My Blog List

Monday, September 28, 2009

Quilts Done



For a Baby Girl



















Christmas Gift

Friday, September 25, 2009

Weekend

Is it just me or is it that when Friday rolls around we all breathe a collective sigh of relief. In my case the weekend is not full of chores to be done (arent I lucky) but I just wait for Friday to come around all the same.

This evening watching a game of cricket - England playing Sri Lanka, I was so very disheartened by the lack lustre performance of the Sri Lankans (at the initial stages that is) that I just left the TV and came back to the computer for solace as it were! I have started going into the reading bloggers world, apart from the quilting and crafting world that is and it is so huge and so varied and so interesting that you feel swamped by what is around you.

Books are an expensive commodity in this part of the world. They fall into a category of being a sort of a luxury! if there is a classification like this. In an average home, no one would be buying books "just". It would be bought for studies, for college, for something necessary. Buying books for the pleasure of buying and reading the very latest is a luxury afforded to a very very few. So what do the balance reading public of Sri Lanka do. Like everything else, you do get by on the second hand book market, friends, swaps, libraries. However the very latest books and the enormous amount available certainly do not reach us for one thing the English reading public is very limited, so that economics do not permit the import of so many books. I personally have been very fortunate in being able to get a fair amount of books either through my children or through friends who are all aware of my mania for books. India has a very good range of books for the English reader and I try to get as many as I can from Chennai. The bookshops at the
Spencer Plaza in Chennai is very good and the Manager even more so. If you email the Manager before your arrival in Chennai he will make sure he gets whatever you want. Thats service for you.

In the quilting line I have finished two more baby quilts - both given to two adorable babies and I am so very glad that I had this opportunity of doing them the quilts. I have started on a disappearing nine patch quilt - its coming on nicely though I am still not very good at the color combinations. I think I have got lots to learn in this field.

The good news is hopefully my son will be back home for an extended vacation starting next month. Am crossing my fingers (and my toes) on this. It will be lovely to see him. Daughters will follow one month later if all goes well.

Cheers!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Busy week

I havent realized how the time has flown and its already the tenth of this month. I have also started reading once again without concentrating only on my sewing. I finished Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh and such a fascinating read that you have to find the time to read it soon. Its not a book that you can read, put down and take up again later! Books like quilting supplies is another expensive hobby in Sri Lanka but I think that when something is not freely available, people get creative and somehow find the ways and means to get what they want. I think quilting also started like that with people using whatever scraps of fabric they had to turn out the most exquisite quilts. In the case of books I have looked around and found a few sources of second hand books not unreasonably priced, also discovered a library run by an association of British expat ladies in Sri Lanka. They very often have the almost latest of whatever is "happening" in the book world and this has been a source of books for me. Another source which I know will be very strange particularly for Sri Lankans is that books are reasonably priced in India but getting them here is the problem. So if there are book lovers out there amongst any Sri Lankan readers of my blog, please remember that Chennai and Bangalore are both havens for book lovers. Just send me an email and I will give you details of how and where you can get the best bargains in the very latest best sellers from both these cities.

The children's home with which I am associated with is hoping to start another home in the area of Mannar but this time a children's home for disabled children. This is a huge undertaking and we are hoping to start very small because this involves much more work than a normal children's home. Facilities for the disabled are very limited in this country and there is a move by a group of dedicated people to make it compulsory for at least government departments to be handicap friendly by way of ramps etc which would help the disabled. The progress is extremely slow as this is a subject that has not got the attention it needs upto now. Hopefully with time things will improve. Will keep you all updated on the progress of this home in Mannar. It involves a lot of paperwork as this was part of the area which was in the conflict zone so clearances at every level has to be obtained before work can start.

The good news is that my first log cabin quilt is coming on nicely. Have done 41 blocks (how that odd figure came about heaven knows) only another seven to do and most probably this weekend I will start the sashing and putting it together. This is another Christmas present! My children want to know what they are getting so although photos will be up, no one knows who is getting what!

Cheers for now!