Shalini's Sewing Space

Today I ran my second 5K ever! Last time I ran was in 2007. I beat my own time by about a minute! My time was 38:23. It feels great to be able to run and actually like it. I'm not sure why but this time I'm liking running rather than hating it the entire time. I guess it is the reason I'm now able to run all the way rather than looking forward to taking walk breaks. Either way, it feels great. Now I have to decide when to do the 10K. I've never ran 10km outside and only once on the treadmill and that was years ago. The only consideration is I've got to have enough time to train for it and the race has to be early morning so that sun isn't right on top of my head. I've been working out pretty consistently for the last many months. I started out with Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. It is an excellent program for beginner. It's only 25 minutes a day and that is all I had time for in the beginning. I finished that program in about 45 days and then picked ...

We spent our 10th Anniversary in Hawaii. It was the most wonderful trip ever! The kids behaved, mostly. We visited the Volcano National Park, rain forests, went whale watching and spent a ton of time together as family. No internet in the hotel for the first time ever on a vacation LOL It was really the most amazing experience. I have tons of pics but I will chose one or two from each activity to keep it manageable and also interesting for you! Day 1 and 2 : The day we were leaving for Hawaii, Aanya fell sick. She had fever and was not happy during the flight. The flight was long - 2 changes (DC to TX, TX to LA, LA to HI). It was the most awful part of the entire trip. Once we got there and slept the night she started feeling better. No more fevers Yay. We started the morning easy and took a tour around the hotel. We stayed at the Hilton resort in Waikoloa . It is so awesome I can't even describe it in words. It encapsulates what Hawaii is all about..lots of vegetation, oce...

Ok - we all know girl clothing is just too cute to resist buying or making. But my big boy is not without mamamade clothing either. I made him 2 fleece hoodies last year. He helped by selecting the fabric combos and the shield applique. Everytime he puts one of these on it puts a smile on my face. Finally, something for my boy! There is another one in red and grey but I don't have a picture online for it. The hoodie pattern is from the book 'Sewing clothes kids love'. It is actually a great book for children's clothing inspiration, patterns are really good and fit my petite kids very well. Sizing is European so you do need to figure out which size to make but information is all included in there. One of the items on my 52 things list is from this book - 'Feliz' which is the ultimate ruffly super twirly girls dress with an underlayer and an overlayer.

Last summer I was making Aanya a nice summery wardrobe. There are so many cute girl dress patterns that I have a hard time chosing which one to do. One such pattern is Summertime Dress . The designer is from a sewing forum I frequent and she is just as sweet as this dress is! I bought the pattern right as it came out and made the dress. It is adorable. I'm sad that it is too small for her now. I plan to make at least 2 more this summer. (ignore the unfinished hem. this was try it out time) Aanya had this simple knit frock which is way too cute on her. I traced the lines on paper and just recreated the pattern. It actually fits and looks cool! I made her 2 of these last year. Bonus points with this one because she can wear these as tunic over her jeans this year. Yay for knits! I haven't done much sewing since last post. I have been tasked with coming up with pirate costumes for 7 kids from DS's Odyssey of the Mind program. It's not much, just vests made of...

Completed 1/07 Little Grey Dress Pattern The dress is made of grey fleece from JoAnns. I hand stitched the cowl neck down so I wouldn't need to adjust it all the time. Head fits fine on Aanya. Sleeves are a little bit longer than I'd like but I only noticed it after finishing the dress. Oh well. Next year she can wear it as a tunic. Pleats look way better in person than the picture shows.

I have been getting to know my DSLR little by little after owning it for 5 years. I bought it with the intention of taking awesome memorable pictures of the kids (well, only Mehul at the time). Since it performs well even with the kit lens and on auto, I never bothered to learn it. Now I've decided the time has come so I've taken it off auto. Some of the cute shots from earlier last year. One of my favorites. I've got it on the picture wall in the hallway. Aanya is about 11 months old here. Another favorite A good friend said it's better than his school portrait :)

Happy New Year everyone!! I have the dress finished! Will do a longer post later but I want to post the dress. Cute tag Thanks for all the nice comments. They mean a lot to me as I rebuild my blog :) Thanks for visiting. It will be an incentive to me to keep blogging.