Peppa And Pitari

 

Although managing Pink Pitari takes most of my time, certain things are absolutely required to be done. One of them is taking Coco to little people's birthdays and other special occasions. He has learnt to bring gifts (which are already packed and he has no idea about what is in there) and other procedures typical of such events. He is most fond of the return gifts that he gets at the end of the party, so much so that he would like to end the party as soon as he reaches the venue.  

Choosing gifts for little people is a much more complicated task if someone wants to give it a thought. Well, there are not many options besides toys, and there are times when one tends to think beyond toys, especially when likes and taste of people at the receiving end are also well known. Things can also be planned well in advance for people who are enthusiastic about it so that they never let you forget such an important date. So when such a friend and a neighbor had her son's birthday coming up, I straightaway asked her if she would like to receive custom made lunch towels like these (Made for Coco when he first started going to playschool,) as a birthday gift for her little gentleman:

She replied with a chirpy yes and I set myself to work. I was planning to make a set of two linen napkins with the kid's name simply embroidered on them. But that would be simply copying, even if it is copying my own work. With every new project, I ought to bring in something new. I thought of adding his favorite cartoon character on the napkins then and asked her which character would it be. I was thinking about Doraemon or Chhota Bheem but was almost shocked to know that it was Peppa The Pig, shocked because I didn't know there was such a cartoon character. I came home and researched a little on the internet and indeedy! There is not only Peppa, there is a whole pig family which I didn't know about. I found the pattern and started making it. I was doubly shocked when Coco exclaimed, 'Mommy... it's Peppa!' Oh! So I am an oldie. Pigs are in! And all the smart little people know them.

 I overcame my shock soon because the pig came up adorably. When I sent my friend a little snapshot of the pig, she declared, 'I will get it framed. No way am I going to give this lovely thing to a four-year old to wipe his greasy hands on.' Considering this, I decided to do more embroidery to make this napkin look like a picture. Since Peppa was already done, I had the surrounding areas left, but it required me to try a lot of permutations and combinations because the pig was only meant to be an embellishment originally and hence at an odd place for a frame.

 Some more research took place and I finalized the above design, decided the fonts and stitches and completed it as soon as I could. Though, my promise of a lunch towel was still not fulfilled and only a framable piece of cloth did not make sense as a birthday gift to me. So, I also embroidered another napkin with the kid's name in red cross stitch letters. Now I had a set of napkins, one for framing, one for actual use. 

 While I was working on these, Coco kept me entertained by asking all kinds of questions about them. 'Mumma, why are you making this? Who are you making it for? Is it for me? I like George pig more, so please make George pig for me!'

'Who is this George pig now?' I wondered and Coco promptly told me everything about them. I also saw a few episodes of 'Peppa Pig' series on TV and it helped me overcome my ignorance. Mighty big pigs, driving cars and learning ballet! 

To round everything up, I made Pink Pitari's signature pompom tie and neatly stacked the two napkins, tying them with it. Packed together with a chocolate box, these made a good gift, making both mommy and her little gentleman happy. That was what I was precisely aiming for. Mission accomplished!

By the way, these ties are exclusively made by me for Swati from 'BloomingBluess' who uses these in her rainbow candles. Go, visit her page now which is a collection of colourful handmade home decor items. Feed your eyes some more candy. It is good for them!

Snippets

Time is speeding these days in Cocoville. The lazy woman is literally juggling a multitude of activities and loving it all! Add the festive season to the scene and watch her going crazy multitasking. 

1. Celebrating the wintry festivals which arrive like a train, beginning way back at Dussehra and going on till Makar Sankranti in January. To us, festive season also means all our birthdays and anniversaries. Both Coco and 'Bringing Up Coco' became 4 year olds, one a naughty preschooler and the other a creative outlet, both of them bringing oodles of happiness to me.

2. Going dizzy receiving orders at 'Pink Pitari', making stuff and delivering them. It is hugely satisfying to watch my craft dream grow. 

