the power of human connection

Ernest Hemingway once said,

“In our darkest moments, we don’t need advice.”

What we truly need is the power of human connection: a quiet presence, a gentle touch, or the smallest gesture that reminds us we’re not alone. These acts of love and solidarity become the anchors that hold us steady when life feels overwhelming.

Pain is a deeply personal burden, and difficulties are uniquely ours to face—but your silent presence tells me I don’t have to face them in isolation. It’s a quiet reminder that, no matter how lost I feel, I am still worthy of love and connection.

Sometimes, words aren’t necessary; your silent support speaks louder than anything else. Love, in its purest form, has the power to help us rediscover ourselves, even when we’ve forgotten who we are.

Let’s remember the importance of simply being there for one another. ♥️

learning enamelling

"try to keep yourself ignorant about colour

try to keep it intuitive

try not to learn what warm and cool mean, what the primary colours are

try to let your colours be as spontaneous as possible"

"How do you know what colour to choose?

The same way to choose what to wear.

Your palette is like your closet."

Both pieces of advice, Barbara Nechis

Working with hands

"The practice of fiber work, wildcrafting, ancestral memory and ritual connects us to something powerful and mysterious. While we may not be conscious of the old practices, our hands remember." Kristen Roderick, 

Excerpt from blog post "The Forgotten Language of Dolls".

garba dhamal

A creative act is not linear. It does not start at “A” and end at “Z” with a product that is wholly explainable. One can neither predict beforehand nor fully comprehend afterwards the steps involved. It is both intellectual and emotional and totally human.

~ Lissa Hunter

Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle usually involving musical, artistic, or literary pursuits; followers of such a way of life are called bohemians and they dwell outside the bourgeois

boro

A long pause... 

Time to breathe, feel, reflect and grow in the real world 

"living in a creative way you realize that everything we do increases the sense of being alive, to be ourselves, irreplaceable and unique in the unstoppable flow of time"

Donald w Winnicott 

Circular economy is about more than just recycling, It’s about keeping products in their useful form for as long as possible, then when you can’t use them anymore, finding a way to recycle them that preserves as much of their value as possible, and only sending them to the landfill as a last resort.”

randomness

I spent some time "randomly" did some weeding, spread some manure, watered my plants and took a lot of pictures 

 At this time of year I seem to run low on pictures for its too hot outside today 40+ degrees Celsius so More time spent inside, and sometimes I just forget about taking pictures. 

Reuse, repair and mending

‘Disposble Society ‘ I have some repairs to do.

Our generation is really bad at just throwing things out when they break. I ❤️ to see folks mending and repairing things the way our grandparents did.

Today repairing is a lost art. I like to fix stuff versus replace, my husband finds that just a waste of time. Would rather take the time to repair and mend. Have stitched a strong patch onto my oven glove where there was a burn mark/ tear, this is the ability of a patch of fabric, needle, thread, some time on hand and willingness to save my glove

Just saved a glove that would have cost me money to replace with a new one. WELL DANG my oven glove is back to work SATISFIED 

Sewing, repairing reusing are the skills we definitely need to learn, teach, endorse.

Meditative stitching

Slow stitching means setting aside time to find myself somewhere in the thread and spread myself out on a piece of fabric.

#embroidery #hobby #threadsforembroidery #embroideryart #handembroidery #art #india #embroiderylove #diy #handmade #handmadewithlove

#makersgonnemake #handstitching #slowfashion #tangledupinthread #ihavethisthingwiththread #craftist #healingjourney #craftingismytheory #hunarthecraftinghands #stayhomeandstitch #createandinspire #workingwithhands

Ply split braiding

The concept of self-love is simple;  it just means valuing and caring for your own needs, wants and desires.

It isn’t about being selfish. 

It’s about making sure you make time to recharge and have the energy to be there for others.

I think women especially, are often kept busy caring for partners, elderly parents etc and run out of time to show themselves the same care.

I’m raising my hand here… I am guilty of juggling too many things and most often the person who misses out is myself.

By taking self-love as my word of the year, I’ve made a conscious decision for 2023  to be more intentional in taking better care of myself… keep my hands busy……even if it is just doing one small thing each day!

