May crafting report

Hello friends,

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post, I'm glad you liked the "Mini me" as much as I do.

In case anyone noticed, I have been away from blog land for a month now. Nothing to worry, just a short break from the daily routine. Yesterday I came back from an amazing trip to Himalayas and I'm charged up to spend few more months in this hustle bustle before I take another break.

I have been crafting, however not much to have separate posts for GG and Theme-tas-stitch SALs . This post is my check in for both SALs.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL is hosted by Jo. For this SAL, we show what hand crafted gifts we made or receive every month.

I received a wonderful package from Shami in Dec 2016.However their was a bit mismatch in timing , so the package was at my parent's place since then. I collected the package last week during my visit to India .

Shami sent me two cross stitched items,Anchor metallic and variegated threads, fridge magnet and postcards. I love the goodies , specially the flower cross stitch. Thank you Shami!

I started a new gift for a friend's baby due in July- a knitted baby blanket. I'm having difficulty in concentrating on cross stitch and have had regular frog visits. So I decided to start a project which requires less counting.

Here is my progress so far:26 rows knitted . The yarn is Indian Ice Batik .I would like to shoe horn this as my entry for Monochrome May -Theme-tas-stitch 2017 hosted by Kerry. Well this is all I made in May with single skein of yarn ☺

My next post will be about a swap I participated in with a fellow blogger.Stay tuned.

Meet "Mini me"

Isn't that an interesting title, probably brings a lot of diff thoughts in the reader's mind.

Well I'm talking about a doll which my friend Z made for my birthday.

Let me explain why its Mini Me. The doll is wearing the same kurta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurta) ,leggings, peep toe footwear which I was wearing the last I met Z before my birthday. The hair is similar to mine. Talking about attention to details: she is holding a hoop and needle, wearing earrings like me and the cherry on the cake is the mole on the cheek ,similar to one on my face.
The moment I saw her , I couldn't believe the resemblance, not to forget the talent my friend has to replicate me in a crochet doll. This is the best handcrafted gift I have received till now.

                    

Here she is trying to finish my UFO

Thank you Z for the love..I'm falling short of words to thank you.
Z will be celebrating her birthday on Sunday  and I made few things for her, nothing as beautiful as the doll. Z is a coffee lover and I hope she likes the gifts.

Coffee Lover: Freebie from Kincavel Krosses
Stitched on 32 count Cognac Linen (gifted by Diya )
Using Anchor Variegated Floss

I have been trying to make some knitted items and in the process learning new stitches. This cup cozy uses seed stitch which gives a good texture to the finished piece.

Handmade tag using old calendar bookmark , which was a gift from a fellow cross stitcher

If you haven't guessed it until now, this post is my entry for Gifted Gorgeousness SAL for the month of April,run by our fav blog host Jo. For this SAL, we show what hand crafted gifts we made or received every month.

I have some more gifts to show , however I would save it for next month as I don't want to take attention away from my beautiful doll.

I hope everyone is having a good stitchy weekend in their corner of the world.

The Alphabet Club Catch up post : Letter M

Hello Friends,
Here I am with a very late entry for the Alphabet Club Letter M. This is going to be a long post, as so many interesting words that start with letter M.

M is for Maa , Hindi word for mother ( Pronunciation similar to how its said in English). I'm sure not many can deny the importance of a mother in a living being's existence. Personally I can't even imagine where I would be without my mother: from loving selflessly, to fighting with society to let me choose what I wanted to be, to accepting who I am , to teach me how to take care of family and last but not the least, passing down the love of crafts like embroidery, home decor and cooking .I always thought I was a papa's gal , but as I grow old I can't help but see how similar I am to my mother.
One day ,after a break of few years from cross stitching , I was looking for information on DMC on the Internet. My mother would often mention how DMC thread was available in India in her young age and how good the quality was. I was amazed to find so many beautiful designs on Internet . I started searching for a pattern to make for my mother's 60th birthday which was "then" in 10 years. This is the pattern I selected .

Design by Katherine Martin Tripp

Though my taste has changed ,since I have found the new world of cross stitch designers , I still may stitch this for my mother.

M for Mushakal- a vegetarian Fatayer. Its a turnover pastry/ sandwich made of pizza base type dough and baked in oven. As you know, I am a big foodie and when we shifted to Kuwait, I was looking for new Arabic vegetarian dishes to try . An acquaintance suggested why don't I try Mushakal. Since then its one of my favourite Arabic food,nothing beats the taste of oven baked closed sandwich stuffed with potato fries, fried egg plant and falafel served with pickled vegetables.

