Hello there!!

Hello dear Friends,

Mid-february and my first post of the year....Have you missed me? In case you are wondering where I was until now, I was on my annual vacation to India. I'm lucky to have spent quality time with my family during the vacation. It was a relaxing vacation ...all I did the whole month was wake up late ,chat, sip tea ,eat and sleep.

My mom spoilt me by cooking my favourite Indian recipes and I'm sure I must have gained a few kilos..who cares anyway. Winter is my favourite season of the year and I love everything associated with it..fog,blankets, winter food , sweaters, coats ,waiting for the sun to shine :)

This vacation was special as I got a chance to visit my maternal family homes which was unplanned. I met my uncles,aunts and cousins and had so much fun talking about the times when I used to live with them during my college education.

There were trips to bazaars for shopping for clothes,spices,accessories and specialty items and I somehow restricted the weight to allowed baggage limit.We even managed to watch a movie based on evacuation of Indian migrants from  Kuwait in 1990(knowing that it will be banned here ..lol).

Ok, back to business ...I didn't do much of cross stitching during the vacation. In fact whenever I picked up my needle my mom would say "Are you here to cross stitch or spend time with us"? Ha Ha. She was surprised how come I love cross stitching so much and have chosen it over other crafts she taught me.

Don't worry I still have few things to show for Gifted Gorgeousness SAL. One of my cross stitch friends on facebook proposed to do a swap in October ,however I wasn't confident about international shipping from Kuwait. So I kept delaying to commit for the swap. I agreed for it in Dec, when our annual vacation dates were finalized knowing that I can safely post from India.
This is what I stitched for the birthday swap,February being birth month for both of us .It was so much fun to gather goodies for the package .

The whole package I sent..can you a crochet coaster in the pic? Its my first !!

 Here is what she sent me for the swap. All the things are handmade in this package including the needle minder and scissor fob. We discussed our likes and wishes before committing for the swap ,so we knew what we can add to each other's stash.

My main target for this vacation was to make arrangements so that gifts I have been making reach the recipients. One of those was to be sent to Singapore. After my first plan failed, I posted the cross stitch piece unframed, half halfheartedly to my friend's family in India. I was so happy when my friend contacted me and told that her father has got the piece framed in one day and she will getting the piece next day as her mother was flying to meet her .My joy knew no bounds when she sent me the picture of the piece displayed in her house.

Just before going on vacation, my ex colleague sent me this picture of the framed piece I stitched for him as retirement gift.

The cushion I made for my niece ,which I showed in my last GG post, was well received too.

Seeing our work being appreciated and displayed is the biggest motivation for any crafter..don't you agree.

The second agenda for the vacation was to get hands on handcrafted beauties, made by my mom and granny, which she does not use any more. Success achieved and my house now displays these heirlooms. I will save the pictures for future posts.

We visited many wonderful historical places during our vacation and I'm so thankful to my family for taking out time to take us around.

My post will be incomplete without mention of my nephew who turns 2 in few days. He is growing to be such a adorable kid. He loves to play with people and smiles at you for no reason. The way he snuggles melts my heart.Oh I miss him so much.

I have been trying to catch up on reading blogs ..if you don't see a comment from me,soon it will be there.Thank you for your lovely comments on my last blog post.

I hope you had a good day with your loved ones on Valentine's day. We celebrated it on 13th at home as Sunday is a working day here. I cooked hubby's favourite recipe and exchanged gifts.

Happy Stitching 

2015 Crafty Achievements & 2016 goals

Hello Friends,

Welcome to the last post of the year. Blogging has been so much fun this year and I have met some wonderful friends thru this.

I started my blog in 2011 to record my experiences of travelling and then I went MIA.
2014 was the year I started writing about my cooking experiments .
I have been part of cross stitch groups on facebook since July 2014 and I also follow various cross stitch magazine pages there.
One day (end of Jan I think) while browsing thru one of these pages, I saw Jo's comment. She was complaining that how she hadn't received her prize from one of the competitions run by that magazine which she can include in her Gifted Gorgeousness SAL. The term "Gifted Gorgeousness " caught my attention and I searched for it on Google and found Jo's blog. Rest is history as they say...ha ha
I asked Jo if I can participate in the SAL, posted about my cross stitching on the blog, back dated the posts to show the work I did in 2014.

