Jubeads box

23-24.6.11 Dax Designs' Earrings for Lior 30th Birthday

2011-06-24T21:36:00.007+03:00

I once saved an image of a beautiful rose-lavender pair of earrings from Dax designs' Etsy shop. I was absolutely fond of their design, elegance as well as their simplicity, and wished to bead them one day.

I wanted to make a pair of earrings for Lior 30th birthday. Since I already made her a pair in blue and gold, two years ago, I didn't want to use again the same blue colors or tones, even if it fits her so well with her beautiful blue eyes and blond hair. Going through several pictures of earrings I had, I thought this design may fit her best. I hope she will like it too.

Dax has also a blog and a wonderful collection of Endangered peyote bracelets I recommend you to look at.

19.6.11 DNA Earrings by Gwen Fisher

2011-06-19T23:01:00.009+03:00

How can you see such a beautiful design, so clearly explained, for free, and not try it?

How to bead weave DNA double helix is another genius pearl from Gwen Fisher...

Thanks so much Gwen!!! and the Doceri software makes it so clear!

I am anxious to see Gwen's DNA replication spiral necklace when she manages getting to it.

15-16.6.11 Veva's Zig-Zag Tila bracelet "Con una sola Tila" clasp

2011-06-16T21:43:00.000+03:00

Looking for bracelets done with the new TILA beads, I found this gorgeous design by Gasar. I had to give it a go and indeed it is simple and impressing. I omitted the multicuts (in Gasar's design it is 4mm, but I would recommend on 3mm for best fit).

I thought to make a pair of earrings to fit with, using a scheme that a friend addressed my attention to. The free scheme is called "Con una sola tila" by "el alfiler de cristal" , meaning "for a sole TILA only". It is useful for using rests of TILA beads, so I thought I could hit 2 birds in one shot.

However, I found out that it would be really complicated to transform this motif to an earring, so I just left it as is and had in hand one more thing to join the endless unfinished projects I have.

However, thanks to Eshchar, asking for some attention from me :-) I had to sit and stop everything in order to be with him. It gave me the few minutes to THINK. Which consequently gave me the idea to transform the motif into a clasp. The result is super to my opinion :-) and I like so much this Bordeaux color. The final look of the bracelet gives an impression of leather on the skin which I really like.

14-15/19.6.11 Herringbone Cabled Bracelet

2011-06-15T21:41:00.009+03:00

The bracelet was designed by Rae Arlene Reller, published in Bead & Button Magazine, February 2009, Issue 89, pp.48-49. The earrings were designed by Gwen Fisher, see my post here.

For the bracelet, which took me about 2-3 hrs of work, make sure to have a good tension during the work, in order to avoid "holes" into it.

9-12.6.11 Narcissus Hair-Clip for Nomnom

2011-06-12T10:51:00.015+03:00

The "Daffodil and Narcissus" flower appears on pp.51-52 in "Crochet Bouquet" book by Suzann Thompson. It is also shared for free here. Can you imagine I learnt to crochet thanks to this book?

Nomnom chose the colors and I had the pleasure to crochet it for her during the recent breastfeedings. Eshchar is a precious gift!

2.6.11 Wild Rose Hair-clip for Nomnom's 26th birthday

2011-06-02T21:52:00.009+03:00

Wild Rose by Lesley Stanfield from the book "100 flowers to knit and crochet", p.81.

The 4 stamens are French knots (7 yarn over each).

1.6.11 Earrings for Chen

2011-06-01T21:31:00.006+03:00

I got inspired from Brser21 earrings she made to fit the "Charming Choker" project from Kelly Wiese's book "Beaded Allure". The earrings are going to be a gift for a young girl.

29.5.11 Featured in Handmade Jewelry Club

2011-05-29T22:09:00.003+03:00

My version to Ruby's pattern for the Cecile's wheel ring has been featured in the Handmade Jewelry Club blog. Check it here.

23-25.5.11 Mosaico Earrings for mom and me

2011-05-25T20:13:00.000+03:00

The earrings were beaded with round Japanese 15/0 seed beads and upon the upper part of Maggie Meister's "Simply seeds Mosaico Earrings" (Beadwork Magazine, June-July 2011, pp.74-75).

The following ones are for mom, to fit with the Turquoise Indian Amphora necklace.

25.11.10 - 22.3.11 Mom present Inspired from the "Harmonious array" Necklace & Snivli's cabochon

2011-03-24T19:24:00.018+02:00

The "Harmonious Array"necklace appears in Bead & Button magazine, February 2009, Issue 89, pp.36-39.

Once I received this issue and saw the necklace on its cover, I immediately knew I wanted to bead it for mom, but it took about 2 years to make it true. This beautiful necklace, also called "Renâitre des Cendres" was designed by Maria Teresa Ferreira. Maria has also a blog called "Piu Bella Bijoux", that you can visit here.

