2018 Online Advent Calendar-Day 4

Hello there Blog hopper,

Welcome to day 4 of Jo's 2018 Online Advent Calendar blog hop.🎄

I hope you have enjoyed the blog hop so far.. it is one of the most fun event in the blogging community.

This year I have stitched this sweet little penguin for an exchange. The theme was Stitcher's Choice and I asked my partner what she liked. She said she would love to receive something related to Christmas , so I chose this penguin . Penguin is my favourite bird , I just adore them.

The scarf in original design was light grey ,I changed it to red to make it look more Christmasy. This was sent with some Kuwait ephemera .I hope the recipient receives it in time and likes it. 

Another Christmas design I stitched was this card in 2016, I hope you don't mind me including it again.

This poinsettia was part of the pattern- EMS Flowers of the month I stitched in 2016.

  
Every year Jo's gives us a topic to share our views on . This year's conversation topic is - Your Favorite Christmas Song.
My favorite (and the only one I know) Christmas song is Jingle Jingle bells.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CWJNqyub3o

If you are wondering why I know only one song, read ahead: My family follows a different religion than Christianity ,so we never celebrated Christmas at home religiously. However as I studied in a Christian Missionary school, I had basic knowledge of how the festival is celebrated.
Every year before the winter holiday, the small church in our school would be decorated and we would peek into it to admire the decorations. Sometimes the nuns at our school would even allow us to go into the church. I was very fascinated by the recreation of scene of Baby Jesus's birth using porcelain figurines.
In my high school year (not the high school grade of Western education system),I participated in the Nativity play.
Until few years back I used to put up a Christmas tree at my home and loved decorating it. 
I don't decorate a tree these days at home, however coming from a diverse country like India, I appreciate and enjoy all religious festivals alike. I firmly believe that festivals are all about love and bringing people together.

I hope I haven't bored you with my story.That's it for the blog hop.🎅

May this festive season sparkle and shine, may all of your wishes and dreams come true, and may you feel this happiness all year round. Merry Christmas!

Jo's Big Birthday Blog Hop

Hello Hello,

Welcome to Big Birthday Party for Jo’s Big Birthday ….if you are tired of hopping around, sit down and have a cold lemonade. 

Don’t worry I’m not going to serve you cake, I know you have had enough of it already …how about some savory snacks.

Butter cigarette stick

Egg pandan

Jo, I hope you recognize these from your time spent in Singapore.

Now that you have caught you breath after hopping across blogs, it’s time to tell you what year it is

  

It is year 1993 and Jo is 27.

Something very important happened this year… She started cross stitching in this year. Yes Yes Cross stitching!!! She even has a piece dated for that year to prove it. 

Here is the story behind it.Jo was visiting a friend who was cross stitching a Country Companions design for her son.  She liked the look of the craft and bought two small Anchor sampler kits to try it herself.She was soon hooked and rest is history.

I’m sure anybody who is reading this blog now knows about Jo’s love for cross stitching. She has an eclectic taste and she has 500 finishes on her Happy Dance blog to prove that too.

Imagine where our blogging community would be if this event hadn’t happened…Cross stitch blogging would be no fun without Jo's seasonal and themed blog hops, SALs and of course the beautiful finishes we see on her blog so frequently.

Now let’s see what I was doing when Jo was discovering her new love for the art of cross stitching…..

I have to really think hard as I find it difficult to recollect things from past these days…

Well I was in seventh grade, enjoying my school life. One day my teacher declared in class about an upcoming oratory competition in English language. The idea was to select a topic from a list given and talk about it in front of the school. I decided to participate and won a third prize. 

Picture from Internet

I hear you asking what’s so special about a third prize …well it was my first time participating in a school level competition which required preparation on my own with no help from teachers, parents and text books. Before this competition I used to participate in school co-circular activities mainly dancing but none of them were for a competition which required speaking in front of an audience.

My teacher was quite impressed and told my mother to encourage me further. After this I started participating regularly in such activities and it helped me in developing confidence of speaking in public. This skill was very helpful during my engineering days when we were asked to present our projects, interviews and meetings. I personally feel expressing your ideas in technical discussions is an important tool for success, especially if your business requires interaction with Client.

There is one more event or I would rather say a change that occurred during the year 1993 but I’m too embarrassed to talk about it on my blog… haha.

Moving to the last part of the blog party now, a cross stitch project I think Jo may like.

Earlier this year, I visited my maternal uncle’s house after a long period.My aunt gave me this piece which she had dug out from the old trunks. I remember stitching this piece in late 2003/early 2004 .My aunt had made the same piece and it caught my eye.It was different from the usual cross stitch which I had been doing in my childhood.I stitched it as a gift for a family member .When I finished college and moved to other town for job, I assumed that the piece must have been given to the recipient by my aunt. Imagine my surprise when she gave it to me after so many years and I realized I have done blackwork in past and forgotten about it.

The piece had some stains collected from lying around in old trunks, so I got it dyed.First picture is more true to color

  

I hope you have enjoyed your stop here and are looking forward to hopping on to next blog.

Here’s wishing our lovely Jo , happy birthday and a blessed year ahead.