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!

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 :)