However, I made some changes and several adaptations as compared to the original design. For example, the length of all the necklace parts differ from Maria's necklace and are all shorter, especially the central donut. Additionally, I didn't bead the peyote+embroidery cabochon, but instead beaded a cabochon based on Snivli's Vintage Cabochon tutorial , in her worthy blog: Bead Fantasy. This is a great gift for the beaders community since this cabochon is so simple and yet so elegant, beautiful and impressing. I really appreciate Snivli's design.

As oppose to Snivli's tuto, I have used round 11/0 Matsuno and 15/0 Japanese beads only (with 4 or 5 mm faceted multicuts) and made some small changes in the last rounds to better adapt my cabochon in the beadwork.

I really recommend you to try it.

My modifications are as follow. Once you get to the upper part of the cabochon (2nd stage):

Bead two herringbone rows with round Japanese 11/0 in color A.
In the next row: *One herringbone stitch with round Japanese 11/0 in color B and then string 3A to be connected to the next herringbone pair. Make sure to have high tension during the work*. Repeat* to end of row and step up. You will also note the cabochon starts to sit in the beadwork in the end of the row .
The next row is made up with *stringing 3 round Japanese 15/0 between the two beads of the herringbone pair from last row and stringing 2A in between the herringbone pairs*. Repeat* till end of row, making sure to pull tight all along the row.
String 3 round Japanese 15/0 between each 15/0 picot from last row.

Giving this present to mom, I meant to thank her for all she does for me.

Well, it was worthy :-) to finish beading it since she was very happy to receive it.

19.3.11 Springy day at the Volcani Center

2011-03-19T13:20:00.004+02:00

We had a beautiful afternoon in the Agricultural Research Organization - Volcani Center. Omer was busy working in the garden he had designed, while I was busy beading a necklace for mom.

That was a great occasion to take pictures of craft projects I have finished in the last months.

16-19.3.11 Vezsuzsi Celtic triangle

2011-03-19T00:57:00.011+02:00

This beautiful "Boldog Hétfôt!-Happy Monday! " peyote pattern is kindly shared for free by one of the top beading blogs to my opinion. This is the blog of Vezsuzsi Gyongyei by Zsuzsi V.

Click here, if you are interested in a tutorial I've made for clarifying how to bead this pattern in peyote, assuming you know how to bead peyote triangle. Sorry for the quality, it was originally meant to help me record how to bead it, but I am glad to share it if it can help someone else as well.

1-8.3.11 Crib Sheets for Poupik

2011-03-08T10:34:00.036+02:00

Right side of the fitted sheet (with a rescued mistake at the right top corner):
Wrong side of the fitted sheet:

Very difficult to picture with my camera.... This is my first sewing project! Yeii...

Omer showed me how to use mom's Singer Samba2 Machine from the eighties and it was such of a great help. I feel I have so much to learn in the sewing area, but don't find the time for it yet. It's been several years that I wish to have a good machine of my own with hem option. One day, I guess...

Anyway, this is a beginning. I hope to keep on, persevere and enlarge my sewing knowledge.

Some info about these sheets. I looked for tutos around the net, but finally didn't find exactly what I looked for, so I combined several tutos together

Purchased Blanket: 70cm x 100cm

Crib Matress: 86cm x 46 cm x 4cm

Blanket Sheet: Final measurements: 72.5cm Width, 98.5 cm Length, a kind of "cover" 14 cm from top with 1 cm overlapping (plus 4 velcro pieces along of 3cm x 1cm). I got the idea from this link: Bassinet Sheet Set Tutorial, which also demonstrates an interesting option for the fitted sheet, to sew the swimwear elastic directly to the sheet edge (also found in this link: DIY Cute Crib Sheet) and not as I did (inserting the elastic with a sewing pin into a sewn hem on the edges).

If I am not mistaken, I left at least 2 or 3 cm in each sides of the width and length in order to sew the hem. This means, the cut fabric was of ~79 cm on ~105 cm. A posteriori, not enough to fit exactly the blanket.

Very disappointed from the colorful fabric, which lost half of its color after the 1st washing machine!!!The same happened to the dyed bias tape- grrr...... it was such a beautiful color combination and now it is so fade.

Fitted Sheet: Very happy with the green cotton fabric, which seems of good quality, a bit stretchy and keeps its color quiet well.

Final size: 86cm x 49cm x 6cm

Fabric cut: 112cm(=86+26) x 72cm(=46+26) (4 squares cut on the corners of 13cm x 13cm, which you can also plan to be longer in order to have broader cover on the wrong side).

