A new fat bottom bag

This is a new bag which I made over the last week.  This is called a fat bottom bag.  The colours are not shown clearly in this picture.  Please forgive me for the poor picture quality.

I am an Etsian!

Yes!!  I am an Etsian!! Today I have joined Etsy, the online portal for handmade items.  Will furnish further details in a few days once I set my webpage well. But I need your wishes, please!

Go green update 2

The onion I planted has been springing up new greens every day. Yay!! It has been growing well and the growth has been quite fast too. In less than a week, it went from a newly planted bulb to springing up to almost 4 inches now.  The other tiny plants u see in the pot are from the tomato seeds. I had just dispersed some seeds in the same pot as I was not confident that these seeds will produce plants, but I have been proved wrong!! The tomato seeds were also planted on the same day as the onion.  When they grow a little bigger, I am planning to transfer them to a new pot.

On the crochet front, I have been getting quite a few orders and I am sure these orders will keep me busy for the next couple of weeks and more. A dear friend of mine, called me yesterday and suggested that I start a website for my creations and commercialize it a little more with some smart marketing. I am giving it a thought.   Hmmmmm!! Lets see what the future holds for me and my creations....

Go green update

The spinach cuttings that were planted last week failed to grow, with most of the cuttings having withered away. But the mint is growing nicely and will soon be mature enough to be used in my cooking. The surprise element is that about four days ago I had planted a small onion just to see if it would grow in my little pot.  Yesterday morning when I was watering the plants, the onion looked the same as it was when planted and I chided myself for being impatient about its growth.  In the evening, as I sat by my window with my crochet, I noticed a glint of green on top of the onion.  On looking closer, I noticed a small shoot peeking out and that made me so very happy!! Today, when I visited my plants in the morning, there was a nice visual treat for me.

Springing up!!

The onion had four small green shoots coming out of it!! It seems to be a sudden growth. I am soo excited!! The small shoots have given a spring in my steps. Yay!!
 Will keep you updated on the greens :)

Home-made flat noodles

A couple of days back, when I was watching the contestants of Masterchef Australia make pasta, I was wondering if I could make noodles at home. I decided to give it a try. I googled for the recipe but most of the recipes asked for eggs. I wanted to make an eggless variety. So after browsing a little, I decided to experiment and used the following recipe to make the noodles.

Ingredients: Semolina 1/4 cup
                  Maida 1tbsp
                  Whole wheat atta 3 tbsp

Cooked noodles

Mix all the above with a little water to make a dough. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes with a little oil to make a smooth and silky dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes or more. The dough should be stringy when pulled but should not stick to the surface of the bowl/rolling pin.  Then take a lemon-sized ball of the dough and roll out as thin as possible without adding any more flour. Meanwhile boil about three cups of  water.  Add 1 tsp of salt and a few drops of cooking oil. Now cut thin strips from the rolled out dough and put each strip one by one into the pot of boiling water. Cook on a medium flame for 5-6 minutes. These strips need lesser time to cook than store-bought noodles. Once cooked, drain the noodles and put in a bowl of cold water. When cooled, drain and set aside. Serve with stir-fried vegetables/seafood/chicken.

Noodles with topping of spicy corn and mushrooms

Thanks for the appreciation!

I am overwhelmed with the warm response I have received for my craft. Suddenly I am inundated with orders for bags. This was what I always dreamt of and I am happy that my creativity is being appreciated. Thanks one and all for all the encouragement and appreciation. Thanks to my dear husband and  family who have stood by me in all that I do. Thanks Mom n Sis for helping me sell my wares!

Respect, respect, respect!

In the past one week, I have come across many individuals (salesmen, executives etc) who take their customers for granted!! For example: a bank executive was supposed to come to our place to collect some necessary documents and for four days in a row, he kept promising to come only to back off at the last minute!! The first time he did that, I told myself that something urgent must have come up and so I gave him the benefit of doubt. But it kept happening again and again.  On last Sunday, in spite of informing us that he would visit our place between 9 and 10 in the morning, when he did not turn up until 10:30 a.m, I gave him a call only to be taken aback when he cheekily told me that he was just waking up!!!!! And he said that soo coolly that I was actually surprised at his laid back attitude.  He was happily lost in his dreamland, while we were left cooling our heels!  When I make an appointment to meet someone, be it for official work or for personal work, I make sure that I am on time.  If at all I am delayed, I at least make an effort to inform that person regarding the delay. But this attitude is missing these days. Nobody seems to be bothered about the other person. Each day, the world is progressing, becoming better in science and technology, but are we losing our values?? In our quest of becoming better in terms of wealth and status, are we forgetting to become better individuals?  When I as an individual, respect other people and their time, I expect the same from others. I refuse to be taken for granted. If you cannot keep your promise, do not make one. If you cannot reach on time for an appointment, do not fix one. Let us pledge today to make a little more effort towards being more respectful towards other people and value their time. If each one of us makes that one small change in our lives, I am sure, we will not only have a better place to live in, we will ourselves become better from within!

Go green!

One of my other interests in life is growing garden vegetables and herbs. Earlier I have successfully grown mint/pudina in a small pot by my window. Mint is easy to grow from cuttings. Just remove all leaves from a stalk and plant the thick stalks in a pot and water daily. Within a couple of days you will find small leaves sprouting from the stalks.

In less than 10 days later, leaves will be mature enough to be used in cooking.  Just use the fresh leaves, leaving the stalks in the pot. Fresh mint leaves have an altogether different taste and great flavour.  The pot on the left in the above picture has stalks of mint/pudina which were planted just three days back. I can already see some small leaves on the stalks. I have been growing pudina since the last two years now, and never once had to buy pudina from the market all this time. In fact at times, I have even trimmed the leaves and given them to friends and relatives as these leaves grow in abundance in no time at all.

