My attempt at designing my own header 
A bright sunny day!
Seattle’s been pretty dull lately, filled with rainy days. Today, all of a sudden the weather is amazing.
The last time it was sunny, we went to the Kerry park. To my disappointment, It wasn’t much of a park. But it had an amazing view of Seattle with snow covered Mt Rainier in the background. There were flowers everywhere and the place was spectacular.
I hope you guys are having a bright and colorful spring :)
A turtle and an owl can be best friends too!
Quilting requires a lot of work! I tend to take break from heavy projects by working on smaller ones.
Mr turtle or Andy as we lovingly call him was born one day because my husband (Mr A) complained that he didn’t have anyone to listen to his computer-science/programming problems! (I do listen, but…..he needed a better audience )
When Mr A is at work, Andy roams around the house, at his own pace.
Since Andy started getting lonely at home, I made him something from scrap fabric to keep him company. Andy loves hanging out with Mr owl when he is not busy listening to Mr A!
Mr A hates Mr Owl, he says his eyes are scary!!!
Online collaborative whiteboard
After finding no single whiteboard with all the features I wanted, I decided to write one of my own. It uses enyojs, tornado, and redis and has lots of nice features. It is released under GPLv2
This is the GitHub page: http://anandtrex.github.com/collabdraw
The demo resides here: http://collab.cloudapp.net
Screenshot:
In short the features are:
- Works on most tablets out of the box, interface designed for touch interfaces…
Something interesting :)
A book on quilting
Since I have been bitten by the quilting bug, I’ll be posting only about quilting for a while as I won’t be working on anything
I found this awesome book on quilting in the library. Its perfect for people like me, who find it almost impossible to cut fabrics to the exact measurements. This book talks about free-form quilting, which I think is what I am going to do in my next quilting project.
And when I’m not working on my quilting, I’m savoring these yummy chocolates my husband got for me
WIP – Blue quilt
Things you learn when u quilt for the first time:
1. Cutting a perfect square out of fabric requires a lot of math, talent and patience.
2. Pins hurt a lot!
3. Arranging blocks is not simple as it seems, especially if the fabric has a pattern which looks upside down from another angle!
4.Rotary cutters are SHARP and keeping them at a safe distance after cutting does not come naturally to everyone! (slight cuts on my fingers prove that!)
5.If you are new to sewing, then keeping a 1/4 inch seam is an almost impossible task.
But, you also learn that quilting is fun! As the blocks keep building, the excitement level increases.. I can’t wait to finish mine!
The Days are just packed!
Since yesterday turned out to be bright and sunny, I decided to pay a visit to the Joann store in Ballard. I received the fabrics that I ordered online few days back, but it turns out, I need more fabric. I didn’t want to invest in some fancy expensive fabric as this is my first quilt and I’m bound to screw things up For instance, I found it so hard to cut the fabric even though I have a mat, ruler and a rotary cutter. Its so hard to align it and is way difficult than cutting paper. Also, I ended up wasting quite a bit of fabric while trying to cut with the rotary cutter. Now, after cutting around 30- 9 1/2″ squares, I have got the hang of it.
My first quilt is gonna be very simple and BLUE!!
I also couldn’t stop myself from buying these shades of pink
Knitted scrap blanket
My fascination with blankets is growing day by day.. I have a lot of yarn left from my previous projects and I can’t make anything out of them..I have seen a lot of posts on the internet about making a blanket out of scrap yarn, which is also a best way to learn new stitches.
So, here are the blocks that I have been working on..Its great that I learn so many new stitches, and I finish the block even before I get tired of the pattern! I’m making cable swatches at the moment, patterns are taken from Vogue stitching dictionary -cables.
What a great way to make use of your leftover yarn!
Stitch markers
You are about to start the design part on your hat, and you can’t find your stitch markers/knitting markers… You know you had them somewhere, but you can’t remember where! You can’t go to a store and buy some as the weather is nasty and the store is quite far off.. You don’t wan’t to order online as you don’t want to wait 2-3 days for them to arrive.. And the knitting is getting so interesting that you don’t want to stop and wait till you get your markers..What do you do??
Well, you make some at home!!
Things required:
1. A pair of scissors
2. Wires used in packaging (these wire like things used to hold thicker wires together)
Step 1: Cut the wire.
Step 2: Bend to form a ring.
Step 3: Your marker is ready!
Something new on my list………
Few days back I ordered some fabrics and batting for my very first quilt……………………….
I have been meaning to do that for the past 3 years!!! For 3 years now, I have been looking at endless numbers of quilting blogs, browsed thousands of patterns, read hundreds of books and tutorials…but, I never got an opportunity or the confidence to create a quilt.. Now, finally the day has come!
I also ordered a quilting beginner’s set from Amazon… It’s a Fiskars Rotary Cutting Set, came with a mat, ruler and a rotary cutter.. Practically everything that I require to start a quilt…And I also found out that my new Sewing machine came with quilting accessories .. Now, I’m just waiting for my fabrics to arrive, its supposed to be delivered today…