Tip: The following links where useful for that purpose, but I can't remember where or in which of them, you need to be very careful with the measurements. Some of the links contain mistakes, so be prudent before cutting the fabric. You can try to align the mattress on the fabric to mark where you can approximately cut the squares or draw a small scheme with the measurements and double check to see if it is coherent and logic.

Crib Sheet Pattern

How To Sew Bassinet & Crib Sheets

While there is a new link that seems promising, note that I haven't try it yet because it was posted after the sheets were already made: DIY Fitted Crib Sheet

Crib Bumper: (Not shown because it's unfinished, the ribbons are still missing) I caught such an allergy from the fabric. Apparently from the tones of dust it accumulated in the store.

and some more useful links in this subject:

Dick and Jane Crib Set
Vanilla Joy DIY Crib Bedding Part I: Crib Bumper
Vanilla Joy DIY Crib Bedding Part II: Crib Flat Sheet
Vanilla Joy DIY Crib Bedding Part III: Crib Fitted Sheet
Vanilla Joy DIY Fitted Crib Sheet

As you can note, it's far from being perfect. I need a lot more practice on straight lines and it is prominent in the bias tape part. Practice, practice, practice...

There are several sewing blogs I have discovered recently which leave me with a giant open mouth. How do these mothers find the time? the energies? the endless creativity? the inspiration? the kindness to share their inventions, tips, every day lives and many more?

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW

I am just speachless and wish I could do 1/10th of what they do.

Some of the blogs I am talking about are listed below:

Made - Dana Made It

Made By Rae

Ikatbag - Lier

Ric-Rac

בלוג הקישורים של יולי

תוצרת בית - עופרה והגר

Colargolet - חטיף קוקוס אדום

Sew Liberated

Juicy Bits

Light Blue Grey - Hetty

Anna Maria Horner

Sharon Rotem

אילאיל - עיצובים בצבעים

luvinthemommyhood

Made by Mamasha

DYI Maternity

Sew Dang Cute Crafts

Aesthetic Nest

Clever Nesting

The Sewing Dork

My longest year

Whipstitch - Modern Sewing

26.2.11 Gvaot Hakurkar

2011-02-26T13:44:00.010+02:00

Orchis papilionacea (caspia) סחלב פרפרני

Iris atropurpurea אירוס הארגמן

It has now became a familial tradition of Omer and myself to visit this wonderful wild park in Ness-Ziona boarder, one of the very few wild places remained now in our country in the habitat areas. We are now in the short period of the year when these wonderful irises are blooming (26.2.11, 27.3.09, 29.2.08, 24.2.06, 27.2.06).

22.2.11 Shopping fabrics in Nahalat Binyamin, Tel-Aviv

2011-02-22T13:47:00.010+02:00

Having in mind to sew some crib sheets for poupik, I went shopping in Tel-Aviv, in "the quarter of the fabrics shops". It was a great adventure and I came back with all these treasures above.

I have collected below quoted recommendations from the net, in Hebrew, on several shops there:

:להלן ציטוטים מהרשת על המלצות לחנויות בדים בנחלת בנימין

החנות של דנדו, נחלת בנימין 14 הביאה פיקה משובח ביותר בצבעי קיץ/גלידה מקסימים.. במחירים סבירים
החנות של ברוך, נחלת בנימין 15, ה-3 מימין - נמצא שם מילוי שטוח
קטיפה כחולה, בנחלת בנימין 19 - יש בה גם בדי כותנה דקים מאוד, גם רגילים, וגם סוגים שונים של בדים רקומים, בדי טלאים, צוות נחמד. (בדים ילדותיים חמודים)
חלום, מול החניון, נחלת בנימין 31 - יש שם דברים מקסימים, וגם החנות בהירה ויפה, אבל... נראה לי שיש להם נטיית יוקר קלה (מחיר הרוכסנים למשל היה פי שניים ממה שאצל יוסי). לא עמדתי בפני שני הפליסים
טכסטיל עזורי, ליד מרקו קאירי הגדול לכוון אלנבי - נחלת בנימין 35 - בדי קנווס עם הדפסים משגעים קייצים - פרחים (שושנים) פסים שונים. וגם בדי כותנה לילדים ועוד. בדים ילדותיים חמודים.
בדים למעצבים/ Designers ביציאה מהנחלה למוהליבר 49 נחלת בנימין - החנות מאוד "סטייליסטית" אבל הבדים אכן יפים. 28 ש"ח למטר, אבל יש יוצאים מן הכלל כמו החלקים (20 ש"ח), והשאריות (10-15 ש"ח) - שנמצאות מעל המדף שליד הקופה ובשקים מאחור. (בדים ילדותיים חמודים). בדים למעצבים זו חנות שקל מאוד למצוא אותה. אם את הולכת מכיוון אלנבי אל תוך רחוב נחלת בנימין ( כלומר לכיוון דרום), את מגיעה למעין צומת משולשת.. בפינה יש בית קפה "פעמיים קפה", פינת רחוב הרמב"ם, לידו בדים למעצבים וכדי שלגמרי לא תתבלבלי - בדים למעצבים היא ממש ליד חנות הפרוות הידועה , שעכשיו מוצאים שם החוצה המון פרוות לקראת פורים.. המחירים מהגבוהים בנחלה - 28 שח למטר. יש בדים מדהימים, אבל דקים .. אז את צריכה לראות אם זה מתאים למטרה שלך..
קשי בנחלת בנימין 5 פינת גרוזנברג - וגם החנות שממול - בדים פרחוניים יפים ואיכותיים מכותנה
סידקית יוסי, השומר 4
ברחוב השומר 10, בפינת נחלת בנימין - בירכתי החנות ערמה מסודרת של בדי כותנה שמתאימים למצעים בדוגמאות עליזות ועדינות, במחיר של 25 ש"ח למטר.

