ten pages on ten different themes, three more are in the works. I have received eight pages and at the end of February 2011 I should have a unique fabric book based on the theme -Leaves with each page interpreted and created by a different person.

Happy to report I'm more 'green' now. Our apartment block has got into composting all kitchen waste and I've joined the programme.

Never before have I travelled to one place so often. Kerala - I made at least six trips for ten to fifteen days each time. My Malayalam has improved. I cut a jackfruit for the first time and I've added to my collection of traditional cookware and now cook fish curry in an earthenware vessel meant for just that.
In August I began selling my scarves and stoles under the MAYA label at Plantation House and the response has been fantastic. Motivation enough to keep going and push the boundaries. I'm excited to work with pashmina in the new year, rust dyeing has been explored just a teeny bit and I see myself doing more of it in the coming year.

I was thrilled to be the winner of a giveaway on Bird Nest on the Ground - my first ever and I was pleasantly surprised to see in my mail this morning that I was the winner of another - a fantastic way to end the year wouldn't you say.

My blog archive tells me I've been blogging for three years now!!! Its a wonderful experience which I continue to enjoy and I watch with amazement how the followers of this blog has grown to the present 176. Thank you for your support and the comments. I hope there will be more reasons to connect with more of you personally in the new year.

Wishing all of you an exhilarating new year where you push the boundaries and scale new heights in all your endeavours and enjoy in abundance good health, happiness and wealth. Cheers!

Tideline will be available at Plantation House early in 2011.

Its Complicated

Its Complicated is a long narrow scarf which started out white.
Two encounters with tea dyeing left half with a soft smudgy brown pattern the result of resist dyeing. Squares and rectangles in running stitch.

The white half is patterned with stripes in feather stitch and running stitch. . . . it is complicated.

A bit like the year that 2010 has been for me if this scarf has to be interpreted.

Now available at Plantation House.

Blink

Blink. Why Blink? I don't know that's what popped into my head when I was completing this scarf.
White cotton silk fabric with crosses done in running stitch and a single black sequin from which the four arms radiate. Now available at Plantation House.
This one here is all ready to party.

Merry Christmas everyone hope you're enjoying the holiday season.

A Birthday Present

It was my birthday last week and here's what arrived by courier the next day - a surprise. A stunning kantha quilt.

It measures approximately 3 feet x 4 feet. Made by layering and stitching together old cotton sarees. The woven saree borders have been used to create a frame for the quilt.
The front is all vivid colour with floral and geometric shapes and in contrast the back is one solid colour and most striking is the texture.A variety of embroidery stitches have been employed. Herringbone stitch for the diamond shaped petals, satin stitch for the leaf like forms, rows of running stitching through which another thread has been threaded to create the narrow bands of white which divide the quilt into diamond shaped spaces.
Running stitch which gives a kantha quilt its characteristic softly furrowed texture.
Detail of the back of the quilt.

Thank you Sushant for such an exquisite little quilt. I'll treasure it.

On a separate note - I've become an affilate of Amazon and Flipkart. You will see the banners on the side bar. Should you wish to shop online I would appreciate it if you could click on the Amazon or Flipkart banners/buttons and make your purchases.Amazon and Flipkart will pay me a small percentage of the value of your transaction without increasing the cost for you by even a cent. Thank you and happy shopping.

Clay

I've told you I name my scarves they are to me my works of art therefore they have names.

This one I've called Clay. Its a large square, reversible scarf in a beautiful brown colour.

One side is all about texture and subtle colours. Two concentric squares of small brown sequins add a hint of sparkle to the muted embroidery.
The other side has pieces of tussar silk appliqued onto the cotton silk with my favourite running stitch.
Here's a picture for you to see the two sides of Clay.

This is one of four scarves I'm giving to Plantation House, the other three shall be featured in subsequent posts.

Click here to see what I was wowed by this weekend.

Goddess Lakshmi - Traveling page for October

I wasn't expecting the postal system to be so efficient and deliver this page from India to Australia in ten days or less.

This page is for Johoanna who's creating a fibre book on the theme The Goddess Within.

I decided to depict the Goddess Lakshmi who's represented as footprints leading into the house during Diwali. The image is from a rangoli/kolam pattern.Its all embroidery and lots of gold sequins after all Lakshmi is the Goddess of Wealth.

Three pages to go before the challenge draws to an end and I've almost caught up. Ann I'm working on a fairytale for you and one about the sea for you Mandy, both should be in the mail by the time December draws to a close. Then in January there's a page for Kath. The year has gone by so swiftly.

Have to start putting my book together too.

Inspiration

I wanted to show you the scarf I finished while I was on my last trip but the gloomy overcast weather simply makes photography impossible. So you'll have to wait till I get back from my current travels to view the scarves I've managed to create over the past month or so.

In the mean time take a look at these quail ,chicken and probably Muscovy duck eggs too which are the source of inspiration for the patterning on the scarves I'm going to be dyeing and embroidering next.
Isn't the colouring of these eggs just perfectly yummy? I had boiled quail eggs for beakfast on my last trip -which was a first, along with appam and stew which was a double first.

See you in a bit, I'm away being inspired in the most unlikely of places and simply loving it. I hope you're having flashes of inspiration too.

