time flies...

I´ve been inspired by Nette to write a post about my childhood photos. I was afraid it won´t be very easy for me to do this, as my photos are at my parents´house and in my brother´s flat (the flat where we lived as a family and where I´ve grown up). Also, I´m not very familiar with scanner and I would probably have to make my husband scan these photos for me (also, it´s in his office and connected to his computer). So I thought, it´s going to be months before I have something to show you. But! Then I remembered I have few photos that I snatched at the flat while we all still lived there. I know it´s not very nice of me... but there were so many of these black and white photos there, that hardly anyone can notice. There were two big drawers full of these little photos that my father made himself on his enlarger in dark room long time ago. My parents made a small attempt to actually organize them, but didn´t finish doing that and many of the photos remained in those drawers.
I feel really nostalgic and kind of sad to look at these photos. The time passes by so quicky! I remember pretty well a lot from my childhood and now I have a small daughter too! That´s pretty incredible to me... To see how much we all changed and what happend during those years is making me teary eyed a bit.
This is my grandma Z, photographed some time around 1959 (I think she was about 20). I love this photo. Grandma Z is very lively, talks a lot, and from what I remember, she was always pretty big. She is just a pretty huge and loud woman :).
This is her too, at work, later in life. On the back of the photo there is written: "for Christmass, 1983". So maybe this photo was a present from a co-worker...? Anyway, 1983 was the year when I was born :).
My father! Cute, right? That was before I was born, and I believe he sent this photo to my mother when he was at the military service.
Another two photos of my father. The second one is from 1981, he was 21. He looked so much like my brother looks now!
My mother, before we were born I think (but I´m not sure). Unfortunatelly, she used to cut her hair quite short most of the time when she was older. I don´t remember her with hair like this, but my father loved her long hair and always complained she doesen´t wear it long and loose :).
My mother with me and my baby brother, who is one and a half year younger than me.
A trip with my other grandma, J. I think I was 4 and my brother about 3.
My brother and father.
This is me (in the middle) with some friends.
Little Janul again, with my parents´friend.
Me and my brother (in the middle) at my aunt´s wedding.
My grandma Z, grandpa, my mother, brother and me at some fair (or what´s the right word for these places with carousels, swings etc., help me :).
That´s all for now! I have ton of my baby pictures and another better quality ones, but they are far away at my parents´:).

handmade toys - vintage book

I got a pile of 80s magazines for embroidery, knitting and crocheting from my mother in law. Among them was this cute little book about handmade toys. I love it! The photos are really nice: children and little animals, clowns. Most of them should be made from knit remnants, which sounds pretty easy to make, but I´m afraid it´s a bit more difficult than it looks... What I love the most are those mice - of course, they are the ones most difficult to make :). The mice are crocheted with sewn clothes. I can´t knit, so I like a lot that these toys can be made from old sweaters. At least I hope so! Anyway, this book is a great inspiration, and great just to look at :).

in the garden...

The first painting of 2011 is finished... It´s already the end of march, what a shame! I´m going to attempt to make a series of paintings with this "Adam and Eve" theme, but let´s see how that goes. Maybe some burda style fans will guess my inspiration for the guy? :)

Camilla Engman

Oh man, I saw Camilla Engman´s new paintings today... Perfect. I feel so inspired! I love her style. And I´m finishing a painting too! In a few days I´ll show it to you :).

Vogue inspirations

A friend of mine gave me a Vogue magazine! Wow! It inspires me a lot to make some sewing. I love these dresses by Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu.
I was thinking about helping to raise the money for the Japan disaster, and it seems the most reasonable way for me is to donate via Adra organization.

Miss Button

I love buttons! They come in so many colours and shapes. It´s great for kids to play with and often I just like to think about the many ways I could use them, and how would they look with various fabrics. I made this doll recently and used some buttons for her body. The eyes are buttons, obviously (Coraline, anyone? :), but the mouth is a button too! I love that one. I wanted to make her hair out of yarn, but it was very time consuming that in the end I changed my mind and used felt instead. So quick and nice!

sunny inspirations

I really love the weather now. It´s so sunny and light here! It actually makes my eyes smart and hurt... Oh yes, the spring is near - and so is allergy! :) I started to drive again, after three years... it´s quite difficult for me. But I hope to get better with time.
Yesterday my lovely friend Anna arived and we had a great day together. She also brought us many nice gifts. Including some nice clothes that I´m looking forward to wear. I should maybe make a portrait of her! Hmm, there are many painting inspirations too.
And what inspires me these days?

1. pale pink gown by Elie Sabb, 2. Paul Smith "Annie Hall" look, 3. dress by Pietro Filipi, 4. this dress on Nicole Kidman, 5. Balaeniceps rex :), 6. this photo from the sartorialist

Crepe crazy

So, the Colette Crepe dresses are just everywhere now. I love dresses, I love wrap dresses, and I love this dress too. But, I didn´t pay too much attention to this particular pattern, until I saw Laurwyn´s version! I´m so amazed by her variation, and the way she looks in her Crepe dress! I really really want to make myself one of these. The truth is, the pattern itself is pretty expensive for me (and it gets worse with the shipping price). So, I thought that I would try to make a similar dress with different pattern - probably the same one as I made the Josephine dress with, as the bodice is quite similar to the Crepe bodice (I think). I´m certainly not very good at sewing, but I hope I could accomplish this. I´m going to look at Gertie´s sew along for some tips and help. I don´t really know how to make the skirt yet - it seems like an A - line with a seam in the middle...? The top of the skirt is probably curved then... Hmm, to make things worse I plan to make this dress out of my husband´s old caftan-y shirt; very long and big (funny story will follow! stay tuned :).
If you have some ideas or knowledge that could help me, please share! I´m grateful for any kind of information :).

oh, birthday...

