Last month for my birthday I received a very thoughtful and well hinted present from my husband. A new sewing machine! I get so excited even now thinking about it because of all the fun things it can do. I was first debating on what type to get, one that is known for it’s sturdiness or one that has lots of bells and whistles. I ended up getting the one with bells and whistles but I’m glad of my decision. The one I picked out and had been hint to my husband since March was the Singer Confidence 7470.

I like the fact that it sews alpha characters. But one of the features that I like the best is the locking straight stitch. It does the reverse stitches for you when you start and before you end all you do is hit the reverse button and it will stitch 4 reverse stitches at the end as well. That and the automated needle threader top the list of perks. However, I believe the best thing about this is the auto tension. I had LOTS of issues with tension with my old Singer 8280. I would spend half the time ripping out seams because the tension was not right. But with the 7470, all you have to do is make sure to thread the top thread and bobbin correctly and the tension is measured by the machine.

So all in all, I’m going to get a lot more sewing done with a lot less frustration. Good riddance!

- ASH

Ribbons are hard to organize.

This is how I kept my ribbons until I found this great idea. Not so pretty, eh? So I took an hour to rearrange it all and now it looks like this.

I got the hanger from Ross for $3.99 so the whole thing was really inexpensive too.

- ASH

Drilling through anything {especially drywall} creates a mess all over. Here is a trick that can save you clean up time. Take two strips of painters tape and create a shelf like surface and put it under the space you are drilling. The “shelf” will collect the dust and it will stick because .. well it is tape.

- ASH

I’ve updated the look of the website to be more navigational. I also added a logo {finally} to the site. Here is the new menu bar. All my projects can be accessed in the drop down menu.

Do you like the new look? How about the logo?

- ASH

I know, you are already done with Christmas and New Years. But I was on vacation. A good long one. Making and buying lots of gifts and of course spending time with the Hubster and family. I hope you did too. I was definitely not ready to go to work yesterday!

The one thing I learned about myself is that I can not stick to one project at a time {like my blog title so suggests}. I was knitting one project then sewing another or hammering yet another. I think I drove my husband crazy! But at least he knows what he is up against now.

Doesn’t this look cozy

Christmas Eve and morning, the two of us spent together. I was lucky enough to not have to cook both days! My in-laws have a tradition that on Christmas morning, they eat garlic chicken and toast. I had never had it so the Hubster decided to cook it. It was delicious! And my gift was most wonderful – the Adobe CS5 suite. WOW! I am looking forward to many days spent experimenting with the software.

Speaking of Photoshop, these are the digital copies of the Christmas card I designed.

Okay, I am officially done talking about Christmas and New Years! I hope your year is truly blessed!

- ASH

Have you seen this?

I want it! It is a jewelry holder by the etsy seller, JewelryHoldersForYou. I think this can be a nice solution to my overgrown jewelry collection.

The only thing it is missing is a place for my bangles. You know, the Indian type bangles. I have a few that need a home.

Now, if only someone would gift it to me.

- ASH

[Photo from here]

So it was decided last night {Monday – 3 days before Thanksgiving} that I will be making all of the food for that day for the Hubster’s family. {not panicking .. considering that 1. my in-laws haven’t had my non-Indian food as of yet and 2. I only have never made thanksgiving feast .. i’m not panicking at all!!!!!! }

Okay, I’m calm. I’ll be fine. At least I have a menu. And I wrote it on the chalkboard I made, which always makes me happy. Wanna see?

Yup, that’s right, I was such a nervous wreck, I misspelled Thanksgiving! Aaahh! I’m sure you all are making fun of the list being short, well don’t, please! Oh, the mac and cheese will be the same as the macaroni pie I shared earlier but better I hope.

The only thing I was prepared to make was the big bird. I did a trial run Sunday night. The flavor turned out good, but it was too dry in places. Apparently {according to the Hubster} the legs were good and juicy. So I got it half right. {I’ll share pictures next week.} Hoping the second time around is better.

So to all of you out there, making thanksgiving dinner – Good Luck!!!

- ASH

[P.S. I’ve got a few Christmas gifts lined up to make; will be sharing those soon as well!]

That’s how old I am today! Happy Birthday to me!!

In other news.. I made a necklace. I had made the purple fabric flower for a while, but never got around to making the necklace. I had a crafts night recently with my friend and so I finally put it all together. Isn’t it pretty? I love wearing it!