3. Creating marvels like 'Chinese Chilli Idli', an absolute makeover of these desi delicacies into something unrecognizable. These turned out well.

4. Receiving such pictures from delighted customers and feeling great that my absolutely rustic work is actually finding place into people's nicely decorated living rooms.  

 5. Doing Zumba, getting fitter by the day and enjoying the company of amazing army wives full of energy, inspiration and good vibes. Seen above is my incredibly motivated and awesome Zumba instructor who by the way is also an army wife. 

6. Completing craft courses one after another and crafting to my heart's content. This place has a dedicated hobby centre and most of us are making the most of it. Last week it was candle making which I did with a close friend and we totally rocked at it. Before candles, it was decoupage and mural art is lined up to be the next. Not only did we make all the candles in the course package, we also shared a lot of new ideas from the internet and the very talented instructor herself learned a thing or two from our brainstorming! She is a local woman who does not have much access to the internet for ideas, learning new skills or selling her handmade stuff, but she still has a room full of amazing crafts, a lot of which has been picked from army wives like us during instructing them, I think. The above candle is one of almost a dozen candles and all those flowers are handmade with wax. Reminds me of my wild roses!

7. Learning to take good pictures with my new digital camera, highly inspired by the friend who did 'Pink Pitari's' first photo shoot. In the above picture, I have tried to go artsy by using one of my candles as a flower vase. I hope to learn soon!

8. Exploring an amazing craft outlet in the neighborhood and amazed to find great stuff and superb yarns in a place where it is difficult to find even the basic craft supplies. Bought a few supplies and made a wishlist of the gorgeous yarns that Pony craft store have at their factory outlet in the Nilgiris.

9. Visiting beautiful places and getting lost in the amazement. Visited a tea factory last month and saw the journey of teeny tiny tea leaves from gardens to tea cups. Truly mesmerizing...

10. Meeting talented army wives and getting surprised to find that there are many like me. This Diwali, I made these two handmade purchases, a paper lamp by an army wife who is also a Madhubani painter and sells her work through Facebook; and a tea-light holder candle, also by an army wife who shared my stall and goes by the name Candle CRAFT on Facebook. Not only this, my surroundings are buzzing with creative energy from other entrepreneurs like chocolatiers, bakers, painters... you name it, I have them here!

Making Home..Bit By Bit

                         
(Theme 1)

The lazy woman is a management professional and managing is what she has managed to do all her life. Seriously, I think I can manage various kinds of activities simultaneously. I do not multitask, but I switch to different tasks because my attention span is small, I get bored easily and my hobby/activity spectrum is wide. So I like to include various things in a day, like cooking, crafting, daydreaming etc to stay cheerful. But there are areas where I do not like to venture as I know I am lousy there. Though I would love to plan my day, or organize my home, these jobs are mostly left to the elements or outsourced. Though I keep planning great things but hardly ever get to their execution. The biggest change that I need in my life is to move on from planning and arrive at organizing, speaking in management terminology.

It has been well over a year since we moved in this house and even now I feel like there is so much left to be done, mostly because certain areas in my home are not organized to my satisfaction. But I do not know where to begin. So when I came across an article on rewardme.in, named 5 Areas You Should Always Keep Organized in home section, I went through it immediately and found it kind of answers my question. To begin with, I could clearly name a few areas of my own home which need my time. Great beginning!

Of the five areas mentioned in the article, three are clearly my problem areas. My kitchen, my closet and my bedroom. The kitchen of my current home is much bigger than standard army kitchens but somehow it is always out of control. The containers and small objects usually do not stay in their designated place after a while. So whenever I intend to beautify my kitchen, these objects take all my time and efforts and I run out of my enthusiasm to address the real problems. When monthly ration comes, I have to work hard to find a place to keep those items. I have realized, as the said article also mentions that one needs to devote a few minutes daily to maintain things in order. And separate bins are on their way to my kitchen too.