It´s my birthday today! I turned 28. Wow! Nobody´s getting younger, right? :) I´m fine, I think. I enjoy doing what I want - in the evenings (during the day I have to care about my daughter, but she´s a great kid so I´m ok ;). I want to try so many new things: I started to make my first quilt yesterday, and I want to try embroidery (I did that when I was a child and loved it), but the store didn´t have what I needed, so I´m waiting (it´s not very easy for me to just go to another store or town. or just go to a shop, really). I´ve seen many great films recently, few older biographic films about painters, but some new ones, too. Which gets me to... painting! I´m very inspired to paint, but realizing it is somehow difficult. I´m a bit frustrated, it´s almost the end of february and I haven´t finished anything... I have to make some progress real SOON.

Josephine dress

I made this dress recently, it was such a quick project. I wanted to make a sweet pinkish flowery dress for a while, so this is the result (I love pink lately). I bought the fabric mainly because of the name :). A collection of fabric called Josephine? I had to have one of those. I loved this pattern in recent Burda (101/2/2011), but I´m a bit dissapointed by it. But maybe it´s because of the fabric choice... I´m afraid the fabric is not quite right for the dress, but I´m not sure. The biggest issue is, that it´s quite roomy around the neckline and kind of "stands out". I didn´t follow the instructions and simply made facings everywhere, so maybe it´s my fault? Anyway, I think by all means the neckline is very low... and wide. I´m probably going to wear some kind of nice camisole under the dress, otherwise I feel odd. I´m not used to this kind of dress: the neckline and waistline are low; the other dressed I made had neckline higher and different waistline (more like an empire waist). But, I would probably like it on someone else, so maybe I´ll get used to it. The sleeves are too short for my taste, too. If I make this pattern again, I´m going to make them bigger.
I altered the dress so that it is a bit looser in the bodice, because I didn´t want to add the zipper. I like that I can simply put it on over my head and actually like the looser shape better (I think!). This is my first spring dress. It´s snowing outside and really cold, so into the wardrobe it goes. I´m looking forward to wear it with my brown military sweater for nice contrast.

Frida

I´ve seated my Frida on the piano! It´s the perfect place for her :).
photo by my husband.

project living room

As you know, I was very unhappy with our bookcase. I started to hate the dark colour and planned to paint it, but... then I got another idea! I simply turned the painted side so that it faces the wall, ha! :) Now only the bare wood is visible, and it looks much better. I emptied the whole bookcase (so many books! exhausting!), vacuumed every single book, cleaned the bookcase, took some of the LP records to the attic (we don´t have record player anyway) and put the books back.
I love our yellow lamp - I found the shade in my grandmother´s garage. She never got a stand for it, therefore she never used it (for 20 years!) and gave it to me. I bought the lamp stand in Ikea and this lamp is what I love most in our place (I mean, in the furniture and decorating area ;).
night view

my first leather bag!

I finished my leather bag! Wohoo, I´m so happy. I really wanted to make a leather bag myself. Very practical one, with zipper and adjustable strap. I was very inspired by rennes and reMade USA - couldn´t decide between two designs, so I took ideas from both :). I wanted to make a recycled bag, and as I´ve written earlier, my friend gave me old leather pants (quite narrow ones) to do that. I didn´t love the colour at first (I´m more into darker colours), but than it grew on me (and, isn´t it a kind of a fashion "rule", that "older" women should wear more light colours? ;). I struggled with the shape and construction for a while. Than, I just decided to let the material do what it wants! I cut it all apart again and made it differently, and simplified the design. It´s a very simple shape, but, believe me, it was a lot of work... However, working with leather is easier in some ways - no need to finish the edges! That´s great, just the straight stitch all the time :). I´m so proud I made the adjustable strap with the same material - the first I´ve ever made, and the zipper (zippers are difficult for me). The short handles are mainly decorative, but they can be useful sometimes I guess. Another great thing is that I used almost every bit of the leather. That´s satisfying. I had some problems with the lining, I can use some tips how to attach it. In the end I sewed it in by hand. That round badge I got for free from one seller at fler.cz with another puchase. It´s not my style (and maybe not right for the bag), but again, I started to like it with the time. Also, lately I´m very much into girlier things and clothes.
Next, I plan to make a bigger black leather bag out of a jacket I already have! I hope with thicker needle and thread I will be able to sew it with my poor machine...

Frida doll finished!

I finished my Frida Kahlo doll! I´m so happy :). I´m a little bit obsessed by Frida and wanted to have one of my own :). This was so far my most difficult doll to make. The face took me a lot of time to paint. She´s quite tall (taller than my previous dolls), has high heels and red nails. And a tear... I bought the small female deer toy few days ago (I love deers), and then realized it´s perfect for Frida (she had a baby deer as a pet). The clothes are quite shabby... I tried to recreate the traditional mexican style dress, but the bodice was hard to sew.
I´ve been at a big Frida Kahlo exhibition in Wien last October, and it was so great. There were her dresses and jewellery on display, too, and I loved to see them! I´m a big fan of Kahlo´s paintings (and they inspire me at my own painting, too).
To make this doll I was mostly inspired by the wonderful Duh buh duh dolls, as well as some other artists all around the blogs. I´m not sure where to put her... the doll can be hanged, but I have to figure out the right place. I´m planning my next doll, but the sewing part is so discouraging. There is a lot of handsewing included, and it just doesen´t look right, when the dress is more complicated. But I´m very happy with the hair! There is a braid too, but can´t be seen very well.