Time for everything!

About time i came here! I have many things to tell you, but the first is about the Night Jasmine plant- she is finally showing buds, after a gap of two years. I must have taken this pic about a week back, and now there are many more branches with buds. I am so very happy, beyond-description-happy. Every morning when i water the plants i just look around - more fondly at my 'budsy' plants and just breathe in happiness. My tulsi plant - she had gone all scrawny some 2-3 months back, she is also looking healthier. (Thank you God!) When nature glows, i feel God is with me.

I have also more or less done the pouch for T. I have put the interfacing too and the lining, so it now looks bulky. I still plan to whip-stitch the two sides which probably will result in a clumsily-made pouch. And this explains why i am not going near it. I should take this up today and just get it done.

I also have started (a wee bit) of Footprint in the Sands. You will not believe in that wee bit, i already did some frogging. Okay, probably you will. No pics yet

Here are some pics of T, at home having fun and also in a birthday party he attended recently.

I am reading A L Kennedy's So I Am Glad, this is one of her earlier novels. I am liking it, although i admit 'Everything you Need' was way way nicer. Is it that first impressions are the best? I recently read The Rest of My Life by Laura Moriarty, and i loved her first book (and my earlier read) The Centre of Everything, again way way better.

Thanks for visiting. Wishing you happy times amidst family and hobbies and friends!

A little bit of my favorites

I took off this past Friday and what pleasure it was right from Thursday evening!!

I was telling myself the other day that June, July and almost the whole of August parted ways with me with ZERO stitching. Earlier i stitched to my heart's content when my son would be sleeping. These days though, him being all of 7 years, things have changed!

I need to find ways to stitch when my son is at his hobbies; somehow i seem to be part of his hobbies.

The sweet heart tells me you just do this particular thing and go to your stitching. In end May this is how it turned out:

the moment i take my fabric out, he will want me to do something. [Take 1][Ok]

Then when i have held my chart and eye-balled where i am and where i need to focus, he will want my attention. [Take 2][Alright...]

Then when i rearranged all the necessary things, he will want me for yet another aspect[Take 3][Sigh 1 2 3 4....] 

How much should i actually be stitching today, i ask myself, amidst all this 'traffic' and again, before me, my brain and my project connect; yet another whiny suggestion[Take 4][That's it] 

Close the project - chart back, thread set back, needle and fabric back

One sweet heart is happy, one bitter-sweet

This must have been in end-May. Also June, his school started and so started robotic days for me. And that is how my cross stitch and I were in two different worlds in June, July and almost the whole of August.

I now realize there had been no holidays in the past 3 months! The first was on 28th September (Friday). Time to enjoy the holidays right?!

Thursday evening we had decided to make this weekend an enjoyable one! This came true for Friday. We went to our favorite second-hand-book shop and got some books - 3 me and 4 my son. We also enjoyed lunch in our favorite Bengali place. So our day was full of joyous and relaxed moments! Here are our books:

Friday night was when I realized T was not well, in fact his eyes looked heavy and he had mild fever... [Not good]  While he took to bed early, I stitched some on Friday night. Saturday morning, I had him rest for a good part of the day. He was better by evening. He does not usually sleep in the daytime, but he did on Saturday, giving me some additional stitching time. And this is a darling project! Western Barn, a chart I got via ebay when T was not even a year old:)

Sunday - we just did the weekly buying of vegetables and other staples. We(my friend and i) had originally planned an outing - my friend and her daughter, and my son and me for a lunch. Now that would not work. My co-sister had suggested we spend some time shopping. That also was not taken up as I did not want to tire my darling. Sunday saw no stitching either!!

So that is how our 3 days went. With a bit of downs, we still managed a good relaxed time. And now thanks for reading my ramble. Here's wishing you plenty of time stitching or reading or spending with your loved ones.

The end is near!!

Yes ladies, the end is near!!

Thanks to cricket fever in India with the Indian Premier League, my stitching resumed in leaps and bounds the past couple of weeks. You can see i am reaching the end of my Serenity Prayer journey!!

Here's a pic i took yesterday

 and another

This past Saturday was super fun day for both me and my son as we went book-shopping. T got 1 book more than me - his way of putting it. He got a Tinkle, an Enid Blyton, a book on Hulk, a Kids' Book on Animals (akin to an encyclopedia), and another i cannot put a name on. My list is here:

=>Last Orders by Graham Swift (will be my second  book)
=>Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez (first book for me- yes, a shame i have not read him yet)
=>The Rich are Different by Susan Howatch (now i have quite a number of her books, and love her although she does stress me out at times!! and my heart stops beating and all that)
=>Maggie, Now by Betty Smith.