2015 has been year of so many firsts cross stitching wise :

1. Participated in a blog SAL
2. Made a cross stitch card
3. Made a cross stitch ornament
4. Participated in a cross stitch exchange
5. Made a cross stitch cushion including the sewing
6. Stitched a cover kit
7. Bought a cross stitch magazine
8. Stitched on linen
9. Stitched a 20+ color pattern
10. Used  DMC floss (I know your jaw will drop after reading this)

I managed to finish 15 projects this year, however I can't show the 15th as the receiver hasn't got it yet. All were/are gifts.

My favourite finishes of the year

Cards I made during the year

Smalls stitched for exchanges and gifts

Here is a pie chart showing my year round stitching ,quite better than 2014.

Here are my crafting goals for 2016

1. Try blackwork
2. Learn 2 new ways of finishing cross stitch
3. Stitch on evenweave fabric
4. Stitch a medium/big size kit
5. Use stash the maximum
6. Pick fabric painting again
7. Try embroidery other than cross stitching :)
8. Keep trying to crochet. I have now finished making a single crochet coaster :)
9. Learn quilling . This has been pending since 2010.

I will be participating in GG SAL 2016 and EMS Flower of the month SAL on facebook .

I have been blessed to receive so many beautiful handmade gifts/cross stitch supplies from my blogging/crafty friends from all over the world all thru the year. I would also like to thank you all for your comments and appreciation of my work.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL December update

Hello Friends,
Welcome to the year's last post for GG SAL hosted by Jo. I'm not sad when I say last as Jo is going to continue this next year.. isn't that wonderful.

I'm late this month for good reasons. I wanted to end the year with some substantial stitching.

One of my craft group friend mentioned that she is going to travel to the States on new year day and asked me if I wanted to get some stitchy stuff from there . For those of you who don't know , this is the way most of Asian cross stitchers buy stuff . We have kind friends who bring us stuff from USA/UK, which we buy online and get shipped at their addresses. Most of the stash I have acquired is this way because the post here in Kuwait is unreliable and the shipping costs are huge.Blessed to have such helping friends.

So, I decided to stitch a gift for my niece and my friend will post it from the States. I'm sure my cousin doesn't know that I craft and blog so its ok to show what I made for her baby girl.

I'm really happy how the finished piece turned out. At first , I was skeptical about the fabric choice , but I think its looks pretty. This is my first attempt at sewing a cushion with lots of help from DH. The pattern is from Cross Stitcher Mag, Issue 201 .Please see my finishes page for other details.

I also stitched small hanger ornaments in spare time in office for gifts.

I have developed a liking for small kits/cover kits as with these how to finish the stitching is never a worry .

Yesterday was our craft meetup and I tried my hands at crocheting again with help from my friends. I'm so proud to tell I got success in third attempt.

I'm going to practice the stitches I have learnt before I start making something.

I'm thinking of writing a post for my craft achievements for 2015 and qualitative goals for 2016. I know many of you will be joining SALs and monthly challenges, however I'm only joining GG SAL as of now so I think writing down goals would be a good idea.Would you be interested in reading about my goals?

Wishing all my friends a Merry Christmas. Hope you have a good time with family and friends during holiday season.

I'll be back on the last day of the year for my FOTM SAL update and may be a list of stitching goals.

D is for Dosti

Hello TACers,

Welcome to the The Alphabet Club Detention club. Sorry I'm late but I'm sure you will excuse me for that. I have been acting lazy, its my favorite season Winter... I love being in blankets, sipping hot chocolate.

As I missed my last month entry, so will cover letters D and E in this post.

D is for Dost (Hindi word) meaning friend , Dosti meaning Friendship.  I may not have as many friends these days as I used to have when in was in college, I still cherish friends who have chosen to continue to be with me all these years.

D is for Dhayawaad( Hindi word) meaning thank you. I'm thankful to all my blogging friends for their continued support and love.

D is for Deepawali or Diwali meaning a festival of lights, my favorite Hindu festival. Skipping the religious reason behind it, I will like to talk about how it is celebrated.

The preparations starts with cleaning the house almost two weeks prior to the main day.

The festivities long for almost 5 days, with kids firing the crackers, adorning the house with lights, buying new clothes, jewelry, making sweets and prayers.

The part I love most about Diwali is putting up the lights...Diyas or earthen lamps are used to light up the whole house: walls, terrace, everything is covered with these flickering tiny lights. Candles and electric lights are also used these days.

