For the curious!    Things on the hall table.

Papier mache boxes from Kashmir

Chapati rollers, thread bobbins and spoons from Kutch

Lacquerware - detail

See you next year

Stitching

The muse is back.    Must make a note in next year's 

diary - to avoid disappointment do not even attempt to design

or stitch until the sun returns to shine through window.

A little preview

The indigo fabric seems to relate to the frosty weather

outside, but holds memories of the few good 'indigo

days' of the summer.   Far and few between this year.

Now for a coffee, then to sort out backing and wadding

ready to spend the day quilting.

A warm corner under the stairs

A cold morning in Poole Park

Afternoon in the kitchen - the sun has returned

Winter Blues

I should be really busy, deadlines, Christmas et al.  I find I have gone into hibernation!   I have also lost two pairs of reading glasses in the last couple of days, and had to have a long loved ring cut of my finger - so that was why my fingers were feeling strangely painful!

Before the gloom set in I gave a talk to the local Embroiderers' Guild on Indian travels/textiles.   Big adventure, projector and laptop, no more 20th century slide shows.  The way to go.

The view of the evening sun set is no longer visible from my kitchen window, but the shortest day is soon upon us, and on the 28th December the sun will come peeping through the window again.

I have found displacement activities, instead of getting on with a couple of hangings due to be completed the first week in January. Keith has decorated the hall, red wallpaper.  It's gorgeous, warm and cozy. Pictures and textiles slowly being added to the walls. 

A positive attitude

Taking time out

Still stitching, deadlines looming, but the Christmas cards must be 

posted very soon.

So best wishes to you all, thanks for visiting my blog in 2008.

Not quite the first anniversary yet, but I have enjoyed blogging.

I've made contact with some amazing people, and found equally

amazing blogs.   All very enriching.   Thanks for comments made,

I really appreciated them.    Peace and love for 2009.

Tiggy

Suddenly it's December

This last week has fairly whizzed by.   So what have I been doing?

Preparation for Shibori Workshop on Saturday, which went very well.

Tidying up and putting away after workshop.   Housework catch up.

On Sunday it was very cold - hibernation time.   I 'found' an

unfinished quilt made way back in the mist of time.

Log cabin format, with plain blue and blue/white Japanese

fabric, boringly quilted in blue thread.  (I hadn't  broken out then).

A good opportunity to sit with a quilt over my lap and re-stitch.

The threads are varigated and very bright, the colours don't 

show up here, but it's looking better already.   The quilting pattern

 is taken from a sashiko design, based on the Japanese fabrics 

I recall.   Could I find the template?  Of course not, although 

I have a vague memory of throwing it away during the 

Spring clear out!   A back to basics thing, with a little head 

scratching drafting a new template.

Radio 4 was particularly good listening - Desert Island Discs, 

Gardeners' Question Time, and a new  classic serial

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.   Not one for poetry I enjoyed

the programme on the poem "Ithaca" by C.P.Cavafy.  I came

across passages from the poem in a book I read when in

India.   It's about travelling to Ithaca, but not being a hurry,

to enjoy the journey, and on arrival not to be disappointed

with your destination, but to rejoice in what you have learnt

and seen on the way.

This delightful wooden piece was found on our travels.   

The Maharaja, Mahout and Elephant are all in a

'distressed' state.    Where is the Maharani?

Has she gone shopping? Have they been looking

for her, on an eternal quest?

And another!

Stitched as a bit of light relief after mornings

of number crunching,

Worn and loved 'jutties'.

Detail - the strap in the middle is only attached at the base and top.

Every sequin stitched by hand, as they say.  Hand dyed fabrics,

with machine and hand stitching.

So, now I have caught up with the most urgent, I can concentrate

on the nearly urgent list.  First up, preparation for Shibori

workshop I am taking at the Mill on Saturday,

Journal Quilt No.2

A Parcel from India

I try to be a tidy worker - you know the sort of thing,

project completed, time to find the floor and worktop

ready to start afresh.  Following this principal 

yesterday lunchtime I chanced upon the calico 

parcel wrapping.     This just had to be preserved in

the form of a Journal Quilt.

