Progress on 1 Year of Stitches 2018 at the end of May

 It has been a busy month with guests at our B n B but there have been periods of quiet when I could put up my legs and take out One Year of Stitches and add a couple of lines of embroidery.

Doing embroidery has been a contemplative affair. Contemplating the attitude of people because it's been a month of interactions with so many different types of people.
The learning for me has been to be more like those who are appreciative of people and the service they provide, sensitive to the environment and the judicious use of resources. There are those who have come into our lives, luckily for a very brief period to remind us that your attitude and demeanour determines the response you recieve from other people. There is no excuse for high handedness. There's no free lunch, you have to pay. Don't blame people, the place, the traffic or the weather for choices you have made. Finally happiness and the creation of great memories aren't packaged goods, it's a state of your mind.
I'm off to make caramel custard for dessert tonight.
Remembering a childhood friend who passed on last year on the 1st of June. Miss your zest for life and brilliant smile Monisha.

New Beginnings

Three weeks of October our routine was thrown off course when the caretakers simply upped and left one fine day, after getting their Diwali bonus. It was a nightmare to deal with guests, cooking, washing,cleaning and taking care of the dogs.

There was no time to update my blog or work on any of my projects.

There's so much truth to the quote

'New Beginnings are often disguised as painful endings...'  Lao Tzu  

There were days when I would despair and wonder if we would find good trustworthy people who would love the dogs and I must say I have to learn from the dear husband's 'can do and everything is going to be fine attitude'. He sure was a pillar of strength and support. 

Since the 1st of November we have got good help and I can sit down and try to complete some of my projects. 

The image above shows where I've got to in the 1 year of Stitches Challenge. The end of 2017 is fast approaching and there's still considerable amounts of blank fabric waiting to be filled  with stitches but I can do something about that. I'm saying that from a stress free position unlike the three weeks where I was like a headless chicken. The three weeks taught me some valuable lessons.

There's always scope to simplify our lives further.

Learn new skills and be more self reliant.

Angels exist.

Help comes from unexpected sources.

There is so much to be grateful for.

To New Beginnings. Cheers!

I hope you have a good week.     

July just flashed past

July went by in a flash. 

 Got to spend quality time with my family. Drinking tea and eating breakfast on the verandah at my mother's place is something my sister and I cherish. We colour a page in the colouring book, read the newspaper, are delighted by the antics of the cats or kittens. Neighbours drop in , I do origami with the flyers in the newspaper.

 

Rusty, the cat at my mum's place had a litter. Meet the kittens Google ( under the leaf) and Safari(. with paw extended)

I've made progress on my 1 year of stitches project.
In other exciting news I have been interviewed by Sharon B of Pintangle and the interview can be read here. This interview is part of a series of interviews which will run in 2017 as part of the Take A Stitch Tuesday which has been running for a decade. Thank you Sharon for your generosity and for getting me started on blogging.
See you more often in August than we did in July. I hope to be more disciplined and get back to posting more often.

It's June

 With all the storms and rain in May the tea is doing very well. We could do with three pluckers to pluck the tea in our small holding but for the first time in two years we require two days with four or five pluckers to get the job done. We also have gathered enough firewood for the winter and to cook the dogs food each night. Yes, they get to eat food cooked on a wood fire. Very fancy.

 June started on a shocking note. I lost a dear friend. A friend I went to school with and the bond was deeper because we went to boarding school and grew up together. The class of twenty girls are more like sisters to each other. Dengue got her. Such a warm, joyous and lively person. She died too young.

I was introduced to Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 by my biological sister and it's been delightful. A lot of my stitching of 1 year of stitches has been done listening to Elif Shafak, Whoopi Goldberg and Ed Sheeran. All of which I enjoyed. Bill Gates was boring, I loved Liz Lochhead's Scottish accent and got to know that the Makar is the title given to the Scottish national poet.

 Have a good week.

At the end of May

 May, this year was unlike the past two years. We had two power outages. The first for 5 days and after two weeks another one for 4 days. We weathered it and realised we are calmer people who deal with such situations pretty well. I think my husband deals with it better than me.

 My Mum turned 80 in March.

 A landmark for a remarkable woman.

 Mamma loves flowers and gardening. So I had to embroider some flowers - some wonky roses and lazy daisy flowers. These were the colours of a beautiful boquet of flowers a friend sent her.

That's what 1 year of stitches looks like at the end of May.

Getting back to 1 Year of Stitches

I got back to the 1 year of Stitches last week after a month long break.
I decided to add a strawberry to the 12 inch circle.

In the process I've learnt two new stitches. The first one is Strawberry stitch. It's a composite stitch and I followed this tutorial on YouTube and the results are terrific I think.
The second stitch I learnt was Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch. I used it to embroider the stem of the strawberry.
It's season time here in the Nilgiris. Lovely cool weather with the occasional thunderstorms and the rest of the country is reeling under a heatwave. Our B n B has seen a steady stream of guests since April. People trying to escape the heat for a couple of days. I've been busy with laundry and cooking.
Ben the St.Bernard we adopted, two months back has settled in and made friends with Blackie our indie. He still has to make friends with Pepper the cat.
Hope you have a good weekend.