- ASH

If you know either one of us, you know we plan at the spur of the moment. Naturally, we had no idea what we were going to do for our one year anniversary! We couldn’t go out of town as I was practicing for a performance Friday night, and performing Sunday afternoon. So, after we had those yummy cinnamon double chocolate pancakes we had this conversation.

The Hubster: What do you want to do today?

Me: I don’t know what do you want to do today?

The Hubster: We can go to DC.

Me: We can go to Great Falls or visit Mount Vernon.

The Hubster: *silence* … I’d like to go somewhere where there is AC.

Me: I’d like to go to a different city.

*thinking thinking thinking*

After much thinking .. one of us {not sure which one, so I’ll just take credit for it } said Baltimore Aquarium. So off we went to the Baltimore Aquarium! Here some pictures from it.

Not sure what these were called, but they had some nice color to them.

These were tiny little fish.

Seahorses were also present.

Frogs on a log.

Pretty rainforest flowers.

Not sure if these are part of the rainforest or just there to help make the exhibit look nice. Either way, I liked their leaves.

Ever seen sharks sleeping? I’ve now seen three. The one on top came in and snuggled with the other two. It was so cute. {Oh my, did I just call sharks cute ..?} 

There was a dolphin show. The dolphins was jumping over the balls.

There was a huge Hard Rock Cafe next to the Aquarium. We didn’t go but I took pictures!

Instead we had dinner at P.F. Chang’s and got some yummy chocolate cake. {Can you tell we LOVE chocolate? }

Overall it was nice but the layout was a bit poor. There were hoards of people in front of each tank and there was no flow. Oh well. The rainforest exhibit was nice though! Dinner was good. Anniversary celebration was a success.

- ASH

[Photos taken by me]

My brother is one year older today!!  I wish him a very big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Do you know how many good books are in the library? They are just sitting there, waiting for someone to come pick them up and take them to a warm home. There are biographies and autobiographies who calls out to the reader to tell the tale of once a great man or woman; fiction to take you to fantasy worlds like Middle Earth; and references which can be used to further knowledge and get As on reports and projects in school. But basically, books who just want to be held at night and read with loving care.

Okay, I’m done being dramatic .. but seriously, tons of great books. I usually go for the books on CDs because my commute to work is an hour each way the books make it seem shorter and more fun. Anywhoo, I also go to find books on other things. Like when I wanted to start knitting, the first thing I did was look for books on it. They were very helpful and there are tons of them with FREE, yes I said FREE patterns and helpful hints. Of course, having a knitting network like Raverly doesn’t hurt either. Say you need a boost in designing your home, there are books for that. Help on sewing? Check. Crafts of other types? Got that too. The only thing is that they are a couple years or more old. But if you are looking for techniques and inspiration it is definitely a good place to start. Who wants to go buy all the books in the world and only read half of them?

The latest books I’ve been reading are on upholstery. They are awesome books let me tell you. I’m considering starting an upholstery project and because it is a bit massive in size, I wanted to get all the facts before starting. Here are the three I’ve read:

• New Upholstery by Nicole Fulton
• The Complete Guide to Upholstery by Cherry Dobson
• Upholstery Techniques and Projects by David James

Do you go to the library? How often? And what do you usually get there?

- ASH

[Photo from here and here]

Hi there! I made some changes to the site, mainly a new look. I’ve been looking around for THE one. And this might just be it! Do you like it? I’m still making a few tweaks to it so bare with me.

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend. I surely am!!  My weekend is packed but in a good way with seeing friends and family that I haven’t had time to hang out with and doing some late spring cleaning.

Cleaning is a drag but it’s gotta be done, right? I like the feeling after I’m done cleaning .. you know the time where you don’t want to touch anything so that it stays in a pristine condition? Yea, that’s what I’m talking about. It almost feels as good as the time after rain showers.

What are those small things that make you happy? What are you doing this weekend?

- ASH

Yes it is Monday and I’ve spent the weekend recovering from bronchitis. Umm .. how did I manage to get that? No idea. But I do need to recover so that I can go back to normal working self. The Hubster was very good all weekend and took care of me while I lay in bed/sofa.

I don’t have anything significant to share just yet. But I’m putting together a series of pots about the photography tools I use. Mainly to answer the question: “What do I do after I’ve taken that awesome picture!?” So stay tuned for them.

-ASH

This is very totally unrelated to anything I talk about on this blog, but I wanted to share the information incase anyone was interested.