I loved braiding and have done many pieces from commercially made 4ply cords, found a cord maker online and ordered it in the month of November 2022, patiently waited till February 2023 and finally it did arrive (CRAZY) 

It took few days to get in the gear of making cords and finally copied a small motif from a museum piece from Salimbhai’s collection

Made from embroidery threads 

Size 1x2 inch

looking through my window in rains

 I'm cosy indoors by the window looking through raindrops and I've had a lovely time creating some beautiful practical projects for myself and going through photos, coming across work I had forgotten about

Weather Influence On my Creativity

#makersgonnemake #handmadewithheart #slowfashion #tangledupinthread #ihavethisthingwiththread #craftist #healingjourney #craftingismytheory #hunarthecraftinghands #stayhomeandstitch #createandinspire #workingwithhands

#crocheting 

આવોને પધારો મેઘરાજ

By Rizwan Khoja

આવોને પધારો મેઘરાજા મારા પ્રદેશ આવકાર મીઠો રે દેશું અમે...

લેશું અમે લીલુંડો રે વેશ આવોને પધારો મેઘરાજા મારા પ્રદેશ!

 

ધખધખતી ધરતીની છાતીએ દેશું ઉતારા સાવ સૂના ને સૂકાં થયાં છે તળાવ અમારાં વાવણીની વાટું જુવે છે સૌ ખેડૂ અમારાં ક્યારે થાશે અમી પગલાં અહિં તમારાં...

 

આવોને પધારો મેઘરાજા મારા પ્રદેશ!

 

ગરદન ઝુકાવી ઊભી છે સૌ ડાળીઓ સૂકી રે થવા આવી અમારી વાડીઓ ઘાસ વીના ભૂખી રે મરે છે ગાયો..

તાશ બેઠો હવે રમુજી ગોવાળિયો...

 

આવોને પધારો મેઘરાજા મારા પ્રદેશ!

 

રણ પ્રદેશના રે છીએ અમે વાસી.. સીમાડાના અમે નિજ પ્રવાસી.. કરો અમી છાંટણા હવે પ્રિય મેઘ!

"કલ્પ" કચ્છનાં લોકો હવે ગ્યાં છે ત્રાસી આવો ને પધારો મેઘરાજા મારા પ્રદેશ!

 

આવોને પધારો મેઘરાજા મારા પ્રદેશ આવકાર મીઠો રે દેશું અમે... લેશું અમે લીલુંડો રે વેશ આવોને પધારો મેઘરાજા મારા પ્રદેશ!

Repairing my beret

 

I'm feeling a bit lost for words lately... so I'll make it short and to the point.

I don't have a coherent story for you today, just a bunch of images and impressions.

 

Now I can wear my beret without scratching.

#makersgonnemake #handstitching #slowfashion #tangledupinthread #ihavethisthingwiththread #craftist #healingjourney #craftingismytheory #hunarthecraftinghands #stayhomeandstitch #createandinspire #workingwithhands 

Stepping away from the screen and doing something with my hands…

 Stepping away from the screen and doing something with my hands…

Slow down, take pleasure on the simple things of life, heal your soul from the wounds caused by the fast pace of society

~ Martin Suarez

one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day 

normal day let me be aware of the treasure you are 

2021 : Live with intention, intention to stop putting things off to tomorrow.

Buy Less, Choose Well, Make it Last, to reduce our impact on the planet.

Dress up plain cloth with embroidery, Repair damaged clothes for encouraging the process 

I challenged myself to step away from the screen and pick up some hand sewing. Working with hands is magical, being able to slowly create something with my hands seems to alter time a little and can feel myself breathing 

Am in for the #slowfashionchallange making a tunic from scratch, almost finished embroidery of the sleeves, will keep recording the process of making the garment

#makersgonnemake #handstitching #slowfashion #tangledupinthread #ihavethisthingwiththread #craftist #healingjourney #craftingismytheory #hunarthecraftinghands #stayhomeandstitch #createandinspire #workingwithhands #slowfashionchallange #embroidery #hobby #threadsforembroidery #embroideryart #handembroidery #art #india #embroiderylove #diy #coatsindia #anchorindia #anchorcrafts #crochet #crochetlove #handmade #handmadewithlove

slow stitching differently

′′ Life can get too small when you look at it with the narrow look.

Boredom happens when you step away from the ability to delight yourself with the simplest things in the world."

Ana Alreadycomo 

Mindfulness looks differently to different people. For some, it might be sipping on an herbal tea and meditating, to others it might be just listening to some favorite podcasts or videos in the background. I’ve fallen in love with a new creative practice called slow stitching One of the best things about this mindful creative process is you don’t have to be perfect – not at meditation and not as sewing either!  

