A Birthday Present

It was my birthday last week and here's what arrived by courier the next day - a surprise. A stunning kantha quilt.

It measures approximately 3 feet x 4 feet. Made by layering and stitching together old cotton sarees. The woven saree borders have been used to create a frame for the quilt.
The front is all vivid colour with floral and geometric shapes and in contrast the back is one solid colour and most striking is the texture.A variety of embroidery stitches have been employed. Herringbone stitch for the diamond shaped petals, satin stitch for the leaf like forms, rows of running stitching through which another thread has been threaded to create the narrow bands of white which divide the quilt into diamond shaped spaces.
Running stitch which gives a kantha quilt its characteristic softly furrowed texture.
Detail of the back of the quilt.

Thank you Sushant for such an exquisite little quilt. I'll treasure it.

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.

Clay

I've told you I name my scarves they are to me my works of art therefore they have names.

This one I've called Clay. Its a large square, reversible scarf in a beautiful brown colour.

One side is all about texture and subtle colours. Two concentric squares of small brown sequins add a hint of sparkle to the muted embroidery.
The other side has pieces of tussar silk appliqued onto the cotton silk with my favourite running stitch.
Here's a picture for you to see the two sides of Clay.

This is one of four scarves I'm giving to Plantation House, the other three shall be featured in subsequent posts.

Click here to see what I was wowed by this weekend.

Goddess Lakshmi - Traveling page for October

I wasn't expecting the postal system to be so efficient and deliver this page from India to Australia in ten days or less.

This page is for Johoanna who's creating a fibre book on the theme The Goddess Within.

I decided to depict the Goddess Lakshmi who's represented as footprints leading into the house during Diwali. The image is from a rangoli/kolam pattern.Its all embroidery and lots of gold sequins after all Lakshmi is the Goddess of Wealth.

Three pages to go before the challenge draws to an end and I've almost caught up. Ann I'm working on a fairytale for you and one about the sea for you Mandy, both should be in the mail by the time December draws to a close. Then in January there's a page for Kath. The year has gone by so swiftly.

Have to start putting my book together too.

Inspiration

I wanted to show you the scarf I finished while I was on my last trip but the gloomy overcast weather simply makes photography impossible. So you'll have to wait till I get back from my current travels to view the scarves I've managed to create over the past month or so.

In the mean time take a look at these quail ,chicken and probably Muscovy duck eggs too which are the source of inspiration for the patterning on the scarves I'm going to be dyeing and embroidering next.
Isn't the colouring of these eggs just perfectly yummy? I had boiled quail eggs for beakfast on my last trip -which was a first, along with appam and stew which was a double first.

See you in a bit, I'm away being inspired in the most unlikely of places and simply loving it. I hope you're having flashes of inspiration too.

Coconut Palms

Ruth has received the page I made for her tree themed book so I can reveal it here.

Johoanna your page is almost done, I'll have R post it to you in the next couple of days.

Still in catch up mode with the Travelling Pages, Ann I've chosen the fairytale for your page and planned it too just have to get down to executing it during the ten day trip I'm going off on tomorrow.

I think I'm back to posting more regularly because there's quite a bit that's been achieved in terms of work during these periods I disappear with no access to the internet. So dear readers and followers of this blog you can expect another post in a few days and hopefully that momentum will be maintained for sometime to come.

Meandering and Criss-Crossing

Travelling on projects and criss crossing Kerala, I've found time to stitch a million little stitches into two scarves I embroidered last month. I name my scarves and these two are Meander and Criss-Cross.

Meander - Open Chain Stitch.
The scarves usually have rolled edges but I decided to experiment with a raw edge.
Criss - Cross
Criss-cross is all about Blanket stitch,running stitch and sequins.
The raw edge finish has really caught my fancy.

Travel is on the cards again this month and the scarf I'm working on at present will go along.

A couple more million stitches the results will be there for you to see by the end of the month.

