Back to Nature and... Crochet

Many days have passed by, and I am still under impression of my 1 month trip, it is still difficult for me get on track, blog again regularly, and so on. Last time I promised to share more pictures from my journey to parents. As you know I am crazy for dacha, gardening, nature, and all related stuff. So in one of our awesome trips to this lovely abode, I planned to take few snaps of my amigurumi - a white cat which I gifted to my parents last year and Cheburashka, who traveled with us all way long and back this time. 

My father was quite enthusiastic about my idea and helped to find places for photo shoot. Like this one, on the sunflower :)

Or on one of the pine trees. My dear papa! Miss you now so much here. But these pictures put a smile on my face every time I look at them.

 The photo shoot for my Russian cat was done by me, and I tried to find some typical Russian flora for her. Chamomile was one of such plants, and oh, I love their simple look!

I also chose another  flower symbolical for Russian culture - bluett. My Mum never fails to have them in her garden, and they were there last year too. My cat liked sniffing this cute blossoms, and the picture came out cute, didn't it?

She, being a totally Russian cat made of Indian acrylic yarn, never seen this truly Russian tree - birch. So I gave her opportunity to sit on it for a while and enjoy the summer day.

Rest of my exploration of parents dacha included finding of flowers and peculiar plants around. For a long time my parents were puzzled about the name of this bush, which they took from the garden of our relative sin the village. They simply named after a nice old lady, who was alive then and living in that house, Frida. After few years they finally showed the nuts the plant produced to their dacha neighbour, and she assured it was an almond. Though I still have doubts and promised my parents to ask you, my dear friends, what plant it is actually.

This was another curios discovery of mine - a lungwort flower, which as My mum said usually blossoms in spring, and suddenly did it again in August. I suppose it happened because of the wet weather conditions this Summer.

I couldn't not to take yet one more picture of Calendula- can't get enough of its radiant color!

The blanket flowers are called by my parents "Indian flower", because they saw so many of them when came to India, that there was no doubt how to call them.

As title says "and Crochet". Here is what I made in a span of 4 weeks *cough, cough*. Just like last year I decided to mark our visit and made summer doily, so that my parents can recollect all nice moments we shared together. What other pattern can be so fast and easy and beautiful at the same time? Granny square, yey! When packing for my trip home, I just threw 5 balls of yarn in my suit case, and to my surprise those were the colors of flowers growing at dacha. 

Just a little bit of sunshine makes colors more vivid and bright. Love the big leaves of Canna by the way.

Even this is not all I planned and wanted to tell you about. However I already have new things to show, and hope that I will not be behind of time too much. I started learning some new needle art, and went into exploring possibilities of crochet. Thanks everyone for leaving nice comments on my last post, I feel better now mentally and physically, your support matters a lot too! 

Have a wonderful weekend ahead, and keep on creating!

A Story of A Little Fairy Angelonia

It was the first time ever Angelonia saw the morning sun,  the blue sky, the trees and plants, and felt the warmth of the soil:

 - I am home - she said. - I belong here.

She didn't know how she appeared in the lush of aloe plant, which thick leaves were also warm as seemed they soaked all the sun shine of the past few weeks. She knew that plants welcomed her in their abode.  She felt as if she had always been a part of this place. Looking up and down and around herself Angelonia wished she was tall enough to reach the branches of a graceful tree she noticed also grew in the same garden. 

The wind blew, stirring the emerald leaves of all the greenery, and Angelonia heard in their whisper:

- Fly...fly...fly..You can...fly.

"I can fly?!", - asked Angelonia herself. - "How is it possible? Only birds and butterflies can fly because they have ...wings!" As soon as she said the last word, she felt a pleasant tickling in her back, she touched it with her fingers and felt something so tender under them as made of the finest cobweb, but much softer and more solid. She looked back - those were the wings! Not only two of them, but 2 pairs of beautiful light yellow wings!

- I can fly! - she exclaimed, - and some power lifted her up of the ground, taking her higher and higher above  and soon she was able to touch the patterned crown of the tree. 

Angelonia found a cozy place on one of its branches and sat there, surrounded by fragrance of the curry leaves. The sun was piercing through them, touching Angelonia's face with its warmness. She felt happy and a big smile was not leaving her face.

 Sitting up there she was trying to figure out what she would do tomorrow, where would she go, who would she meet.

 - I will do my best and will be protecting this garden and making plants happy. - decided Angelonia. - They need my care, no matter if its a big tree or a tiny flower, I will always be there.

 This is the story of a little fairy who once appeared in my garden and would be guarding it now. I am sure she will express a wish to visit other gardens too and give them her magical blessing.

Have a wonderful, fruitful week, my dears! Believe that you can fly :)

Note: a wonderful pattern for this amigurumi fairy Margarita was made by a great designer Mia Zamora-Johnson of Petite Purls. Link to the pattern is here. Her fairy is much cuter and looks tiny, though in the pattern it says she is 6.5 inch tall, while mine came out to be only 6 - she has a big head for big thoughts :)

Cheburashka In Our House

India and USSR always had good relations between each other, and now Russia and all the post-USSR countries continue that inherited friendship. However I doubt that this big eared Soviet period cartoon character whose name is Cheburashka, ever visited Indian continent and ever lived in the Indian house, though I'm sure he would love to.

As soon as me and my D made our Indo-Russian marriage possible, nothing seems to be impossible now, even Cheburashka's stay in India. So here he is, who has recently (2 days ago) settled down in our house, and I'm sure enjoys all the attention and love  given to him. Especially from my D, for who he was actually made. 

