The Patchwork Garment

Here's an update of the patchwork and black work garment I'm making. Lots of pinning and tacking and then chain stitching together of patches.

Interesting rust patterns as a result of wrapping the fabric around a tangled strip of metal. The diagonal rust lines remind me of the coat of a marmalade cat.

That's the front of the garment. Its got a square neckline seemed the natural choice because my patches are rectangles and squares. I'm having second thoughts about the blackwork sprinkled inbetween...... kind of gets lost, so I'm thinking of doing away with it. What do you think?

That's as far as I've got. Part of the back has been assembled and joined to the front. This picture makes no sense I'm sure and I'm not going to try and unravel the mystery because I've tried typing out a couple of explanations but they make no sense. So I'll say no more and hope the picture speaks to you!!!!

More patches of rust and tea will be required for the sleeves.

How has the week been? It's hot here, the fans are running at top speed. Hoping for some showers to cool the place down. Have a great weekend.

ALAW -an update

Eight letters required to complete the first set of the alphabet which incorporates 'place' in some way.
I've added D, I, T and Z.
D for Dubai, I for Istanbul, T for Tokyo and Z is for Zanzibar.
Dubai and Zanzibar I visited last year. Dubai is all glitz and glamour. Manmade structures which boast being bigger, taller, faster and better than anything seen before. In contrast was Zanzibar a little island paradise of blue seas and soft white sand beaches, the alleys and carved doorways of Stone Town, the brutality of the slave trade and Dr. Livingstone who set the wheels in motion to abolish it.
Istanbul and Turkey I would love to experience Tokyo for the ancient and ultra modern which coexist in harmony. To get a better understanding of kawaii, to try and taste all the different flavours of Kit Kat, buy origami paper and see something of the rich textile heritage that exists in Japan. I think I'l need atleast a couple of years, one visit won't do it.
I'm hoping to get my hands on a couple of different inflight magazines so I can cut out a few more alphabets.Friends have promised to bring them back from their business trips abroad.
There are going to be more purple alphabets than red going forward. I also need to work out some options of putting them together - accordion book is what I'm thinking of.
Click here to see how differently different people are incorporating place with regard to the 26 letters of the English alphabet.

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.

Rusty Tangle

 At the building site of our home in Coonoor I found this tangled bit of metal, already rusty and full of promise.

I brought the tangled metal home. I tried cutting it with whatever I had but nothing worked. So it sat in the guest room like a piece of sculpture until a day or two ago. 

My Blackwork and Patchwork garment requires more patches. So I decided to douse the fabric in vinegar and wrap it around the rusty metal. It's hot and dry so I've been soaking the fabric wrapped parts under the  kitchen tap periodically.

The knot of twisted and tangled metal is my favourite part of the entire tangle. I wonder what this tangled metal is a leftover of.  

Small portion unraveled shows promise. Will do a post of the unravelled bits of fabric and the fabric that's stuffed and steeped in jars for a month now. 

On a separate note. I've started another blog called Take Diversion and  the tag line says 'for unexpected adventures'. Unexpceted adventures in food, travel, art, culture, places and people which don't find a place on Million Little Stitches but I feel are stories and experiences I'd like to share. Do take a look when you find the time and let me know what you think.

Yellow - Roy G Biv 2014

Time for Yellow.

 Field of yellow samanthi flower, a type of chrysanthemum which is used to decorate temples and homes for festivals and pujas.  

Yellow Bells (Tecoma Stans) in full bloom.

Small pick up vehicles on their way from the factory to showroom. On the highway to Bangalore.

Flower sellers early in the morning. One forearm length - hand to elbow is the measure used for selling flowers. Behind the three women is parked a yellow and black autorickshaw. I use autos as they are called to get around. They get you from door to door, no road is too narrow, they zip around town effortlessly and they can accommodate three adults in the back. 

Flowers are tied with soft cotton thread and sold early in the morning. Women in South India buy lenghts of fresh flowers and wear it in their hair on a daily basis. Flowers are traditional adornment for women and the most popular flower to be worn is the white jasmine. In the picture above the orange flowers are worn in the hair, the rest of the flowers are bought to adorn temples, little altars in homes and offices, and even  buses and cars.  

Striking yellow wall in Hong Kong. Not sure what's written on the pieces of paper.

Bananas hung to ripen at Kamat Lokaruchi restaurant on the Bangalore Mysore highway. Gorgeous mural of people engaged in tilling and planting the fields done in a folk style. 

As you can see it isn't difficult to find yellow in India and I've gone over the five picture limit.

Julie and Jennifer will have a list of other yellow seekers.

To see what I found in 2013 click here.  

