Tag: Sewing machine

30 Things to do in 2016- April update

Accomplished a lot of goals; had a nice, relaxing vacation and turned 30 on an upbeat note! What more can a gal ask for?! I thank each and every one of you!

1. Buy a sewing machine 
2. Learn basic stitches
3. Sew a summer dress/ skirt for Medha – What an amazing thing it is to be able to make your own dress! I sewed a couple of skirts for Medha. They aren’t perfect, with clean edges or proper fit, but they are almost perfect to me! Medha liked them too…. But the girlie girl that she is, she wanted more design in them! Her next ones surely will. I bought a lot of beautiful fabric from Dubai and can’t wait to use them! 
4. Paint a wall hanging for our hall – I thought of making a wall hanging for our hall, but decided not to. Instead, I made a couple for my mom to decorate her new home. The kids helped me make them…


5. Scrapbook with Medha of her cousin’s visit 
6. Make a photobook with Medha’s pictures.
7. Make a photobook with Madhav’ s pictures
8. Turn the spare room into craft/reading room
9. Post before/after pictures of craft/reading room project.
10. Bake a cake and decorate it with Medha
11. Throw a handmade birthday party at home for Medha and Madhav
12. Read “Big magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert
13. Read a kannada book
14. Read the photography book Prasad gifted me
15. Complete Spark ecourse
16. Complete Onward and Upward ecourse
17. Have pictures taken with my sister for the blog
18. Write thank-you letters to the most important people in my life ( I know who they are)
19. Volunteer at Madhav’s playschool – I’ve asked so many times to be allowed to help the teachers at Madhav’s school, but I’ve not been given a chance yet. So I approached an NGO called the Reach Beyond and they let me help under-privileged kids with Reading and Math 2 or 3 times a week.
20. Write to a magazine/ newspaper.
21. Visit a National park
22. Learn to drape a saree beautifully – “With practice you’ve gotten better and better at wearing Saree, Mama”- my daughter has noticed my improvement too! 🙂
23. Watch a play
24. Add 10 new followers to the blog ( to make the count 90)
25. Change the blog’s “about” page
26. A weaving project with Medha  – I got a piece of wood, learnt to hammer nails into it from my dad, prepared a loom, tried to involve my daughter in the actual weaving, but by the end of a couple (maybe more) of hours, we had a pretty mat for my parents’ home phone, a sore back from all that sitting in one place and a Thank you speech by the daughter that went like this- “Weaving is a very difficult thing to do! Thank You!”

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27. A plush doll with Medha – One for the kids and one for my beautiful sister to remind her to “KEEP MAKING”, even though it may not turn not as well as planned.

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28. A garland with Medha
29. Visit a historical monument/palace with the kids
30. 365 days of journaling

Here’s to more DOING and less procrastinating!

Love,

Manasa.

 

Love,

Manasa.

30 Things to do in 2016- March update

We are busy around here, but this is GOOD busy! We’ve been doing a ton of projects, attending Birthday parties, preparing for school activities and slowly but consistently finishing tasks off our to-do lists. I felt much more productive in March than in the month before. I guess It’s because I didn’t force myself to do things I simply didn’t feel like doing, and started my day with journaling. Both these exercises (one mental and the other, physical) helped me deal with the craziness called Life this past month.

Here are the things I’ve accomplished till now-

1. Buy a sewing machine  – This one should have been the easiest, right? But it wasn’t. Buying a sewing machine is a big investment; Maybe not too big for some, but I wasn’t sure I would put it to good use. Now that I bought this, I’ve been using it regularly! Love my new machine! 
2. Learn basic stitches– It’s so easy with the machine, even for a beginner like me. Just read the manual thoroughly. And practice, Every Single Day!
3. Sew a summer dress/ skirt for Medha
4. Paint a wall hanging for our hall
5. Scrapbook with Medha of her cousin’s visit – This one brought me such joy!
6. Make a photobook with Medha’s pictures.
7. Make a photobook with Madhav’ s pictures
8. Turn the spare room into craft/reading room
9. Post before/after pictures of craft/reading room project.
10. Bake a cake and decorate it with Medha
11. Throw a handmade birthday party at home for Medha and Madhav
12. Read “Big magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert– Had saved this one for the end, but HAD to dive into it. I was desperate for some Magic! And boy did I find it!
13. Read a kannada book – this one is taking me forever to finish!
14. Read the photography book Prasad gifted me
15. Complete Spark ecourse – Finished this one and mailed Kam, its author, too, to let her know my thoughts. She’s awesome and the course is awesome. It did help me rekindle my lost “Spark”.
16. Complete Onward and Upward ecourse– working on this one now.
17. Have pictures taken with my sister for the blog – did you see the new “about us” on the sidebar?
18. Write thank-you letters to the most important people in my life ( I know who they are) – this one gave me such joy. I am who I am because of these people and a few others too. I can’t possibly write to each one of you, right? But hey, Thank you!
19. Volunteer at Madhav’s playschool
20. Write to a magazine/ newspaper.
21. Visit a National park – read about it here and here.
22. Learn to drape a saree beautifully
23. Watch a play
24. Add 10 new followers to the blog ( to make the count 90) – Yay! We did it!
25. Change the blog’s “about” page
26. A weaving project with Medha
27. A plush doll with Medha
28. A garland with Medha
29. Visit a historical monument/palace with the kids
30. 365 days of journaling – March was awesome for journaling! Hope April goes the same way!

Love,

Manasa.