Cheese fatayer

M for Mujaddara is a Lebanese dish made of lentils and rice served with fried onions. You know how we Indians love lentils and rice , so any new way this combination is served excites me.

M for Ma'amoul is a middle eastern sweet delicacy. These are stuffed cookies made from semolina with ground date, pistachio or walnut filling. Shaped in a wooden mould called a tabi.

Ma'amoul

M is for Mor or Mayur( Mor has the same pronunciation as English word More), Hindi word for peacock. Peacock is national bird of India , found in dry areas like Rajasthan ,Gujarat. It is believed that a peacock dances during rain or to invite rain . There are many folk and movie songs about rainy season and peacock in India . 
I currently have one peacock WIP , I'm having so much fun stitching with blended threads, half stitches , still long way to go though.

Indian Peacock by Dimensions

Another peacock design I have my in stash

Stunning Peacock by Amanda Gregory, Published in The World of Cross Stitching, Issue 245

One of my favourite designer is Maria Demina who designs under the name Little Room in the attic. Though I have only stitched one design of hers, her water color designs are drool worthy.

Paisley freebie from Maria Demina, stitched in Aug 2015

Aren't these lovely?

That's it my friends for letter M, I will be back for next alphabet entry.

Theme-tas-stitch 2017 : March Madness check-in

Hello Friends,

Another month has flown by... and here I am with my check in for Theme-tas-stitch SAL: March Madness being hosted by Kerry.I didn't forget to post about the SAL , I was trying to get a few projects started/finished for the check-in. I'm essentially a OAAT stitcher , so this theme was difficult to meet.

I don't how but the march madness actually made me mad. Ya real mad. Mr. Frog has been in the house , sitting on my shoulder and bothering me. First I had to frog 400 stitches in my Candamar project and that almost killed my mojo.

As if that wasn't enough , Mr. Frog decided to interfere in a very simple swap piece I'm stitching. I'm telling you never in the past I had to cut the thread while frogging...but this time that too happened. At least my ORT Jar is happy.

I started three new small projects this month , one is FFOed, second is finished(can't show as its for a exchange)  and third I just started today to show you guys.

Started :4th March 2017
Finished :12th March 2017

New start , 31st March 2017

ORTs from the swap project

Fourth project I worked on or rather re stitched on after the frogging was the Candamar design WIP.

Candamar Project

The portion circled black is off by 1 row but I'm not going to frog it. Portoin circled pink was frogged and restitched.

Not a very good report, but I'm happy that I stitched most of the days in the month which is shown in the monthly pie chart.

March 2017 Stitching pie

Change in plans

If you remember from my Jan goals post, I decided to start a Soda Stitch pattern for Tour de Designers SAL in April for Stitch Maynia FB SAL. This project also fitted the theme for Theme-tas-stitch : April Showers.

Well I have decided to withdraw out of the SAL and not start this piece. I have to work on 3 smalls in April, given my speed I know that will take the whole month. I don't want to start a new project and stitch it for a day and add to my WIP basket.

I hope you have a productive April stitching wise.

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL March 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.

As you know it was my birthday last month, I received a wonderful package from Tammy when we last met at our craft meetup in the Secret Garden. What's the Secret Garden, well I would like to write a post about that ..

The package contains goodies she brought me from Sri Lanka:tea, cinnamon,soap, and hand crafted crochet heart, doily , wash cloth, brooch. My favourite is the heart 💗

Yesterday was my husband's birthday, and I made him a card. He loves Owls and has requested me to stitch owls in the past.. This was a surprise for him and why do I mention it specifically ? Well my friends, my husband and I are together 24 hrs a day(not complaining). We work in the same office , in the same department and even can see each other's computer screen. So arranging surprises is tricky.

Designer:Jayne Schofield
Pattern: Cross Stitch Crazy, May 2015

Whenever I want to stitch a surprise for him, I have to wait until he sleeps or goes for grocery shopping... ha ha. See what I did here, I want you to steal some limelight as DH has been getting all the praises for the gifts he has given me in last few months which I showed here on blog😁

Not much else to show, I have a new start and tiny progress on a WIP which I will save for the March Madness post.

We were hit by worst of dust storms on Tuesday. The visibility was very low and driving was a challenge. Thankfully it has subsided now..but it marks the start of summer , not a welcome season in this part of the world.
I have been reading on blogs how the weather has been unpredictable in other parts of the world, blizzard, snow or high temperatures.Sometimes these things make me sad and wonder is it global warming ? I hope you are safe in your part of the world.

Trip to Mirror House, Kuwait

Hello Friends,

Winter has come to an end here in Kuwait and the temperature has started rising..some people call it spring though.