5-10.2.11 Ehud Booties

2011-02-10T00:27:00.013+02:00

These booties were knitted based on the “Page 81 Booties” instructions by Susan B. Anderson in her book “Itty-Bitty Hats”, embellished with crocheted Plain Pansy Flowers, designed by Suzann Thompson and published in her book “Crochet Bouquet” on pp. 63-64.

I used for the booties a doubled thread of Teddy’s wool yarn, long tail cast on of 19 sts for the 3-6 month size and 2 squares for each booty as for Rom booties, but this time, one pair in light blue and the other pair in Capri Blue. The flowers were crocheted with a 2mm size hook size and cotton thread (50gr/125m).

While knitting this project, I was really nervous. I started with 21 COs which turned out to be too much and had to start all over again with only 19 COs. The final result, after the sewing part (grrrr....) and thread hiding (too many of them!) before adding the flowers, came out a bit distorted and uneven, even if I did my best to have exactly 4 identical squares. Though the knitting is simple and the shape is cute, I wasn’t happy with the time spent via the “unperfect” result due to the sewing part (which I really tried to do the best I could :-().

24.1-5.2.11 Chipopo Monkey - based on Chimu Hamada's Monkey & Betsi Brunson's Banana

2011-02-05T00:19:00.009+02:00

Daffi's brother had 3 monkey dolls. One day, when he grew up and had to leave the country, he gave to Daffi one of them to take care of. Daffi keeps the monkey in her car and one day when she picked me up I saw this adorable monkey. I also wanted a monkey for poupik, so I started burrowing Ravelry and above is the result of the very fun project it became. Omer just loves Chipopo!

I added the banana, based on the free instructions of the ”Amigurumi Monkey with Banana”.

The V shape on the front head was done by 11sc on the first brown round of the Monkey head and then decreasing to 9st, 7st, 5st, 3st, 3st, 2st and 1st. The decreases where done in the beginning and end of the rows (2sc dec). It came out a kind of hanging triangle that I attached through the last sc st, by sl-st and then sl-st the 2 triangle edges that were lying on the face.

The legs, the arms and the tail were all stuffed during the work and some parts also contain some French Franc coins :-)

In the legs part, at Round2, I replaced the 3rd st with a 4 trebble bobble st.

In order to make symmetric legs, when I made the Right leg, I crocheted Round 5 as follow: 10sc, (2sc dec)x4 and Round 6: 6sc, (2sc dec)X4.

Got inspired by the beautiful monkey done by Kala’s Valentine’s Monkey.

Real cool project!

17-28.1.11 Baby Feeties by Anne Sahakian

2011-01-28T23:56:00.010+02:00

I tried last year the Baby Feeties instructions, designed by Anne Sahakian, but failed to understand them. I decided this time to try them again because they seem so cute. After several trials and errors, using 3.75mm & 4mm dpn needles, it took me 2 days to understand how to knit these booties properly.

I put for your convenience a tuto available here, with pictures I have taken during the process, to better visualize and accompany Anne's instructions.

28-30.12.10 Little Button Loafers by Sylvia Schuchardt

2010-12-30T23:51:00.006+02:00

Aren't they so cute?

I hope they won't be too small for poupik when he decides to come out.

I used a hook of 3.5 mm size.

When stitching the soles together, I used a hook of 4.5 mm and loose stitches in order to ease the beginning row of the shoe body. An important lesson I had, is that the work of the body is done CLOCKWISE, a critical information that I mistakenly ignored on my first 2 trials and I couldn't understand why the 2 booties where coming out so distorted??! I used a double cotton yarn to reach the proper gauge. For the strap, I added a one thread round with 2 mm hook of sl-st in the circumference, as I've seen several did in the finished Ravelry projects gallery.