Sending a parcel home from India is never straight

forward.   First you have to find contents - not difficult.

Step 2 a tailor is required to stitch said contents in

calico wrapper. complete with sealing wax.  Step 3

a visit to the Post Office - forms upon forms to

complete, and remember to bring your own Sellotape.

Eight weeks later, on a grey English winter's day,

the postman knocks on the door with a very

grubby package full of Indian goodies.

Happy day.

Back to front quilting

Frenzied blogging and stitching!   I have lists, 

it's grey and cold outside.  Another two days

creating, and then comes the day which will

not wait any longer - doing The Books.

Hmmm.......what shall I do next?!!!!

One Journal Quilt finished

My Journal Quilt 'to do list' has decreased to five!

This one is for the Contemporary Quilt Group.

Entitled "Ragwaar" it is loosely based on 

wall paintings from Madhya Pradesh.

Great fun mono printing - a bit bold.

It is heavily free machine stitched.

Spirals - one thing I did learn when visiting the Museum at

Sarnath, the Buddha's curls go to the right.  So the way to

go when stitching the spirals on the dots were, obviously

to the right.     The Museum is really inspiring - wonderful

sculptures from the Gupta period, beautiful bronzes, and

the 3rd century Lion capital of the pillar erected by Ashoka 

at Sarnath.  Standing at 2.5m it is very impressive. 

Adopted as India's national emblem.

The Festive Garden

Holly - mystical tree of winter, the red berries protecting the

house since pre-Christian times,  Wards of lightening.

The tree is loaded with berries - a sign of a hard winter,

also a good larder for the birds.

Ivy - the berries were once recommended as a cure for rheumatisim.

The fruit forms by November and ripens  by Christmas.

Mistletoe - sacred plant of the Druids, who cut it with a golden sickle.

Associated with fertility, from which developed the 

custom of kissing under it.

For years I have tried to 'grow' mistletoe on it's traditional tree, the apple.

This is growing in three large clumps on a maple tree, a gift from a passing bird.

This morning.....

I have been working on my journal with ideas for a small panel

Monoprinting on calico, the base for a Journal Quilt.

Work area all cleared and the sun in shining.  Perhaps a breath of cold air, a big black sack, a rake and a shed load of autumn leaves to clear might be the next option.

Fresh start

It's amazing what a good nights sleep can do, plus a word with Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles.

Tidy house - tidy mind?   Not only housework done, washing and ironing as well.  Paperwork done and dusted .  So with a clear head I got the chance to add to my Spice Route Journal - jottings, ideas, cuttings, etc.

Found my textile paints and Indian printing blocks, made a creative mess, which is all very positive.   I think I know where I am going with at least one hanging.   A tiny bit of stitching to see how things will work out.   That's better!

Lovely doors, hidden down an alley way in Old Delhi.   Probably three hundred years old - would love to have had an invite to look inside.

The postbox is one of my favorite sign posts - I know exactly where I am.  Not too sure of using it for its proper purpose - I can imagine any letters inside are now historical documents.

Moving on

What a week.   It's been all go - getting back to reality in the raw, an informal workshop on batik with my chums of Just 10.   Oh, I'd rather be in India!   So much to contend with and feeling very tired.

Onward and upwards.  My friend Liz and I have been collecting wonderful textiles from India over the past year as part of a new venture.   We sent out loads of handouts to friends and colleges advertising the Christmas Emporium. So many scarves and warps made by master weavers, silk from Varanasi, organic cotton and silk, wool, delicate scarves with mirror work: delicious embroidered bags by tribal artisans;  silver jewellery from Rajasthan, plus loads more.  Hand made books. All gorgeous stuff.

All a bit of a learning curve.  Uptake on handouts 20%.   Interest in items for sale 100%

So now we have to have a positive marketing campaign for 2009. We know we have amazing stock.  What to do next?  All a bit head scratching.  Mad solutions 1. travelling VW camper, 2. a yurt, with amazing intereriors - a taste of the East, luscious hangings and candles.   Think I might have to go to bed and dream.

