Summer Things

Hello friends! That's right - we have no spring in here, but Summer right away... it has got really really hot already, up to +28! It's not a joke because now it will start getting only hotter. Nevertheless we cannot skip doing our daily deals, right?
Last weekend we as usually took a walk in the garden - a Terrace garden this time for our little A to enjoy new surroundings. He is FOND of the stairs and steps! As soon as he sees them anywhere he wants to climb up and down... We are very careful to choose places where he can do it safely. Under our supervision of course.

The garden had many most bright and cute flowers! As usual I don't know their names...

 This is the longest flower bed there... loved how it stretches further...

We stopped to take photos of this tree somewhere on the way; it has no leaves but huge red flowers! I am wondering what fruits it might give? These trees are everywhere in the city now.

Besides wandering around, I try to be productive on a crafty front. Here is what I put in my To accomplish list - a Waffle stitch dining set for little A. I am using tutorial by Kathleen of Miss Abigail's Hope Chest. Loved this stitch, and wanted to learn it after seeing on Sangeetha's post.

Also as we had bought a 3 in 1 microwave oven, I now can bake! Yey! Here are my latest oatmeal, flour, atta, ginger and turmeric muffins. I am glad that baking products and equipment became available in India in recent years. One can afford them easily as well.

This is pretty much it for today... I aim to finish pending projects in nearest future and start new ones as soon as possible. Thank you for all the comments and sharing of your experience on raising a child in many languages. Next post will try to make on what toddler activities I could incorporate in A's routine, and what didn't work for us. Still working on creating a quiet book for him and busy bags for a future trip home.

Have a wonderful day!

T-Shirt Yarn Rugs - Different Techniques

Being in India for more than 3 years didn't make me accustomed to its weather. These days it is so humid outside that you are covered in sweat within 1 minute. The only way to stay indoors, in a cooled room, with fan too. We don't have AC in our drawing room, so any visit to it is a challenge, and we almost stopped watching TV there. Though last Sunday I attempted to sneak into it, switched on the fan at a high speed, and managed to have a look at the Big Bang Theory, after which I had to retreat into a cooler location. I look forward to the season change. 

The monsoon hasn't arrived yet in its full power. I hope the rains will not bring more devastation as they did to poor people in Uttarakhand. The tragedy is still echoing, the news is about it still on all the channels but unfortunately not much can be done now for those who lost their family members, or got a huge psychological shock for the rest of their life. 

Our life here at the foothills of Himalayas has been quite and I am grateful it has been this way. You can call it a "slow living", with all its ups and downs. Yesterday I had a unique chance have a mid-week break with my D, as he had an off, so I couldn't afford leaving him alone at  home :) We didn't do much cooking, had some street food, maggi for dinner (it is okay sometimes). Now I hope my morning exercises will not go in vain, I always hope after such "heavy" days. Besides I also did some crochet, to my pleasure and satisfaction. 

The rug below was made last weekend from that T-shirt yarn I proudly presented you last week + yarn produced from the grey  t-shirt kindly provided by my colleague. I like the the color transition at some places. I am not so fond of lumps and uneven edges though. Also it was so difficult to crochet this yarn at times, my right thumb was aching a lot when holding the 8 mm crochet hook. The rug is about 12 in (30 cm) in diameter, but I plan to add few more rounds to it, as it looks unaccomplished.

So yesterday, as soon as I had some free time during the day, I commenced and finished another crochet rug. This time it  was inspired by Pinterest, and involved clever usage of acrylic yarn. See the tutorial here. Really, I am amazed by the thought that once came to a person's mind to make it this way! Yes, there is expenditure of  acrylic yarn, but also a good stash buster of it, in addition, no thumb ache and t-shirt yarn is being utilized economically. I used only half of the blue track pants and half of a green t-shirt. More is left to make another rug? a table mat?

Furthermore, the edges are much neater, almost no lumps, the rug feels soft, though thinner that the first one. My D's verdict after seeing both the variants was: "That one (red and black) looks more like a mat, and this one (aqua) you won't lie on the floor, it's too good for this purpose". I agreed, still I insisted that aqua one would be his bed side mat, he had no means of retreat and surrendered.

The mat is now resting on my D's bed side. It came out about 45 cm (18 in) in diameter. My D told me he put his feet directly onto it when he woke up, but he didn't dare to stand on it with his slippers. So sweet, my dear! I am planning on making a rectangular mat in the same technique, as to lie it in front of our bed. As I found out in India people don't usually put mats (at least I haven't seen this yet), as mostly everyone has marble floor which stays cool in the hot summer season. However I long for coziness in my room, and such kind of details simply make me happier. I am sure my husband doesn't mind to have all of that too. Hope you also had good project to do and enjoy.

I would like to share a call from a fellow blogger and a doll maker Teresa of A Magical Whimsy, who needs help for her son recovering form West Nile meningitis. Please, follow the link and may be you would be the one interested to buy beautiful hand made dolls, Teresa put links to in her blog. 

Take  care of yourself, my dears! Have a blessed day! Happy Fourth of July to all who celebrate today!