maybe obsessing....

I have just arrived at work,
Dear Sushela Madam is making me a cup of tea and I am trying to settle down...
there are so many things to plot and plan at the moment
We have booked into the India international Garment Fair in Delhi in January, so we need to sort out what we want to show and how to present ourselves well
Tours are really picking up again, people are coming out of the feeling of slump and wanting to venture far and wide again....we have had so many prompts to devise more Indian tours, and take people out on an adventure, my mind has gone into overdrive.
allowed to dream and plot and plan and allow it to all unfold.

Our first new tour will be based in Bengal, I have found a theme.
In my mind we always have a story we revolve around...Rajasthan is easy, Kings, forts, Mughals and
stories of love....some our group this year enjoyed the Taj Trilogy- it is fiction but adds so much colour to the places we visit.
Well we have a theme for Bengal, now we need a name, we have booked transport and January will see us over there putting all the links in place.
Monish- Praveen's son now lives with us, quiet exciting actually. He is 16 and needs a father's hand and I am finding it such a delight to have him joining our home. Being able to come on the research trip will be something to help him focus, he needs to earn his place by helping with research.
We need a map, distances, times, addresses, contact details....good jobs for a boy. He is a love, just 16 and hard work and concentration skills to be improved upon.

So excited.
It does open a million other ideas though, we have textile friends all over the place and amazing places we would like to visit.
What would you think of a tour that had a few nights in very simple- clean but basic hotels out in a town that boasts the most amazing traditional painting skills, Truly I do mean amazing!
 and what of one night staying in a village in people's homes. Again very simple, last time we visited we felt like visiting royalty even though we slept on a plank. The embroidery above gives just a hint of the natural beauty of the area.
So what do you think- the rest of the trip will be in very comfortable places but I think the few nights out off the beaten track will be the absolute highlight!!

OK sharing excitements has helped me settle down, I have to order a few books of poetry- further research and get back into textile designs....I have ideas!!
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! and then life is so exciting and busy :)

 

Moirai of Singapore

One of the reasons we are so busy all the time is a great supporter of our Anita of Moirai of Singapore. Here are some lovely images from her last photo shoot.

Many of our designs she takes just as we make them , we reliable to her brand name and other ideas we concoct together.... great to ss how her business has grown, now just about 1 year old and flying.

do drop in and say hello if you are in Singapore. Anita is such an enthusiastic and fun person, you'll enjoy yourself.

Shop name Moirai

Great World City,B-2, Unit 10,

1, Kimseng Road, Singapore

Just wonderful.
and today has been another busy day at the Project, we had rain this morning so a little overcast giving us great light and Praveen finally got a whole heap of beautiful photos done. Lots of colour choices
Our Silk Cardigans are finally in our Etsy shop and making there way onto other media sites.
Does not matter how nice something is - if people can't see it , they are not going to want to buy it!!
Making major headway on bookwork and now we can turn our eye towards marketing.... whew!

 love the little cardi

...can't wait until next time I go to Oz and it will be cool enough to wear one>

Happy New Year

Not sure if I am late from the last one or early for the next....the way time flies it is hard to tell.
My Grandmother - Nan Charlton used to always say time speeds up...never understood it as a kid but I really get it now.
 Even my chatting to friends has become via quick Viber texts and pictures or half finished emails...where I keep having to bail out and say I'll be back later....Anne - sorry :)

These are some lovely shirts we have been working on...a frisky breeze and they would not stand still!!
Our first order of the year involved printing
LOVE
LOVE
LOVE
all over metres of fabric as part of a special order for one of our clients....Pretty cool....
computer and phone won't talk to each other at the moment so I can't load it???? what is that anyway??
 first work in production is covered in indigo kisses....

Madly working on details for a private tour of 14 embroiderers from the UK- will be great to have them with us, our first Indian Inspiration Creative Camp is a whirl of bookings our end and excitement for me....look forward to all that creative energy here in the workshop....Friday we will be taking our block designs up to our block carver - yeh!

Not long later will be Textile Traditions of Vietnam's North....love Vietnam. All in all our chance to share some of our textile enthusiasm and connections with our through Creative Arts Safaris is rocking along...oh and our next Rajasthan and beyond tour is all sorted and listed on the website as well.

shhhh... I don't want to spook them but our 2 office guys are proving helpful at getting through paperwork......

