ATC swap on Stitchinfingers

Gina set up another swap for the Textile Artists Trading Group on Stitchinfingers .The first in 2009. Let me show you what I've recieved in the mail the past week.Such a pleasant experience because the mail these days usually contains only bills and junk mail.

This ATC made by Susan Monk in the UK has been made with a paper napkin , isn't that amazing. Susan sent a length of bias tape with hearts on it - how did Susan know I'm currently obsessed with hearts?

This one is from Mary Lou in Ontario, Canada. The tiny discs and wheels you see are watch parts.My first swap with someone in Canada.

This is the third ATC from Gina in my modest collection of ATC's.

Food for Thought

Poison on the Platter - Full length @ Yahoo! Video

I for one will be reading labels more carefully and buying more locally.Make the right choices.

Update on the heart sampler

I've been working on the Heart sampler.

Sue , thank-you for the pages of hearts you scanned and sent me, a number of them now feature on my sampler. The little gingham heart and the heart outlined with flowers in the image above as well as the two plaid hearts in the images below are some which Sue sent me. I hadn't thought of leaving some stitches uncrossed in order to create the effect of the warp interlacing with the weft in the plaid and gingham hearts.

I've also discovered that a number of heart motifs feature birds. Its got me wondering about a number of things.

In which period were they created? Who created them, men or women.

Where did these type of hearts featuring birds originate?

What objects were ornamented with these hearts? and why birds?

I've heard of the use of the Sarus Cranes as a symbol of fidelity and loyalty because they pair for life but the birds I've seen don't resemble cranes so which bird is depicted?
What about the heart used primarily in text messages? It's in the heading of the post.(using the little symbol here is creating havoc with the html code which I don't have a clue how to fix and blogger is giving me a hard time today uploading pics etc ) Now back to the little heart symbol. I think whoever created it is so clever and I need to feature it on my sampler, after all its the evolution of the heart symbol.

That's the sampler to date. I'm on the look out for smaller hearts to populate the empty spaces, I'd like it to be chock full of hearts.

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.

Earth Hour

The lights in the common areas of our apartment complex is going to be turned off from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on Saturday and people have been urged to do the same in their apartments.
I read in the newspapers today that India is officially participating for the first time.In Bangalore the Brigade road association, Forum Mall and ITC Hotels are participating to show their support for the cause.
Paula has written about Earth Hour on her blog.
I hope you'll participate.

Catching up with TAST

Got a couple more before I actually catch-up but I have made progress. The samples above are of Butterfly Chain, Crossed Buttonhole, Satin stitch and Wheatear Stitch.

The Heart Sampler

In 2000 I started on an alphabet sampler and I wanted to include heart motifs in the sampler but I couldn't find more than two motifs. One a border and another a tiny one of two birds and a little heart.
Today almost ten years later with access to the internet and the wonders of search engines and blogs I've set out to make a sampler of heart motifs.I'm astounded by the variety, the simplicity as well as the complexity of the motifs I've come across thus far.

I'm working on cotton fabric with only red thread.
The motifs are being embroidered as I find them.
This motif is really spectacular, but then again I've been oohing and aahing over each and every little motif I've come across.

Initially I found small motifs and now I'm finding only large ones. Need to find some small ones to fill up the empty spaces.
That's progress on the sampler thus far. The heart with the cherubs is not crooked its the angle at which the photograph was taken.

The following blogs have been enormous repositories of cross-stitch heart motifs. Thank-you for sharing.

Bordano Freebies, Casa Cuori Colori and Gazette 94 .

If you know of sources which I can access for heart motifs I would appreciate it. Border patterns which incorporate hearts would be great too.
Tomorrow I'll show you the progress I've made with TAST while I was away visiting family.

TAST - Basque Stitch

One more stitch done, got about six more to complete before I catch up. I'll be doing just that in the next ten days when I go visit with family and catch up with more than just TAST.
I'll be checking in and viewing all the buzz in blogland, just won't be posting until the middle of March.
The heart sampler is coming together beautifully, will have pics of it when I'm back and there are pages of the Red Book which must be revealed so do drop by in about ten days when I shall be back and promise to post more frequently.

