Felt butterflies...

Working with Felt is a wonderful thing. I remember some 5 years back when I asked for Felt fabric in the usual book cum stationary  shops all I would get was a blank look. I had found them finally selling at a high price in the new Itsy Bitsy craft shop in Jayanagar, Bangalore(now no longer exists there). I hadn't done anything with them except making few flowers, book marks. I thought they were too precious -:)

Nowadays we get felt in all craft stores. There are many things you can do with felt mostly small stuffed miniatures, toys, ornaments etc.,.

Cutting felt to the exact shape is a tough job for beginners like me.

I took two equal felt  pieces and used a cut paper butterfly as a model. But yet I was unsuccessful in cutting the exact shape.

One good thing is that I cut both the pieces together at a time. Even if there was any mistake in the shape it didn't matter much. They would be sewn together.

I have sewn both the pieces together by blanket stitch.

Detailed butterfly

Do not put the stitches overlapping, it doesn't look good. The first butterfly I did, the stitches were too close and they looked messed up. Anyway I decided to retain them. Looking from far no one can make out the messed up butterfly.

Do not put stitches too close together

We get colored wooden beads in the craft shop. You can get the plain ones and colored them with matching acrylic colors.

How about orange..

How about Orange is a blog that I love to follow. Off late there has been Orange color in my garden. Few pics.

The Orange honeysuckle..

The peacock flower. Lots of parrots rush in to eat the seeds(green ones) of this plant. Its a pleasure to see them. We know they have come by their squeaking and later the remains of the seeds on the ground.

This is the fourth time it's flowering since I bought in last October..

This plant has grown on it's own on the lawns. I don't know the name though. Didn't pull it out since their flowers are pretty. Aren't they?

Bekal Fort, Kasargod

Last year December during Christmas vacation we got a chance to visit Bekal Fort for a day trip.
Bekal fort is located on the coastal Arabian sea, north of Kerala. The fort spreading over forty acres, has massive walls about 12 meters in height built of laterite stones.

As you enter, there is Hanuman temple at the entrance. Near the ticket counter the historical background of Bekal Fort is displayed. Don't miss this if you want to know the history of Bekal fort.

We left Udupi in the morning and reached the fort around 11 AM. It was too hot in the afternoon to explore. I recommend to go in the rainy season and greenery inside the fort would be great. In other season late afternoon would be better.

The fort was clean and well maintained. There are few refreshment shops inside.
There is a beach on either side of the boat but we didn't explore it.

There is a stairway inside the fort. The steps lead to a tunnel and eventually to the outside wall of the fort facing the Arabian sea. There is also a well both for which visitors are not allowed to enter. 

Excellent views from the Fort of the serene Arabian Sea.

A happy new year..

Happy new year to all my blog readers... Bit late I know, have been lazy for sometime to post anything.

Did a lot of things at home this Jan and last month.
Like turning these old bangles to new wearable ones. All you need are old non glass bangles, cotton threads (or shiny ones if you like), fevicol. Just wrap and wrap around the bangles and in the end stick the end of the thread with fevicol(or any tough adhesive) to the underside of the wrapped bangle.
The best thing about these is that you can have the exact color matching bangle with the outfit you are wearing -:).

I have painted these fishes in Madhubani. 

Apart from these I am trying new dishes in the kitchen like there is no tomorrow. Eating the failures has definitely made me gain few kilos. I successfully could create my favorite sweet Rasmalai after 3 unsuccessful attempts.

Snows of Kilimanjaro

Presenting you the 'Snows of Kilimanjaro' shrub which is blooming fully in the parks of my surroundings.The blooming time for this plant usually in the months of November and December. It produces a mass of creamy white bracts which looks like miniature white poinsettias. Native of Central America this shrub grows up to 2 m tall. When it blooms, the air around is filled with a sweet pleasant smell. This gives me an excuse to take the kids to the park full of these flowers.
But be careful while cutting, pruning these plants, the white secretion is said to cause skin irritation.

Next time when you come across them blooming, do stop by and indulge in it's sweet smell.

Flowers wall hanging

Hope you all Indians had a wonderful Deepavali. 

While cleaning the craft supplies, I found a flower loom which was bought ages ago. While buying the flower loom I had thought of definite project  but so far I haven't started -:). Few flowers were lying about which I had made just for sake of learning. An idea struck to me.  I made few pom poms, added some colorful beads and put them all together. Voila!!! you have a colorful hanging!. I put it on the mirror in the common wash basin, which definitely colors up this corner. 

Things you need : Flower loom(available in craft/fancy stores), wool, needle with a hole big enough to pass the wool, colorful beads to match the wool yarn.

Flowers using the flower loom.  As you can see, I used only the inner pegs so my flowers are small .

Poms poms..

Pom Poms.

Jaya, by Devdutt Pattanaik

I bought this book a long time ago on Flipkart, recently finished reading it. It's an interesting read, once you start it becomes an addiction -:).

Most of us would have heard the stories of Mahabharata either through our elders or by watching the famous 'Mahabharata' which used to be aired on DD once upon a time. I have couple of books on Mahabharata one for the children , one for facts by C Rajagopalachari . But what is interesting in 'Jaya' is its simple, beautiful illustrations, the way it is narrated. You feel like reading more and more and never putting it down. Even people who don't like mythological stories too would love to read this since it flows like a fiction.

What I loved was the box in the end of each chapter where the author gives us an insight into the local, regional version of few of the plots. Also how these stories are relevant even today, what lessons we can learn from it as a reader. At the end of the story  the concepts of dharma and justice are explained very well.
You will learn lot of new things from reading this for instance,
Pandu while dying tells his sons, ' I have after years of meditation and celibacy have achieved  great knowledge and is embedded in my body. When I die eat my flesh and you will be blessed with knowledge'. But the Pandavas cremate their father and will not do as their father had instructed them. However Sahadeva one of the Pandavas sees ants carrying tiny pieces of his fathers flesh and eats the ants. After doing this he would know what happened in the past and in future. He eagerly wishes to share this information with his brothers but stopped by the God himself. God instead  forbids him telling anything voluntarily to anyone. He says when people ask you questions reply with a question. He waited for the people to ask him right question but it never came. Interesting isn't it?