First 45 days in a new country-What I have been upto ?

Well people, Today is the 45th day of being in beautiful country of Scotland...How has time flewn by.

It was summer when I landed , so enjoyed few warm days of sunshine . The first 2 weeks were fun , we just had a bed with mattress and some utensils for cooking. Funny how we manage with bare minimum when we are willing. We bought a pair of sofas and some storage units within a week.

Our air shipment arrived on 15th August and then the house was full with clothes, furnishings and most important my hobby stuff.

My husband's colleague had rented a car in August and they were kind enough to take us around for some sight seeing /short day trips.

Sharing some pics here

Devil's Pulpit at Finnich Glen

Devil's Pulpit at Finnich Glen

I had carried two cross stitch projects with me in luggage and rest of the stuff was sent via Air shipment. The first day I picked up cross stitching was on World Cross Stitch Day. I stitched on a SAL piece I started  with a stitcher on Instagram for a Silver Creek Samplers pattern on 1st June.

I loved stitching this as Heart and pink color are my favourite things to stitch. I used Anchor variegated floss for this project.

Next weekend we went to visit the historical town of Culross. It is Scotland's most complete example of a burgh of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sampler spotted at Culross Palace

Culross Palace

Tapestry/needle point spotted at Culross Palace

I finished the SAL piece on 24th and asked hubby to click some aesthetic pics 😅. I have been foraging thru charity shops for a heart shaped frame to fully finish this.

Another weekend we walked to a historical place in the city. Spotted this sampler there.

Holmwood House, Glasgow

That day I walked 8.9 km , so proud of myself.

I realised I stopped sharing pics of my cooking adventures on my blog, so I'm starting that now. New recipes I tried in these weeks -baked brussels sprouts, celery and broccoli soup, stir fried edamame , no pictures were clicked though.

The only one I clicked a picture is baked butternut squash rissoto:

I have started a new project, a DMC kit I will convert to a baby sampler by adding name and date on top and bottom. Lets see how this customisation goes.

Last friday , we rented a car and have been exploring places in 2 hours driving distance. Hope you enjoy the pics.

The Dunmore Pineapple

Rhu Point

Oh this has become a picture heavy post . I hope my blog friends are well and doing what they love.

Trust the magic of New Beginnings

Hi Friends,

Do you like changes? I do, I believe change is the only constant ! I feel stagnant when I stay in one place for long .

Husband and I have taken a decision that we want to explore the world ...so we are moving .

Many people asked us that you bought a home recently (2.5 yrs back), how can you move? What will happen to the house? ...Well , I don't believe buying a house should hold one back from looking for better opportunities. Some wondered how can we move in our 40s ...well

I'm excited for this new chapter of my life , I plan to spend more time on my hobbies , participate in  craft swaps and focus on health and well being.

Please pray for me and my cats as we start the new journey. 

I also want to share this fully finished piece with you, which is so appropriate for the occasion

I stitched this piece in May 2016, gifted to my friend in Dec 2016 and it took her 8.5 years to get this framed after constant reminders 😉. I met her last week and she brought the framed piece to show me in person. Why is it so difficult to get a decent pic with framed pieces? I always get reflection in pics.

This is the only Mystery SAL I have participated in , you can read about it here .

I love the color she chose for the frame.

Husband commented that its us with our cats, funny we didn't have any pets when I stitched this.

My next post will be from windy and wet Scotland . Till then , take care.

You Are You and That's Enough

Isn't this a beautiful quote and something we females need to hear and say to ourselves often...

As females we play many roles of a partner, wife, mother, daughter, daughter in law, sister , care giver...the list is endless.

However, while playing these roles, there are times when we start doubting ourselves- Am I doing enough? Am I being a good mother while aspiring for a successful career? Do I fit the mould of a good wife defined by society?

I'm sure we all have been there, when we felt we could do more. As females, we have high expectations of ourselves , being our worst critics while others around us get may get praised for doing the bare minimum.

I stitched this quote for my Penpal's 40th birthday ... she is a go getter , always trying to fit more in her routine.

