Easter and Birthday Getaway

This weekend its the Mister's Birthday and a long Easter weekend, so we're off to spend two days in a small resort near Lonavala called The Machan. This resort has luxurious eco- friendly tree houses nestled between the jungle of Jambulne. Its a 2.5 hour drive from the city, but we're taking the train, that takes around the same time. While I'm thinking, its may be too hot to be up on a tree house this time of the year, the resort owners say they're full, so hoping the mornings and the evenings shall be pleasant atleast. The resort offers a variety of staying options for various guests and we've been booked to stay in the Canopy Machan. I promise to show you pictures of the holiday and give you a full lowdown on the place. 
Aaaand this was the perfect excuse to make myself Noodlehead's fabulous cargo duffle bag.
Tadaaaa....presenting my vintage sheet cargo duffle-

I chose my favourite vintage sheet print, I'd bought a couple of years ago. I've been using this sheet very sparingly and this was the last scrap left. 

I used denim for the bottom and side accents because of the durability and ofcourse it won't get dirty too fast. The pockets are made of upholstery cotton that Ma bought me last year. 

Pretty ikat fabric for the pockets. 

I love these bright blue mosaic snaps. They look so gorgeous on the mustard coloured pockets. 

The handles are made from a thrifted tablecloth. I couldn't find the a long enough metal zipper to go with the bag so instead I used an ordinary two-way nylon zipper. 

I didn't line this one because I was in a hurry to get this one done, but when I make the next one for Ma and Meera, I'm definitely putting in pretty lining and a zipper pocket.

Oh please just ignore the muddy floor of my sunny balcony, there's some heavy duty work happening on the terrace. 

 I'm just sooo excited how great this bag turned out and I've already stuffed it with my essentials for the weekend. Cannot wait to put on my sunglasses and strut along with this gorgeously colourful bag :) You all have a great weekend and stuff yourselves with all the Easter goodies you can lay your hands on. I'm really looking forward to this short break in the jungle. See you next week. Byeeeee!!

Luvs,

Runa

Shop Update

Lunch bags are back in stock in the shop. These had to be made after all the requests that poured in when they all sold out. 

The weekend was rather quiet and spent lazing around the house. The Mister and I even managed to watch two movies we'd downloaded a while ago :) I'm working on an exciting project that I've been waiting to tackle for a while now. I hope it works out and I can share it here soon. The Mister is off on a three day business trip tomorrow morning and that leaves me and the sewing machine to ourselves for a couple of days :)) 

Hey have you seen the tons of Easter DIYs on blogland? Anything you'd like to make? I am in love with all the cute bunny softies and basket tutes. Easter takes me back to memories of our much awaited school break, chocolates, swimming and yes the Safari Rally. 

Any Easter plans in the making? Hope you all had a great weekend. See you soon lovelies!

XOXOXOXOX

Runa

Blogoversary and more

7th April 2011 was when I wrote out my first post here. Yes its been three years! Thank you all you lovely readers for support and the comments that you send in once in a while. There's tons I've learnt while writing posts up here. There were times I'd struggle for hours trying to get all the settings right for just one post. Three years later played around with pretty much all the settings available and with a little help from Google and the Mister ofcourse, I can now do a variety of things here on my own. I hope to change the look of this space. I have a new logo which I'd like to share with you all right here. Its all in the pipeline and shall happen soon :)
The week was spent working on some lunch bags for the shop. I finish them up today and click pictures to list them in the shop tomorrow. I snatched some time in between to make this sweet little pouch. This is made from scraps left after making these tote bags. 

 I hand embroidered the floral pattern to add some interest. Also used a metal zip for the first time. Its a pity you don't get them in larger sizes where I live.

This was meant to go up in the shop, but  if you can see the corner of the fabric has this ugly stain which is pretty faint, but I'm keeping this for myself. Its handy to put in small items in my bag when on short trips out of town. We're off to a quiet place in the jungle for the Mister's Birthday next weekend. Details on that later. I promise!

I also made one of these mini wallets for Meera. She saw mine over the weekend and loved it and I had some newly arrived fabric from iTokri, screaming at me to get made into this cute wallet. Hope it gets to her today, before she checks this space. Isn't this Paisa print the cutest?
The lovely mango season is back in Bombay and everywhere you go you see these gorgeous yellow babies peeking out of every fruitwallah on the roadside and fruit markets. Please be very careful what and where you buy your mangoes from. Living all these years in the city, have never managed to find the original Alphonso mango anywhere in town. They say all the good stuff leaves the country even before we know. I like the experimental online shopper that I am got myself a batch of fancy looking and smelling mangoes from a local run website called Bookmymango.com Promptly a dozen arrived the next evening and when I cut open the first two, I see this rotten center staring at me. Clicked a few pictures and sent it to the owners immediately. Ofcourse they did not respond and I called them the next day only to hear that I am the first to complain of such a problem and what I describe is a defect with the mango that cannot be detected externally! Well so I assume I was to just shut up an cut open the rest and eat whatever was edible and throw the rest. After a heated argument, which the gentleman patiently gave an ear to, he agreed to take them back and give me a refund, but all this after my blood pressure hit the roof and I had to spend fifteen minutes trying to tell him why I definitely wasn't going to let this come anywhere near my mouth!

Look what came this morning to make up for all the disappointment last evening :) A bottle of organic milk from Pride of Cows.  

They boast of milk being totally organic and untouched by hand till it reaches our doorstep. I couldn't wait to taste it the moment it came and I have to tell you, its the tastiest milk I've ever had after the milk we'd get in Nairobi as kids. I am a big milk fan and my husband laughs at me cause when I'm thirsty and longing for something chilled to drink, I more than often open the refrigerator and grab a glass of milk :)) If you have kids and adults at home that fuss over drinking milk, you definitely should try this. At the moment they only deliver in Bombay and Pune. Their customer service is great and extremely prompt.

The heat just keeps rising. Any ideas on how a portable air-conditioner or air-cooler would work in such temperatures? My studio gets terribly heated in the afternoons, forcing me to shut work, I could definitely get a split air-conditioner for the room, but that would mean some amount of masonry work, which I'd like to avoid if possible. Let me know if you'd have some suggestions for me. 

Hope you all are having a great week!

XOXOXOXO

Runa

Pattern sale at Michellepatterns

Michelle Patterns are a big favourite with many of us who love sewing and crafting at home. Her detailed PDF patterns, with extremely well laid out instructions are very easy to follow. Her patterns are so simple yet a pleasure to sew and look nice and professional when complete. 

Whether you're an experienced sewist or still learning you shall definitely find something to whip up. Go get yourself those patterns before the sale ends on the 8th of April.

Happy Sewing :))

Runa