The idea of an organised closet feels like an impossibility to me, more so after Coco came into my life. I find myself every other day sitting in front of his little almirah, folding and arranging his colourful little tees and shorts, pajamas and socks and love doing it. But finding time to do this to my own clothes looks like a fabulous dream. A friend gave me great tips on organizing closet and time management. In combination with the tips from this article, these few tips have changed a lot about my closet. She told me she does not take out separate time for her closet, rather she barge-opens the doors and just starts working. I followed her tip and now I am halfway through organizing my clothes, that too according to colour, as suggested in the article. This has also helped me see that pre-baby era clothes were taking up more than half of the space (and making me feel nostalgic...and fat!), and I never found anything good to wear. Now I have freed all that precious space and gradually filling it up with 'only what makes you look and feel fabulous' as the article says, and which is my new closet mantra. 

After this initial success at organizing two big problem areas, my morale is high and I have also realized that an organized closet is the key to an organized bedroom in my case, as most of my overflowing closet items are dumped on bedroom furniture. All that taken care of, I am now left with a big almirah full of craft supplies and various odd bits and scraps, medicines and cosmetics, mostly kept there out of Coco's reach, along with my gazillion bangles and junk jewelry lying in various states of clutter (above? Not mine.) Sorting and organizing it is going to be my next project.

Falling in line!

As I am feeling really good now and way more comfortable, I am also noticing that I am an organized person at heart, have always been this way. Plus all the visits to rewardme.in have been truly rewarding! See the proof to my new-found love of organizing in the above picture. :)

I am participating in the ‘Ready For Rewards’ activity for Rewardme in association with BlogAdda.

Gifts from Banaras-I

The last week of the last year saw us in Banaras. And we found out that every year it is the time for flower show and art exhibition in BHU. We have been looking for a picture/poster/painting of the famous Ghats of of the holy city since forever. What could be better than an image of the iconic Ghats to symbolize where we belong to? After a lot of looking, we found out that the lovely frames of Varanasi Ghats carved in metal available in souvenir shops always have a tiny Shivling in a corner. I believe that God should not be displayed in living areas. I only wanted the picture for its aesthetic value, not wanting to get a religious view about it.

So when we found out that the Art Department of BHU is holding a sale of paintings by their students, with our hopes soaring, we visited the venue, The New Vishwanath Temple, which is a place of religious and tourist importance. On the grounds of the grand temple were scattered these colorful artworks by budding artists. Visitors to the temple stopped to look at them out of curiosity or genuine interest, clicking pictures, haggling with the students or just passing some idle time.

I was feeling a little blue that day, but one glance at the scene and my mood did a U-turn instantly. It was my dream-come-true kind of scenario, where not only I could look at so much beauty just lying around on the ground, I could also pick up the coveted Varanasi Ghats' images for my home, so that when somebody comes to my home, I could proudly show them where we are from.

And after some looking around, we did finalize two watercolor works by different students and brought them home. Then, when we came back from Varanasi, I waited till the paintings were framed and replaced the earlier Papyrus paintings which had bored me to death.  Such a change, and great feeling!

Oh, while we are talking about Banaras, let me reveal to you the identity of a true Banarasi babu or babe. While others say 'Ganga', he or she would say 'Ganga Ji'. Always.

Happy Diwali!

Of the five Diwalis after my marriage, this one was only the first time that we three were together, Coco, his father and I. It had to be special. I remembered what I used to do on Diwali during my college days. I would spend the entire day decorating the house with flowers and making rangoli. These used to be two of my favorite activities on the festival of lights, which actually gave me the feel of the festival, apart from my mom's Dahi-vada. Somehow, I could not carry on both these practices for various reasons after I left home.

