Teddy Bear - 2

In continuation with the Teddy Bear Applique I made earlier, I made another wall hanging with the teddy bear in a different pose. I used the same set of fabric.

This was one project that required completion. I wrote a post on how I needed a little push in bringing my projects to successful completion, remember? (here is the link to that post) After writing that post, I told myself that I will not take up anything new until I complete this one.

I had finished doing the patchwork on the yellow fabric and had attached the borders, but this incomplete project lay on my craft table for more than a month, before I picked it up and finished it. I need someone to keep nagging me to complete my stuff... :)

I am happy the way this has turned out to be. The flowers are already ready-made ones. I just had to iron them onto my fabric. It was simple and added so much beauty to the wall hanging.

I have one more pose of the teddy to finish. I hope to start on that soon! :)

"The Last Chapter"

I just finished watching this episode from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" in Hulu.com. It's the last episode of the last season of the show. I wish there were more episodes to watch. 

Even though the whole series is in Black and White, I don't feel the difference (I do not prefer watching old black and white movies, you see...) The concept of each episode is novel and portrayed in a vey beautiful manner. I love it even more when there are dances/songs in the show.

I wish we had more shows like this on TV... full of pure fun and unadulterated humour with no double-meaning dialogues or scenes! :)


When I start watching a sitcom, I have to watch/read all I can get of it. Like the time I started watching "Friends" or "Seinfeld", I would search the internet to find all about the show, bloopers, cast information etc. etc. Sometimes I would dream of them too! When I am into something I have to give full attention to it! Later the same show may not interest me that much... But when I am into something, I am fully into it! :)


So, now that I am over "Dick Van Dyke Show", I will start watching the "Mary Tyler Moore Show"! :)

Stitching the quilt sandwich

Did you ever feel very much inclined towards a quilting project till the quilt-top is pieced together and then lose interest in it? 

I join all the pieces of the quilt and do some patchwork on some of the pieces. I reach the point where I need to prepare the quilt sandwich with backing and batting; then pin the three layers to hold them in position and start quilting. But no! I stop working on the project and take up another project. Why do I need a push when I reach this stage in the project? Several incomplete quilts are lying in my closet. They are waiting to be quilted!!!

What do I do? I need that little push to get going on the project! :)

The Mahatma and the Golden Gate

Overlooking the Bay bridge is a statue in a walking posture wearing a dhoti. 

This is the statue of the father of our nation (India), Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi as he is fondly known.

It gave a sense of pride to see him here... out here in the West... watching over the Bay bridge... and also, over us... 

During Memorial Day weekend, it was nice to cherish the memories of one of our own Indian heroes. :)

Golden Hours...

A sight so breathtaking...

A fragrance so intoxicating...

I could not help getting lost amongst you...

Was I the thorn or the rose I cannot reckon...

I do not care...

For, during those moments peace came to me.

As Wordsworth wrote about daffodils, this is my feeble attempt to write about roses... 

I was never a rose person and never believed in getting roses from my love... My recent visit to a rose garden proved me wrong. 

While I looked at row after row of roses... walked on the paths dotted with rose bushes... touched them... felt their fragrance surround me... I felt like a kid in candy-land! I could not help sucking in their scent and running from one end of garden to another, unable to make my mind where to go first... :)

There were roses of all colours and sizes... 

Big ones...

Small ones...

Tiny ones...

Amongst all these, there was a gem of wisdom too... on a broken sundial...

"I count none but Golden hours!" 

This sundial cannot show time... but its message is timeless.

And when it was time to leave, I could not tear myself away from the place. How can one walk away from a place like that! All I could do, was to tell myself that I will come back again and then somehow pushed myself out of the garden and into the car.

"Oh sweet rose! I will be back again soon to give you company" 

(as though the rose needs my company!! :D)

Picture of Earth from Earth...

From atop a hill in Coyote Hills Regional Park, the view of Bay looked like a view of Earth from a satellite. The green moss on the water looked like the various continents on Earth and the backwaters looked like the oceans of the world..

I could not take my eyes off it for a long long time. A remote-controlled jet flew by. (as in the below picture)

With a little thinking, we can give a lot of work to our idle minds to imagine and be awed! :-)

Ring of fire

"Why does the sunlight look different today?"


V and I were coming out of the grocery store when this thought struck us.
"It looks as though we are seeing the world through sunglasses," we both uttered almost at once.

The rays cast by the sun were very different. Even though the sky was clear and cloudless, the sun-rays seemed softer. We were walking towards our car, when my eyes fell on the shadow of a tree in the parking lot. The shadow looked weird too. The light passing in between the branches of the tree cast crescent shapes on the road. That's when it struck me that we were experiencing a solar eclipse. Oh my God! I had never been outside under the sun on the day of the solar eclipse. I felt very exposed. Did I look at the Sun directly? I wish I could remember!

All through our way back home, I tried to avoid the sun. I noticed the shadows cast by trees. My Paati (grandma) was the one to teach me how to look for these crescent shapes during solar eclipse. Until then, I had no idea that the light passing between the trees always  fell as round shapes in between shadows. Each round was/is an image of the sun!

Once home, I jumped around like a little kid. I was so excited! Observe the crescent shapes of the Sun. I used a cowboy costume hat to cast the shapes on our bedroom wall.

Here are pictures of shadows of trees on a wall. Observe the crescent shapes here too.

How I wish the photos had come out better! But something is better than nothing, so we need to adjust with these till the next eclipse! ;-)

Teddy Bear Applique

A Sale of used books at our library proved to be very useful. I could catch hold of several crafts related magazines, most of them had blown out paper templates for the crafts. This latest project of mine has been inspired by Handcrafts magazine, 1990 issue.

The project in the magazine was about fabric painting using stencils. I used the same approach but wanted to do an applique. 

I added ribbons and buttons to give a more 3-D look.

I have uploaded this project in Craftsy with instructions. Here is the link to the page. This is for "Mother's Day" contest in Craftsy. The more "hearts" I get, the more chances I have to win the contest.

Good luck to me! :)