Merry Christmas!
This is "Rudy" the young and spunky apprentice to the COP (Chief Ornament Polisher) at Santa's workshop. I made him for a "Ball/ Ornament" exchange at my doll club. Rudy is about 6" tall sitting down and measures 10" while standing up.
I got a lovely pin doll in exchange and she is pinned to my winter jacket. She is having a ball sitting on my jacket refuses to get off until the end of the season but she might agree to pose for a picture.
Now where are those batteries?
It was a relief to log into blogger this morning. I was almost sure that I had forgotten my password. It's been such a long time since I last wrote in my blog. I have a couple of pictures of dolls I have made and exchanged in my doll club. I plan to post the pictures soon. This is just a note to myself (a little kick in my behind if I must say so myself) to get going again before Christmas break. I think this is a nice spot to put a cute little clip art. I know I can find it and it is here....Somewhere..... Yup! Found it!
Merry Christmas to all.
Here is a picture of a banana tree from my parents' backyard in India. Do you see the young green bananas? Yummmmmy (in a few days when they ripen)! I posted the picture for my brother. How about the banana tree in all its glory? and not just as a background?
PS: Did you know that the banana tree yields fruit only once in its lifetime?
These are the dolls I made as part of our yearly charity event for my doll club, Gals and Dolls. I enjoyed making them and hope some little kid will play with them.
"Little Tyke Angel" is Elinor Peace Bailey Pattern. I made him for silent auction at the doll club this month. He is so adorable and cute. I plan to make a few more of him and give them to friends with little boys. You know, boys can be angels too (sometimes!).
Check it out! Isn't it beautiful? We took the kids to a near by park while I was in Hyderabad, India and was thrilled to see a small group of women putting henna. I got henna only on one hand and took it off after about 3 hours. The henna got really dark on the second day but I do not have a picture of it. I like the light orange color of henna before it gets really dark(red). The first picture is with the henna on (in the evening) and the second one was taken on the next morning.
If I were to put the same design I would take about an hour but the woman took only 3 minutes to put the entire design. Amazing, isn't it?
Here is the doll I entered for the Bag and Baggage challenge through Lisa's Heaven. She was in my head for a long time and took charge when I saw the beautiful trim which came in the kit. I attached the "Bag" later and so her hand is empty in the pictures. The doll is named :ILA- The Banjaran (Gypsy).
I am still in India- don't be mistaken. All I am saying now is that I was a lazy butt today and skipped the yoga class. My dad went alone and felt sad that I did not go with him. But there is no use regretting it at 5.05 when it is too late.
The early morning sounds of India are beautiful. We hear a lot of roosters sing in the morning which are mostly drowned by the noise of hurrying vehicles later in the day. And then there are these stray dogs having street fights. We always reach a particular house around 5.15 in the morning when a car backs out of the gates. The car has a very popular pop song (from Dhoom- a Hindi movie) which turns on (and is very loud) when the car is on reverse and that always makes me laugh.
We hear lot of early morning prayers from the mosques along the way and as we reach the park, we hear the early morning devotional songs from a nearby temple. After a while everything seems to come to a stop and then there is a calm and serene sounds of OM breathing/ chanting in the yoga class.
I missed my early morning India songs today. But there is always tomorrow. I won't be so lucky (?) tomorrow because my dad will drag me (In a very gentle way- or should I say "guide"? )to the class tomorrow! :-) Well, I am happy I could at least finish writing my blog for the day. I had another post which was sitting on the "draft bench" for the longest time and I am glad I could post that one too.
It was more of a crusade actually! My dad woke up at 4.30am which he has been doing ever since he joined yoga class 7 months ago. He looks much younger than he did 2 years ago when I last visited my parents in India. I woke up at 4.40am and got ready to go for a 30 min walk to yoga class. It was pretty dark at that time and just a few people walking about. We must have seen about 20 people on the road on our way there and atleast 200 on the way back!