Celebrating this Diwali as a family of three, I chose to do what was closest to my heart, but in a much more organised(read scopeful of being lazy) manner. I asked my husband to bring marigold garlands and left him to decorate them as he pleased. That is one major task done! Without even moving a finger. I love delegating tasks suddenly. And I love my husband :)   

Then , I dedicated myself to making rangoli, with colored semolina (sooji), which was also coloured by yours truly the previous night, while preparing Dahi Vadas and Gulabjamuns on special demand. :) (I am not so lazy, people!) With most of the cooking out of the way, this day was carefully kept aside for decorating garlands and making rangolis etc. so that we could enjoy everything about the festival without being too rushed. And I must admit that the task of making rangolis is not only enjoyable, it makes you proud at the end of it too. 

See what I mean? I have captured a picture of this rangoli from every angle possible, feeling better at every shot. A sense of relief, calmness and happiness, all come together and envelope me.

 And this is the bigger picture, which shows where actually was this small semi circle of colored sooji present on my veranda. (Those spears have a long story. Some other day!!) And you can very well sample the fine work that my husband did with those flowers. ;) Earthen lamps were placed on the rangoli in the evening after Laxmi-pooja duly and happily, though we were getting terribly late for our social gathering. 

 And this is something that was lying as an empty rum bottle behind the dustbin in my kitchen for a couple of months. Then it spent a few days on my craft-counter, among paintbrushes and colours. Their company surely transformed its personality but on Diwali day, it took 5 minutes and a fairy light string to further transform it into this glamorous lamp, suitably lighting up a dark corner.

It was intensely gratifying to see how I could give shape to my own celebrations with gentle touches of colour and creativity. I am happily skipping like a little girl, standing on the threshold of the main door, craning out to see the rangoli, then peeking back in to see the bottle-lamp, now rangoli, now lamp and again...yayyy!! 

Oh, I remember, there is one more bottle lying in my kitchen, this time donated mindfully by my dear husband, after he witnessed what I could do with rum bottles, er.. empty ones I mean!   

It is amazing how small things are capable of providing such great happiness. One only needs to find the right thing. Small enough!

Happy Flowers

It takes little to get inspired. As I keep going through my favourite craft blogs as a daily ritual, I promise myself that someday I am going to make this or paint that. During one such inspired trip to the market many years ago, I bought boxes of mercerised cotton thread. And then packed them with heaps of other crafty stuff into boxes to carry along wherever our nomadic life took us. Now, I cannot sit doing nothing. I think about creating stuff all my waking hours. That I cannot get it done due to various reasons is another matter.

One day the auspicious moment arrived when suddenly all my reasons of not crafting vanished and I started out with this pattern from 'Attic24' in mind. A happy flower hanging, colourful and charming, crocheted to perfection. In India, we do not get the wide range of craft yarns that is available abroad. So, we make do with what is available to us. The yarn that I have stashed is mostly meant for sweaters and other warm stuff and it does not look good in a crocheted form because it becomes bulky. Also, mostly the yarn is a little 'hairy', even the yarns meant for babies are not completely smooth, and no, we do not get as many beautiful colours too. So, I looked towards my crochet thread collection and thought of using them. I had quite a few colours too, so the plan looked good. Only after a couple of rounds did I realise that thread and yarn are not named differently for no reason. They actually differ in many ways, the most obvious one being the gauge. :'(

And this teeny tiny flower was not going to be even visible on a wall if I went ahead with it anyway to complete the project. So what do smart people do? We double the thread to get a bigger gauge....but nopes, it is still way below the expected size. My 'happy flower' is going to look malnourished, underweight and unhappy. It was already past midnight and my inspiration was vanishing speedily. So, I gave up the hopes of making the 'Happy Flower' that night or anytime soon. But I completed the two tiny flowers anyway, because I wanted to see how we block crocheted work and how does it look, since I had read a lot about blocking and had never done it.