For additional helpful information, check this link. One more lesson to take for the next booties is that I may need to try what roofth had said with regard to the shoe body , starting probably at the 5th or 6th stitch from the right instead of the 4th, in order to get the DCtog better aligned at the center of the booty for size number #1.

Finally, I find the result just adorable. Great design!

21.12.10 Deco Lotus Earrings for Maya

2010-12-21T17:01:00.003+02:00

Another pair of this gorgeous design (1, 2) by Gwen Fisher.

19-21.12.10 A single Maiko Kage Flower Earring

2010-12-21T11:59:00.007+02:00

For the moment there is only one single Flower earring. Let's see when I will finish the pair...

I used the version I beaded here. As can be seen in the earring at the left below.

20.12.11 Totally Twisted Triangles by June Huber

2010-12-20T12:00:00.003+02:00

Based on the picture from the Bead and Button show, I tried to reproduce June Huber "Totally Twisted Triangles" earrings and this is the result. Not totally sure they are the same, because I don't know how they look beneath.

10.9 - 30.11.10 Ming the Grumpy Old Bear - designed by Susan B. Anderson

2010-11-30T23:38:00.010+02:00

My mom kept with her from Algeria, a very old teddy bear she got in her childhood, that she used to call "Ming". The bear is about 60 years old now.

When I saw the cute grumpy old bear designed by Susan B. Anderson in her book "Itty-Bitty Nursery" pp.18-20, it very much reminded me of Ming.

For my little poupik growing inside, I decided to knit him this tiny bear. It came out about a third of the original Ming size. I need to take a picture of both of them together one day.

I used 3mm size needles and hook for the knitting and assembling, while I finally managed to sew all parts when coming back from Lyon, after having this project on hold for months, because I just hate the sewing part.

More information, can be found here.

The legs came out distorted, but I am too lazy to unpick them now. What I like in this bear is its face expression.

5.9.11

As promised, during this weekend, I finally pictured the source of inspiration for Ming Senior and Ming Junior.

20.8.11 Eshchar having some fun with Ming Junior. First hug to the teddy bear.

23.11.10 31st Surprise Birthday in Neve Shalom Forest

2010-11-23T17:13:00.002+02:00

That is how my dear husband surprised me for my 31st birthday.

The "baladi" eggplant and giant tomatoes on the grill where just delicious!

By the way, this was the first time I finally wore Huib's autumn glory necklace that I beaded a while ago.

20.11.10 Yaar Bnei Brit, Harei Yeuda

2010-11-20T13:30:00.004+02:00

Doesn't this trunk look like tasty golden toffee sweet?

This is a gall on a sage bush. I see an elegant queen.

and this is what we saw when we cut it.

24.6-17.10.10 Charlstone Beaded Amulet Bag for Miranda

2010-10-17T11:42:00.011+02:00

To make a long story short:

I wanted to thank my cousin for all she does for me and for offering me a beading book she had and wouldn't use, in ITALIAN!!! Such a perfect combination :-)

I Received the Mini Bag di Perline book by Patrizia Nave Cerutti on June 2010.

Nevermind that I was very disappointed from the book, to my opinion the projects are very poorly explained and the work isn't neat. Nevertheless, I asked Miranda to choose some project she liked from there and ended up beading her the Charlstone Beaded Amulet Bag.

I made some changes and added a Russian Rosette Flower, based on this free tutorial.

Added some Herringbone donuts and used the following twisted Ndebele spiral. You can also have a look at a similar embellished one, here.

I sent the bag to Italy, but it came back to Israel after a while because of customs issues. Miranda finally got it on the 14th of January 2011 and seemed to be very happy.

13.10.10 Sternenspitze/ Starlace Bracelet designed by try to be better (Sabine Lippert)

2010-10-13T00:55:00.005+02:00

Thank you Sabine for sharing for free this beautiful design of yours!

I intended to do the wider version but got lazy so remained with the narrower version which became asymmetrical (pearls on one side and 4mm Swarovsky bicones on the other).

24-25.9.10 Weekend in Revivim

2010-09-29T16:17:00.013+02:00

Edna, Omer's aunt, kindly invited us for what became a wonderful and unforgettable weekend in the Kibbutz where she lives and know so well.

We had a warm reception in her modest apartment, full of books and interesting objects from distant places where she traveled to around the world.

We kept on to the shared dining room of the Kibbutz, for Friday evening supper. From there, we had a visit to the local dairy followed by a private guided tour in different parts of the Kibbutz.