Amongst all this our workshop has been busy, busy, busy.
Pushing a bit and drawing patterns myself because our pattern guy is still a bit dozy and we have not found anyone new but we are making headway.
Think you can see some images here...still got to get more in our shop and in our catalogues on Pinterest but we are making headway!
Mr Mahendra our print guy is fabulous to work with ....Gillian Travis has given us the thumbs up on the printing in her new batch of flower kits....I am getting to try ideas out and have him pull them off. A very quite man he has a lovely cheeky humour and good grasp of care and quality.

off to see what is happening...I have new samples hald way through and must watch they don't get sidelined.....

Yeh a bit busy, I have visitors this week and next in the studio so hope to be able to sit and talk a bit, play with new ideas, find the bits and pieces from my Vietnam stitchied journal I have been playing with for years....lots of things.

OHH goodness yes visitors- I have to sort out the Upstairs studio!! it looks like a bomb went off....my space and so only one to blame is me- or perhaps Praveen! he can help fix it.
 Happy happy to 2015 :)

Sunday again...

In the office again, our accountant is down from Delhi....still inching our way through getting all our books absolutely ship shape, tedious but necessary. other pending paperwork expeditions like the Fair Trade registration and the library registration are just lurking on the hopeful list.

Being quite I also have time to work on getting proper inventories up to date with Ranjit.

All so anal, details, details, details yet I can see as we grow into being a proper business, it will enable us to know what is happening, be able to estimate production times and let clients know when they can expect delivery, being able to calculate this info will mean a lot less sleepless nights for me.

Already I can see how much hand stitching we can do in a month,  how much is waiting to be done and that we can comfortably increase our Stitching Ladies gang by 50%+ and still be sure of keeping the work up to everyone. Previously we have been nervous of taking on more women because we see them as a big responsibility, they depend on the income.

Now refining our record keeping on which stitching is going where, so we know what to expect back in and so when it can go out to clients ....We have a record of what wages we paid per previous month, but trying to answer what is out now takes a lot of flicking through the Stitching Ladies book....a head ache.

Ranjit looks after this side of things and he has a good mind to understand systems. Bliss.

After that I have the cutting room. GGGGRRRRRRRRRR. Mr Pelad our cutting man makes very nice patterns, properly graded, nice fit.
He does not process instructions very well and really, watching him, he could not organize a piss up in a brewery.
So trying to get a system going so I know he understands our cutting programme, can find the right pattern etc, etc is sending me a bit nuts.
We are fiddling, trying to juggle people around, use the skills they do have and find who will fill the gap of thinking and record keeping.
Quietly we are grooming Ranjit to be workshop overseer in time. He is maturing nicely, his people skills are maturing and he has worked with us for 4 nearly 5 years now- we know what he is like.
 Amongst organizational headaches- growing pains when we look back on it in the future it has been a pleasing week as well,
22 visitors for a nuno felt taster....in the Studio... we sued cut up saris as the base fabric, some started to felt up fine....they needed to take them home and finish the kneading of them....some the saris were not co-operating so well. I can see ways to tweak if we are to do these tasters again.
we have been hit for more requests/orders for our hand stitch work than I ever dreamed of...hence a lot of flustering and REALLY working on our systems.

Another joy of rural India....internet connection is so patchy even with the expensive government service and the Camel Fair on top of it....no pictures for you today.

Off to do inventories......organize, organize, organize...our motto.
You know it is serious, even Praveen who is loath to do office work is on the band wagon. That man is a keeper. :)
 

Hmmmm....

 Life is a blur...some little time in the print room which is good....finally I have easily accessible space to work in...then it just takes time fiddling around to find combinations and ideas that work.
One of our staff members, a skilled worker but a very difficult personality to deal with...egotistical and often looking for ways to manipulate people is finally gone.
We have hung in with him, explained our problems and tried to get him into line but finally enough is enough and ohh does it make a difference not having a dominating personality in the machine room trying to muck things around.

Such a relief.....and now other people can settle into their roles with out stress.

