Kids crafts - 1

What do you do to keep the kids engaged on summer holidays if not send them to any camp? Well I am clueless just like you. I wish they didn't have such a long break during summer(cruel of me to think that way -:( ).
My son is not interested in drawing, crafting or any creative work, all he wants to do in play, play, watch T.V, eat junk.
Engaging such a kid in craft is a challenge. Half the way through he would get bored, abandon everything and go. With millions of kid craft projects on the Internet, I decided I would at least make him do something. Something short and cute.
So here is our first project together.

It's from http://krokotak.com/2013/02/paper-flowers-2/

Colorful fishes

With my son's exams finally over, some relief to me for another 1 and a half month on the study point of view. So this weekend I had a little bit of 'me' time and did this wall hanging. Inspired by the leather work of Andhra Pradesh, I drew out these fishes and colored them to my fancy. I had few wooden beads at home so used them and made a wall hanging. Welcoming spring in my own way, colourful isn't it?
Linking this to Colour's Decor Weekly Story.

Happy B'day my home

It's again the time of the year where my sweet home is celebrating her birthday.
It's so true that you build your dream home only once, isn't it? The excitement of seeing your dream come true is wonderful, decorating it is even more wonderful.  Wherever I go, I long to come back to my sweet abode.
Sharing with you another corner of my home where I spend my evening sitting with a cup of chai.  I love to sit here when it rains.

A Window makeover

If there is any place in my home which I dislike that would be our bed room's king sized window. Why?
1. It is high, I can't open/close it without the help of stool.
2. Due to west facing, it lets in lot of sunlight in the afternoon.
Somehow I am not convinced with the idea of putting vertical blinds to this window, so I covered the half of the window with curtains. The other half  i.e. slanting in size lets in lot of afternoon sunlight directly on the bed, making difficult to take nap.

We knew we had to fix this problem by consulting an interior decorator and but we keep on postponing it. 

A recent visit to Mahabalipuram, I had an idea, which would lessen the problem. While shopping, I found these hangings made from the sea chips. So we bargained two of them for Rs 700 and bought them.

I dis-tangled them(didn't have the heart to do it) and made them to linear hangings.

For time being I have just tied them to the window railings. These hangings block the sunlight to some extent.

The best part of the project, like to see the shadow it creates in the evening!

Wind Chime from Xylophone

Who doesn't like the tinkling sound of the wind chimes? When there is ample space and constant breeze I think you should hang a wind chime in your home.

                          

I recently came across a post Creative ways to re-use your old toys  from Swapna's blog The Mom Views.
I liked the idea of re-cycling the xylophone to a wind chime. Three of the bars from the xylophone had already come-off, but it could still be played with.  I wanted to try this idea so badly that I took off the remaining ones with children hardly noticing the missing xylophone -:). I tied it to the pergolas in the backyard.
It doesn't look great, but it keeps tinkling all day. That's what I love to hear..

Recycling old sarees

What better way to feel your mother's warmth than to make a quilt out of her sarees?
My mother is not fond of cotton sarees, like many people she feels that wearing it makes her to look fat. But it is inevitable in coastal Karnataka in hot summers. Old cotton sarees are in great demand in my native village. People there always want old cotton sarees, not to wear them but to sleep in them and mostly to make diapers for the new born babies.
I had couple of my mother's old torn sarees and one of mine. So I thought why not make a quilt out of it.
For this quilt I used three sarees, old duppatta, cotton threads.
Lay down two of the sarees and thoroughly press them so that there are no folds. This also helps in stitching.
Use the less torn one/ good looking one out side. Just put the second saree inside the first one.
Since the saree is too long, I didn't want the whole 5 m+, so I cut it to the required length. In this case I cut out the pallu part.
Use running stich along the width of the sarees to stitch them together. Here you can see a saree inside and outside of which you can see a balck saree with red border.

After stitching the above, I had to give them a border for two reasons.
1. I did n't like the uncomfortable zari border.
2. I wanted extra width to the normal saree width.
For this I had an old dupatta. So I cut it into half, made the two layers of the third saree(exactly of the same lengh and width of the dupatta) and stitched it as a border.

It almost took me a week, to stitch everything by hand.
End result is not perfect but it's warm and cozy...

A lot to read..

Off late I have been travelling to city for my personal work. I always make a point to visit to this book store located opposite to Hot Chips/near to the Jayanagar bus station. This guy sells second hand books and has a good, huge collection of books. The shop also offers membership if you are regular and interested. If you happen to live in south of Bangalore, and book lover like me, do pay a visit.
After couple of visits last month I have a collection of books to read. I love author Alexander McCall Smith's writing and his famous 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series. I bought a lot of them as it was available there. These would definitely keep me occupied for few days.
A lot to read before I go to sleep -:))