Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Beaded Hedebo Edge-1

TAST-2012-Week40-Beaded Hedebo Edge

This week Sharon has given us the Beaded Hedebo Edge as challenge. Visit Sharon's Page here for further details:


I had done a small sampler of this stitch in the previous TAST challenge. The pictures are here:




I need to explore this stitch. With renovation going on at my place, there is dust and chaos everywhere. All our belongings are dumped in one room- books, clothes -everything. I think it will take another week or two to finish the renovation. After that I have to clean my place and arrange all our things in their proper places. This may take another two to three weeks. 

So with all this going on, I am not able to do much of my embroidery or any other craft. I am also afraid that my samplers and WIP might have been soiled because of the dust, though I have packed them in plastic covers. Any ways, i will try to work the sampler somehow. Can't wait that long. I already have so much to catch up with.


Monday, October 1, 2012

Coconut Crafts once again...

I want to introduce to you various Arts and Crafts through this blog of mine. So here is one with coconuts and other parts of the coconut palm.Coconut is one of the most popular palms in India more so in South India. The entire tree has many uses. You can read about it here:
But in this post I am talking about the crafts made from various parts of coconut palm. In one of my previous posts I have posted some crafted items:

I remember my childhood days spent in my maternal gran's place. There were some coconut palms. My gran used to weave the leaves to make mats and many other things. She also used to weave small baskets or balls fill it with snacks like roasted peanuts, puffed rice or such things for us. She also used to make dolls from the leaves-a groom and a bride. We used to dress them up and play with them. I learnt to make the dolls from her but now I don't remember. If I lay my hands on some coconut leaves, I will ask my mom to make some so that I can post them here. Oh and also a whistle - my mom also used to make us one with the leaf fronds.

Here are the links where you can see how the leaves are woven not only in India but other South East Asian countries where these are found in abundance:



Here is one link where you can read about various ways the leaf fronds can be weaved:
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BucMani-t1-body-d1-d4-d3-d2.html

Coconut leaves are also woven into different types of mats or structures for decorating the pandals(the place where marriage is performed) in South India. Since they are green in colour which indicates prosperity, auspicious and also  new life, they are used for decorating or erecting structures under which all suspicious occasions are celebrated especially marriages. They are also natural, environmental friendly, cool and available at no cost.


Here are links where you can see how coconut leaves are used for decoration.
http://malayalamscrap.com/scrapcard/coconut-leaf-decorations-1

http://malayalamscrap.com/scrapcard/coconut-leaf-decorations-3
http://make-handmade.com/2011/12/02/palm-leaves-art-wedding-gates-weaving-%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8Bof-coconut-leaves/
http://www.dinodia.com/ImageBigView.asp?ImageID=120729

Watch out for more of Arts and Crafts in my next posts....

Friday, September 28, 2012

Knotted Buttonhole Stitch-1


TAST-2012-Week39-Knotted Buttonhole Stitch

This week Sharon has announced the Knotted Buttonhole Stitch in the TAST challenge. Please visit her site to know more about it:

http://pintangle.com/2012/09/25/take-a-stitch-tuesday-week-39-2/

My previous work of this stitch are:





I will try to work some more. But with renovation work going on in my home, it is difficult to do any thing...still I will give it a try......so please watch my blog.....