 You can't see the tail/ handle....little Mouse Purse.... used up the squares we stitched years ago....great size for a small sewing kit or pencils or stuff.

 ooohhh the joy, print experiments....one more problem to sort but we are onto it.
We love block print, it is so versatile, easy to do, minimal clean up and obviously hand work. For a long time we have worked with Mrs Nandu, unfortunately for a long time we have had many hiccups with her about quality. When her mind is on the job she can do a reasonable job...increasingly this has not been happening.
One of the biggest reasons for the new print room was to have quality control at our finger tips. To be polite we had to offer a job here and we hoped with it being under our nose, and no distractions we could ensure care and quality.....not happening.
She seems to think we are silly some how and stories about bad ink, rubbish blocks etc will be brushed off. It is so frustrating and disappointing once again to have to go through this.
I must admit the anxiety levels of will work for good or will it once again be rejected is getting to me. We pay her the same amount a man fully skilled would get. whilst we could make allowances for speed of work, sloppy work and excuses are not acceptable.
So hard to deal with but today is the day, and employing a reliable person will take away the worry, speed up work and increase productivity we have such a backlog of printing work to get through!

 Anyway some of my experiments on our lovely Bihar handloom. Mr Ansari has been a lot of work for Praveen to chat him through quality, and sending exactly the same thing each time, no marks and working out how much fabric we can expect....Mr Ansari is very careful, there might not be written lists and proper bills coming through to us but a phone call and it is at his fingertips. So we have Sumeet our office guy ringing and preparing his invoices our end.

 Making great headway in that department.
new prints to show.....samples happening and many small jobs in the machine room at the moment...time consuming to do small runs but it works for a smaller customers and helps them build their client base so we can all hope for more.

Amongst all this we are trying Etsy as our shopping outlet- it is a dedicated site for handmade and busy so hopefully it works for us....slowly filling shops with

Watts Wright Designs graffiti stuff, you know our supplies shop Glitz and Pieces,  Tasty Old Chooks Clothes still needs some TLC but it is happening... and The Stitching Project has the tide coming in....tell your mates about us, please :)

And another quilt top coming together square by square.....liking this idea a lot....
oh well off to run around like a crazy woman again....
amongst all this staff are madly cleaning as well.....6 weeks of rain leave a lot of damp around the place and with Diwali coming all needs to be cleaned and freshened for the new year. BBBBYYYYEEEE

blue days.....

Blue days....only in the sense we have an ongoing obsession with indigo and are just working out how to utilize it in our next range.

 Our play day was weeks ago but it has taken ages to have a minute to think about it....
workshop building...big stuff finished but much slow little stuff ongoing.
painting man near finished, electric finished just got to buy fans to install,
gggggrrrrrrrrrr grinding man is here, cleaning off the floors...hate the noise it makes the whole building vibrate.....
not bags of cement outside my office means no clouds of dust blowing in....
once new office is ready we can start to move and dust everything off as we go, until then old office looks like a bomb, a dirt bomb that is hit it!

 in amongst washing another million saris and getting them dry in between thunder storms I have been arranging and re-arranging piles of indigo looking at how the prints come out, what we could mix with what to make new quilts and throws, new garments....

 a lot of just ooohhhhh and aaaahhhh over how lovely it all is. This silk musru is mesmerizing.....

Workshop re-organization has been more than spaces deep....had a few issues with staff come to a head last month and just about finished working them through, we have regular Friday meetings now and ask for feedback as well as give feedback ....ideas sharing, programming for work etc, etc.
really good for the energy of OUR WORKSHOP.
we want it to be our workshop- only if everyone likes to pull together can we be the type of success Praveen and I envision.
Australian that I am I have longed for Sunday off.....new moon and full moon just seem to happen and I am not prepared so usually work...crazy but that is how it goes.
Indian law says Sunday closed for bigger businesses, but Rajasthan practice doe not.... staff worried wages would drop...worked out if lunch is a little shorter....we save enough hours in month to have Sundays off-  had to talk it all through and work out hours etc but we can do it.
Yeh!! a step towards modern work practices....and staff at home Sunday, kids are off school that day...family time. novel idea?
so different here in India....people work so hard just to get by, most don't expect family time, just family looking after, paying for food, housing and school.
Off to work because tomorrow is SUNDAY!!!

Indigo day

 Finally got a chance to spend the day with Rababu-ji our indigo guy....we need new samples to use for the next range but more importantly we wanted a chance to really look at what happens when you layer this over that using our blocks not the ones available to us through our mud resist guy Me Ganesh.

