Hop, Skip and Stitch for the Girls

I resigned from work about a month ago to prepare us and the house we live in for a year away in France. It's felt longer than that, though. I feel like I have been forever packing, running around, staring at the boxes in the house and getting things done.

In the middle of it all, I travelled to Ahmedabad for my dear niece's (sister's daughter) first birthday. She's a piece of my heart, walking around outside my body. I had gathered material and ideas ages ago to stitch her headbands, which I only got to doing the night before her birthday. I got the technique from looking at a few lessons online. The lace is store-bought as are the rose buds. The coloured ones are strips of t-shirt. Patches are felt. The designs, patience and poked fingers are all mine. :) (Photo courtesy: My sister)

Yesterday, I spent some time with my other niece (husband's brother's daughter) here in Bangalore. She didn't have school and was home alone and bored for a bit in the afternoon. I taught her how to skip with her tiny and shiny skipping rope. I managed to save face by not tripping...almost did a couple of times. She was so happy and proud about the whole deal, and mighty excited...like it was some big secret which she would share with her mum once she was home.

I stitched my first headband for her. She flaunted it for about fortnight. I think it's really easy to befriend little kids...as long as they are not yours.... !

 

Tiles Galore

We didn't have a side-table in the house yet and a couple of months ago I thought that, if at all we should have one, it should be a ceramic-top table. I wondered if we could make one ourselves. I did some research, looked online and found this very helpful post. I showed it to D and the decision was made...this little table was going to be a DIY.

We just needed a couple of things and a wrought iron table. We got the table custom-made from a small shop in Shivajinagar. Shaheed, the store-owner, gave his practical suggestions and agreed to make us one. After that, with his advance fee in hand, he directed us to places we could buy the grout and silicone. We walked a left here and then a right at the dead-end and found ourselves on (surprise surprise!!) Commercial Street! This is my favourite place and I sincerely believe you can get everything you want for building a house from scratch to building a life from scratch in the crowded lanes here.

Not having entered a hardware store before, let alone for grout and silicone, I was pretty doubtful when I asked for these items. You can imagine how relaxed I must have been when the little fellow at the store said, "Silicone hai naa.....kaunse colour mein chahiye?" We got the necessary stuff and headed to the shop that looked liked some place we could get a couple of tiles.

The store owner here seemed like a very busy person. People were running around him getting things done. I think he was receiving a huge consignment order while we were there. Amidst all that, he let us choose our tiles on the condition that we only pick from his samples or discarded ones. It seemed like a good deal. He was kind and he understood what we were looking for. We weren't even going to get him a lot of money. Only Rs. 325/-, to be precise, for seven tiles of different colours. "Aapka kaam ho gaya achhe se?" is what he asked, making sure we got what we were looking for. It made me feel like I was his humanitarian project for that day. :)

Things were looking up for us and we headed home with tiles, silicone, grout and the hope that we will be proud owners of a ceramic-top table by the end of the following week. Now that, of course, is never the case. After what seemed a hundred calls to Shaheed, we got the table and got to work on it soon after.

There was some trial and error along the way. But it was a thrill seeing something taking shape right under your fingers. It gives me a high to see splendid results after putting into action something I have envisioned myself! Who wouldn't?!

If you are planning to start a DIY project, please make sure you or your partner-in-crime is loaded in the patience department!! Apart from that, all that's needed is for one of you to suggest an idea and the other one of you to say "Chal!!"