Coconut Palms

Ruth has received the page I made for her tree themed book so I can reveal it here.

Johoanna your page is almost done, I'll have R post it to you in the next couple of days.

Still in catch up mode with the Travelling Pages, Ann I've chosen the fairytale for your page and planned it too just have to get down to executing it during the ten day trip I'm going off on tomorrow.

I think I'm back to posting more regularly because there's quite a bit that's been achieved in terms of work during these periods I disappear with no access to the internet. So dear readers and followers of this blog you can expect another post in a few days and hopefully that momentum will be maintained for sometime to come.

Meandering and Criss-Crossing

Travelling on projects and criss crossing Kerala, I've found time to stitch a million little stitches into two scarves I embroidered last month. I name my scarves and these two are Meander and Criss-Cross.

Meander - Open Chain Stitch.
The scarves usually have rolled edges but I decided to experiment with a raw edge.
Criss - Cross
Criss-cross is all about Blanket stitch,running stitch and sequins.
The raw edge finish has really caught my fancy.

Travel is on the cards again this month and the scarf I'm working on at present will go along.

A couple more million stitches the results will be there for you to see by the end of the month.

I'd like to thank the tribe of 170 followers of Million Little Stitches for their unwavering support of a blog where the posting has become quite chaotic but I hope that will change in the near future and I can go back to posting at least once a week.

Leaves - September

I was welcomed home with this beautiful creation by Elizabeth.

Elizabeth created all the fabrics she used to make this page except for a green batik. She's used a number of techniques too - rust dyeing, hand painting and sun printing. Thank you Elizabeth this page is going to make a beautiful addition to my book.

There's no place like Home

When you are on the road and away from home as often as I've been lately, you start appreciating that space you identify as home. Everyone's definition and description of home is different. Here's Pat's interpretation in the form of a fabric ATC and postcard. Both are little gems.

Can't stop admiring the details of embroidery and the beaded edge. I've made heart themed ATC's for a swap but this is the first in my collection.
My dream home will have a fireplace and on winter nights there will be smoke curling out of the chimney and a garden.
Thank you Pat for these exquisite little pieces of art. I have yet to begin on my part of the swap but I'll surprise you sometime soon.

I'm off again on a craft project at the end of the week. I'll be back in a fortnight to appreciate once more the comforts and quirks of the place I call home until then have fun and stay safe.

Circles

I've been travelling, travelling a lot is more like it and everywhere I go I carry a scarf to embroider and its circles that I've been creating with a million little running stitch.

This one I've named 'Amulet'. Its large two and a half meters long and forty four inches wide. Its an amulet you can wrap yourself in.

Has the running around in circles unconciously translated itself into my work I wonder? Finding time early in the morning to embroider what I like to call little pools of potential on the scarves before the duties of the day have to be dealt with.

This one is named 'Fossil'. Running stitch circles on tussar silk with a sprinkling of sequins.

And this one is named 'Pond'.
Someone visiting the store asked if embroidering these scarves were my way of meditating and I couldn't agree more.

I'm travelling again today to visit family and there's a scarf I'm taking along with me. Circles and running stitch have given way to lines and open chain stitch.

All Creatures Great and Small

Gayle's book is based on the theme All Creatures Great and Small and this was my contribution for the month of August.

A shiny, glittering, embroidered and sequined peacock perched on a Flame of the Forest in full bloom. The leaves are printed foil from a snack packet and for the flowers I got to use my nail polish and some embroidery.

If the idea of upcycling appeals to you and you happen to be in Bangalore then make time for Anu and here's some upcycling and recycling I'm doing.

Plantation House

Have you visited Plantation House yet? For a number of you geography gets in the way so let me take you on a little visual tour.

I was there yesterday to spend time with Shalini and hand over three pieces of my handiwork and of course talk and talk and talk.
That's 'Overgrown' which has many admirers I'm told.
Overgrown is about tussar appliqued squares and cretan stitch on a bright turquoise cotton silk fabric.

A little section just for my scarves! 'Islands' is draped on the t stand and folded on the step stool is 'Autumn'

Detail of Islands. This is a reversable scarf.

Plantation House garments can be worn in more ways than one like this Bedouin inspired Japanese tunic in the foreground but for that you need to visit the store to experience the transformation and be enchanted.

'Autumn" is a hand pieced patchwork scarf.

My work has been received well at Plantation House and I was delighted to see a Japanese lady visit the store wearing one of my scarves and apparently in that state I stop functioning because I failed to ask her, her name or remember to take a photograph. Thank you for choosing to buy and wear a Maya.

Story of the Traveling Pages Sent and Received

I'm back after a month of travel and living out of a travel bag. It feels so good to put up my feet, sip tea and settle into a familiar routine. Sigh, there's simply no place like home.

Other people have been busy too. Liz created this page for my book on Leaves.Its going to be a great addition, thanks Liz.
the page I made for Liz. The theme for her book is Doors.

OK this post was just a quick one to say hello.

More in the days to come about my scarves which have sold well at Plantation House, way beyond my expectations! 

Maya now available at Plantation House

Maya - limited edition hand embroidered scarves by moi are now available at Plantation House, The Leela Galleria, Bangalore.