Early morning on Saturday, Edna took us to the olive nursery where she is working during weekdays. It was incredible to discover how many different occupations she was involved in during her stay in the kibbutz. It makes her life so various and interesting! This is really to admire when you see such knowledgeable people. For example, you can show her any plant you wish to and she will know to tell you what it is and how it is called.

From the nursery, we then arrived to some olive orchards where the lilies (חבצלות) were blooming.

Omer caught me chasing after a small praying mantis :-)

There are a variety of Ficus planted near the nursery and we could see also some abandoned greenhouses of the kibbutz that primarily served for lilies (שושנים) hydroponics.

The breakfast menu was: fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, Zaatar herb, excellent local olive oil, omelette with onions and Yami local "Hana Cheese" with olives and chives or with nigella seeds!

There are several parcs in the Kibbuts. One is the fruit trees parc with a small lilies hill. The other, is the parc of the intersecting trees (גן העצים המשתלבים) of Aharon Nave. The following pictures are only a small sample of this interesting art.

After fascinating talks about some of Edna's trips around the worls, we saw some pictures she took there. I was especially amazed of the Bolivian Uyuni white desert and the nice photo montage you can play with there.

Finally, at sunset, Edna took us to the Cactus and succulent parc to see a vast array of nature wonder with the artistic intervention of a member of the kibbutz, which I forgot the name.

We had to come back home, but I really wish to go back again to Revivim and see in more depth this cactus parc and the whole kibbutz.

In such a small place, it is amazing how many things there are to see and enjoy, no wonder Edna is so much connected to this place.

17.9.10 Experimenting with 5 based braided Challah

2010-09-17T13:32:00.007+02:00

There is a great demonstration of braiding different braided Challah (3-4-5-6) by a Dutch baker.

If you like baking, I really recommend you to check this video.

I encountered it on Maryline Ayalon amazing and inspiring blog, Ma Blogeria. She also prepares extraordinary and very creative Challah.

4.9.10 Starbust hotpad by Loretta Schepp

2010-09-04T18:30:00.004+03:00

Many thanks to Loretta Schepp for sharing this beautiful crochet pattern for free. Click here for additional variations on Ravelry.

4.9.10 Columbines Brooches for Liliane and Claire

2010-09-04T18:28:00.003+03:00

2 more "crochet bouquet" columbine flowers (1st, 2nd, 3rd)...

11.8.10 Marcelle Hadar's Peyote Pendant

2010-08-11T00:52:00.004+03:00

I once saw Marcelle Hadar wearing a beautiful peyote pendant with fitting triangle earrings. I added the pendant into my to-do list and managed to finally bead it, using odd peyote stitch. The final result reminds me of an honor army medal or some African pattern. Not so fond of this strange combo...

7.8.10 Pomegranate Flame Tree Earrings

2010-08-07T22:32:00.007+03:00

Following the visit of Milda recently, I was motivated to finish the 2nd earring of these small pomegranates, based on the Flame tree earrings design.

22.3-13.4.10, 6.8.10 Sunflower Brooch for Neora and Sunshine award from Andrea

2010-08-06T14:12:00.025+03:00

Finally, I finished Nicky Epstein's Sunflower from the "Crocheted Flowers" Book, pp.17-19.
Here it is next to the sunflower from the "crochet bouquet" book:

I took this opportunity to publish a prize I have kindly received from Andrea's Bead Fancywork and ashamed it took me so many months to react to (Sorry Andrea :-( ).
So first, thank you so much Andrea for thinking about me and bringing me this award!
and now it's my turn to pass it on...

19 Feb 2010

The prize is the Sunshine award and here are the rules for accepting it:

put the logo on your blog or within your post
pass the award onto six bloggers
link the nominees within your post
let the nominees know, they have received this award by commenting on their blog
share the love and link to the person, from whom you received this award

One of the reason it took me so long to react to this award is that I have a giant mess with links of blogs that I didn't find the time to update in my blog list.
Unfortunately, I still haven't find the time for it, so as to be able to visit them all again and see who are my actual favorites.
Therefore, in order to react to this award when I am still alive, I will add some blogs that pop in my mind which I encountered recently. These are beautiful and inspiring blogs, while I do not forget there are many other favorites blogs/sites and artists that I love.

Ta da... so in this round, the six fortunate bloggers that I do not expect to necessary forward this ward if it become a neck-pain
are...

