Christmas, in no particular order

another christmas baking

We´re doing well. I´m tidying up the house, baking and looking forward to christmas :).

making

I´ve finished some of the christmas ornaments - I loved making these. I gave the owl to my friend today, but made another one already (it will also be a gift). My hand warmers are finished too. I´m not 100% satisfied with how they came out, but I don´t really know how to do things differently, so for now, these will have to do. And my new scarf: I love all things light pink these days, I guess it´s caused by hormones, but this colour appeales to me so much.

waiting for christmas

I´ve been a little desperate lately, because as every winter, Marie is ill over a month and can´t get better. She always gets cold, which isn´t horrible, but the cough is bad and lasts for so long... maybe all winter. That means little sleep, no outside walks, no other activities than being home. Me and Petr are also ill, not feeling well and exhausted by all that. I know Marie´s cough is so bad because of her pharyngeal tonsils being too big, but a friend told me recently that they might devolop like that because I haven´t (couldn´t) breastfeed her. I´m quite shocked and sad by this - I have to ask a doctor if that´s thrue.
Anyway, I´ve made a christmas candle holder and I´m surprised that it works :). It´s made from fimo, so nothing very natural, but that´s just what I had at home. The little white ornamenst are made from salt dough. I took a picture of the candle holder with our medicaments, because I thought it shows our situation well.
And the salt dough! It was my first time making and working with salt dough, and it´s a great thing, lovely to make ornaments and small objects with and generally pleasing activity for small children. It´s quite fragile, so some of the ornaments broke, but most are ok. We painted some of them with watercolors today and it looks nice. My favourite is the coat (I can´t sew one, so instead I made one from dough...). To make this, you simply mix 2 cups of flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water, make whatever you want, and let the objects air dry. You can also keep the dough in a plastic bag to use it later.

baking

And we made some gingerbread christmas cookies today. I don´t plan to bake a lot of cookies, but making these felt good.

gingerbread house: never more

So, I made a gingerbread house. Don´t ask me anything. This is definitely a defeat (lol). Let´s pretend this is some kind of modern progressive architecture gingerbread house.

what I´ve been making

I finished my pink winter cap and I love it! It looks a bit 30s, exactly how I wanted it to look.
Also I started to make some small christmas ornaments - tiny outfits, and I really like them so far :). And look what I´m also making right now: at last, hand warmers (or how should I call them). I´m very happy with what I have so far, and I hope they´ll turn out nice.

in the mirror

coats

I´ve been thinking a lot about coats lately. I hate the cold that comes with winter, but the upside of it are the coats! There are so many possibilities, so many beautiful colours and patterns. (Of course, last winter I bought a black coat - nothing too interesting and original). I´d love to make my own coat, but for one thing I don´t really know how to do it - one needs special interfacing (which I´m not sure is possible to buy in our country), interlining for warmth, lining... There are a lot of things involved. Also, it´s very pricey, and takes a lot of time. It would take me a year probably, with all the other things I do. But it´s the option to choose a colour: pink, blue, mustard, that keeps me thinking about making a coat. When it comes to the shapes, I´ve always loved the classic dufflecoat. It reminds me of English countryside and it´s so casual while great looking. On the other side I´m drawn towards more elegant styles, the coats with classic lapels and belts. But that one would be much more difficult to make :).
Sorry, I don´t know most of the sources of these pictures... n.3 Burdastyle Talea coat, n.6 Burberry Prorsum, n.7 Burdastyle coat, n.8 the Sartorialist

I need some colour

I started making a new cap for myself! I´m quite excited, as the material is lovely, 60% acryl and 40% wool - feels very nice and isn´t too expensive. In this dread winter I suddenly wanted some colour: pink, cobalt blue. Actually I´ve been thinking about sewing a winter coat (I´ve seen some really nicely coloured wool coating fabrics on the net), and I loved the pinks and blues. I´d love a light dusty pink coat and also a dark cobalt blue (I hope it´s what it´s called in English) coat. I can´t decide which colour I´d choose! Blue is more practical, but pink seems so feminine and cute. Anyway: I´m too big now to wear a nicely shaped coat, also I don´t have any time to make it. So, what I do, is dream about the coat I would make if I could :). With a hood, long enough (to the knees), more fitted at the top and looser in the lower area. Something like this coat from Burda style (but with a hood). I have to wear a really funny coat now, because my nice coats don´t fit me anymore, and I hope that this nice vivid pink and orange cap will brighten it up nicely. I hope this time I´m successful, because I had to undo one of the cotton caps I was making (the dark blue and cream cap in an earlier post) - it was too big. Starting again...
Other than this, I´m very happy that I bought almost all of my christmas presents - and I really like what I got so far. A beautiful book for Marie (I may show you some pictures later), as well as handmade doll for her, a special wine drink for my father, really nice shopping bags for my mother and mother in law, so far a shirt and a book for my husband.
And I have some big plans for the near future: finishing some paintings and starting a new one, sewing some cute maternity clothes (probably a skirt - I´m inspired by these patterns), making a doll from fimo (and maybe some other smaller things), making something from felt... this list is never ending :). I just hope to find the energy to make at least something.