I must thank the twenty five followers of my blog - I'm truly amazed, and for all of you who take the time to visit from all corners of the world , I do appreciate it.

Slumdog Millionaire

Poster design by Bemis Balkind
Have you had a chance to watch the movie Slumdog Millionaire? I watched it and I think its a very well made movie definitely worth watching and everyone who's watched it has a different take on it.
In these uncertain times its wonderful to view a movie such as Slumdog Millionaire or Slumdog Crorepati and know that in the midst of all the despair - being street smart with a generous dose of common sense and undying steadfast love your life can be transformed. But is that all a fairytale?
Read this Newsweek article it might help you decide.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day. I love the simple image of a heart and I've decided to make a cross-stitch sampler of hearts. I've begun on the sampler and I hope to have it done by Valentine's next year.This is the first heart on the sampler.

Diwali in February

Priya of the Plum Tree has tagged me to reveal the Sixth picture in the Sixth folder and I must say I was curious to see what exactly my sixth folder held and which picture it would be.

This the Sixth picture in the Sixth folder. I had forgotten this one.Its a picture of the apartment complex I live in taken at night during Diwali. Diwali is the festival of light and (sound I might add) here in India, usually in November.All the buildings are draped in garlands of lights which get turned on at night, its a very pretty sight, this picture doesn't exactly capture that aspect very well and the fireworks can be deafening.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick the 6th picture in your 6th folder

2. Post the story that goes along with it

3. Tag 6 other people to do the same thing and let them know.

And I'm tagging

1.Suzanne, The Farmer's Wife who lives nine miles from anything and writes about a diverse array of subjects. I love the old black and white photographs she presents from time to time and writes about the person/people in them with so much feeling,revealing aspects of life so typical of a particular place or time. Maybe the 6th picture in the sixth folder will be one such.

2.T&S of A Walk in the Wilderness. Their brand of wildlife photography will blow you away, check out the post about the Tiger.

3.Karen of Contemporary Embroidery. She makes swaddling bands and much more.

4.Cathy of November Moon. I came across her blog recently and her blog has been promptly added on to my google reader. I do like her style of embroidery.

5.Kayla Coo who makes the most amazing embroidered trees on felt pins.Her colour sense is what amazes me most - absolutely beautiful.

6.Rolling in Sugar Dust - this last one is devoted to photographing food and is one of the six blogs Archana authors.

Anyone else just dying to reveal what the sixth photograph in the sixth folder is? Then consider yourselves tagged.

TAST - Running Stitch

Starting where I left off with the Take a Stitch on Tuesday at the end of last year , I give you Running Stitch. Five stitches to complete and catch up.

Isn't this cool?

Expressions in Stitch

Image from NovemberMoon
This is a "handwritten" piece done by Cathy Cullis. You need to see the stitched prose-poem Favourite Dress Day.
Thank-you Fiona for sharing.

Image Ilaria Margutti
The exhibition - Mend of Me by Ilaria Margutti. Very interesting I like the chairs trapped in thread, the Mend of Me images are a bit disturbing but then I'm one of those who had to be chased after and held when it came to getting an injection!

Its a long weekend and I'm going to be travelling.Have a good weekend.

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.

Paper Boats

Make me a paper boat!

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-To Guides & DIY fun sea

In 2008 there was CyberFyber and 2009 there's Paper Boats.This is exciting I'm sure you'll want to get involved.

I came across this on Julie's blog Mixed Media .

Tiger

I hope the road ahead this year is as fantastic as the one in the picture.This is the road down from Ooty to Gudalur and one stretch has these awesome towering eucalyptus trees.Its a road traversed a good twenty years or so back so there were parts I remembered clearly, names of places I'd forgotten but remembered the instant I saw a board and there were changes, improvement as well as signs of neglect.
The highlight of the trip was the sighting of a Tiger in the Bandipur forest on 31st evening. Unexpected, by chance and simply spell binding for all of three mintues. This was the first sighting for R and me and the first photo opportunity of the big cat for our friends who have captured the encounter with their brand of unparalled wildlife photography.See it all here.

Have you seen a tiger in the wild?Where did you encounter the tiger and what was the experience like?