If you search Cheburashka in the Internet, you'll find loads of info about him. Briefly the story of his life is a story of real friendship. No one knew where he came from and how appeared in the Moscow's toy shop one day. He himself didn't know what was his name, and who he was. Sad...isn't it? But he definitely was so kind, and so cute, that he deserved to be loved and cared for. Once he tumbled down from the crate and got his name from a shopkeeper "Cheburashka" which literally means "the one who tumbled". Later he met a crocodile Gena, who became his true friend and made him happy.

For his first photo session in India Cheburashka chose this Russian fairy tale background. He might be missing his native country I guess.

Cheburashka says that he likes being in India, and looks forward to visiting many places here. Then there will probably be another background, with palm trees and emerald green parrots :) Till then, he will explore  surroundings of our house and perhaps will get another photo shoot, if I am not tired. He is not perfect, as none of us, and yes, we love him nevertheless :)

 Here is what I've been up to recently, and I'm very glad I accomplished this amigurumi project for my D :) Now I can completely indulge in blanket making and show the progress after a while. And oh my, I'm still confused about squares arrangement. I'll come up with some nice decision soon.

Have a wonderful day ahead, dears! Sending loads of love your side form our sunny India!

From Small to Big - Crochet

Greetings of the day, dear friends! The Grow Your Blog party left me with some great reads and new readers! I"m glad  you stayed here :) 

The sunny weekend was enjoyable, as our friends came for dinner, and we had nice food and good chats. Now to business, here is a Tunisian crochet stripe turned into a wall decor with embroidered flowers. This type of hanging wall decor was inspired by Indian crafts, and I had such project in mind for over six months till I realized it. I had a little trouble as the stripe was actually curling up because of the tight crocheting. Hopefully I can improve this further. 

Now - something related to Russian culture. When I just started crocheting, the first "order" I got was from my D, when he asked me to make a Soviet cartoon character Cheburashka. I didn't fulfill this wish until I learned how to make toys (amigurumi). I felt a little guilty about my procrastination, so the Cheburashka's face jumped from the crochet hook at once few days ago (did it sound scary?:). Other parts are coming up soon too. By the way, those Pony split ring markers worked very well for marking the stitches, so this purchase wasn't waste.

Sunday can be called a "Yarnday" for me, as this is when I do... yarn shopping, yea! With valuable help of my husband (as he always deals with the shopkeepers), I purchased these 6 colors for my ambitious (hehe) blanket project. I'm slowly trying to move from small to big forms as you see :). This yarn is of the Indian brand Vardhman and called Brilon. I'm glad it had at least this marking on it.

That's all so far.  Will be back with some more crochet and perhaps, a pattern for Cheburashka. 

                    Have a nice day and take care!                                                 

Cheerful Halloween Decoration

   I was planning to make this Halloween post initially, when found out that I got an award. I made a post about it instead. So sorry for two posts today, but I really want to share with you some Halloween decorations I made last Sunday while waiting for my husband's return. We used to celebrate Halloween with my parents before. Though it was never among Orthodox christian holidays, we were enjoying its' spirit and involved our friends in celebration too. Now I am reviving this tradition in India.  

  These little pumpkins is a great idea of Petals to Picots. However the pattern for the pumpkin's "body", offered on the blog, didn't really come to me, and I chose a classic amigurumi pattern, which I had previously used to make my white cat. I added a face to an orange pumpkin and then made a smaller yellow one. It was so much fun to crochet these cuties!

 The Halloween kind of  bunting came up with the pumpkins and the stars cut from the orange craft paper. Further I found the shapes  looking too flatly and added glitters.

  Here is the witch on the broom. I attached it to my cupboard door. She slightly moves under the fan's blow, so seems she is flying :) Just curious, whether you are making any decorations for coming up Halloween or this holiday is not in your calendar.

White Amigurumi Cat in Russian Attire

       What a good evening! Though I was so tired after office and was about to take a nap, I said myself  to get up and finish what I have started. This lovely start was my first amigurumi project! I enjoyed so much to crochet a toy. First I was thinking of making a Russian doll, but I changed my mind and decided to learn basics. I took the pattern from here, it is called "Baby chick". However, I followed only the pattern for a head and then carried on myself. What led me to my first crochet cat!  I called her Lyalya (means "baby" in Russian). It took me a while to finish up the details of her body and then her costume, which I first wasn't planning to make a Russian one. But then I though I wanted a Russian doll anyway, so why not to combine this idea with a cat? ;)

   Here she is waiting for her dress  and kerchief to be crocheted.

 Now she's got her wrap, and her dress I finished up later, on a ready toy, and attached stripes from both the sides.

 I came up with such cute and sweet white cat wearing  a kerchief called "platok" (Russian) and a dress called "sarafan". 

I liked that the kerchief came out to be of a proper triangle shape.

Though it was already getting dark outside, I took her at the back yard clicked this cute picture with a tiny flower and aloe vera.

   So now she is resting beside while I am making the post about her :) I hope my first amigurumi try was successful enough. All I need now is to show my first crochet toy to my D when he comes back home :) Hope he also likes this white cat, as he has been witnessing making of it for the past few days. Thanks, D!

The White Cat in Russian Attire toy linked to Crochet Boulevard.

P.S. No pattern is available, because I wasn't counting the stitches and rows at all :)))
P.P.S. My D liked the cat, may be, because he (and me too) likes cats :)