New Knitting Project

A week or so ago, my Jenya was watching me knit my cowl and said that I remind him of an outlet mall - it is 80'F outside and I am knitting a thick, warm cowl. I took that in consideration and switched gears to a lovely bolero that I can wear on a cool summer day. I found a beautiful pattern here, and it is exactly what I would love to wear! I immediately ordered the yarn from them and I can't even begin to explain how delicate and soft it is! The color is amazing too!
Now when I got my yarn And began knitting, the pattern kicked my butt right from the start, I could not figure out the schematics - where do you start, which way do you go? Nothing looked right. I had to take each piece and knit that little sample until it looked right. Once I figured it out, it wasn't so bad, I just need to constantly pay attention to what I am doing.
So this is my new project. Any new projects, friends?

Friday Night Crafting Club (on Thursday) - painting on porcelain

This time Mila finally came to our weekly meeting and I brought my porcelain paints (that Mila and Sonya gave me for my Birthday). I also bought a whole set of low cost white dinnerware that we had fun customizing. We each did a mug, a small and large plate, and a bowl. Who would have thought that it could be so fun - the possibilities are endless! Next time we do it again!
Oh and Mia (the cat) seemed to really like Mila's rug that is by the way almost finished!

Fabric choice for hexagon quilt - fabric with memories!

So here is where I am finally going to talk about the fabric that I chose for my baby hexie quilt. I dug through my two boxes of fabric and found my most treasured ones on the bottom of one of the boxes - they are as old as I am, probably, and were used in many things I cherished when was a kid. Last sumer when we went back home, I embarqued on a memory hunt and one of the things I did was I asked my grandma for some fabric scraps, and she gave me a couple saying that she is sorry that she really doesn't have anything of worth. Oh how mistaken she was! This colorful and unique motive that brings back so many sweet childhood memories being in my future baby quilt is the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to a crafter like me! So I chose the big piece as the lead fabric and the rest of the fabric will be chosen in that color scheme. Also the blue polkadot and the red squares are from the same grandma's stash giving this quilt a vintage look! I have a photo from my first grade to just give you an idea of what this fabric means to me!

Two little heads

The little project that I was talking about earlier today is my new doll. It has been a while since I made a doll, or a bear for that matter, but for some reason I got inspired and decided to try and make a little girl. I only made few dolls in my life and I am still looking for my style, I think I am moving in the right direction now. I always used polymer clay and viscose for hair. I've made cloth and clay, clay only, I used yarn for hair as well, I drew my own eyes and used glass eyes. I seem to like cloth body and clay head, arms and legs. The hair and the eyes are still an experimental venue for me. I also want to try different clay medias like paper clay.
But back to my new work in progress... This girl has some amazing hair! I spent hours wigging her and it is worth it! It is soft and natural and it stays on her head, and even can be combed! I made the base for the wig out of cloth and then glued it on her head and it turned out perfect! When I will be making my next doll I will be sure to make a wigging tutorial. She is going to be wearing some warm clothes as she has a baby polar bear for a pet and as we all know those creatures don't live in hot climates. I made the bear head while the doll was drying or baking and I used the kit I purchased long time ago. It is not easy to make a tiny bear like that, but I am learning to incorporate needle felting in bear making and this is something I wanted to do for a long time.

I will be sure to show the final product. This little duo has been such a pleasure to make so far! But there is much more to be done! For now I have to go back to bed and be sick, as I get tired very fast.
What exciting projects are you guys up to?

Little photos

I have mentioned already that for Christmas I got the new Polaroid camera I wanted so much. Have been taking it with me and snapped a few photos of various events. I decided to keep a little journal just for fun. I still have to do a couple of pages like the one on our Russian Christmas, but here are a couple that I already did. I use materials that I find around or that have some meaning, like the background paper on the Christmas page is the paper that we used to wrap our presents this year... It is quick and fun, no rules, no boundaries. I hope to keep it going and become more creative at it.
I used an old scrap book that I had laying around, but I want to make a cover for it, just don't know what I want it to be just yet.

Wish List - quilting fabric

We are about to start a new project with our Friday Night Crafting Club. Sonya is leading us into a hexagon quilting adventure. I am excited because I have been thinking about making a baby quilt for quite some time and the hexagon quilt sounds lovely to me!
I am now thinking about the fabric colors and patterns I want to use. There is this store on Etsy called Freshly Squeezed Fabrics that had me drooling over their fabric bundles like this one.

As soon as I thought of quilting, this was my first choice of fabric! This bundle is just so juicy and colorful! I fell in love with it at first sight. The only problem is it is very girly, and my deal with baby things I make, I don't use baby blue or pink so that it can be used by both boy or a girl. This bundle is just so girly, but I can't resist it!
Another bundle I fell in love with is from Purl Soho, of course, and it is solids in red to yellow spectrum! This one can be used by both genders and many more patterns can be used with it.

This is all I have for now. I also want to just go to local fabric stores and see if I can get some ideas for a theme there.

In my head...

In my house...

I don't think I mentioned that we got flooded by our upstairs neighbors almost three weeks ago and now our wall in the living room has to be replaces so we don't get any mold. Let's just say that my house is an absolute mess! Reminds me of when we just moved in...

In my bed...

Books lay untouched, I just can't find strength anymore... just two and a half more weeks and I am free for a month!

In my ears

I found my new favorite radio station... It inspires my heart to beat slowly and steadily, my mind to dream strongly and vividly...

In my head...

I found this Russian page on the Russian version of Facebook  and they have many interesting craft projects, but they don't credit their sources, so I am putting them here, but if anyone knows the original source I would be happy to include it here.