 So a great day, looking and doing....

George thought I wanted to play as I sat this morning to contemplate all the pieces on the washing line and dream what we might do....silly boy.
Yesterday whilst we were waiting for the fabric to come back from the washer man Praveen and I had time to twiddle our thumbs and chat a little.
Interesting things happening, we are madly building the workshop and scrambling just as much to set procedures in place and stream line office work and workshop stuff.
We feel we had a win last week with workshop staff, now we have dis-armed the workshop manager who was not managing but muddling and bullying staff have been keen to help work out a workshop agreement defining our expectations and their expectations. Something to keep everything clear and protect us all from the way things had gone.
realistically a lot of the blame is ours- we appreciated the good, skilled work and made allowances for little things we saw that were not the best behaviour. We should have had much clearer boundaries and asked more questions.
We are getting there.... and workshop is coming along nicely.
Next thing I can see that I will have to deal with is clients and payments.
One thing all our staff comment on is they like the way we pay regularly...often in India workers will not get paid until the boss is paid by clients, or after they have spent a fortune on a wedding or something.
our first commitment is to our staff and we pay monthly for workshop members and upon completion of each piece for our women. this is important because for many that has an impact on what goes on the dinner table tonight and kids school fees being paid.
when we talk to clients we clearly state we expect a deposit before work can start and we expect FULL payment once work is ready to be dispatched. I can understand they might want to check and so wait  for arrival of goods but then for people to regularly forget or send a message "OH I am a little cash strapped...I will pay soon" is not fair.
What would you think of me if I said to a woman...sorry no money for dinner tonight -client made an order but now doesn't want to pay on time?... you don't mind do you?
 It puts us in a very difficult position- we don't have the money to cover people's debts to us....sometimes I wonder how we will go on?
What do they call it a cash flow problem? those better off not being careful enough to make sure there is timely payment for the fairly traded goods they are so interested in?
Interesting isn't it? I am sure they are not mean or horrible people but they are also not thinking.


 

Goodness me.

Someone just asked how I cam to be in India....bit of a soapy when you write all down quick.

 

Sure in point form

·       2003 single mother and Waldorf Steiner teacher, with MA[Visual Arts- Textiles] realising kids growing up and I needed to get a life

·       Spur of the moment got a passport, ticket and went to India all within the time it took to get the passport

·       This, that and the other I met Praveen

·       Circled around for years meeting whenever we could, started creative Arts Safaris- specialty tours focusing on textiles, arts and crafts

·       2008  kids flown the nest we decided we would live in India together.

·       Did not want to live in Delhi where he comes from wanted to live rural [much laughter and confusion here as people leave the village for the big smoke not go the other way]

·       Rural Rajasthan was where we were headed and this is where we are

·       2009 We operated a tour business by now, rented a hotel to operate and to keep me busy I started trying to teach local women to stitch for income generation….needed a translator so Praveen was roped in.

·       Didn’t go so well so we had to be more hands on……long story we no longer have hotels we stitch all the time…somewhere in  there The Stitching Project started to evolve

·       We are mad about work that employs local people, work of the hand, travel extensively to meet the people we buy handweaves off

·       We are 3 years completely registered as a business [12 June]  + 2 years working out how to do that in India, have Craftmark certification for our Kantha stitch/ quilting work. Now 3 years registered we can apply to join Fairtrade India and it is on the ‘to do’ list.

Lots of pictures on our Blog http://ofdaydreamsandmemories.blogspot.in/

Pinterest www.pinterest.com/stitchingladies

Facebook www.facebook.com/TheStitchingProject

 

·       I have an extensive textiles background, Praveen is a new addict, dragged into it to help me he discovered he has a good idea for the work, love blockprinting and it fills his heart with pleasure at the social impact fairly paid work can achieve.

 Working in India is not always easy for either of us but we love our life, our worksop and our home here, and continue to work hard to create work we love and employment for those around us.

I think that is the quick version J

Bit soppy but we are lucky it is a true story….amazing things can happen some days

Fiona and Praveen ,

haha.... as a couple over time we have become incredibly happy together....we have been in love 11 years but time and listening and making conscious changes for our health individually hence then as a couple has chipped away at all the things that used to make us miserable and grumpy. so now we are happy as well.

still firey but much more constructively so.

