PONGAL WISHES

    "May joy , Prosperity and good fortune overflow in  abundance this pongal and throughout the year."

       Today is Surya Pongal, most important day in the pongal celebrations . Salutations are given to the Sun for the harvest. I tilted the pot to face the sun , we do cook our pongal with the pot slightly tilted east wards.Even before I completed the pot I was sure I would use Susan's beehive scrolls to show pongal overflowing out of the pot.
       I only planned the pot but my sons felt , it would not be complete without the paddy sheaf and the sugarcane.Lot of colours and glitters are a part of every Indian festival.

       This is the kolam I made yesterday in front of my house for bhogi , and I also quilled it for a friend as my pongal gift.

       This is the picture of the kolam from the book .

        Thanks for stopping by, A very happy pongal to everyone.. 

Quilled miniature Hanuman

      Today is my second blog anniversary,and I have something new to share - a miniature Hanuman doll. Hanuman is a Hindu God , he is depicted with a face of a monkey and he is worshipped for good health.He is famous for being very brave and strong and deeply devoted to Lord Rama. He is also the favourite among kids, like a super hero with lot of animated movies based on his stories.

       When I first got the request I took it up with lot of doubts.  It was not easy and it took me a long time to figure out and then quill this doll, but I am happy with the likeness I managed to get . 

        Here's how he looks from behind. He is very colourful and he is made almost completely from paper , except for his earrings which are beads and the floral wires which were inserted inside his legs, arms and his tail. Even his jewels are cut from a shiny paper and his clothes are made from duplex crepe paper .The dome shaped of his crown is made from gold colour quilling strips.I am most happy with his tail as it took shape without much trouble . I worried about it's drooping down.This doll is more than four inches tall.

           When I wrote this post I did not know but only learnt from Anandhirajan's comment that Hanumanth Jayanthi is on 24 th , which makes for a happy coincidence.
       This is another kolam which is also a repeat of my earlier work for the same person who requested the doll .So far I have only accepted requests from people whom I know  ,this is the first time I accepted a request through Email. 

        LInking to Kavi's Challenge  -anything but a card.


      Blog land has given me above all an opportunity to know so many wonderful people. I received this lamp from one of my blogger friends, Viji I came to know her from the wonderful comments she would leave in my blog and I found her from her blog to be such a warm person who takes joy from the smallest of things . When she posted pictures of her lamps ,I liked this one so much that she would have a similar one sent to me. I am so very touched by her affectionate gesture.

         I thank again and again all my blogger friends for generously sharing their work and techniques.Ann  for always inspiring me by her awesome finds and her all too elegant quilling.Also many thanks to people who take time to email me and tell me how my blog has been of help .Makes me feel better at times when I find blogging overwhelming.
        My husband for buying me a new camera early this year, and for promising me all the paper strips I want for my big projects.
Akhil enjoys quilling and even Abi , during his holidays when he had nothing to do wanted to know how I made the square shape. My kids say such nice things about my work and bear with me when all is not working , that I am so very thankful to them.
        Leaving tomorrow to visit my mother in Bangalore for the Christmas holidays and will be back with one last post(I hope) for this year.

         Thanks for stopping by.Merry Christmas to everyone .

Quilled kolam

         I have never tried to repeat any of my work , as I think I  am always first time lucky. But  when I got a request to quill a kolam which I had done almost two years ago, I wanted to find out if I really can make a similar one. This is the kolam , I made it when I was cutting paper strips with scissors with very thick paper .And it was a time when I was blogging just for myself to record my own progress in paper crafts with only Akhil as my follower. 
         I am happy that this kolam is an improvement over my previous one and hope I will find my quilling more improved when I look back at this after a few more years. This turned out a bit bigger than the earlier one. Though I don't have the previous one now , I know it fit inside a C.D.
         I have used thick white pearlised paper for this kolam and hand cut A4 size paper 80 gsm for the pink teardrops.The kolam is quite sturdy and since Thiru Karthigai is just a day away it is nice to post a kolam. 