Malaysia - Escape to a truly Asian paradise

Tourism Malaysia and Blogadda have a contest that could win you a trip to Malaysia. All it takes is a  post about five experiences which would help you experience Malaysia as the truly Asian Paradise.

Here's my list.

In the state of Kedah I'd like to experience the Tree Top Walk at Sungai Sedim and get to view the unique flora and fauna of the rain forest walking fifty meters above the ground. 

            

Image : Tripadvisor

Onward to Pulau Redang in the state of  Terengganu. It will be a first for me to snorkel in the clear waters and view the coral, sea anemones and fish. Walk on the pristine white beaches, catch up on my reading and probably sample some sea food. What more could one ask for in paradise? Maybe I'll be inspired to pick up my paint brush and make a watercolour or two.  

Image: malaysiavisit.com 

         

Third on my list is the Sarawak Cultural Village also known as the Living Museum in the state of Sarawak. Of particular interest is the Pua Kumbu which is a resist dyed fabric woven on backstrap looms.It would be a pleasure to interact with the skilled craftspeople in residence at the cultural village.

                        

Image: sarawak-vacation-destinations

Melaka is fourth on my list. Jonker Walk and the Melaka River cruise promise to be informative and culturally enriching. I'd like to try the unique cuisine of the Straits Chinese.

Image: gogomelaka.com

Experiencing Malaysia would be incomplete without exploring Kuala Lumpur. I'd like to take in a show at the Istana Budaya which has a distinctive building inspired by sirih junjung a traditional arrangement of betel leaves used in Malay weddings and welcoming ceremonies.

The Royal Selangor Visitor Centre , BBKLCC and the 'pasar malam' at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman for some retail therapy and street food would round off the five experiences perfectly.               

                       

I'm participating in the Malaysia Jao Blogathon Contest.in association with Blogadda.

ALAW - Catching up

I joined ALAW 2014  in February and I had some catching up to do. Looks like I've gone ahead.  

 What have I added to the place alphabet.
J - Jersey City. Where I lived during our two year stint in the USA.
K - Kuala Lumpur. The city where we found ourselves ringing in the twenty frist century.
L - Leh.The place I did my first design project after graduating from design school. Its a place like no other I've been to, I thought I'd landed on the moon.
M - Macau
N -New York. What an amazing city.
P- Paris. Another amazing city I'd like to go back to and explore.
S - Silchar. Place of my childhood in eastern India amidst tea estates.
U - Udaipur, the city of lakes.
V - Varanasi. Ancient city on the banks of the river Ganges.

 My first letter mounted on purple paper a place I haven't been to yet and one that's on my wishlist. The purple colour is a bit off.
 X is for Xian in China where I would like to see the Terracotta Warriors.

Have a good weekend.

Black work and Patchwork

The beginnings of a garment. Kitchen experiments with rust dyeing and natural dyes are being patched together.

I'm no apparel designer so with this garment I'm just winging it, making a large T shape, one size fits all.Square neckline.Its going to be all handmade and hand stitched.

 I'm adding small black work embroidery bits here and there. Adding to the patchwork appearance.
The kitchen experiments of making marking on cloth have been resumed because more fabric is required for this garment. I'm inspired by stuff, steep + store.

Orange - Roy G Biv 2014

This was dessert at a Dim Sum lunch in Hong Kong. The orange bits are some flower suspended in a jelly like substance. The Indian palette likes sugar and all Indians love their syrupy sugar rich sweets, so in comparison this pretty Chinese dessert didn't qualify as dessert, just eye candy I guess.

Oranges. So many different types for sale in a stall in Hong Kong. The Marumi kumquat plant symbolises good luck and it's given as a gift during the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Nastertiums.

Someone's dream house. On the highway from Coimbatore to Bangalore.

Julie and Jennifer will point you to what everybody else has discovered  that's orange.

In 2013 here's what I found looking for Orange. 

A Letter A Week - ALAW 2014

You must be aware of A Letter A Week. No?

Well it was started in 2010 by calligraphic and book artist Fiona Dempster as a small project to focus on each week.

Fiona explains the project.

'The aim is simply to:

Write/create a letter a week

Creating 52 letters

Which must form 2 x alphabets (that is not 52 x the letter ‘A’)

By the end of 2014

The main rule is that the letter must be presented on a piece of material measuring 7cm x 7cm 

– this helps keep a sense of uniformity amongst the pieces which helps with exhibition 

coherence.

The other criterion for 2014 is that ONE alphabet has to meet the criteria of "Place”

- that means the alphabet references place in some in way, but is still presented on the square. 

It could mean the alphabet describes a place; is photographed in a place, reflects a place, tells a 

story of a place. It could be a special place or the place where you live or work, a place that calls 

you or that you call home…

Each alphabet must be turned into a final piece which could be used for possible publication or 

exhibition.