#makersgonnemake #handstitching #slowfashion #tangledupinthread #ihavethisthingwiththread #craftist #healingjourney #craftingismytheory #hunarthecraftinghands #stayhomeandstitch #createandinspire #workingwithhands 

beautiful terracotta utensils with non-stick coating

 Being from a potter community have fascination for clay utensils actually anything of clay   I own and use these beautiful clay utensils from my the remote area of chota Udepur in Gujarat. Made by The Dhanak Adivasi of Chota Udepur have an indigenous way of making non-stick terracotta utensils 

the best part is they are having a non-stick coating  made from locally procured lac, had bought these from the potter at a haat (weekly market in rural areas ) few years ago 

this is the most organic way of making non-stick utensils 

The uniqueness about these utensils is that they are made with the local clay, first sun dried, then burnished with application of geru paste and coated immediately with lac while they are taken out of the furnace. The firing is simple and fastest way ever seen anywhere. Dry leaves of Taad tree (local palm) are used to fire the utensils which takes only half an hour to bake them complete. The coating of lac, which is also harvested by the locals make it impervious, smooth and non-stick. 

The new normal

 

We're learning hard lessons lately. The ongoing coronavirus have taught me that to be resilient enough to bounce back time and time again, I need to strengthen my systems, learn as much as I can about what I want to do here and then put in the work to make it all happen.When I work through this season and my new systems start to evolve, those hard lessons might save me in the future.

spending a pandemic making soft and pretty things may seem impractical and silly in certain ways—, maybe, and certainly a privilege when my life and livelihood aren’t (yet) directly at stake. Handicrafts such as crochet, knitting, and embroidery—traditionally practiced by women and by the elderly—carry passive associations that defy most notions of bravery. 

I think of Jo March, the heroine from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, lamenting that she can’t fight for the Union Army in the Civil War but must “stay home and knit, like a poky old woman.” And yet that dismissal belies the quiet strengths embedded in every stitch. Counting the movements of hooks and needles, row after row, over the hours or days it takes to complete a project, requires patience, focus, and persistence. And these cognitive skills—to say nothing of the proven mental-health benefits of crafting—are just the ones needed to weather a disaster that’s defined by waiting.

https://www.create-with-joy.com/2020/10/inspire-me-monday-week-455.html

https://www.sumoftheirstories.com/blog/2020/handmade-monday-196

Meraki link party

https://keepingitrreal.blogspot.com/2020/10/welcome-to-really-crafty-link-party-235.html#more

http://www.sewcando.com/2020/10/hello-october-craftastic-monday-link.html

http://www.stonecottageadventures.com/2020/10/youre-star-blog-hop-october-week-2.html#more

Creative mumbling

 The trouble with daily life is that it's so damned daily It's taken me a long time to come to terms with not going out to work, but now that i've gotten used to it, I rather like it. If the house is reasonably tidy, I can always sit down and do what I feel like

https://grammysgrid.com/unlimited-monthly-link-party-17/

hand made

How are you doing these days? 

Well, this time is really challenging. I don't know if  for you too, but I feel so nervous, overwhelmed with duties and guilty last few weeks that I have so many things to do and still I haven't finished them yet. With all those mess in the house and the fear everywhere... I decided to make something with it. 

Don't be too hard to yourself, just a little bit :-).

Hunar the crafting hands

The Journey of Beads

If you love unique, handmade beaded jewelry crafted one bead at a time, you'll enjoy the history too

https://www.crazycrow.com/site/seed-bead-history-and-use-by-native-american-tribes/

https://www.swcreations.net/blogs/articles/91697415-the-fascinating-history-of-seed-beads-in-beaded-jewelry

https://www.bigbeadlittlebead.com/guides_and_information/seed_beads_guide.php

http://www.tohobeads.net/

Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs

 

Crafter's Block 

You may have the best intentions to get to that crafting project, but other things keep sticking in your brain and you can't make them go away. 

Part of that is no doubt a function of my ADD, but partly it's because I'm stuck in the Physiological Needs zone. The way this works is that you start at the bottom of the pyramid. If your physiological needs are met, you can move to the next level. If your safety needs are met, you can move to belongingness and love needs, and so on until you reach the self-actualization tier. 

This is where creativity lives.

few more face masks

I haven't really done any machine stitching of my own this week.... been happily hand stitching masks though ....

In the meantime I am still doing some more hand stitching ....

seems all my fabric scraps will be used