The patchwork tunic

 The first garment I've made - all natural dyed pieces of cotton fabric. Dyed with rust and tea in my kitchen. Then pieced together by hand.
This is the front of the garment.

The patches overlapped each other along the edges and I stitched through both layers with chain stitch.

 The back of the garment.

Detail of the rust and tea dye. 

I spent time with my family last week and got to photograph the patchwork tunic in my mother's lush tropical garden.
I'm planning a small collection of hand stitched and natural dyed garments. I hope to find a gallery which will be interested in showing.

Happy Diwali to all those celebrating. Wishing everyone an abundance of health, happiness and prosperity in the new year.  

White - Roy G Biv 2014

It's that time of the month when Roy G Biv rolls around and this month its white that's being showcased.

Thermocol packaging stacked against a wall.

Stairway to heaven. A little shrine on the way to our home in the Nilgiris. Built on a large rocky outcrop the stairs are painted white and the artist must have imagined the rock to be the night sky because there are stars painted at random on the black granite.  
Bringing in the catch. On Bandar beach in Andhra Pradesh.

In South India rice is the staple food and rice is the basic ingredient for a number of typical south indian dishes. In the picture above taken in One Town, Vijayawada, a man is frying the snack, Punagulu. One large container holds the white rice batter. A wok holds hot oil into which he puts small quantities of batter which are fried until a pale cream. Then they are removed from the hot oil with the large sieve like spoon resting in the battered looking colander like container. The Punagulu are fried a second time to make them crisp and irresistible. 

White bougainvillea.

To finish off I have a picture of a chocolate dessert platter which I really enjoyed.

Julie and Jennifer will have links on their blogs which will take you on a discovery of white.

Two colours to go before the end of the year. You could decide to play along in which case
November 20 will showcase Brown and
December 18 will be Blogger's Choice.

English Tamil Slang q to z

I've finished stitching the entire alphabet with sequins on paper.

Now to start assembling them into a book.
I was thinking of a flag book. Must work things out.
 In my last post about English Tamil Slang we'd got as far as p. Onward to q.

q - quarter cutting - phrase - 180 ml of any alcoholic beverage . The smallest quantity of bottled alcohol available for sale.

r - reel - comes from the era when movies came recorded on reels in Tamil slang it refers to an improbable story garnished with juicy bits and pieces to enhance the story.

s - scene -  to show-off, act pricey

t - tension party -  someone who gets annoyed easily or becomes tense easily.

Haven't found any gems for u, v, w, x, y and z still listening to Tamil conversations to find them.

Have a good week.


Amazon India is having a Diwali Dhamaka sale from the 10th to the 16th of October. Some great deals. Should you plan to indulge I'd appreciate it if you would click on the Amazon India banner in the right hand column of this blog and then cntinue with your shopping. As an affliate Amazon will pay me a small percentage of what you spend shopping. You will not pay anything extra.

Textile Art around the world.

I've had the hardest time ever, waiting for the right moment for this announcement.

Very excited to announce that my work has been included in the publication Textile Art around the world.

Textile Art is the latest book from the publishers Textile-link in the Netherlands and will appear at the end of October. 

This book is available for pre order. Order before 20th October and get an introductory discount.

Price: Euro 29.50

Discounted price if ordered before 20th October : Euro 25.00 

Click here to view sample pages from the book and place your orders. 

To all the readers of this blog in India - Happy Dussehra.