I feel so blessed and lucky !

And this is thanks to all my wonderful friends and family who have been so supportive of me following my heart and crafting away!
I got a very special gift the other day. It's a picture frame adorned with paper quilling by Atiya Rehman.

Thank you so much Atiya dear. This is the best gift for me. I'll take great care of it. Your work is really good for a beginner who started learning on her own. I'm so proud of you. Insha allah , hoping to see more of your lovely quilling.

Another beautiful gift was a comment on one of my blogpost by Kavya.

This is what Kavya said:

Hi yasmin!!!
I just love your works and quilling... I just created some quilled dolls using your works as inspiration...I love quilling but no time as i am in middle school in dubai...I have made some quilled tulips recently.....thanks a lot!

So here is a little message for KAVYA :

I'm so proud of you , Kavya that you are already making dolls. Thank you, Kavya.It is so good to hear that you are quilling too. I feel so happy and blessed that I can inspire you. This is the best news for me. Kavya, I would love to see your quilling. I have no means of reaching you so please get in touch with me:)I have a little 'surprise' for you!!

Blog Award



My blogging has been taking a back seat these few days but thats because a lot of crochet and quilling and card making is in the fore front. Yes, the pictures will follow soon .
I was so pleasantly surprised with a Stylish Blogger Award by Melinda of MoCrochet. Thank you, Melinda!

Rules are that I have to reveal several fun things about myself:

1. I love to read on various subjects. Fiction, non- fiction, politics, history, self help etc....I am a romantic by nature...the roses, music and cards kind of person, but I do not enjoy romantic books - although I am a total sucker for romantic movies!

2. Crafts is a passion for me. I'm constantly thinking of different ideas and patterns etc. Day and night - I even dream of it.

3. I used to believe in fairies and elves until I was quiet big.Blame Enid Blyton, my favourite author while growing up. I was often spotted by Mom, looking for fairies in the garden and flower beds. Yes, I did get many insect bites in the process.

4. I used to love dancing in the kitchen. I still do .......... it's my favourite dance floor!

5. When I get angry or upset my ears actually turn red! My son calls me Mommy Red Ears.

6. I always apply lipstick without looking in the mirror and it turns out perfectly fine

Now that I've let you in on things about myself, I'd like to pass on this award to the following blogs:

1. Knotty hands
2. Made to treasure
3. Knots and crafts
4. The city of crochet
5. Doting on doilies

Rules for the winners: pick 3-5 blogs you admire and pass on this award linking back to the person who gave you the award (in this case, me). Reveal several fun facts about yourself. Make sure to leave a comment on their blog that they have won. Happy Hooking!

School Project
Last week was full of things happening and this week seems to be nothing easier. Wonder how the end of the year can get busier by the day? This post is for my son ...he insisted that I show off his project for creative festival ,last monday. So here goes...My son ( the little one on the left ) and his classmate holding up their class project ' The Atlantis , Dubai' . It's just a gate but you can imagine the eight year olds ...to them it's the whole island!!
They were so helpful and managed to carry it to and back from school without breaking it . That I say is a huge achievement!!!

Winds of change
There has been a significant change in the temps around here and it feels like Summer is Officially begun. It's getting hotter by the day. Ofcourse it also means a shift in the crafting medium. It's more of threads and cottons rather than other yarns.
The evenings are a bit cooler and it's nice for walks in the park and kids have a great time playing outdoors. Sadly this might last only for a couple of weeks and then it gets too hot to even step outside.
On the knitting front , things have been sort of adventurous. I had started out the February lady sweater as a KAL along with my online UAE knitting group and made a huge mess of it. The lace part was totally ruined in my hands and had to put it away. But then I decided to do the baby version of it - hoping it will help. So I'm already working at it. It's an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern called 'Baby sweater on two needles' from Knitters
Almanac. I'm still at the yolk part and scared of the sleeve separation row. But I've had some really good advice and support from my online friends and hopefully I can tackle this one.
No pictures yet......just busy knitting and frogging !

It's not about food!
We had a dinner party at my place last thursday. It was a one day notice and I went almost crazy getting stuff done. We had Beetroot Raita, Russian salad, Ceasers chicken salad, Sewian (vermacelli ) biryani, fried Quail, Bhagare baigan ( egg plant ) , Khumb Akbari ( Mushrooms) and masala papads. And for desert - Ras malai and Trifle. Needless to say It was a long weekend!
This is the Beetroot raita. I just loved the colour! And this makes a good dip too. The kid had it just for the colour.

