little scarf

I made this little scarf for my daughter today. It´s awesome that I made it in a few minutes during the day - with Marie around. Very simple, but of course some ripping was involved :). It´s a pattern from Burda magazine 2008/7, but you don´t really need a pattern - there are just two rectangles, the smaller one sewn in a tube with elastic inside. I kind of want to make a similar one for myself, I like to wear something on my head for summer.
Other than this, I had lovely day which turned out pretty badly in the afternoon. In the morning I met with some people I´ve known in the past (10years ago). It was great to see them. In the afternoon we went for a bike ride, and I fell off the bike. Pretty badly, actually. My left arm hurts a lot, I can´t move it much and will probably have to see the doctor tomorrow. Oh well, I´m so clumsy.

baby goat

I bought this little baby goat today at a cute little shop in our town... The woman who owns it makes such beautiful toys! There are also bears, (big) goats, dolls... Perfect. I´m not sure what to do with this small goat I got. I gave it to Marie, but then I saw she doesen´t appreciate it enough, so I took it from her and I´m thinking about giving it to somebody else :).

textile art

I took these photos last friday when we were in Prague. There´s a great shop owned by Kateřina Soukupová, Textile art - they sell fabrics, crocheted and fabric toys, plaids (blankets), clothes and many other textile goods. I love this shop! So far, I bought some fabric and colourful hand knitted socks there, but many other things are certainly tempting. I love the woolen blankets - they look so well made and of great quality. The shop´s windows are always so nice to look at: I took the photos mostly because of the fabric creatures/aliens and embryos they had on display (two on the first picture on the left side of the photo, and two on far right on the second picture). I don´t know who makes them (there are several people who sell their creations there), but I always recognize the style when I pass by.
A close up of one of the woolen blankets - they have many beautiful colours.

red pants

I finished red pants for Marie, and I´m very happy with them. I used the same pattern as these clown pants I made earlier, but made several changes: I put the elastic only in the back in two rows, which is more comfortable and looks great too. I made two small pleats in the front and sewed on two nice buttons, because I like the look of two buttons on pants on other RTW pair we have. They are long enought, because I had a lot of fabric... that is actually a funny story. Some time ago, I asked my husband if he wanted rock´n roll red pants from me. He said "Yes, of course I want red pants, that would be great, please make them for me!". Then I bought 2meters of (cheap cotton) red fabric to make the pants, and he said "Oh no, I don´t want these pants, I hate red pants." So there you have it :). Anyway, the fabric was great for easy summer pants for my girl - the inspiration is the same:
Mick Jagger in his tight red pants! :)

Michal Pěchouček - Lessons in art

I went to see an exhibition by Michal Pěchouček, Hodiny v umění (Lessons in art) yesterday. I went there with my todler Marie, which was maybe not a great idea, but I always go to exhibitions with her, there´s no other way to go there. I gave her a cake to be calm and quiet, and one of the ladies there got angry at us, and told us to put in in the bag... I understand that, but the way she told it was quite unpleasant and annoying. Everywhere we went, there was someone to follow our steps, and I felt watched and uncomfortable. Maybe it´s my fault and I´m too easygoing, but I think these institutions should get used to children and visitors with children. I don´t know.
Anyway, I kind of liked the exhibiton. One part of it was just small black and white photographs, which was not very interesting for us, but the second part was sewn paintings - portraits. These "paintings" were huge canvases with figures dressed (and undressed) in pajamas and night gowns. Real clothes and towels were sometimes sewn right onto the painting, than the rest of the body was embroidered/sewn onto the canvas (I´m not really familiar with the teqnique he used). It was called "Time for bed", and pictured people getting ready to go to bed, and also making love later in the bed, with clothes and bedsheets laying next to them. It´s quite erotic, but also lyrical and imaginary.
pictures: artalkweb, artmagazin, lidovky

Three sisters (finally!)