Thanks for stopping by ,have a lovely day.

Quilled kolam

        We are in the middle of a Tamil month called Margazli , this month starts from mid December and ends mid January. This month is considered very auspicious and a month dedicated to the Gods(there is an interesting belief -In general 4 to 6 Am in the morning(Brahma Muhurtham) is considered very auspicious time for prayers .It is also believed that one day of the Gods is one year for man and that the 4 to 6 Am of the Gods ,which is one month duration for man is this Margazli month .Therefore this is the month when it is auspicious even for the Gods.)

       As is the tradition every year ,I can see large kolams in front of houses . I only go down to make my kolam on very special days , but I can quill a kolam whenever I want.

       I wanted to post today because it is exactly one year since I started this blog. It was about this time last year, I was making my first snowflakes and Christmas tree to take to my mom's house . I had made at least a dozen snowflakes and hung them all on the tree. I decorated the house with kusudamas and paper snowflakes . 

       In this one year I have made so many friends ,learnt so much and rolled so many hundreds of strips.  Like every other place bloggerland is so beautiful because of the beautiful and talented people in it . I would like to thank  all the people who have encouraged and inspired me and look forward to draw more inspiration from them all. 

      Thanks for stopping by, Have a wonderful Christmas.

      

quilled card

      I am experimenting with different colour combinations and shapes. This design is inspired by the kolam I made for this Diwali. In my recent posts I have been using either one colour strips or two colours , here too I have used only two colour strips . I have hand cut the strips from blue and red colour sheets.

    
       Thanks for stopping by, Have a creative day.

Quilled snowflakes or Kolam?

      I had this page book marked (along with so many other pages with beautiful creations that I hope to quill some day)and was wanting to quill the beautiful snowflakes by Deb mackes. Mine does not have the characteristic  hexagonal shape of a snowflake , It is more circular like a kolam. I love to do symmetrical shapes and I am happy with this one.


     I have hand cut the strips and I have used my favourite hand made paper as background.

Roll the strip into a loose coil.

Pinch on two opposite sides to get the eye shape.

I have pinched the eye shape again in two opposite sides to get this square shape.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a creative day.

quilled card

      Today is my mother's birthday . I quilled this card and mailed it to her and I hope she likes it.
       In this card I have quilled the words அன்பு அம்மா  in my mother tongue Tamil which means dearest mother.My mom is the most surprised at my craft work ,since I was never crafty as a kid. 
      As a kid I have seen my mother make beautiful kolams and she used to draw beautifully whenever she did. This card also has a kolam pattern , the pattern we use for borders. I only quilled the letters as an after thought and I hope it survives in the mail.

quilled kolam

       

       After a long time I have quilled a kolam design. Kolam is an art of decorating courtyards and houses ,a tradition followed up to this day. Every morning women draw beautiful kolams in front of their houses with ground white stone powder or rice powder. Kolams are more a part of south Indian culture. It is considered as a symbol of auspiciousness. During festivals large colourful kolams(Rangoli) are made which adds to the festivity.

       We have free hand kolams which have lot of swirls and curls ,and then there is the dotted kolam where dots are placed on the ground according to a particular count and design and kolams are drawn joining those dots. Just like in quilling we have fish , flowers , birds ,elephants ,peacocks and lot more designs in our kolams.

       Below is the picture of the kolam from my kolam book that I took as inspiration for my above quilled kolam. It is a free hand kolam. The paper that I have used is very thick , it is the one which I used when I began to quill. Therefore the kolam is really sturdy .

         I have used  the same length of strip for all the curls .I have cut the strip into two for the S shaped scrolls.

quilled kolam

Here's another quilled kolam. must stick it on to an old C.D and use it as decoration.

quilled kolam

While going through my kolam book, I got inspired to quill some of the designs  in the book . So I am calling this quilled kolam