I'd like to thank the tribe of 170 followers of Million Little Stitches for their unwavering support of a blog where the posting has become quite chaotic but I hope that will change in the near future and I can go back to posting at least once a week.

Leaves - September

I was welcomed home with this beautiful creation by Elizabeth.

Elizabeth created all the fabrics she used to make this page except for a green batik. She's used a number of techniques too - rust dyeing, hand painting and sun printing. Thank you Elizabeth this page is going to make a beautiful addition to my book.

There's no place like Home

When you are on the road and away from home as often as I've been lately, you start appreciating that space you identify as home. Everyone's definition and description of home is different. Here's Pat's interpretation in the form of a fabric ATC and postcard. Both are little gems.

Can't stop admiring the details of embroidery and the beaded edge. I've made heart themed ATC's for a swap but this is the first in my collection.
My dream home will have a fireplace and on winter nights there will be smoke curling out of the chimney and a garden.
Thank you Pat for these exquisite little pieces of art. I have yet to begin on my part of the swap but I'll surprise you sometime soon.

I'm off again on a craft project at the end of the week. I'll be back in a fortnight to appreciate once more the comforts and quirks of the place I call home until then have fun and stay safe.

Circles

I've been travelling, travelling a lot is more like it and everywhere I go I carry a scarf to embroider and its circles that I've been creating with a million little running stitch.

This one I've named 'Amulet'. Its large two and a half meters long and forty four inches wide. Its an amulet you can wrap yourself in.

Has the running around in circles unconciously translated itself into my work I wonder? Finding time early in the morning to embroider what I like to call little pools of potential on the scarves before the duties of the day have to be dealt with.

This one is named 'Fossil'. Running stitch circles on tussar silk with a sprinkling of sequins.

And this one is named 'Pond'.
Someone visiting the store asked if embroidering these scarves were my way of meditating and I couldn't agree more.

I'm travelling again today to visit family and there's a scarf I'm taking along with me. Circles and running stitch have given way to lines and open chain stitch.

All Creatures Great and Small

Gayle's book is based on the theme All Creatures Great and Small and this was my contribution for the month of August.

A shiny, glittering, embroidered and sequined peacock perched on a Flame of the Forest in full bloom. The leaves are printed foil from a snack packet and for the flowers I got to use my nail polish and some embroidery.

If the idea of upcycling appeals to you and you happen to be in Bangalore then make time for Anu and here's some upcycling and recycling I'm doing.

Plantation House

Have you visited Plantation House yet? For a number of you geography gets in the way so let me take you on a little visual tour.

I was there yesterday to spend time with Shalini and hand over three pieces of my handiwork and of course talk and talk and talk.
That's 'Overgrown' which has many admirers I'm told.
Overgrown is about tussar appliqued squares and cretan stitch on a bright turquoise cotton silk fabric.

A little section just for my scarves! 'Islands' is draped on the t stand and folded on the step stool is 'Autumn'

Detail of Islands. This is a reversable scarf.

Plantation House garments can be worn in more ways than one like this Bedouin inspired Japanese tunic in the foreground but for that you need to visit the store to experience the transformation and be enchanted.

'Autumn" is a hand pieced patchwork scarf.

My work has been received well at Plantation House and I was delighted to see a Japanese lady visit the store wearing one of my scarves and apparently in that state I stop functioning because I failed to ask her, her name or remember to take a photograph. Thank you for choosing to buy and wear a Maya.

Story of the Traveling Pages Sent and Received

I'm back after a month of travel and living out of a travel bag. It feels so good to put up my feet, sip tea and settle into a familiar routine. Sigh, there's simply no place like home.

Other people have been busy too. Liz created this page for my book on Leaves.Its going to be a great addition, thanks Liz.
the page I made for Liz. The theme for her book is Doors.

OK this post was just a quick one to say hello.

More in the days to come about my scarves which have sold well at Plantation House, way beyond my expectations! 

