Off Commercial Street

Commercial Street in Bangalore is where one goes to shop for clothes, accessories and jewelery for the family and all the brands and labels are there. Its conventional retail at its best but for the real thing one must go off Commercial Street, into the little lanes and up narrow stairs.

Parked scooters and bikes become the display units for plush toys. don't miss the duckling hanging off the back of the bike. Everyday a different display and they get to set up shop where they like.
Colour coordinated styles for all age groups.
You're sure to find a tailor to rise to the challenge and sew and embroider the outfit which will make you the belle of the ball - ruffled,layered, underwired, tucked and pleated they've done it all.
Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise - you can find matching scarves and stoles, bangles and slippers in every hue and shade.
Little boys carrying colourful toys in baskets stroll up and down the street.
A little cheaper, most likely a rip off, won't last forever but its all the rage at the moment and you can't help be impulsive, you're expected to bargain. There's no better place than the little streets off Commercial Street to indulge in all you retail cravings when you're on a budget.

Flame Tree

Delonix regia.

Things in Bottles

Its been ages, almost a month since I posted about my scintillating life, thanks for persevering in checking for updates and I know you do because my followers have increased and I'm getting to see people visit from different parts of the world , places I've never heard of. Thanks guys for your patience, you guys rock.

Swimming in the afternoon to beat the summer heat has fried my brain and all creativity and inspiration seems to have evaporated. Alls not lost, I'm developing a terrific tan and its great to have the pool all to myself during siesta time and for company I have eagles overhead, gliding in circles in the blue sky.Mangoes are starting to make an appearance so inspiration should strike sometime soon. In the meantime.

Take a look at what I have in bottles.

My Orts bottle which is making slow progress was inspired by Sharon and this. The bottle with red Manjadikuru seeds and the fluffy yellow seeds of the Helichrysum flowers which grows wild in the Nilgiris. Do you collect things and store them in bottles? What do you collect?

Time to go and float in the pool and check out the cloud formations.

The Book of Leaves

The thirteen month swap which was The Story of the Traveling Pages has resulted in some amazing books and I've just completed creating my own - The Book of Leaves with contributions from ten women in the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands and Greece who interpreted my theme - leaves and created unique, one of a kind fabric pages.

This is the cover for the book which I embroidered.
The inside of the cover has the name of the person, the country they are from and the month they created the page for me. The first page is from Kath Walls in Greece.
The last page in the book is from Juliette Coates in the UK and the inside of the back cover has a pocket which contains the letters and smaller cards each one sent me detailing the method and techniques used in the creation of the page.
Thank you Ruth for putting together this fantastic swap and to all the lovely ladies who got involved, persisted and made those pages while dealing with life and the curve balls life threw each of us in the past year.. The book of leaves is a precious addition to my little collection of fabric books.

Any interesting fibre/fabric swaps and challenges happening in cyberspace? I'd like to get involved because I haven't taken up anything this year.

Oh there's been some changes taking place here.

Leaves from Cobi

This beautiful page of Leaves made by Cobi arrived in the mail over the weekend. Made with hand dyed fabrics and delicate stitches this page will make a beautiful addition to my book. Thanks Cobi.

A Siege of Cranes

I didn't fall off the southern tip of India. Its been work which couldn't be put off and I'm glad its all been completed.

I've taken up origami. Why? In the folds of the newspaper every morning are tucked in flyers from various restaurants and businesses which most people throw away without a second glance. I decided it would be a great way to up cycle the paper and hone my origami skills.

I started with the crane. No particular reason but I did some reading and discovered they symbolise loyalty and honour and a person who folds and creates a 1,000 cranes will be granted his or her wish.
So each morning I fold a couple of cranes with the shiny advertisements and menu cards. The seige of cranes cannot be contained at home so when I step out I place a couple on a ledge or window sill and hope the person who finds it will smile and decide to pick it up and keep it for a while. It would be interesting to know what they do with it because they do disappear.

I wish folding a 1,000 origami cranes would lessen the loss, suffering and pain of all the people in Japan today who had to face the effects of a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.

Winners of One Heart One World

It's the evening of the 17th here in India and sitting in a little internet cafe at the tip of southern India I have drawn with the aid of random.org the winner of the crocheted doily and the little screwpine heart which were the door prizes on my blog for the One Heart One World event.

Here goes - No 9 wins! and that happens to be Kim . Congratulations Kim.

I was delighted with the response my participation in One Hear One World got - The OHOW post has garnered me the most comments ever and the band of followers have swelled to a healthy190 and besides I've had a great time doing the rounds of so many fantastic blogs which I would have never chanced upon otherwise.

So with all that said I decided to pick another person to win and random .org gave me No. 84 which happens to be Elizabeth. Congratulations Elizabeth I hope this is a pleasant surprise, you win a crocheted doily and screwpine heart just like Kim.

I wish there were little hearts to mail out to all those who came to visit and left a comment but there will be more opportunities to do so. So do drop in and say hello.

Kim and Elizabeth I have mailed you both and asked for your postal addresses so I can mail the little packages out to both of you when I get home from Kanyakumari.

