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.