Sharpies and hunting

Man, it was a busy week! Still is! School contributes a whole lot of course. And then there is all the prep for going hunting. We need to pack everything we might need for three days. I will be honest, I am a bit scared! I am not sure how I will handle, if at all, all the walking and not sleeping and all. So I just try to think of all the good things we are going to do and it looks like that...

(Yeh, i misspelled together, what can you do, I was very upset when I noticed, but I have an excuse... Well, you know, the one about me being born and raised in another country and all...)
And why am I drawing all of a suden? Well I asked Sonya to teach me to draw and she told me the best way to learn is to practice, so I went and got a set of special edition sharpies, since I am not sure if I am ready to tackle paint or pencil just yet... They are SO MUCH FUN! Wish I would have more time to use them...

I am planning on taking a drawing course as soon as I will be done with my current ordeal. I already imagine how it would be! I am totally going to take it to a weird level and wear what I imagine to be artsy clothes to every class... More on that later, maybe... But that is what happens when you wear nothing but scrubs for two years.
So we will see what this trip will actually turn out to be. I sure hope it will be at least a little bit like i imagine it... Fingers crossed!

Fall knitting and crocheting patterns

I usually have a certain number of crafting projects that I try not to go over. I do that to make sure that I actually finish them and don't get overwhelmed. But what I person who loves to craft to do but dream about more projects, right? Here is some fall dreaming... We are still in full blown summer here in Vegas, although it is much cooler in the evening and in the morning now. I dream about orange and yellow leaves, warm clothes, hats, gloves, and scarves, pumpkins, and acorns.

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Baby animals

Sharon Montrose is an animal photographer. She did this beautiful and creative series of baby animal portraits. This will look amazing in kids room or nursery! When I start making money, or when I get a kid, whichever comes first, I will definitely get a few of those to put on the wall! This is a perfect example of simplicity being a masterpiece!

On my mind...

I am thinking about buying this beautiful book illustrated by this beautiful artist.

And I can't wait to get a day off to make this pineapple coconut jam - my first canning experience!

But mmmm, I like peaches! Peaches peaches lalala. Peaches peaches hahaha. Root toot toodle-ee-oot doot doo doot. (how do I even know this song? That's what you get for knowing Donny.)

ipad apps that I like and how I blog on my ipad

When I was getting my ipad, it was mostly for school purposes and I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I really didn't want to be able to access my Facebook on the go, it would be too overrated. I got to say that since I got it for my birthday in January, I've been using it every day and I am now rarely using my laptop or desktop.
The best thing is that I started blogging again because I was able to do it on the go! It is amazing to not have to be tied to a computer to blog. I still take photos with my camera when we go on big trips or when ipad is not able to take good photos (like in poorly lit areas) and then edit them on computer and blog from there. But for every day blogging I use my ipad and the blogging experience completely changed for me because of that. I can now blog while laying in bed with my husband while he's asleep, instead of saying I will be right there while trying to finish my post, and coming to bed just to see him passed out. I can blog about laying by the pool while laying by the pool - snap a photo and write about it right then and there while it's still fresh. I can blog about my school day while having a lunch break at school, utilizing my time and keeping my posts freshly squeezed like i said before. Even now I am laying on my bed, drinking coffee and writing this. I think it is quite awesome!
With the help of a couple of apps I can edit photos that I take on my ipad and blog them. Unfortunately, I can't do it through blogger.com for some reason - I can link and move photos through HTML mode but I can't upload my photos to my post... So I use Blogger app for iphone (they don't make one for ipad). I don't know why they have not come up with a decent app to blog, where everything works out, or maybe I don't know about one, if anybody has a suggestion please let me know. I tried all the available ones and didn't like either... So here is how I do it...

Now what I am going to describe next might sound complicated but it's really not once you get use to doing it, that's just how I blog every day. A little price to pay to be able to blog on the go, I think.
The apps that I use to blog:
1. Blogger - to write and add photos...

2. Snapseed - to edit photos...

*those two I use all the time
3. Gif+ - to create my little gif animations... And they upload like a regular photo, not like a video...

4. Paper - to draw, like my logo and feathers and pictures that sometimes pop up in my posts...

5. A+ Signature - to write text on my photos...

They are all free for the most part and can be downloaded from the app store.
This is how I blog with the help of Blogger app. I write my posts in it, leaving spaces for photos, and add all the photos I want, but with this app all the photos will show up on the bottom of your post. So then I save the post as draft...

and go to the blogger.com and go to edit that post...

I go to preview the post and see what order the photos were saved in, I then grab the HTML code for that photo and move it to the space I left for it... Link anything if I need to via link button, and publish. That's it. Easy-peasy. The mingling with HTML codes is the hardest part, but it is not that hard, just think of each photo as the text from to < div to div > like so...

And since I don't do these kind of posts often, here are a couple of apps that I really enjoy that don't have as much to do with blogging as they are for mere pleasure and daydreaming...
1. Houzz and Kids' room are two great apps for interior design. You can just go to their website I suppose, but it is so much fun with the app.

And they even tell you where you can buy certain things! Just click on a little green tag!

2. Well and instagram of course. Sharing the little scraps of your life through pretty photos is what we are all about!

That is it for now. If there is any feedback, please let me know, because I really want to simplify the process of ipad blogging as much as possible.
Next week is our two year anniversary and I am writing our wedding story, inspired by all the beautiful and fascinating birth stories I've read. I am also planning on making something little for my beloved, and we are going to the restaurant where we had our reception - it's a tradition of ours! So lots of things to look forward to! For now cleaning and cooking and maybe a little reading and crocheting it is!