I love Betty Smith. With Maggie Now, i can claim to have all her books (four of them). I have read a library copy of MN way back in 1999 when i was in the US of A. Will read her again. MN and the Susan Howatch book are quite tattered, and my hands greedily picked them up from the bookshop. Hope they like their new home and are enjoying their moments in the friendly neighborhood.

Currently reading The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King. Just begun, and i know I am going to love the book. Have had quite a s l o w start "what with starting the year with Dickens and his Bleak House", but picking up now.

Signing off with this close-up pic of my son. You have a great day!

Catch up

More than what 2 months away?  I have been stitching the Serenity Prayer, and I am now easily beyond the half-way mark. There was a time I was finishing the text first and then doing the 'frame', whichever column took my fancy.

Now I first finish the left column, and then the text, and then the right column. I have finished the back stitching too - the dowel frame was successful in enforcing that discipline, lol. The only parts pending [in the stitched area] are the french knots. Now this below pic was taken about a week back, I have finished one more flower and the white frame of the left column - not seen in the pic

I have taken over a year to do this simple project. Ouch! The only consolation is that a good part of last year I spent on my quilted pillow top. But even then, I was hardly doing any stitching:( - The fact was that when I read out bedtime stories to my son, I would also consider sleeping the best option. So that explains the no or bare minimum stitching! Just yesterday my son decided he will read on his own, and then go to sleep. Just wondering (and fingers crossed!) if that habit makes a good impression on him - my time stitching those lovely charts and kits i purchased can revive!!

I have done some blog-reading (again better) these days, although not commenting. Whatever is holding me back?

Book-wise, I began the year with Bleak House by Dickens. I am loving the book, but still a long way to go.

I have now gotten a new mojo for gardening!! Hows that!! Will hopefully post about that too - in the weeks to come.

Here's wishing you all a great time stitching, and being with your loved ones.

Knock knock

Where was I? My question too - where was I?

Right. Beavering away at work. Beavering away at home too (for my son, this thing and then that thing and then this was wrong, can this be redone and so SO on)

End of May i started my first quilt project - a very small project so to speak. I did paper piecing of the blocks. and steered myself towards a self-binding back for the quilt. All learnt from something or the other in the internet!

Looking back, I loved the paper piecing in fact. Oh, the umpteen times i looked at my handiwork with pride! I was nervous about the self-binding back. Now i wanted this for two reasons, one my quilt would become bigger by about 2 inches on all sides, and two, at this stage i did not want to go for the sewing machine. (I do not own one yet sheesh) So needed a very simple method to finish my project.

  This project is for my grand-mother. She is now in her hundredth year:) And i decided she can have a quilted pillow top for herself, something one of her grand-children has done, something that will be right next to her. As for this particular grand-child, it was/is her way of saying i love you, giving thanks, salutations and many other things.

As i said i started this end of May and took till mid November to finish the quilting. There were of course days and weeks when i did not touch the project.

With this, my Leisure Arts project, was hibernating. Poor thing. I did not even once glance at it.

For the last couple of days, i have given it as much love i can give and resumed where i had left off. Did a good amount of back stitching. And rolled the fabric some more. Now i am working on the third line from the bottom. Remember i found the fabric very daunting and fragile to work with. I am hoping now i have crossed that bridge! Now that i picked it up after eons, the fabric seems okay to deal with. Ha ha. Or probably, it is because i have rolled enough fabric, that it has become sturdy. Whatever the reason, i am a happy gal!

Here is a pic of Serenity Prayer. (I have now finished that third line, tonight i hope to back stitch)

I am liking coming back here. Hope i get some 20 minutes every night to stitch. {praying}
I have read good many blogs, I am again reading the posts on 123mb, I am going through my stash spreadsheet and doing some more slicing and dicing of what i have. Thank God, i still remember what each kit is [about] so yes ladies, here's to beavering away on my lovely cross stitch projects.

{hush lilies, we will get there}

And here's a photo of my son taken in September. He will be seven in March:)

Thanks for coming here! Here's wishing you a great stitchy weekend, and happy time with friends and family.

Lurker, almost

It's been ages!! Apparently both my stitching and blogging mojo have been AWOL.

I have done some stitching though. Hummel the Postman was finished last year, the Pillow Cover embroidery too.

I had started the Serenity Prayer sometime in December. I used fabric which i had purchased from US - but i don't know what fabric it is (what a shame). The fabric is slightly a challenge to stitch on than Aida as it is smoother. Most of the threads i am able to get here. 2 colors had to be substituted (quite poor substitutes, but never mind). After all, i am doing the Serenity Prayer!!

I think i have finished close to 20%. Since the fabric was smooth, i put it on the stitching frame to make it taut, but it is possible this is delaying the whole process. Frame makes it less portable somehow!