 

 Building report- Our Ranjit and our Sohan have got amongst the building to keep the pace up...otherwise it could take 2 years....so I can hear Sohan cracking jokes and teasing and Ranjit egging him on all day.
That is Ranjit halfway up the ladder hoiking sand up to make the render for the roof- he is calling out to Sohan to STOP jokes- if he laughs he might fall off the ladder. See we have safety standards here in India.

 the boys again- pushing the pace with slab laying.....as a treat we made chicken dinner for them last night.
Whilst this has been happening outside the workshop, inside has been a bit different. Same them freshening things up but quite a different angle needed.
whilst I was away a few things have become obvious....
A lot of the problems have arisen from Praveen and I being a bit too friendly and easy going. we work with smart people, and they are skilled we are happy to have them on our team....problem being 2 key ones think they are indispensable and becoming more princess like as time goes by.

Only people indispensable in this organization are Praveen and I - we are the reason the others have jobs....simple as that.... we have pointed that out rather clearly.
So workshop manager has been given a BIG wake up....
Years ago when we realised with our ladies keeping note in our register and the rule 3 strikes and you are out...all things run smoothly and become fun.
As the boss we need to be the boss and sometimes be very bossy....no matter how much you encourage and expect responsible behaviour it won't necessarily happen...egos sometimes become rampant.
 Not sure what is happening with my office guy.....he has not had enough time to being doing paperwork properly but when I checked his computer he had plenty of time to be visiting lots of places on the internet that have NOTHING to do with work. He is on notice - get it sorted and quick or go somewhere else.
What a week! this is all whilst intense building is happening....thank goodness for our 2 lads helping there.

One of our new blocks....we are building up a little library of traditional blocks as well as our own designs.
Look at the workmanship in this.
This is why we keep at it....local people, local skills, amazing opportunity for us to be immersed in a creative life that has social impact.
Look at the blocks Fiona -don't think of using one of them to scone someone!!
Intense week but really we are making good headway....I am advertising for another office staff I can always find 2 if I need to.....and whilst Pau-ji is very skilled and can be a great help; if necessary and we create the space and  the Universe will supply someone even better.
Everyone knowing that seems to help put everyone in a better space to focus on what is important.
 

big changes

 My husband, that man down there in the apron has made some big life changes of late and boy is it having a great effect on his energy levels and involvement with things. He has tried out block printing and is addicted....we really would like one more quilt cover to take to the expo and he was just suggesting he could pop over to Nandu's and print it himself!!!
Amazing and wonderful

 Beautiful musru silk from Sunil of Patan workshop printed and about to be made into a rather luxurious quilt cotton filled quilt.....

 3 hands stitching this quilt- all the fellows from the workshop, our women who usually come in to do quilts are all distracted by wedding fever.
The ladies of Baseli village are over last week's wedding fevers and madly scrabbling to stitch this and that to finish off other samples- they are a great team and support pulling together to help us get ready to go out and find us all work! Appreciated in a big way.

finished this last night.... recycled sari yarn throw....I did sit snuggle under it for a while just to test it our, warm and cosy- yeh

Ok cup of tea finished- what to do next boring job of costing paperwork or into the workshop for a bit of a turn hand stitching another quilt???
hmmm life is full of choices- should or would like???

Some days....

 I spent yesterday turning the workshop upside down....we turned out every bag, numbered the bag and wrote an inventory list [the one for the store room is brilliant] so I expanded Ranjit's field of accounting to make life easy packing for our Etsy shop...then realised it was nearly empty so went onto fill it and make a list of things for Praveen to photograph so they can be added.....rather pleased with our efforts....

 Then onto Papu-ji's room and sorted and filed all our patterns, clients patterns, things we are working on as new samples.....generally created a lot of order. We already have a new clip board system where he writes notes as he goes when making a new sample....so we don't have to scramble later and work out what we did, how long it took, how may metres of fabric....you know the list of things to forget is endless, really.

 Look a real inventory list- go Ranjit, go!

 even looking at MY chair filing system and thinking I need to rectify it.... not sure where to put things I don't want to forget and things like our new indigo dyed silk musru and cotton mud resist I want to gloat over a little as I wonder what to do with them!! BUT yes a system will need to be found.