I´m so glad I´m finished with my Three sisters dolls, inspired by A. P. Chekhov´s play Three sisters. They are: Olga, Masha and Irina. I didn´t know much about the play when I started making them, but then I became more interested and decided to read the play - so I´m reading it right now :). Maybe to listen to it would be better...? Anyway, I really like to be inspired by literature or films to create my dolls... I have already few ideas for other ones. I like how these three turned out, and I tried to be a little bit more precise: the skirts have french seams and the tops are carefully handsewn in place.
I´m also very inspired to sew clothes for Marie. I´m making red pants for her now, and I have several other pieces planned. I´m looking forward to sewing these small clothes: they can be made with small amount of fabric, are finished quickly and I´m not afraid to ruin it or to make a bad desicion like with my own clothes :).

baby blanket

I saw this brown and earthy blanket on purl bee and I love it. It´s such a classic and calm design. There are so many kitchy baby products out there it´s not nice. And what do you think, I have a lot of them at my own home too :). I´m not a fan of "cute" baby colors (and already think the new cap I´ve made is a little too sweet for my taste...but I´ll keep it), but they always find some way in.
So when I see something as beautiful as this blanket/plaid, I have the urge to throw away some of the ugly (baby) stuff we have here and get some classic beauty instead :). The off-white basket is lovely too... And suddenly I´m thinking about learning to knit! It can´t be so hard to make a rectangle, right? ;)

it´s a cap!

So, after much ripping, improvising and further crocheting, I made a cap for my little Marie! It´s certainly far from perfect, but that´s ok... I´m going to make more caps in near future :). I really like crocheting and would like to buy some nice book to learn more and to have some guidance.

green

The top of my white cabinet (a place where I store everything; my whole life is in there! :) is all green now. My blue - green linen is waiting to be sewn into something and I made a progress on one of the paintings I am working on. It´s acrylic on canvas, a technique I´ve never tried before, and I love it. The colours react differently than tempera colors, but I like the look. They also dry very quicky, which is ok on the canvas, but not so fine on the pallette... I know it´s possible to buy some liquid that can delay the process, so maybe I´ll give it a try.
And look, I crocheted! It´s a small ring so far, but I would really really like to make a cap from it. Do you think there is some hope? :)
I´ve been pretty productive lately, and it´s all because of the beautiful sunny weather.

granny chic

I don´t know what´s happening to me, but I´m really into old time-y furnishings, clothes and things lately. I´m not a huge fan of vintage clothes or patterns (or the word "vintage" ;), I´m ok wearing contemporary clothing, but somehow this style (or, just something from it) is very appealing to me. Few days ago I saw a retro gramophone in the shop and I liked it so much! Oh man, let´s imagine red velvet couches, lace, crocheted throws, brass beds, romantic lamps, florals... :)
pictures: 1. thegloss.com 2. wehearit.com 3. thishomesweethome.blogspot.com 4. fabsugar.com 5. freakingnew.com 6. modcloth.com

p.s. next time I´ll try to come up with something more modern ;)

old times inspiration

How cool are these two outfits I found in Philadelphia museum of art? I think every woman would instantly look prettier in a cap like this :). The first one reminds me of the costumes in the beautiful film Piano.
p.s. How does one search through the collections properly? I can´t seem to find a good system...

obsessed

Remember the last photo from my Italy vacation? There was the beautiful baby pram. I loved it so much, I began to search for a similar baby carriage on the internet. Similar foreign historic ones are probably very very pricey, even to rent them is pretty expensive as I´ve found out... But czech ones from the 70s are looking already pretty historic too! :) And are super afordable. But then I realized: 1. I don´t have a baby 2. I wouldn´t be able to put this old fashioned pram in the car :). So, I haven´t puchased anything (yet). But one can dream, right? Or maybe I could buy a small version for my little girl. Look at these (more expensive ones and prams from museums) beauties! Much better than the modern ones, right? :)
photos from: http://historickekocarky.717.cz/
http://www.historickekocarky.unas.cz/fotogalerie.htm

working on...

Hello everyone! I´m pretty busy these days, working on new dolls for my shop. I´m making these sister dolls right now and I´m excited how will they turn out!
A friend also gave me a big box with some leather scraps, and I´m thinking about what to do with them.