Mille Fleur

Mille Fleur - my latest creation. Hand embroidered buttonhole wheels cover the surface of this two and a half meter long black cotton silk scarf.

Tea - A Fiber Book - Page from Teresa

The second page for my book on Tea is from Teresa.

An African Proverb

Its mosquito season here in Bangalore and I'm reminded every evening that small things can make a difference.

This is the next Textile Fragment I've completed. Soft lightweight denim onto which I've appliqued block printed flowers cut out of a curtain and some up and down button hole stitch as added embellishement. Chain stitched proverb.

So much to do but all those things are getting done bit by bit.

Have a great weekend.

Tea - A Fiber Book - page from Helen

 My fiber book in the 2013 fiber book page swap is based on the theme - Tea. I have a long association with tea. The first page I've received is from Helen in South Africa.
The page is made of tea bags stitched onto a shiny voile fabric and there are all manner of teapots inspired by flowers and vegetables attached to the teabags. Its a fantastic page which the photograph doesn't do justice to.  

Helen has sent me a tea bag of organic Rooibos tea to taste. I'll be saving the packet to make a page of different tea bag packets. 

A postcard of Table Mountain. Helen is lucky to get this fantastic view from certain rooms in her home.
Thank you Helen, its the beginning of a great book.

Page for Cobi - Book Page Swap 2013

This is the page I made for Cobi in the Netherlands. The theme - Funky Birds.

Looking for Roy G Biv 2 - Green

The Wenlock downs in Ooty is where the Ooty Gymkhana is.

Hole number thirteen at the Wellington Gymkhana. I couldn't find anyone to explain the Slender Waist or Micheal Green's words. 

 Spinach rice and Goan Prawn curry.

Tunnels of green make the summer heat somewhat bearable when you are out and about. 

Textile Fragment

This long silence was not planned or intentional, it just happened that way.

 

During the long silence I completed this textile fragment. 

I kept it in a pocket in my handbag and took it out to work on when I had to wait anywhere for a prolonged period of time.

It grew with additions of fabric, applique and embroidery until I felt it was complete.

There are pieces of cotton, tussar silk, cotton silk. Cotton which has been block printed, cotton stitched and dyed with tea and silk on which I've experimented with discharge. 

I like to think of it as a textile art boro fabric. 

Looking for Roy G Biv 2 - Yellow

There was yellow waiting to be noticed at every turn this month.

You couldn't help but notice the Golden Shower. Pops of yellow in an otherwise dry landscape as we drove through Bandipur and Mudumalai early in the second week of April. 

Yellow golf balls at the Wellington Gymkhana.

Measuring tape popping out of a student's bag at the textile lab.

A little yellow fish  with only a conch shell for company. This was part of the decor at a men's clothing store where R was shopping for shirts.

Tie and dye samples made by students.

Bright yellow little Nano. The car for the common Indian man from the house of Tata.

I've been busy the past two weeks and didn't get a chance to post on my blog but its all going to get back to normal from next week
See you soon, stay safe.

Book Page Swap 2013

There's a group of us on Stitchin Fingers who are doing a book page swap this year. Each of us has chosen a theme and every month each participant creates a page for another participant on their chosen theme. At the end of the swap each of us will get to compile the pages into a fiber book. My theme is Tea.     

This page is for Shelly whose theme is Vintage Bird.  

Detail of the page which is 8" x 8" and has a pocket on the reverse.

I must draw your attention to a collaborative art project being curated and exhibited by Danish artist Hanne Bang. The art project is called In a War Someone has to Die. Read more about it here or on facebook

I have to go buy a couple of handkerchiefs and get people to do some Malayalam and Tamil translation for me.

Won't you join in and embroider a handkerchief?

Looking for Roy G Biv 2 - Orange

Not much orange that caught my eye this month.

This picture is from my archives. Shot this last month on our way up to the Nilgiris.

The Tigers need to be saved in doing so we save an entire ecosystem. Have you seen a tiger in the wild? I've been lucky to spot a majestic male tiger just once.   

There's a great big flame of the forest by the main gate of the apartment complex where I live and  its in bloom like a lot of the trees in Bangalore at this time of the year . I photographed these fallen blooms on my morning walk.
Strangely both pictures this month have the same paving blocks in them!

Azul

Azul is a cotton silk sarong. Discharged globular forms embellished with running stitch and transparent sequins create a border along one edge of the sarong. 

Azul is destined for a store in Goa. I'm sending a tiny collection of my scarves and a couple of sarongs to this beautiful store in an old Goan house later this week.

The Patchwork Project

 I'm working with a group of women in a village in north Karnataka developing a line of throws and maybe extend it to quilts in the future. The women make patchwork quilts for their families with old sarees and scraps of cloth called Kaudi.  The glorious tradition of recycling and reusing which I'm happy to say is alive and still thriving in India makes this whole endeavour possible.  

 The first sample. A reversable throw 60"x40". Patchwork top in earthy Tussar silk in earthy colours and for contrast a solid royal blue cotton silk fabric on the reverse. A thin cotton muslin is sandwiched between the patchwork top and bottom of the throw.  