The pot on the right has some cuttings from spinach/palak which I planted today. This is the first time I have attempted growing palak. I don't know if palak grows well from cuttings, but I would like to at least try. I have planted a few thick stalks from the palak I got yesterday from the local market. It is necessary to remove all leaves from the stalks before planting the cuttings, so that the plant can utilize all its energy in growing roots rather than sustaining the leaves.  Once roots are grown, then the plant becomes sturdy and strong enough to bear the weight of the freshly grown leaves!  So give it a try today and grow fresh herbs and vegetables in your own little backyard or windowsill like in the case of us, Mumbaikars!

Pearl and gold evening clutch

This clutch was made to order for a client.  Her specifications for this clutch were that it should have lots of beads, some crochet and a flap. I hope I fulfilled her expectations. I used pearls and a golden thread to do the crochet. This is a clutch which will suit all occasions. I added the flower on the flap for an added effect.

Just a beginner!!

I am just a beginner in the world of crochet!! Come to think of it, I am just a beginner in life!! Every day is new, every moment is fresh, every experience is unique! Like my hubby loves to say: Expect the unexpected!!! Life seems to spring up new surprises every day....likewise, the world of crochet is surprising me every day too!  The more I read about crochet, the more crochet projects I complete,  more do I realize that there is soooo much to learn still.  Initially I knew only the basic stitches of crochet; the chain stitch, the single crochet, the double crochet, the treble, slip stitch etc, and I thought I knew all there is to know about crochet. I was proud of myself for creating new patterns on my own, but when I saw other people's work, I realized that I am just a novice. Every time I see a new pattern, I wonder why did I not think about it myself!!!  Now that I have learnt and accepted that I am not using my creative cells to the fullest, I have decided to look out for more projects in crochet, try something new every time and in every project, and that is the only way to keep learning :)

Japanese Flower Purse - COMPLETED!!!

Finally, the Japanese flower purse is completed!! Even though not as pretty as the original, I am still so proud of it and proud of myself!! I pulled it off!!

Do let me know how you like this project. For more details on the bag, please visit www.futuregirl.com

Japanese Flower Purse update-2

The bag rectangle is now ready. It is 21 x 27 inches, consists of 63 flowers and 48 interlocks.  It took me 5 days to complete the entire block!

Next the side with 9 flowers is stitched together with single crochet stitches to compress it into 5 inches. Multiple petals are joined together with single crochet stitches to form the mouth of the bag.

Flowers are bunched together to form the central edge

The central edging is done on both sides consisting of 9 flowers each. The bag is then folded so that both the edgings form the mouth of the bag. The remaining open edges of the bag are then stitched in the same manner to create a wider opening of the bag.

Japanese Flower Purse update

Finally all 63 flowers are ready and connected!!! Now its time to do the green connections between the flowers.

The entire piece is now 21 x 27 inches. I am soo glad that all the flowers are ready and well in place! Hoping to finish the connections in another couple of days.

Today has been a great day for Indian sports. First the medals haul in CWG and then the historic win in the Mohali test match between India and Australia. Congratulations to all the winners today and hope they keep up in the winning streak. Jai Hind!!

CWG Opening Ceremony

After weeks of collapsing bridges, shabby games village, blames games etc, the CWG opening ceremony last evening was a grand spectacular event. Enjoyed every bit of it, from Hariharan's Swagatam, little Keshav's tabla performance, Rehman's performance, the Indian Railways tribute to the common man, the fireworks, the performance of 1000s of school children and artists, the drummers from different parts of India, and the classical dancers, as well as the crowds jeering Mr. Kalmadi!!
Here's wishing the XIXth CWG the very best!!

Japanese Flower Purse

The new bag that I am making is made up of flowers which are connected to one another in rows of 9 x 7. That makes it 63 flowers!!!! My goal is to make three rows of 7 flowers each day. And yay!!! I did complete yesterday's quota of 21 flowers.

I am making use of wool for the entire bag. Each flower is made up of two colours; a base of a darker colour ( I used rust) and petals made of a lighter colour (I used cream).  From whatever I understood by looking at the pictures of the completed bag is that each flower base is made up on 16 double crochets (dc). First, I made a ring of 6 chains (ch), then 3 ch + 15 dc to form the base. Then with the lighter colour, I made the 16 petals. the petals are made of chains and only chains. I made each petal of 20 chains connecting them to the next stitch (st) with a slip stitch (sl).  Thus 16 petals are formed. The pattern is worked in such a way that each flower is connected to the next flower through the petals itself. They get connected as they are made, i.e. one does not make all the flowers individually and then connect them. Instead after the first flower is made, the second flower gets connected to the first as the petals are being made on the second one. The petal chains of the second flower are intertwined with the petals of the first flower, so that both flower get linked. Two flowers get connected through two petals each. So a flower gets connected to four flowers through eight petals. Each flower I made is about 3 inches in diameter. So the base of 7 x 9 flowers will be 21 x 37 inches!!

I am soo excited!!!!!!!!!

Last night just before going to bed, I chanced up on pictures of a nice bag  online and even though there were no written instructions on the pattern, the pictures were so clear that I decided to start making that bag immediately. I started one small flower for the bag and went to bed grudgingly because I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Whole night, I dreamed about this new bag and in my dreams, I was already carrying my completed bag!!! I was so excited that I woke up at 5:30 am today so that I could finish off all my other work and get going with the bag!! Wish me luck, guys so that I can finish this new bag ASAP!