"Vezsuzsi Gyongyei" - Zsuzsi V. - for her endless creativity, originality, productivity, young mind, color choice, beads choice and for her various crafts & arts talent.
"Les perles de Phylomene"/"Bravigou" - for her royal, original, inspiring, out of the box stunning beaded creations and poetry talent.
"Le Gioie di Happyland" - Claudia, for being a gorgeous person, a generous talented artist, beading original, creative, neat, impressing, luxurious and cute designs - productively!
"Perlenfieber "- you are dismissed from forwarding the award ;-), I know you hate this. For her originality, charming fruits and floral designs, such as the pumpkins, the squash and lilacs necklace.
"Creations Laure"- for her beautiful and impressing designs, majestic color choice and generosity.
"Flymouche" - for her beautiful, happy, colorful and original designs and creations.
"Katyperles"- for her beautiful, colorful and original creations with her special twist.
"Krisz design"- for her beautiful color palette that renders each jewel stunning even when simple.

Congratulations all!

26.7.10 Bronze Sunshield Earrings for Yochi

2010-07-26T20:43:00.008+03:00

One of the earrings I wear a lot are the purple sunshield earrings that also my dear friend Yochi likes very much.

Since I knew I was going to meet her in Tel-aviv's seashore, I made her for her birthday a pair in Bronze to fit her special honey eyes. This time as well, I managed to bead it just the evening before seeing her, so I am really happy to have made it on time and to appreciate how well it fits her.

22.7.10 Bezalel Exposition

2010-07-22T13:48:00.017+03:00

One of the cool things we did together Einat and myself during this hell hot summer, was to go visit the Bezalel (Jerusalem art school) Exposition for the year's end.

I was especially touched and amused from a 3D story made with cardboard and wire by an artist called Itai ron Gilboa. It tells about a love story between the bull "Mazal-tov" and the bird "Isabella". Below are some pictures that can poorly reflect how cute and charming this display was.

Another interesting display, this time by Orly Montag "Made of China", was a whole wall filled with white small dolls in small plaster frames. Many of them were the same, but some distinguished from the others and had a strong expression, such as the following one:

and what are the elements in the following picture made of?

Yep! Citrus fruit peels objects designed and produced by Ori Zonenshtein.

Last, I couldn't find the artist name, but an impressive room were filled with tones of small penguins, I think from plasticine, each and each different! (it's ashame the picture I took cannot transmit properly this beauty, but I put it here just to give you a small taste).

21.7.10 Triangle pendant for Einat - designed by Veres Zsuzsi

2010-07-21T12:53:00.008+03:00

About two years ago, I reproduced Veres Zsuzsi' s Triangle which remained so long orphan in my beaded elements box.
My friend Einat once saw it and really loved it. That was a good solution to salvage this triangle, so I told myself I would one day offer it to her with an accompanying necklace.
The opportunity to see her arrived and I managed to bead the night just before our meeting a suiting necklace, also from Veres Zsuzsi' s original designs. I will repeat myself again, by I have to say I really deeply admire this woman and her incredible talent/creativity. I wonder how does she (and few other beaders that can be counted on one hand fingers) manages to be so creative, to bead as much as she does, to raise up children, preparing them stunning birthday cakes and probably much more, learning constantly new crafts and arts and also work. HOW??? It remains a giant mystery to me. I just wish I had this strength to bead more, to further express my creativity and well exploit my time.

30.5-11.7.10 Lotuses of the Nile Necklace designed by Melanie Potter

2010-07-11T10:39:00.015+03:00

6-11.7.10
30.5-1.6.10, 19.6

Motivated by a friend, I also decided to challenge myself and try to bead Melanie Potter's Lotus flower, following her beautiful chevron stitch "wildflowers earrings" design, published in the Beadwork Magazine of April/May 2010 (pp.36-38).
The picture published in "beadweaving masters" (p.186) was my main guide, having in my mind to stick to the chevron stitch, along with "Riverlea beads" post.
After several trials and errors, when I was almost finished with what I thought was similar to the "Lotuses of the Nile", I discovered 2 wrong interpretations of mine with seed beads size and the fact that the lotus is dimensional and not flat. When I started all over again, I managed to accomplish something quiet similar.
I loved the balanced design, the color palettes and the integration of both.
I truly thank Melanie for the source of inspiration which also lead me to reproduce this necklace.

7.7.10 Dramatic Looped Band Bracelet designed by Connie Blachut

2010-07-07T12:01:00.008+03:00

One rare night on which I couldn't fall asleep, I started the base for this beautiful "Dramatic Looped Band Bracelet" designed by Connie Blachut (B&B - Creative beading Volume 3, pp. 111-113). It didn't took so long and it was a fun as well as easy project. Although the color combination is strange, it fits quiet well to my shirt.

27.10.10
We came back from a very nice evening, after watching a show of the dancing group Meyoumana, called Momentum. Unfortunately, I lost the bracelet somewhere when back fto the car :-(
It's the first time I loose something I have beaded. Ouff... The magnetic clasp was apparently not strong enough to bear all this weight. Next time I have to use simpler metal clasps that can be reliable. :-(

3.7.10 Victorian Diamonds Cuff Bracelet designed by Lisa Kan

2010-07-03T11:44:00.010+03:00

I made this "Victorian Diamonds Cuff Bracelet " designed by by Lisa Kan (Bead Romantique, pp.116-123), following Isabella Lam's (Bead4me) bracelet (image 39/48) on her shop gallery of חוט השני . Thank you Orly for the indication!

