Table Mats from Jute Strings

We had lot of jute strings which were initially bought for gardening reasons lying in the store room for a long time. These strings are usually of a meter length and cost you a rupee available in few kirana stores.
We had few old jamana's plastic mats which got sticky when anything directly from the stove was placed on them, so I had to throw them.
Coming to the post, I made three table mats from the the Jute strings that I had. This idea is not new and very simple. Just took one afternoon for making these.
Firstly make a plait of the strings.
Smooth-en the plait by cutting off small jute threads in the edges.
Stitch these plait with a matching thread.
To give a a better look, I used blanket stitch at the borders.

Sipping on Ragi malt

Well a month has already passed in 2012, and it's bit late to mention about one of my resolution for this year. I have decided to give up my cup of tea for the evening and switch to Ragi malt instead. So this way I would consume half spoon of sugar instead of 1 spoon and in addition have the healthy benefits of Ragi. It tastes nothing like the heavenly tea but I am slowly developing the taste for it. Actually I had got it for my younger son for emergency, but I am finishing it up now. It is available in MK Ahmed Supermarket. I hope I continue this habit...

My first Madhubani Painting

Here goes my first Madhubani painting using the poster colors. I saw this illustrated in Kannada magazine 'Taranga'. It hasn't come out greatly, you can see lot of mistakes in the borders, colors spreads. But for a first timer like me its OK I guess. What do you think? This is my inspiration for more Madhubani Paintings.

New beginning

I know its late to wish anybody happy new year but never too late. A very happy new year, new beginning to the people who have accidentally visited this blog. Last year saw myself in lots of downs and few ups. On the family side, there were sad happenings, on a personal side I was excited to learn the basics of sewing, car driving.
Posting here a few pics of my garden, few plants on which I had lost the hopes of surviving. Roses which were neglected, few plants were not watered properly in our absence. Seeing them surviving teaches me to be more patient, and hopeful of tomorrow..

My lovely creeper is blooming

Finally this creeper(Thunbergia Blue) which we planted almost a year ago started blooming. I am so happy seeing its flower.

Sweet corn salad

Our shopping isn't complete without the warm cup of flavored sweetcorn. Tell me, who doesn't love sweet corn. Well today's recipe is of sweetcorn, easy to make and yummy too, otherwise I wouldn't have posted this recipe here -:). This is a kind of koosambari(Salad) we often find in Kota brahmin's feast.

Serves two

1/2 Cup of sweet corn, sprinkle little water and bring it to boil in m/w(approx 90 sec on high power). Discard the water.
1/2 Cup of finely cut cucumber
1tsp of lemon juice
2 tbsp fresh coconut
salt as per taste
little fresh coriander leaves to garnish

for tadka
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp of urad dal
1 small piece of red chili
pinch of hing
1 tsp vegetable oil

Mix all the ingredients and give tadka. Enjoy your salad!

Crepe paper twine ball

Ever since I saw a twisted crepe paper twine in Reliance Timeout, I wanted to try doing it myself. Well, after doing one, I realized making crepe paper twine is not that difficult. I used few of it for gift wrapping. I tried making ball of it later. Here is how I did it. I did three of them, first one turned out to be best. Other two didn't come out well as the balloon I used were not of perfect round shape

Step 1.
Cut the crepe paper into one inch stripes.



Step 2.
Start twisting the papers into thin twines.
Step 3.
Start joining all the individual twisted twines by sticking them together with the glue


Step 4.
Blow up a small balloon, apply thin coat of Vaseline all over it.

Step 5.
Take few drops of synthetic gum and put equal amount of water into it. Apply this mixture on the balloon.

Step 6.
Start putting the twines all around the balloon, completely covering it.

Step 7.
Leave under the fan overnight

Step 8.
Next day the balloon would have shrunken, if not wait for it to shrink naturally.

Step 9.
Once its completely shrunken, pierce the balloon and take it out from the ball.




Although the photos aren't that good(I am very bad in taking photos), believe me it looks good.

This is how I kept it for time being.