Blogger Question

I am curious about replying to the comments on the blog.

I recently found out that in spite of replying to every single comment in the comment box, my readers may not have received those replies in their inbox. I am curious if there is anything in the setting that can be used to redirect the replies or is it something only a reader can choose by clicking on the 'notify me' option.

I will appreciate any answer you may have. 

Rachael recently did not receive the reply I wrote to her in the comment box and now I am thinking none of you did! I am so sorry! I have always tried reply to the comments you all leave. For once I thought of trying something different, only to find out that it did not work. And it happened on one of my favorite posts!

I apologize for making you wonder about the comments you left. Thank you all for responding, placing the order on the book and for your words of encouragement.
 
Summer has arrived! I am enjoying working on sewing machine, hand stitching and photographing some old and new quilts.

Stitching memories

of a visit from a friend and hot flashes.

Chris from Hudson News and Muse sent a note few weeks back wondering if I was going to be around on the 3rd of July. In past few years Chris and I have had quite a few email visits with each other involving conversations about family, hobbies, work and quilts. On Thursday, for few short hours I got to meet her in person with her husband, Scott - two of the nicest 'first time in person - friends' I have had opportunity to welcome in my home.

I am generally very shy meeting someone for the first time. Believe me when I say this, I was definitely not 'as cool as a cucumber' as I greeted them. As a matter of fact, within first five minutes of their arrival, I had one of my worst hot flashes! I was so embarrassed, I had to stop talking and get myself a glass of water to cool down.

Although it lasted for only first few minutes, I will never forget that. Over the lunch we talked about our kids, quilts and friendships. After lunch we did a little show and tell. I showed them my studio! She also got to see few of my quilts from my book. Just in case you missed it, YES!!! I wrote a book! Cultural Fusion Quilts is due out this December and available now on Amazon to pre-order.

Scott was nice enough to take a few pictures of us. He did a great job.. What do you think?

After they left, I sat down with my scrap quilt and took a few stitches thinking about the time spent with them. I have met many friends through blogging and continue to appreciate what it has done for me. I had not stitched a single stitch by hand in a while. I am thankful that a visit from Chris and Scott brought me out of that slump.

I spent rest of the day stitching what I call organic quilting. No marking, no tools, no noise of the machine.. just my needle and thread along with my thoughts.

By the way, Chris had pointed it out on her way in that a little bird was making a nest in my fuchsia basket. 
No wonder no matter how well I took care of that basket, lately it was looking rather disturbed!
That afternoon I paid close attention to the activities out there.. A pair of wren were making quite a nest. 

They had dug out a considerable size hole in the basket. I watched them line the hole with grass, twigs and even dried leaves and build a structure with walls and roof! When they were done it looked like an igloo made with grass. Clever, right?

It seems like our front porch has become quite the maternity ward for our backyard - front yard birds. Early this spring robin had made nest on the front porch lamp.. We were only gone for couple of days and before we even realized what was happening, momma robin had made it her home. We kept the front porch light off for the entire time.

Now I am wondering if I can water the basket with the nest.

I would like for it to continue blooming.

It's been blooming since the month of May!

I am going to continue hand quilting today. Here are some more pictures of the quilt in progress.

Have a great weekend!

Seeing many shades of red

My email account was hacked.

If you receive any email 'from me' asking to open a Google document 'I shared', DELETE AT ONCE!

Thank you Tonya, Kelly, Rachael, Jan and Pam and Palak for contacting me at once. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sujata

Cultural Fusion Quilts

Feeling accomplished! 

I wrote a book!

That's my name on the cover!

Cultural Fusion Quilts is about just that - Cultural Fusion.

The concept is quite parallel to my life. Living in America with deeply rooted Indian lifestyle has taught me one thing -to find the best of the both worlds. It has15 projects, rich and traditional yet bold and modern. It tells you where I get my inspirations and what I see in them. I wish I could show them all to you right now! After all you know how much I love a big show and tell.

Ever since C&T Publishing accepted my proposal, I've wanted to talk about the book. You can imagine my excitement. The acceptance of proposal was thrilling enough to tell the whole world but quite understandably, from the publishers' perspective, that's all I could tell you.

Rather than teasing you all, I chose to blog about other projects while working on quilts for the book. But soon trying to finish the hand quilting and managing all the deadlines took over and blogging took the back burner. I have neglected this blog time and time again in past year but not any more.

Here is the bright side to this all. You don't have to wait at all to have a copy of my book. It is available to pre-order on Amazon right now.

How amazing is that?

My book Cultural Fusion Quilts is due out in November 2014.

Will I ever get used to saying these two words?

My book?

I have had lots of help from family members and friends, both from near and far. You all know who you are. I am so grateful to have had encouragement from Barbara Brackman and Deb Rowden. I learned a lot and every moment spent on this book was all worth the effort. I cannot wait to hold it in my hands and turn the pages. More importantly, I cannot wait for you all to see it.

Download C&T Publishing's fall catalog here take a peek at a few more quilts from the book. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Come back and tell me what you think of those quilts. Tell a friend too. 

I can't wait to hear from you!

One more thing: I have created a Facebook page for this blog. Please visit and hit the "like" button! 

Frustrated

So frustrated!
Has it been that long since I worked on the machine? It can't be!

I can't find anything in my sewing room. The wedding was fun, three weeks of vacation and all... there was a long break before that too. But that is no reason to loose everything in the sewing room.

All I want to do, is piece a backing for this quilt. Find a white thread for the backing (machine is loaded with  darker thread, which will not work) and baste this quilt. Is that really too much to ask?
I was so organized not too long ago.. I need some serious hours of getting back to sewing.