Talk about the topic! I know ....I should atleast talk a little bit about the yoga class. About 25 people attend the class everyday. There is even a Telugu movie star who attends the class with us. All the people who attend the class take their own towels/blankets to spread over the semi wet newly watered grass. There is nothing as beautiful as a sunrise in a very clam park. And the experience of doing a Sun Salutation in the early hours watching the sun rise is unparalleled.
Dad and I talked about stuff....life...people which was really nice. I am glad to get this dad-and me time which I seldom do- grandkids take over when we reach home. Dad is very busy running errands and doing things around the house most of the day and so this is a good time to catch up.
Just 3 more days... Can't wait!
Well, my trip to India is in another 3 days. We finished shopping today and my dear husband is doing all the packing tomorrow. He packs so much better that I do and is so patient with it too.
What else? I finally finished my doll today and I am shipping her to the organizer tomorrow. I will post the pictures when she gets back to me. I did take pictures but since it is a challenge, I should wait until the challenge is over.
I am working with a new material for the doll body for a challenge. The pattern is my own and I must have made about 8 heads before I decided to use this one. I guess, this is it! I AM NOT MAKING ANY MORE, OK? And no, that is not a beard- its just few dots like tattoos which the gypsies wear in India. The body and body parts are all ok (I think) but the head killed me. With some jewelry and lots of black wavy hair it won't look too bad. What do you think?
Anytime I see a packet of biscuits (cookies) I remember my childhood and tea which my mom shared with me. Being the younger child had its own advantage- I got to drink tea the same time as my brother (the poor first born!!) . Tea was fun because we could dunk-in the biscuits and eat them by the dozen. I think I did more dunking and less drinking. While we were growing up nobody dunked cookies in milk as they do here.
Tea is just as much fun as an adult and it has taken on a few different flavors of its own. I do use some extra-special chocolate flavored tea which one can find only in Hyderabad (where I grew up) . I also make Indian tea mostly when my friends visit. So we get to chat-n- chai(chai is another name for tea). All that warmth of tea makes for a cozy, warm, and friendly atmosphere. The sweetness of tea and cookies and good company of friends is the best recipe for lovely memories and fun visits, don't you think?
We had a lovely 3 day weekend in Sequoia National Park where some of the largest trees on the planet live. We spent a couple of hours looking at the giant sequoia trees on General Grant Tree Trail. The first picture is the General Grant tree which is the 3rd largest tree in the world at 29' in diameter at "breast height". The General Grant is also the nation's Christmas tree and it does not even need the little lights and ornaments for it to look beautiful. The second picture is called the Happy Family. We found them to the right of the parking lot. As you can see they are a family of 4 just like us. Two of them are joined at the base because they grow so big that they run out of space between them and eventually fuse together. These are up to 13' in diameter.
The first glimpse of the trees is just awe striking. Its unbelievable how beautiful these trees are. I tried looking at the very top of the trees but I remember that I could see the top of only a couple of them.
I got tears in my eyes when I looked at them- that's how happy they made me. Wonder what the trees think of us! Just imagine their point of view. We may not even be visible to them from their height.
Such magnificence! Such grandeur! Mother Nature is such a strange crafter. On one hand she creates such beauty and on the other hand such devastation! So many people in so much trouble because of floods and storms in New Orleans among other states in the US and in Bombay, India.
I have a bad cold and cough and my voice has been really husky for the past 2 days. I can barely speak and so I try not to talk. That translates to good times for people at home. My kids get away doing everything they are not allowed to when I have my regular voice. I think that a mom's voice (and not just her scale) carries a lot of weight, don't you?
In an odd way, my cough is actually working out well! It sure feels like I am working out every time I cough. So no Curves!! Fun, isn't it? I also noticed yesterday that my dear husband is sporting a very serene calm smile on his lips. I wonder why??
Here is a doll I made from Patti Culea's book. I named her Naranji (orange-y). She is sitting on a chair in the county fair. She actually got the first place ribbon but the organizers interchanged the labels and the ribbons. Here is also a picture of Naranji with the original designer, Patti Culea and yours truly. I am so glad that I got to show Naranji to Patti at "A Full Day with Flat Women" in Castro Valley, CA in July.