moments

Who needs toys when you have some cardboard and buttons? Marie helped me pack something today and was playing along the way. There was a huge yard sale at our church, here are some of my finds :). Also, I finally repaired a drake (?) that my mother bought me when I was about 8. I remember clearly how it happened: I cried and cried hysterically that I don´t want any other (cheaper) toy than this one :). Its arm was tearen off because I probably started to hate the toy once we got home :). Oh, children... sweet angels!

crocheting

I´ve been crocheting a lot lately. I love that you can do this while talking to guests and that you don´t need too much equipment. The grey acrylic cap is for Marie and is very warm (I hope!). The cotton one will be for me and I want to make it bright, colourful and playful :). I also bought some more yarn for more caps!

cold and dark

Oh, how bad I feel in the weather we have here now. Outside it´s cold and dark, and inside... well, we don ´t get much warmth either :). At least not in the whole apartment. The weather is also changing quite a lot, which probably causes me several health problems with my blood pressure and headache. But, it seems like it´s the perfect time to watch some old Aki Kaurismäki movies! We saw Ariel, Hold your scarf, Tatiana and Drifting clouds, and I loved all of them. Funny and depressing at the same time. I borrowed some books (again) and started to attempt crocheting (again), and the results so far are not very good. I find myself unraveling all the time... But I really want to make a winter hat for Marie, so I keep trying. I made two new dolls, but I´m showing only one of them, because the other one didn´t turn out as I wished... Hmm, maybe next time I´ll do better. I´m looking forward to Christmas a lot, but I´m also nervous concerning the presents. What are you buying or making to your dear ones? For Marie it´s pretty easy, of course, but presents for men are the toughtest! Share your ideas, if you know already :).
Sorry to those I didn´t respond to in the comments... Thanks to all your comments and kind words! I´m just lately not really able to respond to everyone, as I still don´t feel very well and sometimes try to stay off the computer :).

in love with...

a hotel. Is it weird? I´m obsessed with this building, "hotel Hrušov". It´s an old hotel, built in 1930s, and probably very luxurious and "posh" in those days, now abandoned and almost a ruin. I´ve seen it about two years ago for the first time, and I loved it. Such majestic building, with beautiful details, many windows. I couldn´t stop fantasizing about the interior, and imagining the noble history, guests that visited it. It was all just so decadent and romantic. I took a photo of it and decided I need to paint it. And I did :). This summer, we walked by again, and we were told they are going to tear it down, because it´s in a very bad shape. I took some photos again, and made a second painting of it.
Yesterday, we had a friend over who loves architecture, and we went to see some buildings in the town where the hotel is, and also looked at the hotel. The windows were gone, glass everywhere, also the beautiful balconies were knocked down. It made me almost teary eyed. We went inside (there was no one around), and walked through the rooms, kitchen, bathrooms. It was very dangerous, because there were pieces of wood, walls, glass etc. everywhere on the floor and stairs, so I couldn´t go to the upper floors (also, I was afraid the floor could break up or something). I´m glad I got inside, but I´m sorry I didn´t do that before they started with the renovations - or at least I hope they are going to do some renovations. As our friend said, if they wanted to tear the building down, they would just demolish it right away. We´ll see. At least I have the photos. Maybe I´m weird with this strange affection for this building, but I can´t help myself :).



Oh, and sorry for the lack of posts. The thing is, I´ve been quite busy recently, getting ready for some exhibitions and occasions. And also, I got pregnant :). So that´s to explain my sickness I wrote about. I don´t feel completely well yet, but in the evenings I´m able to do something again. At the moment I´m pretty frightened about the whole thing, but hoping.

Dresden

I´ve been away for a while, and that´s because I´ve been a bit sick for some time. I´m still not entirely back to my painting, sewing and making, but we went for a great trip with our friends to Dresden yesterday! I´ve been there about 13years ago and visited the gallery of "old masters" in Zwinger, and this time we went to Albertinum to see the newer works. I loved the exhibition and the whole building, its architecture and design is stunning! What I loved most was the statue of young ballerina by Edgar Degas (of course...:). I always loved this statue and was glad to find it there. I stared at it for a long time (and I´m inspired to make some dolls...). The skirt is amazing, it´s made of many layers of gathered tulle, and I love the shade it has now. (Did the colour change during all those years? Probably... maybe not too much). I also loved the Frauenkirche, a church that was attacked during the 2.w.w., was destroyed and recently built again according to old plans. When I was last time in Dresden, the church was still missing and if I remember well, they were working on its renovation.
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