 I am off to Oz in a few days, alone thanks to visa problems again!! which does take the glow out of it....I will be happy to see the guys... madly rushing to get work set up for the workshop so we will have all our samples ready for the Trade Show in January.... exciting and major stress all rolled into one.

So yesterday - trying to be super organized and after a bit of disappointment [ OK nearly tears] over a less than great print job earlier in the week I went over to Nandu's with my new idea....started well...then for some reason Nandu did not check the ink consistency on the green and it started to bleed....waste of fabric when wrong....got that sorted and got a nice rhythm to the print happening.
I left another large piece to follow exactly the same pattern.....sample was there in front...well result today did leave me crying.
I love Nandu, she is a great woman, it is not fair her husband died in a motorbike accident when little Radhi was 3 days old and none of the family were ready to step up and help her. She has to work and block printing is the only thing she knows....some days she does a great job and many days a bit ho hum....
She hosts workshops we organize and is great, friendly, helpful and we charge a good rate so she makes a little nest egg out of doing them [interesting all the family seem to hang around like flies at that time with their hands out????]
but I think I am coming to the end of my tether trying to build up print work for her and not knowing whether it will be a winner or a I'll be crying.....what to do????
I understand she and many others can't read so can't write a note...not having had an education even diagram following and pictures is hard ....you need to be here to see how much school gives you in organizing information, working in a sequence and so many things you pick up while playing when very small....

I feel at my wits end as to what to do....

I left her workshop yesterday with samples in front of her, thinking yes that is a system that will be good....nup!
off for a little cry now....well no I am going to look around and appreciate the organization we have in the workshop....the list of yummy samples we have happening and hope, pray and plan for a better approach to block print.

A bit of a lather!

Sunday...good intention is to take it a bit slow....
failing miserably! well happily actually.
we are going like the clappers at the moment samples for us The Stitching Project, samples for us Tasty Old Chooks Clothes both to got to Indian Garment show trade fair in January,  samples for Zac and us Watts Wright Designs and TSP stuff to take to the home wares trade show in February...and then heaps of work for other clients all starting to build up. we can manage everything just got to keep paddling to keep on track.. [ ooh a real mixed metaphor but you get it?]

Praveen and I feel all abuzz and excited actually...this is dreams come true stuff.
We have our workshop where we work happily together, we have students coming here for 2 weeks to use the studio, we have our Rajasthan tour following that.....and we do hope to be going to Oz in December.
Another spanner has been thrown in the works of that one...another visa decline.
Very interesting about the visa things...we applied for visa to Europe- it was clearly defined all the information we needed to show. Half a tree of business registration, bank statements, tickets etc...a clear list to tick which we did, then money was paid over after the girl had seen we had everything and low and behold the visa was granted and the passport delivered to Mr Kanhaya Lal - Praveen's official name as he sat sipping tea with his Mum 2 days later.
When the courier arrived he had to think twice, he was not expecting anything official for weeks and his nickname Praveen is most often heard in the house.....but there it was - we spent the rest of the day checking to see it was true.

Applying for an Australian visa, the first thing they look at is the money- do you have it?...then it is a matter of giving them whatever paperwork you think they might like to see. There is no clear indication as to what it might be... you have to guess...you might get it right or you might get it wrong...if you miss something there are no questions asked , you are rejected.
You might like to take another stab in the dark and apply again- do pay up first.
If you like to have the decision questioned you may go before the Migration Review Board -pay $1605 first and then they will eventually review it-you send whatever paperwork you think they might like- no requirements given. If they decide to approve it you will be given half the money back if they do not decide to approve it- they keep all your money. What do you think the odds are of getting approval??
We only want a tourist visa to visit the kids and friends, we never want to live there, we will pay our way and we will leave on time. We have things to do back home in India, we love India....ooohhh I can start to loose my cool if I think on it to much.
Monday though I am starting in again to take another stab in the dark to apply- fingers crossed. Boy will the enquiry lines run hot...squeaky wheel will hopefully yield results.
I am Australian and this is an attitude of my country I hate!! It is a beautiful country, full of great people but we/they have let bureaucracy take over...quite mindless.

Anyway my little happiness for the morning- this sample is working.....a BIG list has be drawn up....much to do...and I might have a new idea brewing....

Stitching Ladies later as well- always fun to see them... life is good

a binge ?