Maya now available at Plantation House

Maya - limited edition hand embroidered scarves by moi are now available at Plantation House, The Leela Galleria, Bangalore.

Its raining Leaves

I'm posting sooner than I expected. Its because this page created by Ann in May and given up as lost has reached me after two months.

The story behind the three pages Ann has created for me needs to be related.

Ann had to create a page for me in March based on the theme - Leaves. Unbelievable but true the first page and then the second went missing and finally the third page reached me in July

Ann this page is beautiful. It depicts the four seasons.
Thank you for the little ivy leaf. I'm going to use it on the cover of my book of Leaves. Everybody will have thirteen pages in their book but I'll have fourteen and should that first page Ann created, arrive in the next two months then it will be fifteen. Expecting the unexpected is the attitude I'm going to adopt especially if its as pleasant as this.

Leaves - June

This page created by Gayle arrived in the mail about ten days and has been waiting for me to get back from my wanderings.

Gayle has used Shibori techniques such as 'stitching and capping' and for the metallic gold thread a technique called 'tsujigahana'. The reverse of the page has has been dyed using the 'short pole technique'. In addition Gayle has been really resourceful in using Easter egg dyes for all her shibori explorations.
Thank you Gayle for sharing details of your life and the place you live in as well as the beautiful page for my book of leaves.

My wanderings continue all of August and I don't see an opportunity to post but I just might surprise you so do come back and visit. There will be a lot to show and tell at the end of August.

Take care and stay safe until we meet next.

Leaves - March

Ann made this page for me.She sketched the oak leaves in her garden and then quilted the page.

Ann has made three pages for me. Two got lost in transit and finally the third made it from Berlin to Bangalore.

The reverse of the page and the most exquisite little ATC with fabric origami flowers. Thank you Ann, I really appreciate the persistence and effort you've made to make a page for me three times over.

Bamboo

Traditional bamboo baskets of Kerala.
Its going to be a while before I get back to my old routine which will allow me to post on a regular basis as internet access is not always available at the places where I go for my craft projects.

Its as if I step back in time - there's no internet access, cell phone signals are poor or non existent,candles must be kept handy because the power cuts last all night and insect bites can make your life hell but I get to work with skilled craftspeople and some locations are simply beautiful.

So I hope you'll keep visiting because I'll be posting about the craft projects I'm going to be working on and the locations whenever I have access to the net.

Jaali window for Elizabeth

Elizabeth has received her 'jaali window' page so I can reveal the same here on my blog. This the page I created in May for the on going swap over at The Story of the Traveling Pages.

Jaali windows are sheer poetry , the real thing I mean. So it was quite a challenge trying to translate the stunning beauty of the sandstone and marble jaali's with cloth and thread.

Incidentally jaali in Hindi means net. Time did not permit me to actually sit down and create a pattern for a pointed arch shaped piece of crochet and I couldn't find a free pattern on the net so I crocheted a square 'jaali' which was set into the centre of the page.

It helps that the shape of the page is an arched one. Most monuments and palaces where these jaali windows are found are decorated with murals which I have interpreted as the floral forms on either side, stitched with brown thread and the line of gold sequins. Cross hatching was done with a black ball point pen, some strokes with the brown oil pastel and tea decoction were used to add more depth.

Detail of the crochet 'jaali'.
The reverse of the page.

In June I'm going to be creating a page for Liz and her theme is doors.

I'm going to be busy on a project starting next week involving bamboo and I will have no access to the net for almost three weeks. Will be back with news and pictures of a number of projects that I've got involved in - when it rains it pours and its not just the monsoons I'm talking about. Busy and in a total tizzy is the state in which I actually thrive I've discovered. Hope things are buzzing with you, stay safe and we'll reconnect soon.

Autumn leaves

Ruth created this page for me for the month of May. She's represented autumn leaves which are her favourite. She has painted with fabric paints on muslin ,thread sketched and machine quilted the leaves.

Thread sketching is new to me. Never even heard of it. Must do some googling.