Making of a Diary Quilt - 1

I was fortunate to discover the #dailypracticeqal being lead by Heidi Parkes on Creative Bug.

It was just my thing because it asked for the use of fabrics found around the house and upcycled materials.

For the quilt top I used a piece of cutting waste and I got a 3 feet × 3 feet piece.

Day 1 - the prompt given was to make a running stitch doodle in the top left hand corner of the quilt top.  Use an embroidery hoop and make the doodle within the hoop.

I don't have embroidery hoops because I never use them so I made the little doodle using running stitch to represent my walks in the garden accompanied by Blackie, my pet dog and Gin the Calico cat.

That's Blackie and Gin. They love their morning and evening walks with me. It's become a ritual. They wait for me to say - come on let's go for a walk.

Day 2 - Running stitch doodle - left hand side of quilt
Choose any colour thread and make another running stitch doodle - make lines of running stitch - exploring how many stitches you can make gathering the fabric on your needle and making one pull of the needle . Then move to the next row.

The lines of running stitch in green represent the tea estates which surround our property. That's a picture of the hill opposite our property. Amidst the tea stands an Indian Gaur, commonly called Bison. They are wild and roam the countryside in herds, they have adapted to living close to human habitation, that's the reason the two women tea pluckers are walking past the bison which is in such close proximity.

Day 3 - keeping to the left of the quilt top once more and using running stitch make a geometric shape and fill it in with running stitch.

I chose to represent the passion fruit for the prompt on Day 3. It grows wild in the garden and the purplish fruit turn a lovely orangish yellow when ripe and we love it.

Day 4 - on the lower half of the quilt embroider with running stitch any organic shape. 

I chose to embroider a bird, not just any bird but the Malabar Whistling Thrush or Whistling Schoolboy as it's know. It wakes me up list mornings with its inimitable Whistling call. A small bird with  beautiful shiny royal blue feathers. 

The quilt top with the first four prompts completed.

Day 5 - on the lower half of the quilt applique a small curved shape or shapes.

That's raindrops which I've appliqued onto the quilt top.

There are light showers all through the year which is good for our gardens and for the tea. We get the North East monsoon in November when it I wait for the sun to make an appearance. I like the sunshine more than the rain.

The quilt top with the addition of some appliqued raindrops. 

Day 6 - applique a large curved shape in any corner of the quilt top and attach the shape with running stitch.

Day 7 - hand yoga

I cut out a large piece of a floral block printed fabric from a top which used to belong to my mum.

It's a representation of all the various flowers which grow in my garden.

I know I've got carried away with so many pictures of flowers. I should have made a collage of these pictures but I hope you enjoy them as much as I delighted in discovering them blooming in my garden and snapped a picture to delight in their beauty in the future.

Day 8 - long skinny strip to be appliqued anywhere on the quilt top.

I appliqued a piece of a printed batik border from a sarong.

The colours and floral motifs remind me of the shola forests which are border our property. The trees grow dense and it's quite dark. The sunlight struggles to filter through the thick canopy.

I'll be back with the next installment of the making of the diary quilt in a couple of days.

Take care and have a good week.

International Nature Journaling Week 2023

 International Nature Journaling Week this year was from the 1st to 7th of

 June.

This year the theme was - Sensory Safari. The exploration of nature focusing on one sense each day.

Day 1 - Colour

The view of the tea gardens and shola trees from the deck.

A textile and fiber artist at heart, so what could you expect.

A patchwork of greens which I see from my work station on the deck.

Day 2 - Texture

Bark of the Silver Oak tree.

Silver Oak trees are planted at intervals in a tea garden to provide shade for the tea bushes.

The leaves are dark green on top and a silvery pale green on the reverse and hence the tree gets its name.

Day 3 - Aroma

Angel's Trumpet or Brugmansia.

When it blooms especially the yellow one, the fragrance is intoxicating.

I used watercolor pencils for my illustrations.  I've had these colour pencils for the last 25 years. Still going string.

An incredible sight. At dusk the flowers release their fragrance as does the Raat ki Rani or Cestrum nocturnum.

The garden is a delightful place to be at night when these plants in bloom.

I have pink and white Angel's Trumpet growing in the garden but the yellow one has the strongest fragrance.

Day 4 - Song

There are so many birds in the garden.

It's been interesting learning to identify the different birds by their call. 

My Journaling at the end of four days.

Day 5 - Flavour

Summer in India is all about Mangoes.

This year we ate plenty of our favourite variety - Imam Pasand. We tasted Sugar Baby or Chakkra Kutty for the first time when a dear friend brought us some. Bite sized and sweet.

I made a Gujarati pickle - Chundo and a particularly sour Baganapalli was made into Mango fruit leather.

How many varieties of mango have you tasted and which one is your favourite?

Day 6 - Movement 

Where I live, the natural world is abuzz with activity be it night or day.

There's quite a bit of wildlife too.

Day 7 - Heart

Nature is slow and we too try to live a slow life which enables us to appreciate nature.

The changing seasons, the moon as it waxes and wanes. To appreciate the interconnectedness of everything in nature.  

 

The Sensory Safari I took.

Must continue to journal, probably use fabric and embroidery to do the Journaling.

The 100 day stitch book challenge - A bouquet of flowers

For the 100 day project this year I decided to join the Stitch book challenge hosted by @annwood.

Got the 20 pages of size 5.5"×7" cut and ready before the start date of 20th Jan 2023.

I was excited to learn a new method of assembling a fabric book - the slot and tab method.

I didn't have a theme in mind.

Going through my stash A floral theme emerged.

My sleepy companion - Gin the Calico cat 🐈. 

Kasuti embroidery swatches from a project I did years ago in Hubli, Karnataka. 

Flowers my mum embroidered on a silk peasant blouse. The fragile silk tore but I saved the exquisite embroidery and I'm glad it found a place in the pages of this book.

I have cross stitched motifs , initially intended to be converted into Christmas ornaments but they worked with the theme so some found their way into the book.

The first page I made. The Blackwork butterfly was in my needlebook for a few years but I think she's happier amongst the pretty flowers.

Salvaged from a block printed bedspread in my mum's house.

From my mum's top.

My cousin Esther contributed many floral themed swatches in this book.

The yellow sprig and ladybug are my sister's clever way to mend a tear in her trousers. Many tears later when it was te to let go the trousers I decided that clever bit of mending had to live on in the pages of my book.

Suffolk puffs. My first attempt making them.

This page took the longest with all those French knots.

Another piece contributed by my cousin Esther.

The 20 hand embroidered and appliqued pages. 

Starting to assemble the pages.

Ann Wood has all the instructions with pictures so one can create a book using the slot and tab method. She is most generous in making it free. Much appreciated Ann, thank you.

The pages on top have a slot and the ones below have tabs.

Hand sewn pages ready to assemble.

The completed book.

A fabric book after ages and I'm so delighted with the Bouquet of Flowers.