Alice below is the very first doll I made in a class. The doll was designed by Bonnie Hoover. The class was a lot of fun. And I got a red ribbon (second place) for her at the county fair.
I put all the doll parts on the table and took out the camera only to find the batteries dead. Can you believe it? If you know me/us well, you will. So the moment is lost and I get no pictures. But that's ok. I know I will get some soon. In a day or two or three. I am an optimist. I always see light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, by the way, the flashlight is also out of batteries. I checked there first before I gave up.
I have plenty of sweet childhood memories of Rakhi Day. My parents would take us to a local store to buy Rakhis a few days ahead of time. On Rakhi day, I would tie Rakhi on my Anna's (big brother's) arm and would get 25 paise (1/4 Rupee) as a gift from him. That was a big deal! One year I was lucky. I got 50 paise. (I remember I shared 25 paise with Anna and he bought a wooden top (toy) with the money.
Mom would make some yummy sweets at home so I could shared sweets with Anna, right after I tied the rakhi. Those were the days when Amma made sweets at home. Now she goes or rather sends Appa (Dad) to Bombay Halva Store or Pulla Reddy's (Sweet Stores). Gone are the days of experimentation! Mom would start making laddoos (round-sphere shaped sweets) and we would end up with lots of laddoo powder instead!! We loved them! Back then we were so happy Amma was making her famous powder!! For the record, my Amma is a great cook (right after my mother-in-law- who is just too good) - "cooker". And she still makes sweets at home- sometimes. She used to make good laddoos most of the time but we kids loved the powder more. It was more entertaining.
I am coming back to the topic now. Rakhi day is observed on a full moon day of Hindu month of Shravan (mostly comes in August). Sisters pray for the long life of their brothers and tie a "Rakhi" on their brothers' wrists. People have feasts, family gatherings and have lots of fun.
This year I could not send Rakhi to my brother who lives far from me. When I called him yesterday, he said that I could just send him a picture of it instead. So here it is. Anna, you pick the rakhi you want. And the other one is for my son. My daughter will tie Rakhi on her brother's wrist today. We have been celebrating Rakhi day for the past 3 years now. I did not make sweets! I am not sure my kids will appreciate "powder" sweets. I have some from the Indian grocery store... Maybe they like cookies better??
You know what happens when they fix every single machine in there? In Curves, I mean. You get a very tired and aching me! Had to rest this afternoon after a 36 minute (3 rounds) workout in Curves this morning.
Hope the machines will ease up a bit by Friday. I try and go to Curves every other day. (Try being the operative word). I also talk very passionately about going on a diet to jump start my weightloss. So far it is just a talk (about once in 2 or 3 weeks!!) . Some day I will get hit by a bolt of lightning from high above and then I might actually do something. Someone DO something... HELP!!
Doll Talk: I might get some time tonight to sew some limb parts of a doll (s) I have been working on. Will post pictures soon.
Well, what do you think? I used some dye-na- flow dyes. I loved playing with them. I do like some of them and think they will make some beautiful pin dolls. They are not nearly done. Can't wait to play some more.
Wonder what will happen if I used acrylic paints on the next batch? Fun...fun.... Who cares if I will ever use them in my dolls? I might just make some and play.
Unfinished Faces
Here are a few art doll faces/masks I made over the weekend. Last week I tried to make my own paper pulp using soaked paper napkins, white glue, salt, some glitter and of course a nice mold for the faces. The faces got stuck to the mold and when I tried to peel them off of the mold, I could not even tell that they are faces.
This is experiment #2. This time I got smart (:-)) and used some air dry clay. I love the results. And I like them white- so pure and so beautiful. But I know things are going to change very soon........oh...no!!
Here are a couple of pin dolls for my very first entry in my very first blog. I made the Raggedy Anne for a friend who collects them. The second one is a healing doll for a friend from my doll club. I love to make pin dolls. They are easy to make, faster, and best of all they want to go everywhere with you.