We completed 3 years of living in Kuwait recently and this winter was the best of all years we have been here. The temperature touched 0 deg C and below this year, something I always prefer over 55 deg C. This was also the busiest of season for us, my husband jokingly said that the petrol expenses have doubled in last two months. We have been attending crafty meetups, book club meetings, exhibition, fairs and lastly exploring tourist places when my family visited.

This post is dedicated to one such outing to Mirror House,Kuwait. We visited the Mirror House on 24th Feb for a evening tour.  The House of Mirrors or Mirror House, also known as the Khalifa & Lidia Qattan Art Museum is like a wonderland where every wall, floor and nook of the house is covered with mirrors. Mrs. Lidia Qattan single-handedly transformed an old house into piece of art which is now open to public to admire.  Mrs. Qattan gives you a personal tour of the house , with stories of how she started making one wall for her daughter's room in 1966, how supplies were difficult to get in those days , how termite destroyed the mirror work and it was built again.

Front wall of the house

Entrance 

Main entrance of the house

Mrs Qattan, originally from Italy has passion for art, world peace, humanity which is aptly reflected in her work.

The museum has been divided into sections to experience a magical journey into a world of fantasy, science, mental stimulation and spiritual enlightenment. The journey thru the house is an experience guaranteed to illuminate your heart and soul with its enchanting, energetic, and heart warming host, the artist and creator of this magical place, Lidia Qattan.

Stairs to the upper floor

The hostess has a knack for recycling objects we use in our day to day life like tube lights, water filters, pots and you can find many interesting decorations made of recycled stuff.

Decorations made out of recycled stuff

Close up of one of the painting using buttons

At the start of tour , you are greeted by Mrs. Qattan lovely granddaughter and treated to world's best ginger tea ,cakes and other home made snacks. The best thing about the tour apart from the mirror art is the personal touch Mrs. Qattan adds to the tour by narrating stories of old Kuwait and her life. It is extremely kind of her to give a personal tour instead of hiring a employee to do so.

The museum also houses Mr. Qattan's paintings which are a visual treat .

If you are in Kuwait or plan to visit in near future, a visit to Mirror House is highly recommended.All the info can be found on http://www.mirrorhouseq8.com . Booking a tour just requires a phone call and you can pay when you reach the museum.

P.S. I'm writing this post as a thank you to my fellow expat bloggers who have helped me explore Kuwait in last three years thru their informative posts abt expat life specially in Kuwait.Being in Kuwait , I know from experience that adequate information is not available online and it is thru these blogs that we find tips how to make our lives easier and more enjoyable in this country.I hope this blog post will be useful to new expats in Kuwait who want to explore the country.

The Alphabet Club Catch up post : Letter L

Here I am with my next entry for The Alphabet Club- letter L

L is for Loot - Another loan word from Hindi , the meaning being same in both language .

L is for Laksa  is a popular spicy noodle soup in the Peranakan cuisine, which is a combination of Chinese and Malay cuisine.Laksa consists of rice noodles or rice vermicelli with chicken, prawn or fish, served in spicy soup; either based on rich and spicy curry coconut milk, or based on sour asam (tamarind or gelugur). It can be found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Southern Thailand.

I love Laksa (vegetarian version) and can't forget the first time I had it from a bazaar stall in Singapore 

in 2011.

L is for Lassi - A popular yogurt /curd based drink in the Indian sub continent. This is served in summers 
to ward off the heat along with meals.Lassi can be sweet or savoury with flavourings added according to 
taste. Laban is arabic name/equivalent of Lassi.

I'm sure many of you living in the UK must have tasted Mango lassi atleast once.

Here is a picture of a healthy version of Lassi I made: Salted Ragi(Finger Millet) Lassi .

One more popular variation of Lassi is Chaas -salted drink similar to lassi, but may contain more water than lassi and has the butterfat removed to reduce its consistency. The english term for Chaas is Buttermilk.

L is for Luskentyre beach: One of the most beautiful beaches I have visited till date though a bit too cold to swim . I think the picture below describes its beauty.

L is for London: One of my favourite cities in the world. I can talk for hours about how much fun I had in London when I was there on a business trip. I know I should have written a dedicated post for that, but you know me..how lazy can I get. Call it serendipity or synchronicity , the first ever cross stitch magazine I bought was from London and it featured "Pretty Mini London" by Satsuma Street.I will stitch this design one day I promise.

Picture from Satsuma Street website

Some other lovely patterns on London 

Tiny Modernist

Thea Gouverneur

That's it for Letter L, I will be back soon with my entry for Letter M.