Flowers for Kath

Kath in Crete ( so totally exotic I must say) has received the page I made for her so I can reveal it here.

This is the last page I created in the 13 month long book page swap. I rose to the challenge and have completed my end of the bargain successfully. 13 pages made and sent out and all 13 received without mishap. Fell back on the commitement of a page a month a couple of times but there was also the opportunity to catch up.

I got my first page in the swap from Kath as a matter of fact, so we've come full circle.

I've begun work on the cover for my book of Leaves. I hope to have the book ready by the end of March.

Have a great weekend.

The Princess and the Pea for Ann

I got word last night that Ann has received the page I created for her so I can reveal it here.

Ann's theme is Fairy tales so I decided to illustrate the Princess and the Pea.

I decided to represent the bedroom all prepared with the stack of mattresses and quilts with the pea tucked in between them.

Hard to miss the funky mattresses sort of tribal/folk and that shiny purple carpet - I've attempted some perspective in this funky eclectic bedroom here if you haven't noticed! The pea is a button covered with satin stitch and the mattresses have been stuffed with polyfil.

There's one more page to be revealed, hope to get word from Greece in the next couple of days that it has reached.

One Heart One World

The One World One Heart event is back.

Lisa Swifka is the brain behind this blog open house which has grown to 1000 participants in 4 years and this year is the fifth and final year.

So I just made it as a participant, last year I had a great time travelling the world and discovering a plethora of creative people via their blogs.

I'm a Textile Designer living in Bangalore, India. Embroidery is my passion. I embroider scarves and stoles and I'm deeply involved with design and development of textile based handicrafts in India.

As part of the One World One Heart event I'm giving away a crocheted doily and a little heart made of screwpine fibre. Both are made by groups of craftswomen who I've worked with.

If you'd like to be included in the draw for this giveaway you need to be a blogger, yes this is an event for active bloggers. Please leave a comment on this post only and I'll draw a lucky winner on 17th February. Please make sure you leave your email id so I can contact you. :) Like this maya(dot) matthew(at) gmail (dot) com so bots or trolls or whatever else don't get hold of it.

I hope you enjoy taking a look around my blog.

Thanks for visiting and to see the list of participants in this year's One World One Heart event click here. Bon Voyage!

The Sea for Mandy

Here's the page I created for Mandy and I can post it here now that she's received it. The theme was the sea.

Leaves from Juliette

This page made by Juliette came from the UK and takes the pages of my book of Leaves to nine.

Waiting for a couple more to take the count to twelve so I can start assembling the book.

Will start on the covers next week while waiting.

I've completed my end of the swap and will be posting three pages out to Germany, Greece and the UK tomorrow. There will be sneak peeks of the pages here but will have to wait for the recipients to actually receive them before I post pics of the three pages.

What have you planned for the weekend. My weekend started yesterday with a wonderful party for a close friend's 9th wedding anniversary.

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.

Tideline

The last day of the year. Its been quite a year. A bit like the lines I've embroidered on the scarf Tideline - a mixed bag of highs and lows.
At the beginning of the year I joined a fabric book page swap - The Story of the Traveling Pages and created ten pages on ten different themes, three more are in the works. I have received eight pages and at the end of February 2011 I should have a unique fabric book based on the theme -Leaves with each page interpreted and created by a different person.

Happy to report I'm more 'green' now. Our apartment block has got into composting all kitchen waste and I've joined the programme.

Never before have I travelled to one place so often. Kerala - I made at least six trips for ten to fifteen days each time. My Malayalam has improved. I cut a jackfruit for the first time and I've added to my collection of traditional cookware and now cook fish curry in an earthenware vessel meant for just that.
In August I began selling my scarves and stoles under the MAYA label at Plantation House and the response has been fantastic. Motivation enough to keep going and push the boundaries. I'm excited to work with pashmina in the new year, rust dyeing has been explored just a teeny bit and I see myself doing more of it in the coming year.

I was thrilled to be the winner of a giveaway on Bird Nest on the Ground - my first ever and I was pleasantly surprised to see in my mail this morning that I was the winner of another - a fantastic way to end the year wouldn't you say.

My blog archive tells me I've been blogging for three years now!!! Its a wonderful experience which I continue to enjoy and I watch with amazement how the followers of this blog has grown to the present 176. Thank you for your support and the comments. I hope there will be more reasons to connect with more of you personally in the new year.

Wishing all of you an exhilarating new year where you push the boundaries and scale new heights in all your endeavours and enjoy in abundance good health, happiness and wealth. Cheers!

Tideline will be available at Plantation House early in 2011.

Its Complicated

Its Complicated is a long narrow scarf which started out white.
Two encounters with tea dyeing left half with a soft smudgy brown pattern the result of resist dyeing. Squares and rectangles in running stitch.

The white half is patterned with stripes in feather stitch and running stitch. . . . it is complicated.

A bit like the year that 2010 has been for me if this scarf has to be interpreted.

Now available at Plantation House.

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.

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.