Busy Days

 

I have been really a busy bee lately.

There is so much to do in the garden. The weeds never seem to stop growing. Our little potager garden has been giving us a lot on our plates these days.

These garlic were a bit disappointing, I expected them to be bigger. So I have left a lot in the ground still. Maybe with some luck it can grow little bit more.

The potting shed is getting full slowly. Fresh herbs are nice to use now and these will be dry and ready to use in winter.

Remember the glass jar which was filled with marigold couple of weeks before to dye some samples in the sun. I am so pleased with the colour and think will make few more jars and leave it in the sun.

Every afternoon after dropping little Emily at her nursery, I am on my own, in silence, creating, this is something I love to do the most.

I am very happy how my work has developed in my studio. This year, I have been pushing myself a lot more to do more paintings. I am not going to show all of them now as I want them up at the exhibition first. The painting above is yet another one of my small canvases which I have completed.

Still a lot needs to be done before the exhibitions. In between I do need to distract myself with some crafty projects while sipping nice cup of tea. While I am waiting for paintings to dry before applying another layer (love working in layers) is the best time to pick up a slow stitching or knitting.

I cant think of knitting now with this temperature. Need to wait for that until Autumn now. Anyway the little piece of work which I did not long ago using my mothers sari and rust dyed fabric got another layer of rust dyed fabric too. It is interesting that like my paintings I keep on adding materials to my stitching too.

So, this is what it looks like now. This was my old (almost 4years) journal where I have lot more sari and other materials inside. I thought because I used more sari it might be best making it as a cover for that book/journal.

The Last Couple of Days

 

 

 

 

For the last couple of days, I have been enjoying the sun and has been working in my studio. Remember the three small canvas which I struggled working at earlier on. I have now finished one of them. I decided to do a mixed media landscape painting and now I am happy with the result. I also did some more rust dying and added a signature book (rust dyed paper) to one of my old journals. More pages, more possibilities maybe. A little bit of sari ribbon and beads also went in my journal.

Dreaming about India and Slow Stitching

 I have already started counting my days. I am dreaming and this dream is soon going to come true. Our tickets are booked and yes! We are going to India during the summer holidays.

I am so excited and looking forward to go to India and visit my family. This time of the year Delhi is quite hot but we will go from there to my sister who lives in the most beautiful part of north India called Manali. And she runs her resort called Zahir Adventures. Here is the link if you are interested in having a look.

Anyway, as I am thinking and dreaming of being in India already, I just had to pull out some of my mothers old saree's which she kindly gave me to use in my work. I feel very lucky to have all these treasures and by making something out of my mothers old saree that she wore  is my way of holding on to my memories of India and my family. It is hard at times to live out of your own country but we learn, adapt and I have got immense love and support here in England and have made lots of good friends too. Some of the families I know here now are like my own family.

I have also pulled out these lovely gifts from my mother too. She bought them from Manali last year, when she went up to my sister. I am so excited to visit her, can't wait.

But while I am waiting, I just thought to make something from all my treasures from India.

I have also included my rust dyed cloth, which you saw in this post here.

The yellow piece of the saree is so fragile, that it keeps ripping as I stitch it. I remember my mother wearing it when I was a little girl.

This is how it looks now, and it is so special to me that I want to keep it in one of my journals. So its part of one of my charity shop bought old hard cover books now. I am happy and going to stitch maybe something else, with my rust dyed cloth and some vintage lace I bought, from the charity shop as well.

Getting Closer

Just six more sleeps to go. Finally our tree is decorated. I have finished my Christmas/winter dress and it fits well. I am so pleased. Can't believe this is my third dress I made this year!

 

I have also finished my first Fair Isle vest, will show you in my next post. And I am working on two more Fair Isle projects. One for little Emily and the other one for Olivia or could be for me, not sure yet. It all depends on who likes it more. I have just started because I did not have the patience to wait. Just a little hint: the yarn I am using is Shetland Yarn. So beautiful to knit with.

 

I leave you here with this. Have a lovely weekend.

Caravan Interior - a Simple Solution

 Please do come in and have a little peek inside my caravan. I love the Boho/Gypsy look.

 These two hanging camel and elephant Indian decoration were a gift from my mother. And I found a perfect place to hang them in the caravan. Just as we enter inside it's on the left, which is actually the side wall of the cupboard.

I found these lights during our holiday in wales in a shop. As soon as I saw it I thought of our caravan. It looks amazing when lit.

 But the main reason of my this post today is to show you what I made using my Hippy Thread. Let me just take my slippers off.

So here it is...

 It is a simple draw string pillow which I thought would be perfect solution for storing our blankets inside. So instead of filling this cover with another pillow I have rolled my big double blanket and pulled this cover up. Voila! The fabric used is from India too. I love the rich colours in India.

A giant dual purpose pillow, which keeps my blankets neatly inside and the caravan looks tidy when not using the blankets and in the night  we just need to pull out the blankets.

So, I made two pillow covers/bolsters for my gypsy caravan.

 So now that I have shown you my new make I think I can put my slippers on and go inside house to put the kettle on.