Photo quilt gifts

These are some of the photo quilts I made as gifts. Some were designed in Kaleidoscope Kreator 2, printed on fabric and quilted. It was a labor of love to create so many in such a short time but they were well received.

Wedding shower scrapbook

For the bridal shower, we asked everyone to give advice, share a memory, a recipe or photo. We provided the supplies including stamps, stencils, punches, quotes, markers, adhesive, embossers, papers etc. Each person made an 8 x 8 page so we had an instant wonderful scrapbook in less than an hour!

Pop Up wedding ring invitations

We finally finished assembling the Pop Up wedding ring invitations with a team of 10 family and friends and am really pleased with how they turned out.

I found a design at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-SJjSIoSA that I really liked and made a larger size and different version of it in Make the Cut software with Sandy McCauley's help. I spent many hours cutting them out on to Recollections cardstock with my electronic cutter. I added Lisa and David's names and a layer of holographic paper to show case the names. We added Stickles for glitz on the diamond ring. We laminated the text of the invitation onto purple index cards and made a pocket on the right side for return response cards. The front of the invitation was crimped with a wavy crimper, embossed with  a swirls Cuttlebug folder and embellished with pearls.

Solitude in a Border’s Time Vacuum

My quilt is about is about the closing of Borders Books and Music... am feeling a sense of loss of my favorite bookstore. The book label on the side is an actual borders rewards tag that invites the viewer to check out the Border's Reward card more closely. When placed with the barcode up, it depicts a ladder where one climbs into a world of wonderful books where one loses track of time . When placed with the rewards tab up, it now depicts a sense of loss as Borders Books no longer offers rewards and ceases to exist in time.

Swaminarayan Akshardham, ‘The Seven Wonders of the 21st Century’

The highlight of my trip was the breathtaking art and architecture of the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple complex in New Delhi.

In its July 2011 UK edition (pp. 46-57), the Reader’s Digest monthly magazine has selected Swaminarayan Akshardham as one of ‘The Seven Wonders of the 21st Century’. The 100-acre Swaminarayan Akshardham complex was completed in only five years by 11,000 artisans. The main Mandir is built predominantly of Rajasthani pink sandstone and contains no steel in its structure. It is 141 ft high, 316 ft wide and 356 ft long and features superb intricately hand sculpted stones. It also has a water fountain show in the evening set to melodious Indian music

According to the Reader’s Digest, on p. 52, "The Taj Mahal used to be the undisputed champion of India architecture, but a new contender has now stepped into the ring: Akshardham Temple. The biggest Hindu temple in the world, it was completed in 2005 and houses 234 hand-carved pillars, a 12-minute indoor boat ride, an Imax cinema and more than 20,000 statues including 148 life-sized stone elephants.”

Check out their photos http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/mandir/mandapams.htm

http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/mandir/vibhutimandovar.htm

 http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/mandir/parikrama.htm

 http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/mandir/murtis.htm

 http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/mandir/gajendrapith.htm

 http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/mandir/pillars.htm

Delhi

We stayed at a lovely hotel on the outskirts of Delhi. We stopped by India Gate and also got a special tour of the Indian Parliament and Rashrapati Bhavan, the Presidential house. A member of our group got a nosebleed on a very hot summer day and was tended to by the doctor to the President! It is the largest residence of any Chief of the State in the world and we were told they employ over 100,00 people. It was built in in 19 years, covers 4.5 acres of land and has 340 rooms, 37 salons, 74 lobbies, 18 staircases and 37 fountains.

Igatpuri

The wedding was so much fun..catching up with LOTS of relatives, great food, a fashion show of beautiful, colorful  silk sarees and lovely jewelry and enjoyed great music.

From Poona we went to Mumbai. A couple of us checked ou the local art exhibitions and shopped for  great trims and fabrics for my quilts. We were in 2 of the areas 24 hours prior to the bomb blasts. Luckily we missed it and enjoyed shopping in the busy markets.

After the festivities in Poona and Mumbai, my cousin, Kirti and I went to Igatpuri by bus.
It is such a serene place during the monsoon season.. lots of waterfalls, hills, farms and is very green and lush. It was like stepping back in time..it has not changed much in 43 years. We also enjoyed long walks and three great temples including the new Jain temple with awesome glass mosaics...