Stitch Every 'Day' in 'May'

Hi dear Friends,

                          Happy May! 
Ideally I should have posted this yesterday , however I was busy hosting a meetup for deltiologists and philatelists (read people who still send old style letters and postcards) . It was a holiday yesterday in our state -State formation day, a good chance to host a meetup.

I love to host meetups, I have been doing that since 2015 ...however they are a lot of work mainly because human beings are not easy to please and with the world under influence of social media , people don't find any value in meeting in person  .

After a lot of anxiety and frustration, I can say we had good time yesterday , hence the late post.

I know for many of you stitching every day is a way of life , however I tend to get distracted easily by social media and watching online series that's why I took this challenge. The idea is to stitch at least for 15 mins everyday.

I have done this personal challenge called "Stitch Every 'Day' in 'May'  in 2020, 2018 and 2016. As I'm returning to crafting this year, I would like to bring back this challenge.

I will be knitting alphabet wash cloth and cross stitching a gift for a friend's 40th birthday during this month.

Image from Designer's website

The last few times when I did this challenge some of you joined me, join me this year too if this is something you would like to do .

I'm not going to make it a SAL or any compulsion to post on blog. Just use #stitcheverydayinmay if you post pictures on Instagram. I will post an update on the challenge at the end of month.

Hello from Kansas City , Part 2 !

Hi everyone,

It's hard to believe 1/4th of 2025 has gone by ...

Here I am sharing what else I did during my visit to Kansas City .

After the meetup ,my friend took me to a middle eastern restaurant for lunch. I was very conscious this time about ordering food in the USA- the portion size is huge, you are always asked about sides and drinks. 

There are so many cultural differences between dining out in India and USA. Major ones being- portion size, sharing of food and tipping culture. Not going to talk about these here, if you are interested to know about Indian dining culture , leave me a comment.

After much contemplation I ordered falafel sandwich with grilled veggies , side of lentil soup. Both were delicious.

If you have been following crafty news , you may be aware that Joann's , which is chain of big craft stores in USA is closing down. I came to know about it in January thru a office portal and I planned to visit it during my visit. My colleague was so kind to drive me to the nearest Joann's , her sister joined us and we scavenged thru the aisles. I picked up one skein of each DMC floss available. So happy I was able to add new colors to my stock.

Next day, my colleagues took me to Kansas city Zoo and Aquarium. I usually skip zoos but it was such a nice day to be outside that I took the chance.

Got to see some new to me animals.

On the second day of my trip, my team and I volunteered at a thrift store. Now, thrift stores don't exist in India and volunteering and community service isn't part of school /college system and doesn't earn you credits. My colleagues in the USA have to complete certain amount of volunteering hours as part of employment. I love thrift store concept and volunteering at one of them was such an enriching experience. Here is what I picked up from the thrift store.

I had an extra day before I flew back to India- my team took me to Kauffman Centre for the Performing arts and we were able to get a tour of the facility.

One of the visual and auditory highlights of Helzberg Hall is the Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman Casavant Organ, Opus 3875. This custom-built instrument was commissioned to showcase incredible sound, elegant beauty, and perfect harmony complementing the acoustical and visual design of Helzberg Hall.

I close this post with the picture of these cross stitch leaflets/booklets my teammate gave me. She was talking to her mother about how I do cross stitch , her mother who is down sizing very generously sent these for me. How often do you meet people who gift stuff to strangers? 

I'm humbled by the love and affection my team showered me during my short trip.

Hello from Kansas City!!!

Hello and almost bye from Kansas City !!! 4 hrs until I leave for airport to start my 30 hour journey for home.

This is my second time visiting Kansas city , both times for work.

Interesting fact about Kansas city is it lies between two states -Missouri and Kansas. I go to work and stay in different cities :)

I couldn't have asked for a better weather to visit...my cold weather loving body enjoyed it so much.

I got to see a blizzard with snow, super hot sunny days, winds upto 50mph and rain..all in 12 days. And its snowing as I write the blog.

This time I got to do one of my most favourite things - attend a craft meetup at a local craft cafe when travelling to a new country. I have done that before twice in past, I just realised may be I didn't share about it.

Last time I visited Kansas city , I came with colleagues so didn't think of doing my hobby stuff...however this time I started looking up yarn /craft stores, meetups a month in advance.

I asked my one and only local friend if she would like to attend a meetup, she agreed. So last Saturday we drove to this quaint yarn store who hosts social hours regularly. The day I went there, there was a trunk show. 

My knitting

Yarns by Yarniculture

To my surprise , it was a big turn out. We almost ran out of space to sit. 20 + people sat in this beautiful cafe knitting, crocheting , chatting for 2 hours. Oh I loved it!!!

I have talked about attending meetups during my travels, and people have told me its a novel idea.. most people don't even think of that. My friend  was surprised to know how many craft stores I knew her city. 

After the meetup , we went for lunch...I will cover that in my next post..

Wish me luck for a long journey home.

Let's try this again!!

Hi Blog Friends,

Exactly 1 year ago I posted on this blog trying to explain why I have been absent for years...

I was expecting little more engagement and may be got discouraged by the absence of comments on that post.

Though I have not been blogging this last year, I have been reading blogs on my reading list and leaving comments here and there.

Today I observed that some bloggers continue to blog even if there is no engagement from readers. This got me to thinking that may be I should also start blogging again...it may not serve the purpose of connecting with other cross stitchers , at least it will serve as a diary for my projects .

You see when I started blogging in 2014, it was to connect with other cross stitchers around the world . Instagram was still new and not used for cross stitch by many people . Blog and Facebook groups were common media for cross stitch related interactions back then. 

Things have certainly changed in last 10 years, people are moving to more easier to use platform -Instagram . So many bloggers stopped blogging ...Hats off to the ones who still blog regularly .

I don't want to give up on blogging yet , so here I am ...

Sharing a project which I finished in Mar 2021. This was custom order from my close friend for her nephew. I gave here the design options and she picked this one.

The recipient lived close by to my then house, so I hand delivered it .

              Pattern name :Ten Tiny Toes Sampler
              Designer: DMC
               Pattern source: DMC

I still enjoy this finish ..hope you do too.