2025 :Year of big changes and a loss

Year 2025 was a year full of changes ...some changes which I have been working for quite some time and some which took me by surprise.

To start , 2025 was the year I finally made a come back to crafting and blogging. With the long gap of 4+ years, I always felt guilty of abandoning my hobbies and blog. 

The year started with a professional change when I moved to a Management Role after working in Engineering for 19 years. The new role involved something I love-interacting with people, understanding their challenges and help them find a solution.

January was busy with a wedding , hosting a hobby friend at home and attending Stamp exhibition in Mumbai.

February being birthday month meant mandatory Starbucks Frappuccino and birthday dinner with hubby and brother.

For my new role, I traveled to USA and was able to meet my lovely colleagues and find some crafty stuff at Joann's and thrift shops. I wrote it about here .

Knitting at Dubai airport in transit to Kansas city, USA

By the time I came back from my work trip in mid March, my husband had started conversations around moving out of India for work. It was a happy surprise as I have got bored of living in the same city for 6 years and have been asking him to move. We had some opportunities in the past however some didn't work out due to professional reasons and some due to laws regarding pet import.

Things started to shape up in May when we got Scotland as the country we would probably move. I have always loved Scotland- from the pictures husband's cousin would share and our trip in 2015. So it was a dream come true...

I'm grateful that our move went smooth as the challenges we had were how do I resign from a job I started few months back, that I loved so much and how will my 22 year old cat Twitch travel.

With months of planning, packing, selling stuff, sealing the house, we finally moved in the last week of July.

My babies started exploring the house the moment they got out of the carrier, Gabru on left, Twitch on right

My major concern during these months was will Twitch survive the long journey in cargo. Sometimes it felt selfish to make such an elderly cat travel but then leaving her behind was unimaginable.

When I moved here, I took a conscious decision of taking a break from my job to settle in, set up the house, learn about the new place and culture, dedicate time to my hobbies.

5 months flew by - during these we took some short trips around the city, I attended events related to my hobbies, celebrated our first Diwali in Glasgow.

An old phone booth converted to a library in Dunkeld

Postbox topper at Isle of Cumbrae

In December, we travelled to Morocco and that's when the saddest thing happened.

The Sahara

Golden sunset at the Sahara

While we were away, my most beautiful, resilient and intelligent Twitch got sick. She had age related issues but she was a fighter so I never thought this time would come.

Always the Queen of the house

On 14th of December we had to take the hardest decision of our life-to let her go over a phone call. Its been very difficult for me to accept that my bubba is not with us anymore- she blessed us with her love for 8.5 years, travelled two countries with us and lived in 5 houses in 3 countries.

Twitch the explorer, at in-law's house

My husband has been telling me that she was very old, lived a beautiful life and I should accept that she is not with us physically but the fact that we were not with her in her last time makes it very difficult.

My baby Twitch
1-Jun-2003 to 14-Dec-2025

I have been trying to keep myself busy in hobbies but the grief hits now and then.

During the holidays , we went to the city centre to see the Christmas decorations , our first Christmas in Glasgow. 

It was a nice distraction and I'm thankful to the guest who visited us and helped us get out of the house.

Its been a long post, I think I need a separate post for my crafty finishes.

Hope my friends had good time during the holidays.

Happy New Year.

Autumn , Festives vibes and some stitching

Hello friends,

It is Autumn in my part of the world. I don't remember if I had seen autumn in India , though it was mentioned as one of the seasons in India in school text books. I have been enjoying the color changes and now the barren trees around my house. Here are pictures of 1st week of October.

Same tree, 29 days apart

October was Diwali month . I have been busy hosting Diwali dinners , prepping for the festival, decorating the house. We hosted two dinners -one for my husband's team members with their partners and then husband's colleagues who moved from India with us.

Both the dinners were success , however I enjoyed the first one more. The first group were non-Indian people, so whatever items I prepared were new to them. I loved talking about recipes, ingredients and similarities between cooking in different cultures. 

We were so busy chatting and eating that we didn't click any pictures.

