The Second Wave and in Lockdown

The second wave has hit India hard. The numbers of infected individuals are on the rise in our mountain district.

In our little lockdown bubble we got our vegetable garden going. We've got beetroot, radish, carrot and beans. Some chilly plants and two passion fruit creepers. Will be adding a Chow Chow creeper.

Lopped off branches of trees in preparation for Aadi maasam when the winds blow and there's the danger of trees branches snapping and breaking. There will be enough firewood for the fire places in winter.

The monkeys have been making regular forays to the house in search of food.

They are a delight to watch.

We put out fruit and vegetable peels for them.

Social media keeps me connected with the world. @tenaciousbeehive had a giveaway of marigold seeds and postcards and these pictures of  happy bees gathering nectar won me a package. The marigold flowers should make the bees very happy. I suspect they come from the hives my neighbours have.

Walks in the garden to discover what's blooming. The Monstera bloomed, that was a first. The Angel's trumpet bloomed profusely and perfumed the air with the most beautiful fragrance early in the morning and at dusk. The garden is a delightful place to be in at this time of the year.

Small trucks with fresh produce drive up to our gate so we get to buy fruit and vegetables. We haven't faced any shortages.

A kind neighbour brought a roast chicken one evening and another day we ate pieces of delicious honeycomb when they were extracting honey.

Learnt a way to use slightly burnt rice. Made vadagam.

Beat up the rice with cumin, pepper , chilli powder and salt and pressed out some murukkus which was sun dried and stored in a container. The vadagam is fried and makes a crunchy accompaniment to a South Indian meal.

I completed the commission to embroider two pieces of the same poem. These two embroidered poems are 90th birthday gifts for twin sisters. 

There will a post about this commission sometime soon.

I've entered my quilt - Blooming in my Garden in the Festival of Quilts and I made this mini quilt for the Great British Quilter competition. The theme was Hope. Entirely handmade with materials from my stash. There will be a more detailed post  to follow. 

These are difficult times. Restrictions mean we can't visit family. We are lucky to be able to speak every evening. We live in hope. 

We've been viewing movies and serials on Netflix, Amazon prime and a few other OTT platforms. Watched the Undoing and The Mauritanian. At present we're watching the new season of Lupin and there's a new documentary which released on Netflix today - Skater Girl which I hope to see over the weekend.

I hope you and your family are well and safe. I hope your weekend has something for you to celebrate. Take care folks.

Looking ahead to 2021 with hope

2020 has come to an end.

The year of the pandemic which kept us confined in lockdown and made us reassess our lifestyles and priorities. 

Despite all these constraints I have grown artistically. Some projects were completed other are works in progress.

Top row - Left to Right

1. A commission - a birthday present for one who likes Michael Leunig and the sea.

2. I organised a fabric page swap with ladies around the world. They are a committed bunch, who made pages and posted them despite restrictions. i still have a couple to mail out. But the group is understanding and patient.I couldn't mail anything until November but it was good to receive a page from the others.

This is the first page I made forr the swap for a lady whose theme was Stampunk and it was for the month of February, therefore the steampunk heart. I enjoyed creting it.

3.A bit of cheeky mending on a pair of trackies.

Middle row - Left to Right

1.The hundred day project. I decided to make a hundred upcycled collages. This is a work in progress.

2. That's me after a much needed haircut, once the lockdown was lifted and restrictions on hair salons were eased.

3.My contribution to the Same Sea Different Boat - Our Isolation Story.  There was  lot of fruit availble. Produce which couldn't get to the cities and towns due to the lockdown and strawberries especially were being sold cheap. I bought quite a number of kilograms and made jam, the hot weather was perfect for pickle making and for tree tomato chutney. 

Bottom row - Left to Right

1.Another page for the fabric page swap. The theme was the sea or the seashore. I think my love of travel and visiting the seaside translated into this page.

2.Embellishment on the upcycled kimonoish robe - The Cocoon. Prompted by Jude of Spirit Cloth and you can take a look at what everybody is creating  @ragmates2020 on Instagram.

3.I made my first quilt - Blooming in my Garden. Entirely hand stitched and embellished, I entered it in the India Quilt Festival 2021. It wasn't shortlisted but the learning has been huge. It got me thinking about all the quilt practises around the country and the world in fact. Everyone of them are practises of thrift, upcycling and recycling. Everyone of them are sustainable and slow processes.

What are you pursuing artistically in 2021?

Do tell, leave a comment, maybe we could collaborate.

I hope it will be a fulfilling year for you.

Christmas 2020.

Blooming in my Garden

My first quilt ever - Blooming in my Garden is  completed and ready to submit to the India Quilt Festival 2021.

That's the quilt. 3' x 4'  entirely hand stitched except for the binding which was machine stitched by Govindraj, the friendly tailor at Darlington Bridge.

I started the quilt during the lockdown, so apart from designing the quilt I decided to make it an exploration of thrift and sustainability.

So the rules I set myself was to use what I had in my stash  be it fabric, embroidery thread etc. 

The only things I had to buy were a metre of unbleached cotton fabric and iron on paper fusing which I ran out of.

The lovely vivid colored cotton fabric are those I got from a friend who makes garments, the fabric cutoffs from her garment collections.

My garden which has different flowers in bloom as the seasons changed were the inspiration for my motifs.

Every little bit of appliqué,  quilting and joining of blocks was done by hand. I don't have a sewing machine and I couldn't justify buying one just for this project.

All traditional quilts in India are hand sewn be it the Kanthas of Bengal, the Kaudis and Kawandis of Karnataka. A unique artistic expression of the women who make them. Embroidered motifs of flora and fauna found in their environment. They use what they have - give old or torn clothes a new lease of life, a sustainable way of life.

My quilting too is to hold the many layers together so it's simple free-form quilting. The quilt Police will have a lot to say I'm sure.

I used the cartons of Monsoon Harvest  to cut out the paper foundation for the English paper piecing method of patchwork.

For the batting and the back of the quilt I used old bedsheets. Sheets with use and washing have become soft.

It's been a labour of love a project with so much to learn from.

The last big project for 2020.

I'm completing smaller projects for the festive season. A nativity garland to add a Christmas touch to my mum's home. Making batches of easy white chocolate fudge and sending in an application to a gallery which I hope will represent me.

Stay safe and well this holiday season.