Hi everyone,

Be warned! This post is full to busting of fabric photos. I make no excuses, my jaw is still on the floor since my daughter arrived home from India last night. I have been spoiled, THOROUGHLY spoiled and I just had to share some photos with you so you can imagine what I will be getting up to over the next few months. You have got no idea how pleased I am that she travels light with a large suitcase!

She was very fortunate to be invited to spend two months with her wonderful local host who made sure she ate well, travelled widely and generally got a taste of what life is really like in India with lots of fun along the way. It has to be the best way to see a new country, sample local culture and customs and make the most of any trip abroad.

If you want to read more about her trip, you can find it in her blog Sun and Cake.

Where’s the fabric, I hear you call….

The instructions were simple, please bring me fabric, sari silk, cotton, batiks, anything that I can make into lovely things. Here are some of the sari silks which are all from Salem in southern India.

I’m going to have so much fun with these.

The photos really don’t do them justice. The shimmer and lustre and silky softness is gorgeous.

Aren’t those tassels lovely?

There are several designs on each piece and they are all huge!

Now for the cottons, also from southern India .

Exciting times are ahead!

The quality is fantastic, perfect for patchwork and quilting.

This style can be found on wall murals and works of art.

This one has an interesting chequered weave which doesn’t show up to the naked eye.

Some are block or screen printed with one or more dyes.

This one uses the batik technique with wax. There’s a whole rainbow of underlying colours.

This one is hand painted with gold dye.

The purple parade. You all know I love purple 

And finally, some hand painted cottons from Jaipur in northern India.

The pattern is very sparkly

The north Indian fabrics are the same good quality, brilliant for all sewing projects.

Now for your puzzle….

This was another of my requests and I really didn’t expect my daughter to find one, let alone bring one home. I’m going to show you a few detailed photos and I want you to guess what it is that she brought me for my birthday which was on Valentine’s Day while she was away. All of the embroidery has been done by hand.

It would be impossible to show all of the details here so I’ve only picked out some of them. I have no idea how old it is but it is definitely not new. I can only imagine how many hours went into all of the stitching and I’ll treasure it forever .

So, do you know what it is? Would you like to guess?

Have fun guessing!

And finally…. have you heard of the Holi Festival? If not, you can read about it here and see images here.

This is a photo of my daughter on the right and her host (the best tour guide in India) on the left during the Holi Festival. Fun, fun, fun

Oh, to be young again!

Avis x