Progress on 1 Year of Stitches in the month of March

   A teaching assignment in Odisha took me away from the Blue Mountains for a good three weeks. 

I carried the 1 Year of Stitches with me.

   

 At the beginning of March here is what the twelve inch circle looked like.

 7th March.2017

 15th March 2017.

 16th March 2017.

20th March 2017.
I seem to have come to a creative standstill. Only adding little Algerian eye flowers and Lazy Daisy leaves.
Didn't get a chance to update my blog all that time I was away.
How did March treat you? The teaching assignment went well and I spent a week with family, celebrating my mother's 80th birthday with a thanksgiving prayer and lunch.

1 year of Stitches at the end of February

After the 17th of February I didn't find time to do any stitching, not until the 25th.

 25th February 2017. A Woven Wheel.

26th February 2017. Love the circular puffy structure of the Woven Wheel and I couldn't stop at one so I went ahead and made a few more. Looks like the flowers of the Acacia tree which is in bloom and visible from our deck.Like little powder puffs.

27th February 2017. Couldn't think of how to connect or embellish the woven wheels so I decided to start on a butterfly.
There are a number of butterflies to be seen in the Lamb's Rock area where I live so I decided a couple of butterflies should be featured.

 28th February 2017. The place I live in is very popular for those interested in butterflies.On weekends you'll find camera toting enthusiasts peering into bushes and lying flat on their stomachs to get a shot of these delicate creatures.This is the first of two.

A tumultous month

We're past the middle of February and I'm wondering where the days have gone. 

February began with a wedding in my husband's family. So not many days were spent doing embroidery. 

I picked up the needle again only on the 8th of February.

Embroidered these composite flowers - combining lazy daisy stitch and woven wheels to create these poinsettia like flowers.

 In the garden there are red, salmon pink and white poinsettia.

 13th February 2017. In memory of a my school principal Ms. G. Devadason who passed away today at the age of 89. She was called Dodo for some reason. Must try and find out why.

 14th February 2017. a little cross stitch heart for Valentine's day.

15th February 2017. Cable chain, the name comes back to me, encircles the heart.

16th February 2017.

Health issues with elderly parents continue. Either my husband or I are taking a bus at short notice to go be with our respective parents.
They live in a world which was relevant probably fifteen years ago.They live a slow life.Smart phones, internet banking, shopping online is amazing and confusing at the same time. Have to get my mum familiar with the working of a smart phone she's curious and willing to learn.
Just curious, do you utilise all the features on your smart phone? At times do you feel it's all Greek?
It's so important to keep abreast of technology. But it's funny I live in a small town where cash is required and credit or debit cards get to be used sparingly, you ask someone on the road for directions to a place but the moment I get to a larger town or city it's all cashless and life is technology driven - ordering a cab or food, finding a location or getting driving directions. I have one foot in both these worlds and I think a number of people in India find themselves in a similar situation.
We moved to this small town to lead a slow life but technology has come to stay and to stay relevant or function in the wider world I have to keep abreast with technology. So it's a hybrid sort of life I lead.
Have a good week.

Week four in a year of stitches

Between the 18th and 24th of January I had to rush to take care of my mum who had a fall which left her with four cracked ribs.

Mum and Dad are in their eighties and quite fragile. It's awful to have to see them in pain.

Mum is improving each day. Her positive spirit and can do attitude coupled with her implicit faith in prayer is making all the difference.  

 25th January.2017. Started on an up-and-down flower. Followed the instructions from this tutorial.

26th January 2017. The Up-and-down flower complete.

 27th January 2017. Added one more.

 28th January 2017. The centre made with cast off stitch.

29th January 2017. Both flowers have centres now.

Week 2 of a Year of Stitches

 9th January. A second black work dragonfly. One is not enough.

10th January. A buttonhole wheel flower.

 11th January.I decided to make a small cluster.

 12th January.

13th January.

 14th January. Needed something,so I decided to add a circle of french knots.

 15th January.
I like the way this spontaneous stitching is coming along.

1 Year of Stitches

The first post this year and I'm excited about participating in the challenge - 1 Year of  Stitches.
In one line the challenge is about filling a 12" hoop with embroidery, a stitch, a line or a motif everyday.

 1st January. I started off with a red bullion stitch rose.

2nd January. Decided to add a ring of french knots and bullion stitches around the rose.

I don't use a hoop for my embroidery so I decided to mark a circle 12"in diameter. I'll be filling this space with embroidery.

 3rd January. Chain stitch around the circumference of the 12" circle.

4th January. I plan to fill the circle with flowers and insects and try my hand at Brazilian embroidery and some Stumpwork so that the forms stand out in relief.   

5th January. I'm just adding elements as I go along. I have no plan.

 6th January.

 7th January. First flower is done.

8th January. We had a lot of dragon flies in October here in Welaro so I decided to embroider a Blackwork dragonfly.

That's one week's worth of embroidery and I'm quite pleased with the way it's progressing.

How has the first week of January been for you?