The two little flowers went to lie down on a towel and were soaked with water. Then...oh wait! We need to pin them, right? But there were no pins around. Uh oh, what are we gonna do?? Doesn't matter, we do it our own way, like a true blue MBA. I can put some weight on it. But then how will I see the magical transformation of crochet?? Haha... I will put a see through weight- a glass baking dish :D... see?

                                         

Ahh...I can rest in peace, now that I have seen everything that happens while crocheting and even the divine process of blocking. Or have I?

Meanwhile, the two flowers are happily tucked away with the above mentioned thread and yarn stash. 

An evolving crafter!

A peacefully sleeping baby, a few hours ahead with nothing to do. Catch some sleep? Read a book? watch a movie?? Well.... mulling..

Often, I feel an itchy urge in my hands to create something beautiful. With the baby around, though I hardly get any free time, I try to sneak a few crafty strokes here and there, even if that means sacrificing sleep by this lazy lazy woman in those sleepy summer afternoons.

Ready for my latest enterprise? Here goes:

Its a pleasure seeing the mental picture of those blossoms shaping up.

More angles, loving them!

Mmm.. closer..

Wow, the sheet has finally found its way on my Ma-in-law's divan, blossoming prettily!

In & Out

I am not a big fan of changes. I was not quite happy when monotonous Doordarshan gave way to jazzy and colourful cable TV. Even changing wallpaper of my desktop takes a great deal of effort and procrastination, mainly because of the love of the old one. But when it comes to a big change i.e. moving home, I am usually looking forward to it. Probably because changing locations every few years is a way of life since I was a kid.

 

Packing everything and moving into a new home is a great phenomena. It is a lesson in philosophy if you give it a good thought. You get a chance to go through all the stuff you have been meaning to go through since long. Stuff is separated in 'to keep' and 'to throw/give away/sell' piles.

It is a great opportunity to sort your papers and get reminded about whereabouts of important receipts and documents. Old clothes pushed deep into the closet get another hearing.

Then, when you reach your new home, the process changes into a creative, imaginative and spiritual journey. You discover new corners where you will get cosy in winters and new ways to decorate the same old furniture.

You find out positives and negatives of the new place and compare it with the old one to your heart's content. You have a shot at changing what you did not like in your old home. In a day or two you get familiar with the nuances of the new place, doors, windows, taps and electric switches. Oh! The joy of sipping morning tea in a new home, planning the new set up. You visualize it sitting amidst the mess of half unpacked boxes and from this mess emerges the new abode of your dreams.





(My previous home)

You admire your own work a few times and start getting accustomed to the newness of the decor. Freshly laundered curtains and sheets, crisply ironed, look as alert at their new places as if they are newly appointed policemen. Carpets and doormats look new by sheer newness of their placement. In this way a few days go, filling the time slots of homemakers and their families.

On my recent moving in, apart from all of the above, something new happened too. I got a little surprise, a beautiful one, with nature's blessings. Something that I had missed completely amidst all the coming and going, moving cartons and arranging stuff.

 

There it was, on one of the bathroom windows in a corner. A pigeon which got startled when I entered and flew away. Then I saw her nest, and two lovely little eggs carefully placed in the nest.

 

After the first encounter, however the pigeon did not fly away. She stayed sitting in her nest, as she knew we were no immediate danger, nevertheless she never looked away, always on her guard. No matter which angle I chose to photogarph her, I could always see her looking with alarm.

It has been more than 10 days here and I see the mother pigeon everyday, sitting on her eggs and looking at me. I want to click the eggs' photo but she never seems to leave her nest. Great Mother Nature! You have created mothers with such strong will, that even the most gentle pigeon has the courage not to fly away out of fear of humans, but to stay and protect her eggs, putting her own life at stake.

 

The pigeon is waiting for her chicks to come out of the eggs and so am I. I am so excited to see little pigeon babies up so close and to photograph them. I wish Coco was a big enough to see and understand too. I guess I will show him these pictures when he grows up. Who knows one day Coco will have his own little birdie tale to tell the world.