Quilled Monarch

     This is my second Monarch butterfly , I am happy with this because it is an improvement from my previous one and also because I quilled based on a picture of the butterfly instead of other quilled butterflies . All the paper strips except the dark orange are store bought .I quilled the entire butterfly with a very fine needle. It took me about ten hours to complete this. 

   This is a stand alone piece  I strengthened the butterfly by applying glue to the underside.  It was made on request , I had it with me for sometime and found it hard to part with it when I had to . 

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Quilled wedding knot

      I received a request from a friend for an arathi thattu for her daughter's wedding.  I suggested flowers , but she wanted something different and new. I found this design on the internet on a  wedding card. I drew it out and quilled .I used beehive quilling as it seemed best as I had to incorporate the dots to show some design on the clothes.In some Indian weddings the saree of the bride is tied to the groom's garment symbolizing the union.

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Quilled banyan tree.

       A Banyan tree has a special place in Indian believes and myths. Princes are said to have learnt their lessons from their gurus under the shelter of the Banyan tree.  It is considered as a symbol of sacrifice and wisdom. A Banyan tree gives refuge to a whole lot of life forms under its huge protective canopy. 

      Some people are also like the Banyan , in the way they support and enrich a lot of lives during their life time.Dr Gnanasoundari was recently honoured by Vijay T.V with a  life time achievement award for this year's Woman's day. I was requested to make a card for her. The first thing that came to my mind was a Banyan tree. My idea was immediately approved by the president of our woman's wing of our library.

      Dr Gnanasoundari was the first president of our women's wing at our library. It was long before I became a member but I still hear about her influence  and the changes she has brought about in many people's lives. She has motivated many stay at home women to come out and take courageous steps in their personal and social life that she is affectionately called as 'amma' which means mother.

      She started her career as a Gynecologist in the year 1957, Overseeing more than 30,000 deliveries spanning  more than fifty years and three generations of mothers. To fulfill her husband's dream to bring health care to people in rural areas living below poverty line she along with her husband worked to establish Dr Kumaraswami Health Center, A multi speciality Hospital at a place called  Agasteeswaram in Kanyakumari district, with every mordern medical equipment. Even before the hospital started functioning her husband ,Dr Kumaraswami passed away . Carrying her husband's vision forward Dr Gnanasoundari started the hospital in 1998. She became the President of Indian Medical Center and Director of Dr Kumaraswami Health Center and Dr Kumaraswami college of Nursing.She is also the President of Gnanadeepam Matriculation Higher secondary School at Agasteeswaram . Her contribution to health care and education is unprecedented. She is a living legend and continues to inspire many women not by preaching but by being an amazing example of humility , hard work and gentleness.

      I looked at lot of quilled trees on the internet and particularly here on pinterest. . I made a sketch of a banyan tree and then got the impression of the trunk alone on the paper. I cut brown colour card stock for the trunk.

At first I thought of quilling the leaves on the tree individually , later I decided to make chunks of bee hive quilling for branches .

I added some colour in the form of small creatures that live in the shelter of the tree .

A tiny nest with a small bird and egg.
Linking my tree to Wondrous things: spring tree

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Quilled baby shower card

   I made this card on request from a friend and it gave me an opportunity to make a card for a baby shower. On the day of the baby shower bangles are put on the wrist of the would-be mother by all the female guests. This is done  to bless her and the unborn child . 

   My friend did suggest a bangle in quilling, I started off making a bangle shape with crimped strips. I finished the circle with a red glitter strip cut from a sheet to give the look of a bangle.The background is a gold paper layered on red shiny paper.

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QUILLED GANESHA.

      Lord Ganesha or Pilliayar is revered as the God of good beginnings and remover of obstacles. I have always been fascinated by the different symbolic ways in which Ganesha is represented , At one time I collected wedding cards with Ganesha in different styles from abstract to very elaborate designs. This picture is also from a wedding card , I liked it a lot and this has been with me for more than two years. The picture was originally almost monochromatic Akhil manipulated the colours before printing it out. Althought quilling over a picture has a lot of advantages , it is also very difficult since we have no choice of colours and to cover up the printed designs with quilling is quite challenging. Since the picture is from a wedding card it had glitter on it and it shows in some places. Still I have used lot of techniques and had to think a lot and it altogether  took me almost three whole days. I decided to quill the eyes first and to proceed only if it turned out fine.The trunk had lot of intricate patterns and after many trials I finally made tight coils with reducing sizes.

     Both my kids are at home studying for their exams and were quite drawn by this project, Always wanting to know if I am going to use the filler technique or graphic quilling. For some reason I could not photograph very well, the quilled mouse won't show well at all .

     Twelfth board exams for my elder son Abi has started from today. It will be fresh beginning for him soon when he enters college. I only pray he will be happy and successful in what ever choice he makes.

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Quilled pink flowers

     Pink flowers made using different quilling techniques.
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Quilled Valentine.

     Here is my heart full of flowers , anyone who quills knows that this is Cecelia's design. It appears on almost every google search for quilling. Almost a year ago when she posted her heart full of flowers, she gifted me the PDF for her tutorial.  I have tried her flowers before  you can see them here and here, In comparison the flowers that I have made now look so much better. I am so very impressed with Cecelia's instructions. Every detail is explained so clearly and with pictures.
     I used pre cut paper strips left over from other projects for making the flowers. My valentine turned out more colourful.It takes very little quilling paper to make these open petal flowers. No two quillers can produce the same result even if they try to make the same thing. I like Cecelia's heart way better than mine, this is just my trial.Following her step by step instructions the flowers were very easy to make and more even.
    Here are some pictures taken in Sunlight and with different backgrounds.

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