Sunday 29 October 2017

Gifted Gorgeousness mixed with Diwali celebrations

Hello Friends,

Hope you are enjoying fall or onset of winter in your part of the world.

Sorry I have been missing in action, not much crafting happening here. I think I’m sad from the fact that the year is coming to an end and I don’t have a proper crafty finish except the small projects I stitched for swaps.

Anyways, I’m here to show you the gifts I have been showered upon since my last post.

Remember the owl card for a cross stitch card swap I showed in my last post, my partner stitched this cute Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery design for me, changing the hair color to match mine. Also this was her first attempt at linen, so well done my friend.
  

   

I framed the card using an IKEA frame I had at home. What do you think of it?

We celebrated the Festival of Lights from Oct 17-Oct 21. It’s my favourite Indian Hindu festival and this year I made some extra efforts at decoration which I will show later in this post. I invited my craft friends for evening snacks and we had a good time.

My friend Tammy made this Diwali cross stitch along with lovely crochet doilies.
  
Diwali gifts from Tammy

My friend Z is an amazing crocheter and can make anything using crochet. Look at these beautiful Diya (earthen lamp) holders she made.
  
Diwali Gifts from Z

I finished the sweets they brought before I could click a picture.

I’m so lucky to have friends who take out time to make handmade gifts for festivals they don’t celebrate and know much about. But their inquisitiveness to learn about new culture and traditions inspires me and I hope we have more such acceptive people in this world.

As I told I have been crafting much but I tried FFOing this Friday, a cross stitch I received from Shami in beginning of this year. Then I bought a basket to display all the cross stitch I have received in swaps and as gifts and made a small cross stitch corner in my house.
 
Gift from Shami, now FFOed
  
Small cross stitch corner in the house

Diwali Décor:
Apart from the traditional décor of Rangoli and decoration with flowers and earthen lamps, I set up two small corners in the living room for Diwali this time. 
 
Rangoli

 
Corner 1 by the day

 
Corner 1 by the night, pic courtesy hubby dear

I had some sequins given to me by mom years ago and some beads which are a bit too big to use for projects, they were used for the décor.

Corner 2 by the day


Corner 2 by the night
The décor in the upper pic of corner 2 shows crochet diya gifted on last Diwali by Z, a crocheted tea light and coasters by Tammy, cross stitch words by Shami and coaster by Jo.
  
Crochet Diya, gift from Preeti

We hung two Kandeel (lantern with a wooden framework and covered in coloured matte or glossy papers) in two corners of the house. It is a practice to buy new stuff during Diwali like jewellery, clothes etc. We bought new curtains for the living room in my favorite floral print.  




No pics of the food table as it was same as last year.

I hope you like the pics of Diwali celebration at my home.

14 comments:

  1. I was so pleased to see my gift as part of your celebrations. Your decorations look lovely especially with all the candles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to know you had a creative Diwali time with lots of handcrafted gifts:) lovely decor!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy to see my gifts in your display. Lovely gifts u have got. Decorations are also lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a nice array of gifts! It's good to see all the hand made items in this modern day world. Love the frosted pumpkin design personalized for you and the crocheted candle holders are so clever!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What lovely makes! And you've used them for your celebration, it looks great :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love those curtains! And your decorations are so pretty! And extra special to have ones made by your friends.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What lovely Diwali decorations - and a lovely way to use some lovely makes x

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a lovely idea to have a cross stitch corner for all the gorgeous gifts you have received from your friends. The new curtains are very pretty, and the decorations for Diwali look amazing, especially your beautiful Rangoli!
    A very pretty post Mini! It was nice to share in your celebrations!
    Barbara x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your Diwali decorations look so neat! I really enjoy seeing everyone's pictures of this festival. Love the curtain fabric too. It's so pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your decorations look wonderful.
    My city in the East Midlands UK celebrated Diwali with so many people arriving to see the lights.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your Diwali decoration looks great and very interesting to read your explanations for them.
    I love your cross stitch corner, particularly the card your friend stitched for you and that you put in a frame. Looks really good.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What an interesting post. I like your Diwali decorations and especially the Rangoli. pretty and thoughtful gifts from your friends and nicely displayed.

    ReplyDelete
  13. My husband is always picking things up from off the street and recently came up with a perfectly fine oval basket that someone had thrown out. Great way to display your cross-stitch projects and gifts in one place. Zahra is amazing! Really love those little tealight holders she made.

    ReplyDelete
  14. In grad school, one of my Indian friends called all his new classmates during his first year of school to wish everyone a happy Diwali. (He likes to confuse people.) But I said it right back because I had lived in New York City
    and remember there being Diwali sales advertised on TV! What I learned from your post, though, is that the sales were held because you're supposed to buy your new things! Learn something new every day! :)

    ReplyDelete

Hi, it's me!!

Hello Blog world, Its been two years since I posted on this blog, not sure if anyone follows me now.  Its a new year, best time to start /re...