- that is, you must put all the letters together into a final piece of art.

you can use any medium, on any surface.

you can use any hand or representation of a letter.

The presentation of the final product is up to each of us – we could mat and frame 

the pieces as a work of art; we could make a stack of cards; we could bind them 

individually; we could bind them in a book; we could cover a box with them....'

I'm starting with the Place alphabet. I'm going to be using maps to cut out the alphabet of places where I've lived, visited and which I would love to visit. Places I've lived in or visited I'll be mounting on red paper and places I wish to visit will be mounted on purple paper.

Airline magazines are great for maps and that's where I started.

 A - Ahmedabad. City in Western India, capital of Gujarat, where I went to design school, got married and a treasure trove for all textile enthusiasts.

B - Bengaluru. Capital of the state of Karnataka. The Garden City which is today known as The Silicon valley of India. The city I reside in currently.

G - Goa. Union territory on the west coast of India a former Portuguese colony.  Feni, fish curry and susegad , wonderful holiday destination.

H - Hong Kong. I was there recently visiting family.

Check out what the other participants are creating by clicking on this link.

Happy valentine's day and have a great weekend. I'm thinking of doing some birding this weekend.

Shop update:

Some cross stitched heart motifs, perfect to embellish a crazy quilt, garment or to decorate a scrap book page have been added to my Etsy Shop.  

The Geylang Commission

For the show at Madder Moon, Singapore in September/ October last year I had created a series of proverbs drawn from the rich ethnic diversity of Singapore. Geylang as I had named the piece in the picture above sold along with a few others.
The gallery had displayed what remained of my work until the end of the year. One fine day in November a visitor to the gallery took a liking to my work. He bought a piece called Rice, a Malay proverb -' If you plant grass you won't eat rice' and asked for details of my blog. The man went back,after researching my blog and bought a second piece entitled Murukku and asked if Geylang which he had seen in my blog post here,could be commissioned.

I was delighted to work on this commission.Here is a detail of the commissioned piece before I sent it on its way to Singapore. 

        

The commissioned piece is the same size as the original but I've changed the colours so each one has a personality of its own.

The three pieces- Rice, Murukku and Geylang  are going to give someone's kitchen a little local Singapore flavour.

Markings on Cloth

 Markings made with rust and tea on cotton fabric.

 Some of these are the result of dye pot experiments which I conducted in November last year.

 Resisted cotton dyed with tea in a cast iron pot yielded grey and off white patterend cloth and these work well with the rust dyed cotton.

The experiments continue. I need a lot more to fashion a garment which I'll embellish with Black Work embroidery.
I need to make up my mind about the type of patchwork garment I'm going to hand stitch. Kimono? Kashmiri Phiran?
I probably need to create some stuffed steeped and stored jars as suggested by india flint. See jars created by others here.

Where The Mind Is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high...... the first line of Rabindranath Tagore's famous poem. A poem most Indian children learn in school and remember.This was Tagore's dream for newly independent India.

My sister requested me to embroider this poem so the words could inspire her.

My sister loves florals so I embellished the poetry with appliqued buttonhole wheels in different sizes.She picked the colours of the tussar silk border and they work very well with the other inspirational pictures and objects she has on the walls beside her little writing desk.

I forgot to measure the size of the finished piece but its about A4 size or a tiny bit bigger.

Which poem inspires you? I like the pictures which Sarojini Naidu's poems paint, in poems like - Bangle Sellers and Coromandel Fishers.

Red - Roy G Biv 2014

I found red in Hong Kong.

A little shop in Yau Ma Tei where an elderly man stamps red packets with gold foil patterns and auspicious chinese characters. 

The red and white taxis of Hong Kong island caught in the reflective ceiling of a shop. There are blue and white taxis on Lantau island and in the New Territories the taxis are green and white. 

Some creative yarn bombing outside the FrancFranc store in Causeway Bay. 

Chinese new year is around the corner and I spotted these lacy paper decorations with exquisite details in a shop in Sham Shui Po.

Homeless - a store for quirky, cute and well designed products,there's something for everyone in the three floors the store occupies.

This has been fun.

The challenge searching for Red has been taken up by quite a few and there are many gems and to view them Jennifer has links to all those participating, on her blog. Click here for links.
 Have a good weekend.

Cheers to an exciting 2014

2014 was ushered in quietly with family in Hong Kong.

The year ahead to me looks like the image above, hazy and unclear at the moment but holding the promise of exciting events.
A year where more dots will connect and more patterns of new experiences will emerge.

I wish all of you a year of achievement. Journeys which expand your horizons and experiences which give new meaning to living. And may you have good health, happiness and prosperity.

Roy B Giv returns this year. I urge you to join in the fun. Read more about it here and here.