Gifted Gorgeousness SAL June 2020 update

Hello Friends,
It's that time of the month when we show what gifts we have been working on or/and what crafty gifts we have received. If you don't know what I'm talking about , check Jo's blog for more info. This is an easy SAL where you have a choice to stitch any designer, color or pattern, just that it should be a gift for someone or gift from someone.

For the month of May, I made good progress on my oldest WIP and decided to start a new project on the first day of the month.Here it is ,after 5 days of progress.

Can you guess what it is?
Saturday, 13th June was World Wide Knitting in Public day. If you have been following me for few years, you will know how this day is special to me.Since 2015, when I first found about this event, I have been either organising or participating in the event for the craft group I am part of. This year there was no way knitters were going to meet in public, so the craft group I'm part of decided to meet online. Another online meet up was organised by a Indian yarn manufacturing company. I participated in both and had fun.
I decided to stitch the following pattern to mark the day. I'm not much of knitter so this will be sent to one of my knitter friends when the postal service resumes.

Pattern by Daily Cross Stitch

I have used threads given by my pen pal and my mom, the backing paper is from my pen pal ,so this qualifies for the SAL. Originally my idea was to finish it as an ornament, however I changed my mind last minute and thought of trying something new.
My English speaking friends, what is the proper word for this type of finish?
That's it for the gifts I made.
Now some chit chat..for the first two weeks of the month I was feeling lonely and anxious. There is no improvement in the pandemic situation here and the number of cases are increasing exponentially. The lockdown was relaxed on 8th and it looks like it was a grave mistake to do so. We (Husband and I) haven't stepped out of the house in months and that's the only way I see to keep us safe.
What makes me anxious is not knowing when things will improve? When will I be able to travel? When will I be able to see my parents?
There is a shortage of supplies here and that causes some irritation. I'm not able to pursue my hobby of snail mailing - I miss writing and receiving letters.
The pandemic has given birth to hundreds of apps to connect with people, but somehow I'm starting to feel friendships made over social media are not real. I have this feeling that one day if I stop blogging or posting on Facebook or Instagram , no one will notice. Most of the people care only about likes and followers.
I have been blogging for 5 years now, and during this time few people I thought I made connection with stopped blogging. I miss them and wonder do they miss me/us? It feels that the person doesn't care about the time and efforts put by the other person in the relationship. While I respect the reasons due to which an individual stops using any social media, these experiences have made me hesistant to start a new relationship.
What are your views ? Do you get attached to people over social media? Is it just about comments and likes for you?May be you are a lucky person who made genuine friends thru social media .

Anyways,I'm feeling better now and want to focus on the positives .
I hope I haven't bored with you my rant.
Take care and stay safe.

Let the People Choose-May Update

Hello Friends,
First Saturday of the month I join Jo for The People's Choice SAL . Jo takes a poll for people to choose a topic for the month and the participants then post about stitchy projects related to that topic.

This month's topic is Fire. Now this is a tricky one- I don't think I have stitched a piece with fire in it. No problem about that, we can interpret the topic of this SAL in our own way. I waited for few people to post about this topic and see what their interpretation is.

Fire is considered holy in Hinduism, religion I follow. Agni, and thus fire, is a symbol used in many Hindu ceremonies that form a rite of passage; births, marriages and funerals.Fire is a source of light and I can't imagine celebrating my favourite festival Diwali without light. Diwali is a festival of lights and we light earthen lamps, candles and these day electric lights to celebrate the festival.I stitched this piece in 2018 :

Free Pattern from Daily Cross Stitch

I have received many hand made Diwali gifts showing Diyas(earthen lamps) over the years.

Gift from Preeti

Gift from Zhraa

Gift from Zhraa

Gift from Tammy

Here are patterns on my wish list showing earthen lamps:

Now,I'm going to check what other have posted for this SAL.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL November Update

Hello Friends,

It's that time of the month when we show what gifts we have been working on or/and what crafty gifts we have received. If you don't know what I'm talking about , check Jo's blog for more info. This is a easy SAL where you have choice to stitch any designer, color or pattern, just that it should be a gift for someone or gift from someone.

Sorry , I have been missing from blog land. I have been busy with work, festivals, holiday planning and musical events.

I missed posting for last month GG as I have not been cross stitching. 

Kuwait has been hit by rains since last week. Though the intensity of rain is nothing compared to what I'm used to in India, it has created quite a havoc. The country is not designed for rains, with an  absent drainage system. 
Government declared holidays on 6th Nov, yesterday and today as a precautionary measure. Personally, I haven't experienced any loss but water has been leaking thru cracks in my house. Last Friday evening it got scary when I saw cars being carried away by water .

Anyways, the unexpected holidays have given me time to pick up my needle. I finished a project last night at 1 am which was supposed to be used for decoration last week.

This project has a lot of firsts: First time stitching a Daily CrossStitch pattern though I have dozens saved in my computer, first time stitching a holiday pattern for my home, first time stitching a pattern celebrating Hindu festival. I added the text in Hindi to complete the design.

The pattern was stitched on gifted fabric and the floss was gifted too.The frame was bought in one of the store closing down sales and I think its perfect.

In case , you are wondering why I picked up a Diwali pattern to stitch. We (and millions of Hindus across the world) celebrated the festival of Lights during 5th - 9th November this year.

Diwali is my favorite festival and decorating the house after a deep cleaning operation is what I enjoy most. I made few savory snacks and traditional sweets this year, decorated the house with flowers, rangoli and diyas.

Sharing some pics :

Most of the items you see in the pictures above are handmade by my craft friends and gifted for the occasion over the years.

I had a very fulfilling experience this year during Diwali, I did what I enjoy most:cooking and decorating.

As its a long weekend here this time, I started crafting for IHSW today and made christmas cards thi morning.

That's it my friends for today, I hope you are safe in your corner of the world.