Merry X'mas & a Wonderful 2K9

That's my Christmas tree and the cross stitched ornaments on it. I'm going out of town and will be back in the first week of 2K9. Wish all of you a warm joyful Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.

Did you know ?

I thought this one was real cool. came by it at Monster Munch. One more fact - this is my 100th post. Woohoo!!!

Another post about ATC's

I began this blog last year around this time.Its been an eventful year full of learning thanks tothe various interactions blogging affords you .
One such was the world of ATC's and the first opportunity to participate was Cyber Fyber .
Susan Lenz is a fiber artist and the brain behind the Cyber Fyber exhibition - an intenational event which focuses on the influence of internet access for fiber artists today.
I exchanged a postcard and an ATC with Susan. See them here. Susan has videos of the ATC's and postcards she has recieved if you'd like to see how varied they can be.
On Stitchin Fingers I joined the Fiber ATC group and did a couple of swaps, adding to my modest but growing collection of fiber ATC's.
Here's one I swapped with Anna. in the UK. I call this one "My Hippy Heart".

This one which I call "Heart of Gold" I sent to Gina in Australia who organised the first swap on Stitchin Fingers.Apologies for the blurry pic. I've joined the ATC trading group on Yahoo which has trades of cards in all sorts of media but I'm lurking for the moment because those trades are pretty elaborate ones but I'm learning new things there too - Steampunk for one.I wasn't aware of it as a genre until a couple of months back!

Now if you'd like to get started and trade ATC's there's The International Random ATC Swap which is a part of the Cyber Fyber event. Read about it here.

November - TIF

I've completed the Take it Further challenge for November. The theme was typography.

In India you need to travel from one state to another and the language changes, most have their own distinct alphabet.Most people will grow up learning Hindi ,English and the language of the state they live in .Now if you happen to be native of another state then you'll probably be speaking some other language at home and should you move to work in another part of the country you'll atleast pick up a smattering of the language in that state too! Fascinating wouldn't you say and did I mention dialects? The mind boggles.

For the page on the left I chose to look for typography of Indian languages, I got these from food packaging.I've stitched it - a la crazy quilting style onto a piece of card paper cut out from a cereal box.The top looks kind of bare and is calling out for something with a bit of punch and colour. I'm hoping I'll get lucky in a day or two when I go grocery shopping.

This is the little sampler embroidered on the page on the right. Its all of 4 inches x 6 inches.

I'd hoped to be efficient and have the challenge completed by the end of the year but life in general does have other plans as we all know. So, the challenge for December will be tackled in January and The Take it Further book will be completed early in 2009 and featured right here. I hope you'll keep visiting though.

I'm going to be putting up our Christmas tree this weekend, very exciting considering its done every alternate year and I have some new ornaments to put on the tree. Have a great weekend.

TAST - Palestrina Stitch

I'm working simultaneously on about four different projects and haven't had an opportunity to post anything this past week.

Did manage to finish the sample of Palestrina stitch and get a photograph this morning.

Is that picture a bit blurry? Probably going cross eyed finishing up some last minute cross stitch X'mas tree ornaments. The pictures of said ornaments will be spectacular I promise once I decorate the tree this coming weekend.

I'm going to put TAST on the back burner until February which will mean close to twelve stitches to catch up with but there are projects with deadlines looming large on the horizon.It's a decision I've had to make if I have to retain my sanity!

X'mas tree Ornaments

Making some tree ornaments. I get to put up our Christmas tree every alternate year and this year is one of those years.
I'm making a couple of ornaments for the tree, I like to add one or two to my collection each year and I'm making a few to send to my sister in Hong Kong.
Other bloggers are busy making ornaments too, some have been making them through the year in stitch alongs and ornament swaps.
Here are some links to blogs which have freebie or complementary charts you can follow to make tree ornaments for your personal use.

http://gazette94.blogspot.com/

http://letempsdesxetautresbricolages.over-blog.com/

http://plumpuddingneedleart.com/Plumchart1.html

ATC's and an Award.

I've been doing quite a bit the past few weeks but I just haven't got down to updating all of you on the happenings. Let's hope that's going to be remedied starting this week.

I've recieved some ATC's in the post. So let me show you.
This one is from Anna who makes amazing corsets and is equally adept at creating unconventional fabrics.My ATC to you will be in the mail this week,finally got a few done - that's one of the things I've been doing the past few weeks.