Tomorrow a general tidy up - the house has been taken over - then to concentrate on the three hangings i have to complete by the end of December, various workshops, not to mention Journal Quilts which are lining up in a very scary manner.

From the spice market

We took the long walk up Chandi Chowk to find the Spice Market.   I had envisaged a huge wholesale area full of spices, tea and flowers.   What we did find was many small shops full to bursting with spice, dried fruit, tea and the unknown.

After investigating a couple of alleys we did find a distribution centre.  The air was thick with spices - it was like breathing in cough mixture.    Porters carrying sacks on their head or pulling handcarts with impossible loads.

We were directed to a building where chillies were being processed.  Decided to give this one a miss.  Breathing in assorted spice dust was challenging -  powdered chillies really didn't bear thinking about.  We heard later the workers have to cover themselves as best they can to cope with the hard working conditions.

Udaipur,Delhi and home

A relaxing time in Udaipur, just lazing around, with a little bit of shopping thrown in.   Keith's necessary purchase of big leaf Darjeeling tea,  visits to the jewellery shop and mooching in textile emporiums.

Our friend Ranu, performing at Chandipol Ghat.  Beautiful Rajasthani music.

Ranu and his wife listening to Keith's iPod.   He recorded Ranu playing in February.  Ranu was pretty impressed, and very happy when he was given a CD of his music.

So after a few days in Udaipur, with blue skies and the lake (which is getting very low - yet again a poor monsoon), we flew to Delhi.

A bit of a shock - fog, pollution, humid, with a pale yellow sun.   Apparently a weather inversion, cold coming down from the north, sitting over the hot air.   I hope so - been to Delhi many times, but never experienced such horrid conditions.

We opted for a homestay with Pervez and Lubna.   A great choice - made very welcome and home cooked supper delicious, shared with our hosts, and two couples, one from America and the other from Germany.   Much better than any of the hotels we have stayed in before, with the exception of The Imperial Hotel.   Dating back to the days of the Raj, it's the best.  We did treat ourselves a few years ago, but now it is just too expensive.  

One day in Delhi was enough.   We took the Metro to Chandi Chowk in Old Delhi - three cheers for the Metro.  Clean, fast and cheap.  Guess the auto rickshaw drivers are not too pleased.   Chandi Chowk (Moon Square)  is a maze of narrow streets with shops stuffed with fabrics, festive and wedding goods, fruit, veg and spice markets.   A chaotic mass of people and bicycle rickshaws, men carrying impossible loads, and the ever present holy cow.

Metro to Connaught Place, the centre of New Delhi, for a special treat - lunch at The Imperial Hotel - delicious.  Visit to Cottage Industries Emporium (a good place to check out the prices of almost anything from all over India, so you have an idea when haggling with street traders).   Fabulous range of fabrics - at 75p a metre I had to manage to find some space in my bag.

Last sight of India Gate looming out of the 'fog' with a very strange pink sun hanging above.

As so to home.   Down through thick grey cloud, guess we are back.    The trees have really turned autumnal, and the colours on the trees along the motorway (viewed through torrential rain) were quite fantastic.

Our time in India fairly whizzed by.  Varanasi was amazing, Kanha disappointing, made up by the very helpful people in Jalapur.   Bundi a quiet delight, and a wedding anniversary not to be forgotten.   Udaipur is just like going home!

Now to unpack.

(I've linked our home stay and The Imperial Hotel).

Shrines

Wayside shrines, newly decorated for Diwali

Wood

Off to Udaipur

The last two posts were a bit of a nightmare - found a decent Internet Cafe. 

The stay in Bundi was so relaxing, interesting and great fun.   We were here in February and stayed our favourite hotel The Bundi Haveli, and it was good to be back there.   Lovely people, good food, and very comfortable beds!

Visiting Bundi is like stepping back in time, a bit off the tourist trail, so no hassle, just friendly folk.   The palace is amazing, said by Rudyard Kipling to have been made by goblins.   Of course, the paintings are not to be missed.

We had a driver and car for our next stop, Udiapur.    The roads are so much better than in February, two hours off the last journey.

Good to be back, looking forward to meeting up with old friends in town.

Stopping for refreshments