 Sunday, trying to make a bit of a Sunday and steer clear of paperwork...of course I am at the workshop as we don't really have weekends.... but today is just for fiddling around and playing with things,

Yesterday I walked into Papu-ji's cutting room and realised I may have been on a binge....I felt like a junkie who  had slipped off the wagon and just noticed.....silks sari everywhere!!
We have a lot going on and will use them all up... I just got a big surprise seeing so many...there is more under both tables as well.
Bulging with sari's is the only way to describe it...

This is the view from my desk- photo board with pictures of kids, mates, my beautiful Grandparents looking on...things we are making the fire we went around ....places Praveen and I have been, family holiday us with the kids...such a pleasure to remember and look forward to the next instalment- Ganesha remove obstacles and let it be in Australia [ yeh visa is weighing on my mind]

wearing my new to today....added a wider external facing on the neck- like the look...this is in a lovely soft cotton we get from the wholesaler...think it would be great in our hand spun handloom fabric so will do another sample in that and then had to decide. Love, love , love the handloom though and it embodies all we hold dear so think it will win.

I used to see myself as an artist and work at my practice every day; every breath, every though really...I loved landscape and sense of place and most of my exploration was around that....wanting to do some new cushion covers and wanted to explore some of the designs that arose from my artwork using abilities we have here.... then trying to think of how to present this to our women.

They will follow what I ask, but really for these it would probably look a little flat...I want a sense of movement and nuances to the stitch.

I love black and white at the moment and that is boring around here as well.

 

I so appreciate the auditors comment about being impressed with our women's engagement with our work....we want that. To have it noticed though really made Praveen and I happy.

 

then during the 3.00am sleeplessness I thought- how about using Diwali and fireworks as the inspiration? centre the stitch from middle of each piece and designate a palette for them to use and hopefully it will lend a playfulness to the stitch and it will explode out of the cushion cover....happy, happy now.

Bloody generator is running this morning- impacts on Sunday peacefulness but electricity will return soon- I am off to spend the day stitching and working on the next sample for TOCC....love having papu-ji there to do the fiddly stuff like make patterns and stitch samples...I can think of the next idea, draw lists for the workshop TO DO, daydream a bit

Ohhh Sundays :)- enjoy.

 

Almost feel I should add RIP Australia- new MP and his attitudes are an embarrassment to anyone with heart and any chance for the average bloke in Oz.

lists, lists, lists

Lists, lists and lists are happening.
We have garment Trade Fair in January and
Home wares trade fair in February ...so much to do...so many ideas to can explore...
really I have to limit them more than anything else.
we need to present a theme so the booths hang together and not look a riot.
hence the lists and lists...first ideas and then how do they go together?
Good thing is we have the workshop and many hands so as long as we can get our head around things there are people to help us make them happen.

 First job everyday is to feed this gang. Part of the garden now has a wall- re-inforced with pot plants on the outside to Madam Lali can't push it over...babies were clearly unhappy in the chicken hutch so they are out as well, and have to be very fast to get food before the big ones walk all over them and eat it all up!

 Amusing to watch everyone. The babies look like over sized lady beetles rather than small tortoises somehow. would not surprise me if they stretch wings and fly.

The garden at work has been strewn with piles of saris as we mix and match for new ideas...I love re-cycled saris -once we have found them and I have got the washing done- I can hand them over to the guys who press and make yummy things we have dreamed up - like gloating there- we work very hard for those minutes.

 Pinterest is so useful to horde or should that be hoard? images of what is happening in the outside world and I have discovered the idea Lagenlook- here is a good little definition....pretty much sums up how I like to dress and where we want to go with our Tasty Old Chooks and The Stitching Project stuff....collecting up images means I can run through what I have seen easily and show Praveen...he has a good eye and so we can work out together just what to try next- fun .

 We lost the bag clip place in Delhi we usually go to...I spent hours, hot sweaty hours on a recent jaunt looking for them - now we have them again...got a whole heap of cool clasps and things for some ideas.....love these clutch blanks with diamanté skull clips-...could not think of how they would go with our aesthetic but I want one!

Very successful feel to yesterday's trip and we put in another visa application for Australia- making doubly sure everything was right- fingers crossed this time we can visit Australia together...process is doubly difficult than the French visa application - what is it with them???
Anyway we live in hope :)