Here are some pictures of our Diwali celebrations over the years

The floor and entrances are decorated with Rangolis. 

Hand Made Lantern or Kandil.

Set up for Pooja/Prayer

Pooja thali made by me

Shopping malls all decked for Diwali

D is for Dhow (Arabic داو dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. The older ones were made of wood and I have spotted a couple in Oman and Kuwait.

Here's a picture of cross stitch I completed last year which was a freebie from DMC Club. My first big project which brought me back to cross stitching.

I'm really struggling with Hindi/Punjabi words starting with E.
So I'm going to show you two cards I made, designed by one of my favourite designer Emma Congdon.  A birthday and an Easter Card.

 I would love to stitch some designs by Emily Peacock. Here is one i like:

Oh I think its been a long post...will see you soon for GG SAL.

FOTM SAL November Check in

Hello Friends,

Hope you all are doing good in your corner of the world and have started preparing for Christmas(if you celebrate it).

I continue to be uninspired to stitch and an attack by Sinusitis last week has left me feeling lost and home sick.

So many things have been occupying my thoughts and I haven't stitched much since my last update.

However, the good news is I'm giving stitching using a q snap a second try. I bought a q snap sometime in 2014 but didn't like using it with the sewing method.It has been lying in the drawers for a year along with guilt of wasting money on a tool I would never use.

Sometime back a friend posted a picture of a q snap she bought to inspire her to cross stitch again and I thought I should try it again. The fabric for this project is big enough and would be ideal for using a qsnap.

Here's is my progress as of 30th Nov 2015.

I think I'm developing a new hobby of clicking pictures of the sky as DH drives around.

Here are the two captures I love.

I'm also cherishing handmade beauties my craft group ladies gave me(which I forgot to show you) for World Yarn day and Halloween.

Aren't the palm trees made by Tammy and the Cath Kidston by Z coaster adorable?

My stitchy pie for the month of November.

See you soon in the last month of the year.

A Big Happy Dance - Gifted Gorgeousness SAL November update

I have no zeal to blog these days though I have so much to tell you...

November has been a busy month with festivals, exploring around and my MIL visiting us here in Kuwait.

However I think I need to share with you the finish I'm so proud of... Fractal Bookmark FB-312 from Cross Stitch Collectibles. I loved stitching this piece so much...my first full coverage project and my first time handling 20+ colors.I tried cross country stitching and parking method at times for this project and I think I'm ready for big projects now.

This will be a gift for a friend , I hope she likes it.

Start Date    11/27/2014

End Date     10/23/2015

Stitch count  70H*200W

I'm trying to focus on my only WIP(as declared in my last post), EMS flower piece, not that I have a target in mind to finish it. May be I will start a new project in new year. I think joining a few SALs would be a good idea to get some motivation and I'm hoping Jo continues GG SAL in 2016 or I would be lost.What SALs are you joining?

Don't have any more words...will see you next month for the final GG check in.

Happy Stitching

P.S. I will be kitting a small project today night to carry to office.Things have changed since I drafted this post at 9 am ....lol 

FOTM SAL October Check in( The post where I declare I'm a one project girl..lol)

Hello Friends,
We have been experiencing unusual weather here in Kuwait with thunderstorms,lightning and rain.
Though part of north Kuwait have seen flash floods and water logging ,the part of country I live in hasn't experienced any such problems. I'm loving the cloud covered skies, wet roads and clean trees.

I have finished stitching my fractal bookmark which I will show in my next GG post. I decided to scrap the HAED I started on January 1st as I now longer feel motivated to stitch it, which makes the flower series my only WIP. I'm being a good girl and resisting a new start..let's see how long can i resist.

Here is my progress on the EMS flower series which I'm stitching on a single piece of 14 count aida.
I have finished the March flower,except the back stitching. Started the May flower with the frog visiting 5 times in the little stitching you see below...grrr.

With the weather being so nice ,we have been trying to explore Kuwait. Friday we drove to a public beach but it was dark by 5pm so we took a short walk along the beach and came back in half an hour..haha.
Yesterday we visited The Tareq Rajab Museum which is a privately owned museum with collections from the Arab world and Asia. It was an enriching experience with the artifacts displayed in a good lighting and information available in English and Arabic.

It's been long since I posted about my cooking adventures. I have been trying new recipes but I still need to work on my food photography skills. A picture of Mushroom and Spinach Frittata I made last Wednesday which the family just loved.

Wishing everyone a happy November.