Psst, psst: In November last year, i did some 90-odd stitches on Page 16 of Monet's Water Lilies, and not touched it since... God pls help me find the time and frame of mind to take this up again.

My hero

This is a pic of my son, taken in December. He is now all of 6 years. Having his summer vacation now. He is learning skating these days. He and his friends are busy visiting each other - the boys will be in each house for not more than 10 minutes. They will play some games, they will argue, take sides, argue some more. Before long, they will all get this notion at the same time to visit another house. The favorite sport for the boys is, of course, cricket. These boys are being 'inducted' by the slightly bigger boys, and understanding cricket in more detail it appears! All in all, having a good time, he i mean! Me, not having a bad time. Tightrope at times, but that is fine largely because he is happy and engaged. 3 more weeks before school starts.

Book-wise

I am reading my 6th book of this year, and it is the second best book i have read this year(first being Eve Green). The Stranger's Child is the first book i have read by Alan Hollinghurst, and I am loving it. I mean second 'best book'. I do not mean 'Second best' book. The Novel (James Michener) and The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) were not adaptable books for me. Hannah's Daughters (Marianne Frederiksson) was also good to read, and so was The Reading Group (Elizabeth Noble). TRG however was tough to latch on, halfway through was okay and i started liking it. I have some 15 books in my to-be-read pile. Hope to finish a good many of these before I buy some more.

I have visited blogland of late and added few more blogs to follow. Those blogs must have got my blogging mojo back at least.

Here's to more stitching and blogging, friends!, and reading:)

Postman in the making ...

Looks like my mojo is back:) I have finished more than half of the Hummel Postman. Here he is in stages...

 

 

 

Last month i had finished this teeny-weeny chart i had received from US as part of a drumroll. This was received in a huge packet and was one of several things i received from Michelle in the SanMan board.

While that is good news on the stitching front, there is total disconnect with the blogging world, as i cannot access any blogspot or wordpress or typepad sites from office:( That means i will have to find other ways to internet myself. I hardly connect to the internet at home. Will probably have to rely on my cell phone. Cumbersome, hmm?

Here are some pics of my son. The soldier dress was when there was a Fancy Dress theme around Independence Day and the other was during his very recent Sports Day

  

You all have a great time stitching and being 'yourself' with friends:) Thanks for visiting especially those who leave comments:)

 

What she has been doing or rather not doing the past month or two

Ages since i came here... I have been fine in case you were worrying. I was not depressed or anything, lol. The summers have been bugging me - but that is true for mid March onwards. Where was i the whole of February and early March? I was busy at office, and was just making it one day to the next till it became one week to the next and then one month to the next. Owww. Something like that - i did not even get time to visit any blogs.

 

I have been stitching on Popcorn Alphabet T since the time i finished Freddie. Early March i got this idea i should stitch the 'T' in a feverish pace and get it completed before my son turned 5. But phew i hardly got to stich this for the past month and more:( Oh yes, now i remember the last time i stitched this i did the wrong / side on a half cross stitch and i think my sub-conscious switched off a bit. I have not sitched this for over a month (Actually i have not done a single cross:(    )

 

And amid all this tropical-summer-and-wrong-turns-with-T, for the past week or soi did stitch a bit of Part 6 of Adriana. This is where i am at the moment.

 

 

And here is Heart Note Alley all framed!! (Busy-me is yet to get a good-sunlight-photo of Framed Freddie, will do that hopefully this weekend)

 





And a pic of my son on his birthday, when he turned 5!!

 

Book-wise i am with Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. About half-way through. I know this was booker-long-listed, but i am not gushing with love for this book. Okay book. While i did take my time finishing (and LOVED it no doubt) And Ladies of the Club, Dodie Smith found a fan in me for I Capture the Castle. Such a well-written book. Oh i loved Cassandra's journal entries! Days of Gold and Sepia by Yasmeen  Premji is wonderful. So if any reader out there is interested in a good book on India by an Indian author do not miss it. I loved the book, loved the wonderful people in the book. Alphabet Weekends was yukk (i will return it to the second-hand-bookshop - they buy it back at 60% of the price they sold.)

 

You'll have a great weekend. As for me I hope to show my face in May:)

Summing up

Hope you all had a great time with family and friends this festive season! Wishing you a great 2013!!!