Detail of the hand quilting done with white cotton thread. The colours of the Tussar silk I chose but the manner in which they were arranged was left to the women.i was delighted to see they have a pretty sophisticated sense of colour and composition. Must get a picture of the whole throw and I need to figure out a binding for the edge of the throw.
Four more throws are in the works. This is exciting.
How is your week going? Exciting I hope.

Printing

 I'm introducing textile printing and resist dyeing techniques to a class of Fashion Design students this semester.
The students get to explore and create samples of stencil printing, block printing, screen and transfer printing. Its a happy mix of ancient techniques and modern ones. Stencil printing one of the simplest and earliest forms of printing gets an edge when the students get their stencils cut using a laser cutter or they try and combine block printing with heat transfer printing.

 For a generation who's understanding of printing until now was to give a print command once their documents and presentations were created with photoshop and power point, I hope I can get them to learn to recognise, appreciate and value fabrics which are hand block printed.

In the meantime for all your printing requirements of business cards, return address labels, invitation cards and more, check out Vistaprint coupon codes which has some great deals on offer at the moment. They are in India too, click here to  see what services are on offer. 

Looking for Roy G Biv 2 - Red

I'll be looking for Roy G Biv and you can see what I find on the third Thursday of every month.  

Voile curtains.

From a new altered book project. Altering paper pages with stitch.

What's left after demolishing a punnet of strawberries.

A large brass tray of Meetha Magai Paan.

Check out what others found looking for Roy G Biv - here and here.

Jennifer and Julie have started another round of the colour challenge Roy G Biv. On the third Thursday of every month you have to share photographs of the monthly colour - the colour this month is Red. Feel free to join in.

Lichen

The scarves and stoles I'm creating at present are all inspired by the forest and the flora and fauna in it.   

Its amazing what a little bleach and blanket stitch can do to transform a surface.

There are two more in the series which I've created and haven't had the time to photograph. Shall do that in a week or two.

Have a good week.  

The Crazy Quilt Journal

I participated in the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 and I decided that the crazy quilt block made each month would accompany and wherever possible highlight the events which were my life in 2012.

All the pages were stitched into a fibre journal of 2012. I recycled fabric from laundry bags for the pages and the fabric of a pair of lightweight denim trousers was used to make the cover. Cardboard from cereal boxes were sandwiched between the pages to give better shape to the pages and most of the fabrics and embellishments were from my stash or my mum's stash. Its amazing how much you can find in your home if you set out to look around.  

The pages and the covers have a raw edge.The raw edge has become a signature of my work. It features in my scarves too.

The page for July.

This one is for August. I tried to keep up with the TAST challenge in an informal manner and incorporated a stitch I found interesting into the Crazy Quilt block or the journal page from time to time.

September.

I've started making fibre books in 2008 and the Crazy Quilt Journal Project counts as my fifth fibre book.

Each fibre book is unique and has a special meaning for me. 

There will be yet another fibre book created in 2013. Its going to be a fibre book page swap based on a theme which I hope will start next month.

Here are the links to the individual pages in the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012 if you'd like a more detailed look.

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October, November, December 2012

The Take it Further fibre book, the two volumes of Take a Stitch Tuesday and the fibre book on Leaves  are on show at Madder Moon in Singapore through February so if you happen to be there go leaf through these fibre books.

Madder Moon, 16 Ann Siang Road, 01-01, Singapore 069696.

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.

A giveaway to start 2013.

I hope 2013 is treating you well.
I have quite a bit on my plate, I'm teaching two courses in Surface Design at NIFT this semester.The Fiber Book group on Stitchin Fingers has a fabric book page swap which I'm excited to be participating in.
 My Crazy Quilt Journal 2012 is a work in progress which I hope to complete and show you by the end of this month.

I intend to practise and hone my baking skills, try my hand at yarn bombing and I want to embroider atleast 12 cross stitched Santa ornaments by the end of the year. 

 I think having a giveaway on my first post in 2013 would be the perfect start to another wonderful year of interactions and collaborations which have enriched my life thanks to the awesomeness of this world of blogs.    

There are two macrame necklaces with oxidised silver charms to be won.
There's one with little silver fish and and the other with elephants.
So here's what I'd like you to do
Leave a comment on this post letting me know
1. which necklace you would like the fish or the elephants and
2. recomend a simple recipe which involves baking and produces fantastic mouth watering results OR point me to a cross stitch pattern for a santa ornament which will transform my x'mas tree .
Please see that there is an email id which will allow me to contact you should you win.
And finally could you visit the Million Little Stitches pages on Facebook and like it, I'd really appreciate the gesture.
On 26th January, the day we in India celebrate as Republic Day I'll pick the two winners.
The giveaway is open to all worldwide.

Here's to a wonderful week of learning and discovery.

28th January 2013
Hey Folks here are the winners of the giveaway.
Hueisei wins the Elephant necklace and Marta wins the Fish necklace.
Marta thanks for the prompt reply with your postal address, I'm waiting for Hueisei to reply. 

Thanks for the participation and for sharing tried and tested favourite recipes. Thanks to all those who liked my facebook page and made the number of likes swell.