Pottery

My husband has very fond childhood memories of being taken to the pottery lessons. Hence when faced with the dilemma of how to entertain our daughter on the weekends it was one of the activities that he looked into and found a local woman, who offers pottery lessons at her studio.

Trunkless Elephant by my husband

They went there few times now and brought home these creations. There are more items that are still being fired or waiting to be glazed. I’m so much looking forward to seeing their other creations.

Tea Set by Katya

Spring & Summer Wardrobe

Sewed items were made by me; knitted ones by my mum; socks are the newborn size ones, which were intended for the baby - he may loose few more to the doll before he is even born.

Oxford and bookbinding

A bit more than a week ago I accompanied my mum to Oxford. Like any dutiful tourist I attempted to take photos of the beautiful buildings, only to realise yet again that I much more prefer to photograph small things – like leaves, cobble stones, flowers. And there were plenty of beautiful multi-coloured leaves around. What? Autumn? In my own little la-la universe it is still middle of July.

Yet the other day I wrote a list of… well, I can’t describe them in any other way, but New Year resolutions. Is one more likely to accomplish the desired goals if they are set at the beginning of October instead of January?

I’ve been to Oxford twice before so for me the highlight of our visit was “An Artful Craft: Fine and Historic Bookbindings from the Broxbourne Library and other collections” exhibition at Bodleian Library. The mastery and the variety of skills that went into creating the books on display were astonishing. I’m sure I was forgetting to breath and had a slightly mad glint in my eyes. I only wish another crafter, who just started learning about bookbinding and already created some gorgeous notebooks, could also see the exhibition. And she just started her own blog, so if you have few seconds head over to Lemony Leaves and welcome her to blogosphere.

Lucky me

I learned to crochet as a child and crocheted on and off for most of my life, so it is one craft area in which I feel reasonably comfortable. It is also one of the things I can do while Katya is awake. So when talented Barmyowlscoo mentioned having idea for the quilt with crocheted doilies I offered to make some for her.


In return she sent me all these goodness: tinny owl, kiddie fabric (I should write down all ideas I have for it, so I can choose one and get it done), potholders created by herself and a painting set for Katya (not included in this photo as the Little One wanted to try it out straight away). Here is a close up of the potholders - aren't they gorgeous?

Why do I always feel that I got a much better package than the one I sent?

To go or not to go?

For the last few weeks I was debating about going to Annabell’s exhibition at Stratford-upon-Avon on 8th to 15th June and it just got harder to resist as Kayla Coo is also going to be showing her work there.

I own one of her brooches, but would love to see her other work in real life – photos often don’t show well enough all the texture and beauty of the textile artwork. The problem is that few friends will be in London on that weekend, so do I brave going to another town by myself with a toddler just for few hours on a workday?