Cary, North Carolina

I am working on a borrowed laptop and here is a very short message. We reached Cary a week ago and are waiting for our stuff. I am pretty happy with the 5 bags and 4 backpacks that we flew in with. I am not sure I need all that "baggage"- all 60 or so boxes of it (except the doll stuff ). I am bored of eating out though. I want my own rice, dal (lentils) and veggies. Wish I could post some pictures of this place. It is really green here.

Moving to North Carolina

Hi to everybody! I have been very quiet for more than a month. We are moving back to the east coast after a brief fling with the west coast which lasted 7 years! We had a wonderful time living here in California. We have lived in one of the most beautiful places in California and have made such wonderful friends along the way. We have also had several get togethers with school friends from back home. There is a very long list of people that I will miss dearly when I leave but I take them all in my heart and will always cherish the wonderful memories.

We are moving closer to family and the kids are thrilled that grandparent's home will now be just a few hours away.

I am doing what I am supposed to- packing a box a day. I have packed about 10 boxes in all since last month (and I am sure there will be 40 more to be packed by the end of the month). Does it show how bad I am at counting and planning?

Thank you to Connie, Kelly and Tami for my Nice Matters Award. Thank you all for visiting my blog from time to time. I will get back to blogging soon after I unpack. I do have a few doll pictures to post. I have some dolls which are already packed and I forgot to take pictures of them before I packed them. Sue's Star swimmer is one of them.

Duncan

Connie's Duncan has been enjoying the sunny days of summer here in California. He reached me last month and life has changed (smile). Isn't he the cutest puppy? I swapped pindolls for the summer theme with Connie. I also received the cute Star swimmer. I will take her picture soon and post.

June Swap Pin Dolls

Here is the picture of summer swap pin dolls. I thought of so many different things like picnic baskets, or ice creams but liked the Bermuda babes the best. I made two of them since I swapped with two people. I exaggerated the proportions a bit to give them a light hearted "cool" look. They can stand up on their own. I forgot to measure them before sending them to their new moms but I think they are around 7" tall. I like the beach bags they are carrying, don't you?

100th Post Update

I should first thank all of you who visit my blog from time to time and leave lovely comments about my work. Last night both kids picked one name each and the winners are: Connie and Shashi. Congratulations guys! Shashi, please send me your snail mail address and I will mail your surprise to you. Connie, I will mail yours on Friday.

Long Weekend in May

It's been more than 2 weekends since the long weekend but I decided to post the pictures anyway. We went around the South Lake Tahoe area, took a gondola ride, played on a small beach on Lake Tahoe and also went to Circus-Circus (a casino with circus acts and arcade for kids) in Reno, Nevada. A very fun trip and what made it better was a warm pool at the hotel room which the kids enjoyed since they can both swim now. Here are a few pictures of the Gondola ride and the lake. Circus-Circus pictures pale in comparison to the beautiful natural scenery which Mother Nature provides so generously. The last picture shows what I did while the kids played in the sand. Of course DH was clicking away.

Walk-a-Jog 2007 and 100th Post!

Yay! My 100th Post! Write a comment and I will draw a name to send a surprise to you (as is the tradition among bloggers). This is the 3rd Walk-a-Jog at Miss. N's school and the second year I put henna to make money for them. Henna was very popular this year and I must have put henna on more than 50 people. In the end I ran out of henna and had to stop.

P.S. On June 11, 2007: I will wait until the 20th of June to draw a name. I will announce the winner on 21st and mail the gift in a day or two.

Secret Pal Doll

Here is the picture of the secret pal doll which my friend Judy made for me. I found out Judy was my secret pal at the April meeting. The first one she gave me was in December. This one is a Barbara Willis pattern as well. I love the colors and the costume too. Judy did such a fine job with her.

Miss. N's Fairy Pumpkin Cottage

My Miss. N picked out the pattern in February at the Treasures of the Gypsy store during the creative art festival. She also picked all the fabric for her fairy house including the leaves and the stem. She was very particular about which fabric to put where and handed me beads while I was sewing on the beads. I did the stitching and did not worry about aesthetics. It is fun to work on something and not worry about how it will turn out. I love it, don't you? It is about 9 inches tall and hangs in N's room. Oh, I forgot to mention that the pattern is Gloriya Bradford's.

May Teddy Swap

Here are the teddies my swap partner Sue and I exchanged. Neither one of us had made a teddy before. I think these teddies are very cute indeed. The sailor teddy was made by Sue and the other one is my creation.

This teddy is my second attempt actually. When my Miss. N saw the first one, she said "This looks like a mouse. Also I had never seen a teddy standing up. Teddies always sit." So I went back to the drawing board. This one has the seal of approval. And she can sit too. I liked the theme behind the bag. It has tea bags and tea cups hence the "T". The lace has teddy bears on it and hence the "bear". So it makes the bag a T-Bear bag. Oh, did I tell you that the bag was my 3rd attempt? I tried making a teddy bear shaped bag twice and was not too happy with the bags which looked like big "blobs".

My next swap is the summer theme. I am actually working on it. I re-organised my sewing table for the n-th time yesterday. Now I have to look for body parts and the other materials to finish the pindoll! Will post pictures when my swap partner receives her pindoll.