Focus... I need focus.. Hmmmm... need some stitch therapy... as soon as I find my glasses!
:-)

Trying something new

 Photo by Terri Kramzar

I have spent last few days working on my indoor garden. Among all the indoor plants I have, orchids in particular have caught my attention this past year or two. I always thought they were difficult to grow, and them being so expensive, at the nurseries, I never even gave them a second look. What if I kill it? All that money would go to the compost bin. Instead of learning about them, the fear of wasting my money and failing always stopped me from trying. 

It all changed when a friend brought a white orchid as a 'thank you' gift. That orchid stayed fresh, in bloom for months! On top of that, now that I live close to the Longwood Gardens, I have had many chances to go their annual orchid extravaganza show and be inspired.

But having a gifted orchid and all those inspirations still did not change a thing! After the orchid was done blooming, I did not know what to do. I did not go on line or purchase a book on how to take care of an orchid. It seemed too boring to watch that plant grow at a snail's speed and wait for it to re-bloom. So it sat where it was, neglected for a long time. Generally, I talk to my plants! Yes I do, I watch them very closely... every new leaf, every new stem, every pest and every flower - nothing goes without being noticed. But this poor white orchid became an orphan. It dried out and at some point, after two years of not flowering, I considered tossing it in the compost pile.

Last September another friend, who I don't get to see often enough, brought me a gift. It was a complete random act of kindness on her part. She came at my door step, totally unexpected and brought me an orchid!

Now I had two orchids to watch slowly growing. This new one had so many buds still waiting to bloom, it excited me enough to look up on line on how to take care of it. I learned to water, fertilize and find a perfect spot in the house for this new member. It bloomed until I started putting Christmas decorations out! That was almost four months! I had made this orchid live for four months! Not only that, I notice what looked like a new shoot for the next bloom! What? I could actually make an orchid live in my house and rebloom? That was almost impossible! So I watched it grow, watered it once a week and fertilized when I remembered, a new leaf came and then that shoot grew buds! I left for Canada and when I came back, it was blooming!

A success!
This is how it looks this week! It's second time blooming within eight months being in my home!
I couldn't be happier!

Now here is the problem. Well, some would call it that but I think it's a blessing! Our local produce center sells orchids for next to nothing!
Since I have gained confidence in growing them, I bought few more!

I figured, I am learning as I go and they are fun to grow. They were so rooted in already, I decided to re-pot them. I read on American Orchid Society's website that it's best to re-pot them in early spring or summer. I bought clay pots from local Walmart for $1.99 and special Orchid-mix from the hardware store. 

 

Before 

After

 Check this out, it has freckles!

This one already started budding a new shoot! 

Isn't this a beauty?

I had an antique plant stand I picked up a while ago from a Goodwill store for $4.95 - which became a perfect stand to keep them up right. Now there is enough air circulating around them.

 All happy in one place!

My poor white orchid, was re-potted last fall just when the temperatures were about to dip.

I have learned that orchids are easy to grow as long as you keep them away from direct sun, near north facing window, don't let them dry out and keep the potting material moist but not soggy. Watch for the new buds just below the spent flowers. I made a mistake of cutting the stem back all the way down on my white orchid. I am still waiting for a flower stem to grow.

It is a little slow at growing but I have a feeling it will survive with it's new roots and leaves. Especially now that I have started 'talking' to it.

I hope I have encouraged you to try something you thought you would never do.

I know you are also wondering what is that first picture for? Check out my friend Terri's post today. It will inspire you to try something new in that area too. I know I am and can't wait to try it myself.

Have a happy day you all!

The wedding

Time flies when you are having fun and lately I have been doing just that! My nephew got married couple of weeks ago in Toronto. My mom and brother's family flew in all the way from India, as well as my kids from all over to attend the wedding. Although, professional pictures of the ceremony are weeks away, if not months, I thought I would give you the glimpse of the day.

I must warn you, this is a picture heavy post.

My nephew, Chintan and his bride to be, Lisa  

I got to see my kids all dressed up for the occasion.

Yes, that's frozen lake in the background! Burrrrr....It was so cold and windy, we were trying so hard to fight off the wind!

We got to experience both, Indian and Jewish ceremony. Lisa looked amazing in both outfits. Can you tell her dad is a big Elvis fan? He also performed as Elvis after the wedding, I must say, he was pretty good!

Happy couple!

 The knots were tied, literally :)

My sister, Kalpana and Lisa

My contribution in the wedding was to design the containers for the return gifts for the henna ceremony. I put my age old henna drawing skills to work and my sister in law glued the beads. We had fun catching up with each other while working on them.

I will come back with more pictures on that ceremony another day.

Henna design by a professional artist.

After the ceremony and dinner it was time to party! No pictures of me dancing here but trust me when I say this, my sisters had to drag me out from the dance floor. I am the only self appointed dancer, designer and the photographer in the family since the beginning of time! 

Us three sisters with mom and sis-in-law, Heena. 

Whenever I visit India, days are too short with many people to visit and places to be, we hardly get to sit down and just talk! I can not tell you how good it is to have mom here in north America again. Glad I stayed back extra days at my sisters' to spend some one on one time with her. She talked about my dad, my grandmothers and her childhood like it was just yesterday! I wish her stories stay in my memories forever so I can pass on what I have learned to my children.

Kavita with her baa

By the way, Lisa loved the quilt! It was a perfect gift to welcome her to the family.

It has been a very busy week since I got back entertaining family members and guests. No time to sew or even to think needle and thread!

Not for long though!