 

A final post for this year : oops let me see:

 

This year has been very little stitching, very little blogging and very little blog-hopping. The one thing i did good was in reading, and i read 22 books this year (had read 36 last year though). But having totally lost my read-while-commuting time since March this year, i had not expected i would cross the 20-book mark. Also i picked, 'And the Ladies of the Club' for my 23rd and this is sip-while-you-read book. So between relishing what is written and deep-breathing with the book close to me and similar activities, i am not yet done. Nevertheless i am enjoying the book

 

This year i have only finished two projects, one of them a quick SAL hosted by http://manka-sal.blogspot.in/ which i made into a pouch, and the Heart Note Alley which was a SAL in the yahoo group Sticklounge. Yes, these are the only two projects i have finished. If you look at the sidebar, you will see i have not started any new projects. At the moment i have 3 open projects, and i am doing them one at a time. While i finished HNA, there was no way i could take up Lilies as Lilies that extra time, that extra love, that extra intention which i was unable to muster at 10pm any night. This year my sleep time in the morning has cut down so much that my batteries are near-down in the night. So sadly, i had to park Lilies

 

Between Adriana and Frederick the Literate, i chose the latter to tie it up with my son's 5th birthday. My diary where i used to write these things says I had started stitching this in August 2008 - when T was 5 months!! So well to finish it by his 5th birtday was an easy decision. I now have the top and bottom shelves to stitch, i am currently in the 5th of 9 rows of the bottom shelf.

 

I am NOT going to get into a high with starting a new project or set of projects. Once i finish Freddie, i might take up one of the kiddie projects and then rotate between that and Adriana (i have only one part to finish in this 6-part SAL). I am really not thinking of Lilies for this year, but if i can sniff that extra something, i will definitely start with page 16:)

 

Blogging and blog-hopping - something tells me i might get more time, and i hope so too. Let me see

2012 if i have to sum up has been a personal low for me, although things do look brighter than when i started the year. I consider it human to hope, but hope has crumbled far too many times this year so i have been cautious even to dream. In all this, all time spent with my son and for my son has been priceless.

 

I really really thank my viewers and followers, especially those who leave a comment. I know the comments have dipped down further and i know it is because my comments on other blogs has been minimal. I hope to set that right this year.

 

(BTW i am 'lost' when it comes to followers - i cant even see who my followers are - is this the case with you all?)

 

Wishing you all a great year!!

 

And one for November

I had to finally come here after postponing enough, today is the last day of November after all! No happy dance yet though:)

 
What is remaining:

          Top Shelf
          Back Stitch - a wee bit (on Freddie and those odd pieces) remaining
          Book Titles
          Gold work - just started! and no frustration yet:)
          *Owl portion to be 'book'ed
          Bottom Shelf

I know this is going VERY S L O W, and of late i have had bouts of headache to deal with too. I stitch probably one in every 7 nights, if at all. But then whenever i pick it up, I am so fond of this project and enjoy stitching:) This should be framed by mid March when my son completes 5 years:) I know it is doable. My next step will be towards completing the back stitch and the goldwork, toggling between the two so i have mood for both, LOL

Good news is that I have had most of my work framed, and Heart Note Alley is now in my son's room, the BOINK in the drawing room, Alla Turca and Friendship Heart in my/our bedroom. Couple of smallish ones are also in my drawing room/son's room. I might get those pictures up here shortly.

My son is not keeping well and has not gone to school today. So i decided to work from home, as the sweet little heart needs me around him. My Indian friends from Bangalore can see my green dupatta he has 'thrown' around him!

 

Some pics taken during Diwali time. Diwali is the festival of lights celebrated by Indians. Diwali is an important festival to us say like Christmas is in the Western World

My son posing for me, all dressed up for the puja

 

Hand-painted diyas - between my son, husband and me

Diwali wishes over the phone!, in the bg you see the puja preparations

That is all for now folks. Wishing you a very happy weekend and enough stitching time. Thanks for stopping by and leaving me comments:)

A new project!

I have joined a real-quick and cute little mini mystery SAL organised by Manka-sal



Most have finished the entire project (of 2 parts), and their mouth-watering finishes can be found here. I have only finished part 1 last night, and have today received the part 2 design, which I was originally planning to do in mustard color (Anchor 307). Now i have opted for a subtler blue close to grey floss. It should tone down my Anchor 134 a bit.

I also took a pic of HNA today which i have been stitching. I did run out of floss for the topmost band (Anchor 102), and then luckily found some in the Lilies stash. My son did not have his afternoon nap today, which means he should call it an early night, which should mean LOADS of stitching time for me. Let us see. Ah, as i type this i do see a lone butterfly needing back-stitch...

Here is a recent pic of my lifeline, my bundle of joy.

And here are few recent buys of my "me" line of things, lol.

Thats all for now ladies. Here's wishing you a great week ahead, a week filled with peace (i am looking for serenity by the way) and love, week well-spent with child(ren), family and friends. Wishing you good amount of stitching time at least enough to keep you sane!