When the idea of stitching something for her big birthday came in mind, I knew I didn't want to stitch anything girlie or cutesy...

I decided to consult her what she wanted me to stitch , we discussed some sarcastic work/office related quotes . Well, then life happened and I got late in stitching her gift.

I liked this Emma Congdon design and finally decided to stitch this one.

I have been meaning to use my decent collection of laces and ribbons, all gifted by my mom and cross stitching friends.

Lace selection

Once the ribbon was selected, I explained the framer how to incorporate that in the frame.

As usual, I forgot to take a proper picture before framing. I see some minor issues with framing, let's see if you guys can spot it too.

Motif Cards and Washcloths

Hello Friends, 

Hope you are doing well. Where is time going this year.. can't believe we are in mid of the year . 

I wanted to share details of finishes I had last month , the gifts I sent to my colleagues in USA.

I visited my USA office in March and wanted to thank two of my colleagues for their hospitality . As with us crafters, we prefer to make something with hand as thank you gifts rather than store bought items, I thought of making a personalized wash cloth and something of cross stitch for them.

I found perfect yarn in my stash from my time in Kuwait  , and made these wash cloths with initials of their first name.

Alphabet square 
Designer : Heather
Design source :https://daisyandstorm.com/2021/05/10/daisy-storms-knitted-alphabet-squares-pattern-book/

Then I started thinking of which motif to stitch for my colleagues from the SAL. I stitched two motifs from Cliffside stitches Heritage Motifs Stitch-Along . I came to know about this SAL in December and thought of stitching motifs of countries I have visited for myself.

Ms. J shared how much she enjoyed her vacation in Italy with her family while we were chatting during my visit. So ,I picked this blackwork version of a Italian motif  to celebrate that. 

For Ms. K ,I chose cross stitched version of a Indian motif to remind her that she always has a friend in India.

Now the funny part is my initial plan was to finish these motifs in tiny pillows/ornaments. Well, that didn't work out, I couldn't find a perfect backing fabric to use. Also , I realized that stiff aida isn't ideal when using hand sewing to make ornaments. Another thing I learned is its better to use colored fabric to stitch on when making ornaments , buttons and laces look good on colored background instead of white.

Do you any such experiences or advice on this?

After the stitching finished and I had above realization, I got disheartened and almost gave up. Hubby suggested to sleep over it..voila it worked. Next morning I woke up with a new finishing idea , to finish as these cards /postcards . I found perfect material for the Indian motif, an old wedding card. Love upcycling !!!

The Italian Motif is finished using Colorbok designer paper . 

I packed these with some Indian souvenirs and dry snacks .

Happy to say that my colleagues liked the gifts.

How did I do for "Stitch every 'Day' in 'May' " ?

 Hello Friends,

Hope you are doing well.

My personal goal was to Stitch every 'Day' in 'May'. I'm very happy to report that I was able to stitch/craft on 29 days out of 31 days of the month. I'm realizing that setting this personal goal helps me come out of my comfort zone(read laziness) .
My main focus was to finish creating gifts for my colleagues . I had a deadline as I had asked one of colleagues in Mumbai to carry the gifts with him. You see I don't trust the postal system to send handmade stuff by mail.  

Here is what I made for them :

For Ms. J -Blackwork version of  a Italian motif  to celebrate her recent vacation to Italy and a wash cloth with her initial

For Ms. K -Cross stitched version of a Indian motif to remind her that she always has a friend in India and a wash cloth with her initial.

Happy to report I managed to finish a gift for a friend's 40th birthday. The gift is late only by 1 year 5 months 😀

Meanwhile , I was chatting with a fellow Indian cross stitcher on Instagram and we agreed to do a SAL from 1st June...details to follow .

This gave me a chance to pick my oldest WIP, Indian Peacock by Dimensions .I started this piece on 1st January 2017. I last stitched it on 31st May 2020.Here are the progress photos.

Progress as of 31st May 2020

Progress as of 31st May 2025

I will make separate posts for these finishes with details.

I hope you had a productive month, doing what you enjoy.

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.