Diwali outside India is always interesting-trying to source the materials for festivals, finding shops which sell Diwali stuff. We tried making best of what was available locally, however I missed the lights and flower decoration, sweets we have in India.

Some pics of the Diwali decor.

I realised that I just have two cross stitched items for Diwali Decor, so after days of pattern hunting, I bought two cross stitch magazines and plan to stitch these for next year.

On the 18th,I got an oppurtunity to volunteer at Glasgow School of Yarn , an annual event which invite indie yarn suppliers and designers to showcase their products. 

I haven't got time much time for cross stitch between all this , however I managed to finish cross stitching on this piece. I'm finding it difficult to back stitch this one, as the chart is black and white and one has to keep looking at the kit cover to understand which color to use for back stitch.

I have another update which I will share in my next post. 

Happy crafting

First 45 days in a new country-What I have been upto ?

Well people, Today is the 45th day of being in beautiful country of Scotland...How has time flewn by.

It was summer when I landed , so enjoyed few warm days of sunshine . The first 2 weeks were fun , we just had a bed with mattress and some utensils for cooking. Funny how we manage with bare minimum when we are willing. We bought a pair of sofas and some storage units within a week.

Our air shipment arrived on 15th August and then the house was full with clothes, furnishings and most important my hobby stuff.

My husband's colleague had rented a car in August and they were kind enough to take us around for some sight seeing /short day trips.

Sharing some pics here

Devil's Pulpit at Finnich Glen

Devil's Pulpit at Finnich Glen

I had carried two cross stitch projects with me in luggage and rest of the stuff was sent via Air shipment. The first day I picked up cross stitching was on World Cross Stitch Day. I stitched on a SAL piece I started  with a stitcher on Instagram for a Silver Creek Samplers pattern on 1st June.

I loved stitching this as Heart and pink color are my favourite things to stitch. I used Anchor variegated floss for this project.

Next weekend we went to visit the historical town of Culross. It is Scotland's most complete example of a burgh of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sampler spotted at Culross Palace

Culross Palace

Tapestry/needle point spotted at Culross Palace

I finished the SAL piece on 24th and asked hubby to click some aesthetic pics 😅. I have been foraging thru charity shops for a heart shaped frame to fully finish this.

Another weekend we walked to a historical place in the city. Spotted this sampler there.

Holmwood House, Glasgow

That day I walked 8.9 km , so proud of myself.

I realised I stopped sharing pics of my cooking adventures on my blog, so I'm starting that now. New recipes I tried in these weeks -baked brussels sprouts, celery and broccoli soup, stir fried edamame , no pictures were clicked though.

The only one I clicked a picture is baked butternut squash rissoto:

I have started a new project, a DMC kit I will convert to a baby sampler by adding name and date on top and bottom. Lets see how this customisation goes.

Last friday , we rented a car and have been exploring places in 2 hours driving distance. Hope you enjoy the pics.

The Dunmore Pineapple

Rhu Point

Oh this has become a picture heavy post . I hope my blog friends are well and doing what they love.

Trust the magic of New Beginnings

Hi Friends,

Do you like changes? I do, I believe change is the only constant ! I feel stagnant when I stay in one place for long .

Husband and I have taken a decision that we want to explore the world ...so we are moving .

Many people asked us that you bought a home recently (2.5 yrs back), how can you move? What will happen to the house? ...Well , I don't believe buying a house should hold one back from looking for better opportunities. Some wondered how can we move in our 40s ...well

I'm excited for this new chapter of my life , I plan to spend more time on my hobbies , participate in  craft swaps and focus on health and well being.

Please pray for me and my cats as we start the new journey. 

I also want to share this fully finished piece with you, which is so appropriate for the occasion

I stitched this piece in May 2016, gifted to my friend in Dec 2016 and it took her 8.5 years to get this framed after constant reminders 😉. I met her last week and she brought the framed piece to show me in person. Why is it so difficult to get a decent pic with framed pieces? I always get reflection in pics.

This is the only Mystery SAL I have participated in , you can read about it here .

I love the color she chose for the frame.

Husband commented that its us with our cats, funny we didn't have any pets when I stitched this.

My next post will be from windy and wet Scotland . Till then , take care.