Alls colorful in Fall!

The trees with beautiful orange, yellow, gold and brown colors and the rustle of leaves in autumn breeze always puts cheer in the step. But BAM! there comes the time savings and early sunset and cold chilly winter and the trees shedding their leaves looking more like a skeleton and this easily drops your mood. That's where the beautiful lights and the red and gold sparkling decorations and wonderful candle smelling of spices and pies helps.

This year I just feel like winter is a little different and much more colorful. Mainly because of the bright colorful fashion apparel hitting the racks and a cheer added to it by the wonderful polka, stripes and chevrons and all famous Paisley patterns. Though black is elegant, however much I try, I can't help putting a pop of color in every outfit!. So with my sewing machine which I almost now have for 2 months, I have done some mending projects and some brand new projects. Here is a short series of some sew and paint projects I had fun with. It was fun learning my way around things and making a few mistakes. Thanks to the plethora of wonderful sew blogs on internet for keeping me inspired.

sew sherlock Apron

sew lacy sleeves

sew diaper clutch

paint vase with stamps

sew poang chair cover

Imagine...

Imagine....

Chicken soup for fathers soul

When it comes to father’s stories, though there are many little countless things our dads do for us, I always remember telling people about one or two which have touched me. My dad is a very loving and easy going person. And I most definitely share the strong father daughter bond with him.
This was one incidence during my 10th standard exams. Back then, I used to not like history at school. As a child and also as adult I was very hard working but had a family history of weak memory. With a subject like history that had so many date based events, I should have known better than to trust my memory at doing well in it. Still I promised my dad I would do well in the 10th final exams without help. Even after his constant checks I kept assuring him about my abilities.

Before the 10th exams we had a mini prep test called prelims. I cleared history with passing marks not flying colors which as you might have guessed would take me nowhere in the rat race for excellence. I freaked out.
My dad spoke to me that evening and sent out a letter to his company very next day morning requesting a straight 10 day leave to make sure it din’t come in the way of my education. Where job is so important and he was the only working member of family, he gave such a high priority to me. We studied day and night together like buddies over the course of those 10 days. He used a lot of tips and tricks and fun filled activities to help me remember the stuff. I never knew studying for such a high pressure (well at that time it was high pressure) exam would be so much fun. The father daughter time spent then was the one I would remember for lifetime. The exams went well and the results were a straight 100% marks in history, which was only otherwise possible in Math and Sciences. We both were so proud of each other that day :)

After this there have been many more things that he did, like not taking a foreign job offer 10 years back for my 12th and accompanying me to the exam hall every single time, even to the mall, teaching me ride my bicycle, my first two wheeler and the car. For any questions of what could I do for him, all he says is seeing your smile is the greatest gift I always have. As much as I can remember he was always there. Thanks to my study buddy, friend and advisor, my dad for showing confidence and nurturing my abilities to the best.

SDDesh

Newfound love

Well with summer ending and the fall slowly setting in I need something creative to express myself. In past one year, moving to a new city has not been easy. With my husband constantly away for a year with work, the new city was hard to adjust to, right from finding a home, car, driving 40 miles to-from work, finding places, finding new friends, finding physicians, dentists and so on. The list is endless, leaving no time for blogging or anything else. Now that my husband is finally here after the long-term assignment, and above mentioned stuff sorted out, I feel a bit more settled in. I am now ready to get back to honing my blogging skills.

Recently I figured, I need to do something creative quite often to satisfy my creativity bug. I remembered something my Mom used to love doing when we were young. She loved to sew. She would sew dresses, bags, purses and more. So I called up my mom and asked her how she would love to share her sewing tips with me. And how about we both work on some fun projects to get back our lost skills. So out came her sturdy grandmas machine, she had saved all these years and I bought a Brother XLI2600. Soon enough we will be able to bounce back ideas and posts on this blog. With so much inspiration online, I would like to point to one blog, I love to follow:  http://kristinaclemens.blogspot.com/

PS: Please keep checking the posts and leave your valuable feedback.

Bridal Mehendi for a friend

Another one of my friends was getting married in the US and it was time for us all to gear up to all the prep and fun. 

Did not get time to click photos after the full mehendi. But here are a few snaps of initial phase we did:

Orchid

Orchid:
I have loved that plant since I first saw it placed by itself on a table in an interior design book. It went perfectly with the serene white bedding and light blue walls.
From that day I wanted to try and grow one. Orchids are considered exotic plants. Since I stayed in an apartment with minimal light and no gallery to keep plants, wasn't sure if I wanted to buy an exotic plant just yet.
When one day, talking to a lady at my workplace who loved gardening, we discussed the Orchid among other plants.
Little did I know she had a few plants herself and she brought one for me in a beautiful handmade pot the very next day.
She advised me not to water more that a tablespoon or two of water once or twice a week, whilst the roots got wet. It was not planted in regular soil. She had just placed it in a bark mix and in a pot with lots of holes for air to pass by.
I would have never known all this information if not for her.

The orchid plant was small with two leaves and I wanted to see it flower. I watered it diligently for about a year and then there was one bud that bloomed. Imagine the joy to see it was not only living but doing well. But that was it for that year. With signs of progress I carried on an watched.
As that flower fell and in about another 8 months it was time for blooming season, a small shoot came off of an existing branch and started growing fast in direction of sun. It grew the way I turned it. It was so easy to design the shape go how I wanted it to be. It was lovely to see it grow so rapidly. After the branch grew in about a month or two. Small nodes started to grown out to form buds. The buds stayed there for about 2 months, while one of my colleagues at work asked me..when does that bud ever bloom :)
And in about 3 weeks it started to bloom. It took a while for all 4 flowers to bloom a good 3-4 weeks. But these flowers look strong and well and happy and here to stay.
I am not sure how long it will last. But enjoy looking at it through the day while its beauty lasts.

Baby cake

So I heard the wonderful news from my sis-in-law. She was expecting and we were going to visit her soon to see her. Since I had just started on baking classes, I thought of trying out a cake for her. Though it is nowhere near to a professional one aesthetically, I am glad it tasted wonderful. It was a strawberry cake baked with yellow cake mix and strawberry pudding mix. Once it was made, I cut it in 2 halves horizontally. Made some fresh strawberries juice. Put some juice in between the two layer to soak the cake a little, so that its moist. Then made a strawberry and whipped cream/sour cream mixture in the grinder. Applied that between the two layers as a cream. And kept it overnight to set. The next day cake was ready to do icing. I applied icing on the cake, but as it turns out, it was a bit yellow than white icing. Also, the green color was not exactly the one I needed. I did not go with pink/blue since we yet did not know the sex of the baby. So though as I said the cake tasted delicious, I would do icing differently next time. Probably a purple with white or something on those lines.
The writing and the design of cart on cake was my darling husband's idea. Since he is very good at drawing, he helped me put it down on paper and I loved putting our mini project over the cake.
Here is what the end product looked like: