Kutchwork Tutorial - The 5 Point Diamond Motif (Maltese Cross) - Part II

INTERLACING THE FIVE POINT DIAMOND MOTIF (MALTESE CROSS)

Bring the needle up at the outward corner of the beginning and end of the maltese cross.  Keep in mind the following points. The thread always moves in a 'U' pattern.  Interlacing is done in an OVER-UNDER-OVER-UNDER manner. Unless at the beginning and end, never pierce the  fabric. Do not tighten the interlacing thread too much. 

As in the single diamond motif's interlacing begin interlacing the diamond 1. 

     

At this point we have to change the direction of the interlacing.  Remember that the thread should pass in a 'U' manner. See the below picture. Needle passes UNDER and enters the diamond 3.

Kutchwork Tutorial - The 5 Point Diamond Motif (Maltese Cross) - Part I

I hope that you are thorough with the Outlining and Interlacing of the  Basic Diamond Motif.  Now we move on to the Five Point Diamond Motif or the Maltese Cross.  The following diagram shows the the structure of the five point motif. It can be considered as a square or a diamond depending on how we place the diagram.

Outlining the Maltese Cross

We have already done outlining of the single diamond motif. Keep the following points in mind. The beginning and end points are the outward extensions of the same corner. Always keep the thread under the needle while inserting needle at the corners. We rotate the frame during each step which helps to get a rapid idea of where to move  the needle and thread next. 

Kutchwork Tutorial - The Basic Diamond

We are going to do the basic diamond in kutch work.

Fix the fabric in the embroidery frame. Thread the needle.  

STEP 1 - OUTLINING

Points to remember 

1. Always keep the thread under the needle while outlining the basic diamond.
2. Rotate the frame during each step to make outline stitching more comfortable.

 

Bring up the needle at 1. Insert at 2 and bring it up at 3. 

While outlining the basic diamond, always keep the thread under the needle, 

as shown in the picture. (First side is formed)

Notice that I rotated the frame before doing the next step.
Hold the frame and needle in such a manner that the needle eye is pointing towards you.
Insert at 4 and bring it up at 5, again keeping the thread under the needle.
 (Second side of the motif)

Kutch Work Tutorials

I am planning to upload some Kutchwork tutorials in my blog. There are many tutorials available in the internet. I tried some of them. I succeeded in doing the the basic diamond, 3 diamond and 5 diamond motifs. But when it reached The Double Maltese Cross , I was in trouble. After a gap of  few days, I will start again 'Learning Kutchwork'. Most of the time, I have to go through all the saved notes in my computer and try again and again to complete the three & five diamond motifs. I was fed up with this type of learning. May be, I was a bad student. I thought I could never learn the technique and remember it forever.

I have a friend - Maya who knows the Kutchwork well. She learned it from her neighbour Madhavi who is an expert in hand embroidery. With the help of her, I managed to learn the technique of kutchwork. And I am going to share all those simple simple techniques of Kutchwork with you. After you  master  basic diamond and  3 diamond &  5 diamond motifs, I think you won't need any further help to do more complex designs. Anyway, hope you will enjoy those lessons.

Herringbone and Double Herringbone Stitches

Herringbone Stitch

To begin, bring the needle up in the lower line. Keep the thread below the needle. Insert the needle down on the upper line a little to the right. Take a small stitch to the left and bring the needle up. 

Now insert the needle on the lower line a little to the right  and take a small stitch to the left as done before. 

Repeat the steps to make enough herringbone stitches

Make sure that the stitches are of equal size and evenly spaced

Double Herringbone stitch

Now, we have made one row of herringbone stitch. Do another 

row of herringbone stitch in between the first row. You may use a contrast color thread for this. When you make the stitches, weave the thread under and over the first row.  The process of weaving in this manner is known as interlacing. 

Begin at the top line

Insert needle into the lower line, take a small stitch to left and 
bring up the needle.  Pass the needle under (the first herringbone's) thread.

Insert the needle in the upper line and make a stitch to the left. 
Bring up the needle.

Again, weave under the thread

Repeat the process to make a second  row of Herringbone stitch

The upper set is made with more spacing of stitches

Happy Easter

Grape Squash

Surely, you  are going to be an addict of this grape squash recipe. It is good for health. Especially for kids. 

Ingradients :

      Seedless black grapes   - 1kg

      Sugar                            - 1kg

      Citric acid                     - 1 tsp

Preparation: 

Cook covered. After boiling, keep the flame on simmer for 10 more minutes.

Prepare sugar syrup. In a vessel take sugar, add water till the heaped sugar level. Keep the flame on low. Stir in between. When sugar syrup boils, makes sure that the sugar is well dissolved. Let it boil for 1 more minute or till it reaches slight thicker consistency. 

Allow it to cool. Grape squash is ready. 

Transfer it to air tight bottles and refrigerate. 

You may add few ice cubes while serving. 

It is also very tasty when we use  soda instead of water. 

Neeru Dosa

Last week, I soaked raw rice to make batter for Appam. But I didn't have enough quantity of grated coconut. So I kept the soaked rice in fridge and prepared Neeru Dosa in the next morning. As the name indicates, it's batter is of little  watery consistency. It is a tasty variety of 'Dosa'.

Neeru Dosa with tomato chutney

Ingradients

   Soaked raw rice - 1 cup
   Cooked rice - 2 tbsp
   Coconut - 3 tbsp
   Onion sliced - 1/2 of a medium one.
   Salt - to taste

Grind the ingradients well using enough water. Keep the consistency little watery. Pour the batter into a vessel. Add few drops of cooking oil and one sliced onion into the batter.  Heat a pan. Keep on medium flame. Grease the pan lightly with oil. Pour one ladle of batter in the pan (this includes the sliced onions). Don't spread the batter with the ladle. Instead, rotate the pan holding the handle so that the batter spreads uniformly to make a round shape. 

Neeru Dosa in the pan

When preparing dosa, after spreading the batter on the pan, I usually cover the pan with a lid and removes it just before turning it. When one side is done, turn it and cook for few more seconds. (I use gingelly oil for this preparation. Before turning the dosa, I sprinkle very few drops of gingelly oil on the dosa.)  Serve it hot with tomato/coconut chutney. 

Happy cooking....

After a long gap of 28 Years...!

Victory lap by Team India

India won the ICC World Cup in Cricket after a long gap of 28 years.  It was a fantastic final between Sri Lanka and India. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ended it up with a magical sixer when 10  balls were remaining. Dhoni selected as the Man of the Match and Yuvraj Singh as the Man of the Tournament.

Indians started celebrations in every possible ways around the world... At last, a dream came true... 

Hipster Doily

I tried another doily. Rachel Choi's Hipster Doily pattern.  Nima suggested me this site after my last  attempt of doing a doily.  I think these are far better than the first one. I would like to do the Hipster doily's larger version soon, and try to correct the mistakes in my first doily.

Hipster Doily

Hipster doily - Zoomed in