Made in China

My best friend here, the friend who is also the mother of Milan's best friend, the friend who invites us over to many countless family activities and celebrations, the friend who is the mother of my two violin students, the friend who is always willing to share her whole wheat flour and makes the best homemade bread, the friend who makes living in China just that much better because she understands everything and we can get together and laugh when we have one of those oh-so-China moments that you can only understand if you are here...

That friend just had a baby this week.

So I made a big brother-little brother gift for her two sons to share (one son is the new infant, the other is the 4-year old who is Milan's best buddy).

Big brother-little brother Chinese doll

And of course if I am going to make one doll I might as well make two, so I finally made one for Milan.

Kenyan doll for Milan

I think I started them in November and it was a group effort. I borrowed the sewing machine from the friend whose sons received the doll. I was given the red silk and motivation and encouragement and pep talks from friend and master sewing artist Lauren. I bought the yarn on tao bao. The stuffing was sent from my mom as packing material in our Christmas package. After months of working on them and scrounging materials from all corners of the globe, I made a goal to have them both finished by Easter.

So the Chinese doll went off to his new home today, but before he left, they did a little tai chi in the park.

I was having too much fun taking pictures in the grass on a beautiful sunny Easter morning.