Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Passover Has Passed

Isn't it always the same? 
The more work and planning you put into a project, the quicker it goes by


And nobody can deny that Passover is as labor-intensive a holiday as they come. This year we had not one family gathering, but two. One of them was a garden party at my parents' house and we had the nicest time. The weather was lovely and everyone was relaxed, no doubt pondering no less than 6 vacation days still to come! My contribution was the flowers and a chocolate-y desert.


מה חיכינו לבוא חג הפסח וכמה מהר הוא עבר. זה תמיד מדהים אותי מחדש, היחס ההפוך בין כמות העבודה שמושקעת בארוע והמהירות שבה הוא חולף. והשנה, בפסח, חגגנו לא ארוע משפחתי אחד אלא שניים. השני היה מסיבת גן בבית הורי והיה נחמד. מזג האוויר היה מצוין וכולם היו מרוצים וטובי לב, מחוזקים קרוב לוודאי על ידי המחשבה שיש עוד ששה ימים תמימים של חופש בדרך! התרומה שלי לארוע היתה הפרחים על השולחנות וצלחת צבעונית של כדורי שוקולד לשולחן הקינוחים


Monday, March 25, 2013

Introducing Orangette and Primrose

Today we are meeting two new friends, Orangette and Primrose


They may be small in stature but they are quite brave and love adventures of all kinds. It must be said that they do squabble from time to time, as friends would, but they always make up.
    
We are meeting them just as they are having a picnic. They've been looking forward to that and the weather does not disappoint. It is a lovely day, the butterflies are out in numbers, and the two are having a wonderful time playing games, chasing bees and rolling around in the grass. It is only when they sit down to a cooling glass of lemonade that tragedy strikes - it turns out that nobody thought to bring cake! Orangette could really have done with a bite of something, Primrose is quite peckish herself, but there is nothing to be done. Never mind, you two, there will be extra milk and cookies at bed-time!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Monday, March 11, 2013

A Tale of Two Pom-Poms

Is there anything more fun and relaxing than making pom-poms? 
It's like soup, you cannot mess it up


I still make mine the old-fashioned way, with two pieces of cardboard, 
I use small pom-poms for wrapping gifts and the bigger ones  I make into dolls. 

Friday, March 8, 2013

New Curtains

My niece and nephew recently had a birthday


As they share a room I decided to make them curtains as a presents. It was my first attempt at curtains and it turned out to be one of those cases where ignorance is bliss. Had I known going in how much work was involved I would have probably opted for something else, but now that it is done I am secretly quite proud.


I began with ready-made curtains and did not have to make the fabric hooks at the top (I'm sure there is a more professional name for them, I just don't know what it is). I cut the curtains to size and hemmed them with a crochet edge on the inner side and the bottom, a different color for each side. I added some applique - a flower, some butterflies and bubbles. I had to negotiate a fine line because this was for a boy and a girl and I wanted them both to like it. I used crochet flowers for tie-backs and there you have it.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Mirror, Mirror

Talking about East European children's book illustrators (which I did, in previous post), I want to mention my personal favorite, Nachum Gutman. He is a wonderful artist, painter, sculptor and author, and his books have a special meaning for me as I grew up on them. 


A couple of years ago I came across the story of the old zoo that was opened in Tel Aviv in 1938 (it closed in 1980) and the advertisement poster the Gutman designed for them. It is so beautiful and so typical of his work and brought back a lot of memories for me.



At around that time my sister asked me to decorate a mirror for my niece's room and I was searching for an idea. My usual go-to ideas, crochet and embroidery, did not seem practical and I finally settled on the Gutman poster as inspiration. The mirror was creamy white and I stayed away from Gutman's combination of bright colors as it did not suit the room. I think that it came out rather nice and the bonus is that it could serve as the basis for numerous bed-time stories.