This one's from Gina in Australia who organised the first ATC swap on Stitchin Fingers. Gina I finally have an ATC to swap with you, on that one on one swap we've been mailing each other about.About time ! I imagine you must be saying.
Thank-you Anna and Gina for taking my ATC collection to 3.

I've also been given an award by T&S a couple of weeks back.Thank-you for the Premio Dardos award.

The norms of the Premio Dardos award is to pick 15 blogs who deserve this award for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing.

Hmm... 15 is a bit much and lately a number of people have blogged about the absurdity of awards and made their blogs "tag free zones" so I'm just going to list blogs I personally find culturally enriching,are creative and original.

Greetings from the Shady Grove

On being Tamizh and a Penn

The Beauty of Life

The Brat, the Bean and Bedlam

Art Propelled

ArtnLight

Masala Chai

At Home with the Farmer's Wife

Glass,Petal,Smoke

I'm not going to notify the authors of these blogs so there's no pressure and compulsion to comply with the rules and pass the award on to 15 people!!!

If you are reading this and have a culturally enriching blog , then please consider yourself a recipient of the Premio Dardos award.

TAST - Oyster Stitch

Cinzia is back after her holiday and TAST has begun again with Oyster Stitch.This one is new to me.

Get to see all the inspiring stitch samples done by the nimble fingers of the participants of TAST by clicking here.

Sep - TIF

The pages for the September TIF. I've followed the suggested colour palette.
The challenge for September was Lists. Lists....hmm..... gave it much thought and couldn't come up with anything all through September probably because I'm not a lists person.I have a diary and make notes in it - when the utilities have to be paid, birthdays, appointments and I stick in movie tickets , write short recipes that sort of thing but lists I don't make lists.
So in departing from the tradition of the TIF's done in previous months where I stuck to both theme and colour palette I've gone with the colour palette and created two compositions. I won't call them representations of the given theme, just compositions where I had great fun going wild with herringbone stitch.

The page on the left. I wrote out things I had marked in my diary in September but the herringbone stitch just grew organically outwards and obliterated all the writing done with a marker and I think it is better that way.

The page on the right.

I'm working on the TIF for November

Recording history in the Little Red Book

"The times are rare when history stands still to watch a man change its momentous course.
Barack Obama holds out hope for all the world's sidelined. For he has proved with conviction that nothing - neither skin nor suppression nor two centuries of vicious hatred - can stop a man from taking the centre stage of history. Yes, we can .... we all can."
- The Economic Times. 6th November 2008.

Have a good weekend.I'm going to be watching Quantum of Solace, the new Bond film.

October TIF

The challenge for October was to represent your studio or workspace.My work is done sitting on a black sofa listening/watching BBC or Bollywood music on 9Xm or the fantastic foreign language movies on NDTV Lumiere or World Movies. I have three round palm leaf baskets stuffed with the things I need to do my work. Embroidery thread, scissors, pin cushion, packets of beads and sequins. I'm a magpie and collect all manner of things which find their way into these three baskets - sweet wrappers, foil from chocolate bars,the plastic ribbons off bouquets, currently its beer bottle caps which I have flattened with the kitchen tongs and the labels carefully peeled off the beer bottles too. I work on more than one project at any given time and mingled in with all this is the newspaper, my mobile phone and the innumerable remote controls and when R is around there is his mobile and blackberry which gets added to the accumulation of stuff .

Now here's the interpretation.

The detail of the page on the right.That's the foil from a chocolate bar which is backed with polythene so it didn't tear when I stitched it down with running stitch. I quite like the texture that resulted and there's a small one inch square of card, pock marked with stabs of the needle which has been used a number of times as the foundation for the hand pieced patchwork scarves I make.
The page on the left.There are the beer bottle caps and the jumble of embroidery threads.The semi circle represents the palm leaf basket.

The challenge for November is to use typography or text which I really like.I'll be working on the September challenge too which was "lists".

A month to go and the year will be over.Its been a productive year and I'll have my first fibre book to show for all the work I've put into this challenge.

Sharon B has outlined the challenge for next year, read more about it here.