En route

So right now seems to be the best time to try out blogpress on my iPhone. I have about a half hour to kill at the DC airport and have already done the usual- walked around in vain search for veggie food, eaten lots of junk food instead and wasted time on FB. I still have to get the hang of typing on this teeny tiny keyboard- so this post will be short !

Traveling to DC always reminds me of
how uncomfortable the heat n humidity combo can be, and surprisingly makes me appreciative of the the cooler temps in Boston. Yet I do enjoy being out on site and getting a break from the tedium of going to office everyday. DC is so very DC though- buses are emblazoned with political messages and all day long today (as on most previous trips) I could hear helicopters, most probably carrying dignitaries, whirring past in the sky above the site. On one of the past trips we actually dined next to Al Franken (I know I know- not exactly a political celebrity but still !)

So typing on this isn't as bad as I thought! And now I want to sit back and enjoy the live tv on my jet blue flight! So adieu - looking forward to home :)

Pins & Needles

Enthused by my blog post about the i-phone cover, here’s to some more summer sewing!

I learnt to sew from my mom when I was a kid. I wonder how many people would relate to this, but back in the day sewing machines used to be a part of most bridal trousseaus. So, there were two sewing machines at my house- an USHA model that dated back to my parents wedding and a SINGER model that dated way back to my grandparent’s wedding!! Yep, it really was that old—and surprisingly worked better than the more recent machine :) When I was still in primary school, my mom attended sewing classes and I would routinely tag along. I thoroughly enjoyed getting pampered by all the women there & being surrounded by colorful fabrics, threads and motifs. The classes resulted in some wonderful frocks and nightgowns for me and my sis. However, as the years went by she got less and less time to sew and the machines were relegated to basic mending tasks. The fact that they would routinely break down didn’t help either. Being a true mechanical engineer to the core, my Dad would take it upon himself to fix them, every time they broke. And since he got time mostly on the weekends, we were quite used to the sight of a sewing machine lying ‘ripped’ open on our dining table with strict instructions to leave all the parts untouched. There was a revival of sorts when my sis took a summer sewing class years later and I got to help her with all her projects –even managed to make a backpack for myself!

Since then I had always wanted to own a techy computerised sewing machine. Abhi declared I had gone nuts when I disclosed my ambition after we moved to Boston 3 years back. He finally conceded that yes, there was enough room in our 1-bed apartment, and yes,I would manage to squeeze in hobby time with office et al. And shortly thereafter I was the proud owner of one—I didn’t want a super complex version so went with a beginner model (it’ll still take me years to learn all the features and in-built stitches). As excited as I was when it arrived, I have to admit it has been difficult to find time to sew. I want to finally be able to stitch my own clothes (more importantly find the time to do that) , but my sewing skills are still in infancy and patternmaking for clothes is pretty challenging! Apart from mending various clothes, I have stitched 2 things from scratch—a bedding set and a skirt (see snaps)!! What has been thoroughly enjoyable is browsing through sewing / craft blogs and websites – most are put together so creatively!

While not strictly a sewing blog check out etsy.com for wonderful handmade stuff! Enjoy!

I-phoned !

After years of resisting the smartphone charm & successfully ignoring all the blackberrys, iphones & droids out there, I finally gave in this past weekend - and that makes it totally blog-worthy, especially after a long hiatus! It all happened with such amazing randomness & haste that it I’m still in the can’t-believe-I-have-one phase..:)
So we were returning from Gloucester on Saturday evening & wondering if we should stop for coffee before hitting home, when Abhi randomly blurted ‘Want to go get your Iphone?’ That was really a no-brainer—Coffee or Iphone ?! I pounced on the opportunity. For context sake, I have to confess I had been cribbing for the past few months about the lack of internet access on the road. And yet, we decided to go on without a smartphone- firstly because we successfully HAD for so long, and secondly, because we already had a contract & you have to be ‘eligible’ for one of these smartphones & even then they can be just a tad ‘pricey’! So well, we had been officially ‘eligible’ for a few weeks & my cribbing had accelerated to a constant nag, which is why I suspect Abhi made the surprise offer. In a matter of minutes we were at the glitzy, glassy Apple store in Back Bay. Now I thought, I was way way behind in catching on to the Iphone fad, but when I was told to patiently stand in a line that wrapped around half the store floor to get my Iphone, I realized the mania was still very much ON. We waited patiently for almost an hour before a sneaker-shorts-clad dude whisked us away & brought out the Iphone 4 packed neatly in its tiny little box. My excitement level was on the rise and only grew higher when he executed the entire transaction including swiping my credit card right on his I-phone. However one might feel about Apple, you have to give it to them on the coolness factor! As my battered Sony phone of the last 3 years breathed its last moments, it did pose a striking contrast to the flashy new replacement. Oh well! 
So have I been totally consumed by the Iphone the past 3 days ? Both yes & no..Let me explain-Sunday was spent in making a phone case (check out the snaps!)—so while it was all meant for the Iphone, my time was actually consumed on the sewing machine. I have yet to figure out my way around a lot of things..but the apps are definitely cool—so cool that I missed my subway stop for only the second time in 3-years coz I was busy exploring (the first time I had dozed off in the T!). I love the graphics – still have to figure out typing :(..which is why the blog’s happening on the laptop. I do know though -  ‘There’s an app for that !’