My dance group, Nrityaki Dance Group, is having a Kathak Workshop. What is Kathak, you might ask. Well, it is an Indian classical dance form, from the northern parts of India. Our dance group is having a Kathak teacher come to administer dance tests. She will also be holding workshops for anyone interested. Her name is Rosella Fanelli and she is renowned in Italy and has performed in England, Germany, Spain, Italy, India, and the US. You can see a video of her performing here..Consider the workshop if you are interested and pass on the information!

When:

• Friday, April 30th (1 hr workshop)
          Intermediate: 6:30PM
          Advanced: 7:30 PM
• Saturday, May 1st (2 hr workshop)
          Advanced: 10:30 AM
          Intermediate: 4:30 PM
• Sunday, May 2nd
          Dance performance for all workshop participants

Where: Nrityaki Dance Studio – 23230 Hemmingford Circle, Sterling, VA 20166

Prices:

• 1 hr workshop (Friday)                     $30/person 
• 3 hr workshop (Fri + Sat + Show)     $75/person 
• Show tickets (Sunday)                      $10/person

Seats are limited and are first come, first serve.

There will also be a henna artist at the studio.

Please send all enrollment requests to NrityakiDanceGroup@gmail.com by April 22nd.
Have Questions? Call 703-661-0789.

- ASH

Aside from the March madness, spring coming, and of course this year the health care bill, March is a much more busy month (than February).

It also seems like the month of March is just one big birthday fest. I know people who were born on the 12, 16, 18, 20, 22, and 25. That’s SIX people! One needs time to get gifts together .. sheesh!

Sooo here’s a big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

.. to all those with birthdays in March. I’m not going to list names here, you know who you are.

-ASH

Back in October was when I stopped writing. In the past four months many things have changed. Here’s a run down of what happened and what to look forward to in posts coming up.

1. A new name! I didn’t think that LPI was working for what I wanted to express and where I wanted this blog to go in the future. So I have given it a new name and new look. ASH Designs, will be what the blog will be called from now on and found here. And incase you are wondering, “ASH” is my initials.

2. I started knitting. Yaay! You read about my first knitting project and how I started the process.

3. I created a budget, space, and slightly eco friendly Christmas tree. Also, my friend and I discovered the joys of pin/sequins decors and wreath making.

4. The Hubster and I finally painted our bedroom. Most of the furniture is back in. It still needs some reorganizing prior to revealing it so hold on for this one.

5. I got my first bridesmaid dress! I need to make crinoline slip, which meant I needed a sewing machine. So I now am a proud owner of a sewing machine!

I can dream about it being one of those antiques right?

6. Before and after our wedding, we had one room dedicated to gifts that were being shipped and those we got on the wedding day. That room became a monster closet for boxes and was more commonly know as the “box room”. Being stuck at home for the weekend, due to the blizzard we had, I cleaned out the room and created a craft room for myself. It now houses all my craft supplies and my new sewing machine.

7. I’ve taken an old salwar suit that was ripped and created it in to a top. This was my first sewing project. I’m very pleased with the results.

And because seven is a lucky number and I would just keep rambling, that’s it for now, but be sure to come back and visit to see full posts on most things listed.

- ASH

I’ve been gone. I know. I’m sorry .. But let me tell you that I’m glad to be back!

Let me explain to you what caused me to stop blogging after only a few posts.

1. I’m a writer (not professionally), I like to write. But there’s a down side. I spend lots of time perfecting my writing.

2. Daily posts became a bit too overwhelming for me. Yes, many people do it, but between working full time, cooking meals, crafting, spending time with the hubster, living life, and trying to get enough sleep I found it far to taxing.

3. A bit about my personality: once too overwhelmed it takes me a while to come back and give a clean start.Hence, after two weeks of blogging, I stopped for four months.

Sooooo .. to make this easier on me but still be able to share thoughts and findings with all of you here’s the plan:

For now, I will post at least once a week. Once I get a handle on things, I’ll increase the frequency and we’ll go from there.

One thing I do want to tell you before I leave is .. I have TONS of things planned to share with you.

Thanks for understanding!

- ASH

Welcome to my blog about all the things that are either my interests or hobbies. Which are .. photography, photo processing, interior design, DIY projects, crafts, and cooking. And not only do I love all these things but also love to share my trial and errors, learning process, or if I’m good -inventions! So keep reading, I’ll have tons to post!

Thanks for reading.

- ASH