I loved the way this looked. You know - the colour looked just too good to eat and it tasted nice too. Now photographing food is a complicated business. Safe to say that everything looked just delicious but the pictures tell it differently so those other pictures are canned.
Anyhoo, we also had a last minute cancellation and three people couldn't make it. I was not too upset - lazy 'ol me was happy to have enough leftover for the next day which meant that I could get some much needed rest and peace! Hey, I was being positive, not lazy !!
This weekend I went to the Magrudy's Book shop in Dubai Festival City. Nice place and a good collection of books. Even the reading area was very cozy. I was pleasantly surprised to see a craft section there. They had quite a nice collection of crafts books too - although a very few crochet books. There was some nice yarn and thread too different types ( mostly sirdar and UK yarns), really pretty but not much of a colour range - even finding such types of yarn available out here is such a treat. Even if it is just eye candy! I found the prices way too high- all the yarn and the books too. But it is worth visiting.

Made me smile

I came across this post on Through the priszm blog this morning and enjoyed it so much. Thought you'd like a smile too.

1. Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.

2. When I’m feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbour’s dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.

3.A penny saved is a government oversight.

4. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

5. .The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

6. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement. (This is very true, it happened recently with one of my crochet hooks :) )

7. He who hesitates is probably right.

8. Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are ‘XL.’

9. If you think there is good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody.

10. If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

11. The sole purpose of a child’s middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble. (This brings back memories)

12. There’s always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don’t hurt .

13. Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words ‘The’ and ‘IRS’ together it spells ‘Theirs.’

14 .Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

15. The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

16. Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know ‘why’ I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.

17. When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

18. You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

19. One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.

20. Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

21. First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up your zipper. It’s worse when you forget to pull it down.

22. Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today, it’s called golf.

Enjoy!

Have a great day!

NO EXCUSES !

Absolutely no excuses for it - I've been neglecting my poor poor blog lately to the point that it has begun to shrivel up and dry just like my balcony garden! I've not been neglecting my garden but the dry summer wind is to be blamed. I haven't given up - atleast not yet!
Things have been moving very fast and life is very happening at the moment , thankfully all good stuff. Looks like a week from now I'll be having some free time to be online more often.
I've been crocheting away like a nut but I cannot put up the pictures out here yet. These are surprise gifts , don't want to ruin it ! I've been reading a lot too lately.A whole of Erma Bombeck . I think she was one of the greatest writers ever!I've been reading her books since my teens and everytime I get a wonderful feeling reading it.

It's like a heat wave out here. The Temperature is at 48 - 50 C usually ! And that makes it a perfect weather to stay at home and crochet :). So I'm not complaining. But my poor plants are having tough time . I'm giving then extra tender loving care but I do hope they can live through this rough summer.
As for the crochet front, I'm working on several things. Just finished designing a little something ( can't tell you what it is yet ) for a contest. Not really designing but creating something out of a given motif. I enjoy these little challenges.
Another similar challenge has come up too in another group too. So looks like the next few days will be spent tapping at my little bit of creativity. I have certain amazing ideas but I wonder if I have the ability to translate it into a project or will it just remain a frustrating frogging exercise. It's one thing to think up designs but to actually make it work is totally different thing !! So hats off to all the designers out there who save us the pain of creation and give us the joy of following patterns .
I've been learning different stitches in knitting. I have a little FO to show too. Hopefully I'll get around to posting the pictures tomorrow.
In the meanwhile , I'm open to all ideas for designing . So please if you think you could share your thoughts with me , I'd be happy to hear from you.

What I've been upto
I've been Mia for sometime ....... not in a crochet rut (Thank God!) . And I've finally found the camera as well. And yes I'm still at the unpacking and settling in - I seriously wonder whether people everunpack every single thing and put it away in a proper place when they move or do they keep some stuff packed until they move again just because those things aren't really needed urgently ? Just wondering .......I'm thinking of actually doing it.
Oh yes , coming back to why I'm not blogging regularly , I'm having a whole of guests coming and it has been such fun. A lot of work and tiring too but great fun. I like having people over and entertaining guests and yes cooking too for big groups! Dh thinks I'm just nuts if I enjoy all this work.
On the crochet front , just finished posting off three exchang packages. Sorry I had to post the packages before I found the camera so no pictures to show. I had also included little Christmas tree ornaments ( my own little pattern - again nothing original and it had a few beads too) which I wanted to take pictures of .....but the Camera chose to remain hidden ! I'm also working on a lace edging for a dupatta for my really sweet aunt and I'm working with black thread in size 20. It's been not so easy and since the the lace is 9 yards ,it's taking forever to do.I was thinking of adding in beads but I'm not so sure now.
Pearlin, Swapne and any other word press bloggers I need your help please! I've commented on your entries several times but they don't appear. Just thought I'd let you know.