Mineral

Mineral is a dark green reversable tussar silk scarf.  

All four edges have a fringe like raw edge. One side has applique and running stitch and on the quieter reverse there's a hit of sparkle from the sequins.   

Two sides of the same scarf.
Happy Easter to those who will be celebrating. I'll be treating myself to a sinful sweet treat after the period of abstinence. :)
Early this morning I folded a cute origami bunny box made with the excellent video instructions by Leyla Torres which can be found here and here's another.

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.

One Blue Bit Short

One Blue Bit Short is the latest creation.

Black tussar silk.Fringe like raw edge along all four sides and all the usual suspects - blanket stitch, running stitch and sequins.
One Blue Bit Short is elegant if I say so myself. Will be available at Plantation House this week.
My next scarf is going to be a hand pieced patchwork one, haven't made one in a long time. I also want to see if I can move from squares to hexagons or may be octagons which means I'll be marking and cutting a whole lot hexagons or octagons out of cereal cartons which I've been saving for just this.
Here's an update on the Little Houses Project and here's a moving account by Joni of people trying to rebuild their lives a year after the earthquake,tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan.

Trek

The trek in the Himalayas inspired this scarf. We were advised to put one foot in front of the other and take small steps, a bit like the embroidery on this scarf - one small stitch at a time.   

The cotton silk is soft and fine and this is what I saw while folding up the scarf so I had to have R hold it up with the light shining in from the back so I could photograph it. 

Its amazing what blogging has given me in terms of interactions and learning in all these years I've had this blog.I have to thank all those who choose to stop here and all those who follow Million Little Stitches to read/view what I have to say. Its led to many collaborations and exchanges which have enriched me. Recently there's been a group ( you know who you are) who have reached out with an exciting idea which is still gestating but I'm happy  and excited to have been invited. It's much too early to say anything about this venture but I hope I'll be able to tell you all in the very near future. Small steps I guess can get  you to exciting places.

The Little House I made for this project has reached Japan. :)
Its going to be a hectic couple of days but I hope to have the CQJP pages for February ready to show sometime next week.
Have a great weekend.  

Graffitti

 The elements which define Graffitti -  skinny cotton silk scarf, appliqued with tussar silk, chain stitched, tea dyed ,running stitch details, a raw edges finished with blanket stitch and tassels  .

 A soft feel and a primitive appearance characterises  Graffitti.

This scarf is the first in a series exploring the representation of circles. The circle is a recurring element in my work ( like you never noticed) so in the next couple of scarves I make I'm going to explore embroidery and sewing methods/techniques to create a circular form and circular patterns. This is one of the techniques I'll be trying.

What's Cookin?

What's cookin'? The Christmas tree is up and decorated. I like the ritual of decorating the tree and remembering the story behind each ornament. I also like to add at least one new ornament each year, this year's addition is a pretty enamelled bauble decorated with poinsettias and holly which was given by my sister. 

2011 is drawing to an end and I have been scouting for projects to be involved in, in the new year. I've signed up for two projects TAST 2012 and Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 . If embroidery and creating heavily embellished surfaces interest you. You might consider signing up for these two challenges. The Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) will document events and milestones in each month of 2012 and will be compiled into a fabric book eventually .I think I'll make flowers the theme and incorporate silk ribbon embroidery (SRE) flowers .SRE is going to be another first so I've signed up for tutorials .

What project or challenge are you contemplating taking up in the new year? Cathy Cullis has thought out and discussed at length how one can go about choosing a project.   

With embroidering scarves, Crazy Quikt Jourbal Project and Take a Stitch Tuesday its going to be a packed schedule but when I came across this blog during a blog hop I couldn't help but wonder if I could devise a similar project which would help me recyle flyers I get in the newspaper most mornings and improve my origami skills. I'd like to do something similar, any suggestions?
If you're wondering about the pictures in this post, this is what's currently cookin' - a scarf I appliqued, tea dyed in a cast iron vessel and am currently embroidering.
Drop a line, I'm off to make a cup of tea and browse the net.

Pebbles

Pebbles - a silk cotton scarf

 Circular forms of different sizes stitched with running stitch.The random placement of the circular forms reminded me of pebbles scattered.

Colours used are browns, greys and a space dyed black and white.

Pebbles is now available for sale at Plantation House which has moved into a larger space on level 1 at the Leela Galleria, Bangalore.

Entrapment

 Entrapment. People must wonder where I come up with the names for my scarves. Usually the pattern, the colour or texture suggests a name. In this case I caught a bit of the movie Entrapment while embroidering this scarf!

Its a silk cotton scarf, two colours divide the scarf into two halves along the length of the scarf. Zig zagging lines of chain stitch and circles of sequins embellish Entrapment.
Entrapment and Purple Prose will be available at Plantation House just in time for Diwali!

Purple Prose

Purple Prose my latest creation. Cotton silk scarf embroidered with tiny sequins and appliqued with pieces of silk.  

Will be available for sale at Plantation House.

Splash

It's turned cool and cloudy and everyday holds the promise of a thunder shower late in the evening and its found its way into Splash.

Splash is a small square cotton silk scarf the sort you knot at the neck or wear as a head scarf. Bleach helped create the splotchy effect and running stitch which covers almost the entire surface provides texture.
The process of creating Splash got me thinking. Getting up, getting dressed and showing up has been the mantra R and I have followed for the past year. Clouds promising rain gather on the horizon and then melt away..... like Splash which was not planned but evolved I'm hoping both our actions and choices are in preparation for the splash in our life which will be monumental. I just need the grace to live in the moment until then and I can't wait to look back and see the pattern and texture which we created which enriched us and got us to the next level.

As for the future, your task is not to predict it, but to enable it ........ Antoine de Saint- Exupery.

Discovering a little line like this is so inspiring. Which is the quote which inspires you?

Winter Solstice 2010

The first finish of the new year - Winter Solstice 2010. A tea and rust dyed silk and cotton scarf embroidered with circles.

Unusual name wouldn't you say. It was around the time of the Winter Solstice in2010 that I dyed this piece of silk cotton and it reminded me of the appearance of the moon that night of the total lunar eclipse.
Circles embroidered with running stitch cover the surface of the scarf.
To add a hint of sparkle a single red sequin has been attached somewhere along the outer edge of of the small circles embroidered in red like the one at the lower right hand corner in the above image. Can you spot the sequin?

I need to figure out a way to show you how the scarf appears in its entirety and not just the details, will do that with the next couple of scarves which are going to be pashmina. Quite excited because its the first time I'll be working with this fibre. For now if you'd like to see this scarf or any of the others featured in the last couple of posts visit Plantation House at the Leela Galleria, Bangalore.

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.

Cups of Tea

Read about sharing images of your morning cup on Robyn's blog and decided to do the same.Batteries were low and this is the result.The first cup of tea in the mornig is a cup of green tea - Korakundah Organic green tea.

A second cup is with milk and sugar - conventional cup of chai drunk while getting started with the day's work. It was Pongal last week and this year too I made Ven pongal and Chakra pongal and we had a group of friends come over for brunch. That's my recipe book where I make a note of who came and what was different each year for the Pongal brunch.I know the quantity of Pongal I make each year is getting progressively larger each year.

Here's a look at a scarf I'm making which I like to call Encrustation. Its a beautiful colour this tussar scarf - a bluey grey, the photograph doesn't quite capture it.

Overgrown

I've been slaving over this sheer cotton silk scarf for the past two or is it three weeks, trying to populate it with random lines of cretan stitch to produce an overgrown effect. Its getting there.

The square patches are tussar silk appliqued onto the cotton silk with running stitch.