Kaaju Katli :P

Today my taste buds tempted me to do Kaaju Katli after seeing a wonderful blog Rak's Kitchen.She's available @ Facebook as well.All her recipes are too good to try :)
http://www.rakskitchen.net/2011/08/kaju-katli-diwali-sweet-recipes.html

Even after reading all her notes, there were some mistakes at my side which made the katli not so "WOWWWWWWW" :(
It was little oily and I missed grinding the kaaju so smooth that I can feel very small chunks when I eat it :P

Lessons learned from my side.
1. Never open the mixie jar when you grind the cashews.
2. Dont add the complete cashew powder to the jeera.Have some left unused so that even if the katli goes sticky you can add it later when you knead.
3. My own decision would be to keep a little jeera out too,so that it can be added if something goes wrong.

Peasant Top

I wanted to try a peasant top for my sweet heart n was convinced to go with this tutorial (as usual, after a big search in the ocean :) )
http://prudentbaby.com/2010/05/baby-kid/peasant-blouse-2/

But I made a few differences to it.I didnt want to create an elastic neckline so I just closed the neck without making any loop for elastic insertion and then sewed the elastic to back of the neck.Also added elastic to the back of the sleeves.This looked so good than the original one,with the effect of ruffles in the neck and the sleeves :)
Then comes the another difference in the hip part of the original version.I didnt wanted to put elastic even here n so just added ruffles to it and left it as it is.
Here is the tutorial of how to make ruffles.
http://www.aprettycoollife.com/2010/04/how-to-make-ruffle.html
Believe me it looked wonderful on her.
Dont go much with the photographs, I'm poor @ the skill :P

Simple yet beautiful frock for my princess

I had a self embroided black cloth material and wanted to sew a frock for my lill on.
After analyzing various patterns in internet I decided to go with my own very simple pattern to try.
I believed it would look good on her and offcourse it did.Everyone who sees her in that was commenting it to be good and it made me happy too ;)



I was not able to put step by step picture since it is also one of my early projects before the odea of the blog.But it is so simple that doesn't need step by step instructions.
The pattern is very simple as you can see.

You can adjust the width,length and height of the dress according to your kid.
Hem the sleeves and neckline.You need not  hem the bottom part since we would be adding ruffles at the end.I added a zipper at the back to make her comfortable when wearing it.
You can refer the below site for how to make ruffles.
 http://www.aprettycoollife.com/2010/04/how-to-make-ruffle.html

I make ruffles in a looooong piece of cloth and cut it at the end as I go on sewing.
Make ruffles for the bottom and sleeves.
The finished frock is here.

 

For all bag lovers!!

When Chintu's Diaper bag worn out, I wanted to buy a new one specially I was thinking a lot about if I can make a one myself for my dearmost person in the world.

I was so happy to find soooo many tutorials for so many lovely bags, but I should consider few points in my mind..my sewing skill offcourse ;) I could not take a pattern too complicate to sew, the availability of materials, time taken to complete the bag.

The ocean of bags tutorial is this. http://diybaglover.blogspot.in/
and this. http://www.bhg.com/crafts/sewing/accessories/easy-to-sew-bags/#page=16
The above is the site which I used to follow everyday for so many updated and new ideas all over the world.



Even though I was so eager doing this bag, http://www.sewcando.com/2012/01/making-laminated-messenger-bag.html, I was convinced and pulled towards towards this model,since the tutorial is picture clear and it was upto my sewing skill :D http://cocojdesigns.blogspot.in/2009/05/annas-diaper-bag-tutorial.html

But I made few alterations to the original version.I wanted 2 packets outside instead of 1 and also wanted a 
big single packet at the other side as well.
The only difference is I didnt used a batting to quilt the cloth since till date I could not find any store in Mumbai where I can find batting(It would be a great help if somebody who reads this direct me to one).

I finished the packets and the outer layer.It was so nice other than the fact that it was not stiff at al since I didnt use batting :(
But I didnt want to waste or loose the bag.So I just added ruffles,zipper and straps to it and made it as my shopping bag :D
This was really helpful and nice for me since we used to buy plastic carry bags everywhere we go and now we just fold it to keep inside my baby's diaper bag and use it when needed. :)