Happy Halloween

I appeared in class like this and caught my students by surprise. It was a worthy sight, let me tell you.
We made lots of photos, but I cannot post  them - they are for our eyes only. Among them there were witches (of course), some mummies, ghosts and spiders.  Working in several groups, they made skeleton and ghost garlands, carved some pumpkins, played 'pin the tail to the cat' and "Don't Eat Frank". It was a 'thrilling' day by all measures.
I have a Halloween board here if you are in need of ideas - for future Halloweens that is.

Through my son's eyes

Today, while checking on my son's school work I saw that he had a written assignment - to describe a member of the family. My sweetness chose to write about me. 

He wrote:
My mother's got brown eyes. (??? My eyes are green). Her name is Maya. She's got brown hair. She works in a school. My mother is short.

And there you can see us together. I am the one in front. 
Things like this melt my heart.

Mini doily necklace - leaden winter

 

I think the title is too harsh for this lovely necklace although poetically true. It's been a while since my last embroidering project and this week  I started embroidering some crocheted beads. And once the embroidery floss box was out, there was no returning it back. At least not soon. I made a couple of my doily necklaces in various palettes inspired by the fall (we are still having Indian summer here) and some 'wintery' ones.  

Talk to you soon!

Arm knitting - Orange scarf

 

 

I wanted to try arm knitting the minute I saw this fabulous tutorial on the internet and finally I did it. It was challenging at first because my knits and crochets are quite tight, that is to say I am no loose knitter and I had to re-do this 4 times until I was satisfied with the right .. um.. "tightness" of the stitches if you know what I mean. Once I couldn't slip the yarn off my hand ...

Of course I could have used some big, and by this I mean REALLY BIG knitting needles and I do possess such only my husband was playing the handyman one day  trying to unplug / clean / fix something using one of them and he broke it so.. in lack of needles I thought this might be a good time to employ my hands/ arms instead. 

If you are in need of good knitting needles try this buyer's guide and reviews!

My newest supplies

Lost in the sokaks of the bazaar, it is excruciatingly hard not to buy anything - at least it was for me. But my husband, as supportive as he always is, urged me to stock up on my supplies, but I was reasonable, trying not to lose my head, being aware that we are traveling with friends and didn't want to discommode our traveling arrangements. Above is some of the yarn I bought.
 

 

I couldn't pass by this amazingly soft YarnArt yarn and took some for my scarves. The orange is finished and I am to show it soon.

  

These are 100% wool. I went nuts when I saw it. Plan to buy a ton next time we get back.

This is kid mohair yarn. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but it has an amazing, spiderweb quality. Unfortunately, this was the only color available. 

 These little cuties came in all possible colors and in an unusual weight skeins. About 30 grams. It is pure cotton and I was  intrigued by the weaving of the threads.

 Lovely mixed fiber yarn - on sale and only in "dirty" white. 

 

Pure wool felt. Almost drooled upon seeing it :)

Some of the metal supplies I treated myself to.

I can't wait to put all these into good use!

Istanbul - Topkapi Palace (still on the wish list)

 
 

Hello all!

There's a fine layer of dust here on my blog and it's time for dust-busting. The reason is that I got the travel bug bite. One day after we arrived from Turkey I continued on a three-day trip around my country and finally I am back. So, next I want to share an interesting adventure we had at Topkapi Palace. 

We came to the Palace very well aware that being a Saturday and a mile long line for tickets, there was a fat chance for us to get inside, enjoy soaking up the details of it (and we were told that we need good 2-3 hours to really see everything) we decided to leave it for another time. Yet, I couldn't console myself with just that so I dragged my husband to the Palace Museum Shop at least to treat myself with a guide book of the Palace. And as we entered, there was a small room with props so that people can take memorable photos of themselves dressed as royals. I almost jumped out of joy. My husband was reluctant to do it, but as you can see, I have well-developed persuasion skills and now we are so glad we did the photo shoot. We will certainly never forget it.  

 

 

We are in Istanbul!

 I may say that this trip was planned for months now and it is a dream come true for both of us. It coincided with our 14th anniversary and that really made it special, although at first we planned this to be a purely business trip. Isn't it exciting when you combine both? 

Today, being our first day, we decided  to go to the hub of all business, right into the throbbing  heart of Istanbul - The Kapalı Çarşi.To be honest we mostly dwelt on the streets around it, however one's experience will not be full if you don't visit this place. 

Our hotel was about 20 minutes' walk away from it, so we took a stroll in order to better get the rhythm of the city. On our way to the Bazaar, we couldn't help ourselves but stop every few steps to marvel at the mesmerizing shops. 

 

The entrance of the bazaar. Or the entrance into a fairy tale would be more appropriate because here you can find all sorts of enchanting things.

The girl in me fell in love with these tin boxes.Inside they treasure wonderfully smelling soaps. 

Another thing I cannot resist is the pottery - there were a ton of wonderful, colorful plates and pots and of all sorts and of course - tiles which  are little masterpieces of their own.

The hotel internet was very good, but uploading the pictures took  loads of time, so when I get back home I will upload many more on my flickr account. To be continued tomorrow:)

Japanese Flower Brooch

This is some of my older creations. A sweet flower brooch. I had it made out of that stack of crocheted bits and pieces I mention once in a while, and believe me that stack doesn't get smaller. On the contrary- it gets bigger and bigger. I used the same pattern as for this flower here, only I didn't add so many petals to this and I think it is just right.

I posted another of my mixed media brooches here.

A visit to Belgrade, Serbia

Hi there everyone!

Here I have some colorful collages I just made from our trip to Belgrade which was a combination of business and pleasure. On the craft show I met a lot of amazingly talented people with which I hope to collaborate one day.

 

There were several craft shows going on at the time and we managed to visit  a couple of them and make some useful contacts - however not all of the designers gave us permission to shoot pictures.  The loss is theirs if I may say :)

The steampunk jewelry that stole my heart is made by my namesake Maya with whom I felt as if I had known her for ages. So today I am highlighting her gorgeous collection. You can follow her work here

 

The girls behind Nit Nakit have some of the most wonderful pieces I have seen and they have a unique way of presenting them to the public. Check their site here.

 

 

There will be more to come soon.