The Clasp and Toggle are based on Herringbone and I really like them.

2.7.10 Tarte aux Pommes

2010-07-02T10:58:00.007+03:00

and here is the link to the recipe

22.6.10 Scottish Thistle Spiral inspired by "Charming Things"

2010-06-22T11:20:00.012+03:00

This too was one of my unfinished projects that I didn't gave up on on one hand, but couldn't finish on the other. Nevertheless, I managed to accomplish it after 2 years!
On one of my beadwork net exploration, I encountered the amazing Flickr of Natalia, nicknamed as Charming Things. She has this gorgeous "My Sweetheard Necklace and Earrings" (1,2,3) that I really felt a urge to reproduce.
I knew the flower was similar to Diane Fitzgerald's Scottish Thistle (in her book "The Beaded Garden", pp.47-49) and thus made a bigger flower and a small flower bud.
For the spiral, I didn't make a RAW, but experienced with the Primary Twist Spiral By Beth Stone, from B&B August 2005, pp.82-83. There exists a free version called "La résille tubulaire", written down by Océanie Créations, here.
As for the clasp, this is a secret.

1.6.08 - 19.6.10 Lisa Scelsi Amphorae and Bead Infinitum double daisy chain

2010-06-19T11:16:00.008+03:00

I once saw the Little Urn Necklace of Lisa Scelsi, with Bead Infinitum "Double Daisy Chain" and really wanted to have such an amphora of mine.
I beaded the Amphora almost exactly 2 years ago, mainly with 15/0 seed beads, based on the pictures (1,2) from Lisa's website (Liliad Bijoux) and partly based on Mimi LG's round beaded bead tutorial (used to be free on Mimi's blog, but unfortunately no longer available on the net).
At that time I also started the daisy chain which is a free pattern of Bead Infinitum (p.1,2, 3, 4) . However, I just got stuck with this chain and tried several times to come back to finish this project without success. Recently, I was in a mood of finishing old projects and unbelievably managed to finish this chain. Not that I am satisfied with the combination of the amphorae and the chain (I find it too much of the same color and the amphorae doesn't receive the right attention), but for the moment, there is a BIG progress.

6-10.6.10 Brussels & Bruges

2010-06-10T10:44:00.015+03:00

As mom told me, indeed the Brussels' "Manneken Pis" is very small and disappointing:
The big chocolate one is much more impressing...
This time I was especially interested in the famous Bruges' Lace, or "La dentelle de Bruge". The following picture was from a shop in Brussels:

After several working days in Brussels, I was lucky to be able to take a half day off in Bruges to better explore "La dentelle de Bruges".
Bruges is AMAZING!!! I really want to come back with Omer. It is a beautiful beautiful city with plenty of nice places and elegant shops.

and the Belgian chocolate, how can we resist it?
The "market square" at downfall:

the small bridges:

The calm and beautiful Beguinage:
some lace work demonstration from the Beguinage tiny museum:

I also visited the Lace centre/kantcentrum (at Peperstraat 3 St, near the "Eglise de Jerusalem") and must admit it was very disappointing. The lace creations are very poorly exposed and this is ashame. I also expected to see live demonstration and discovered it was only in very specific timings.
Finally, I did some craft shopping at the beautiful scharlaeken store, near the market square. They hold such amazing threads colors and variety, that I have never seen as such till now.

9.6.10 Pinwheel Earrings for Milda

2010-06-09T10:45:00.008+03:00

When we were in Sion and Milda saw my turquoise pinwheel earrings, she really liked them.
I proposed to make her a pair and she knew exactly the colors she wanted these earrings to be!
That was great fun, because she did half work for me :-)
Milda imagined the exact order and colors of the earrings as follow: coral, chocolate brown, coffee cream and black.
I had to try this strange color combination that I would never thought of.
I started one earring immediately after I came back to Israel and then it took some time to move to the next one. When I got to Brussels, I knew I would meet her, so I took the opportunity to keep the second earring in the hotel there (from which the first 2 pictures were taken).
Milda went back to her home country one day before I had the chance to finish the pair.
So the earrings waited for her in Israel till she came to visit.
I must say I never saw someone as happy and excited as she was when she saw the earrings.
Honestly, this combination came out to be superb (instead of the coffee cream that I didn't have in seed beads, I used a half transparent peach color) and amazing on her! I was very happy too.

For the convenience, I put below the links to the previous pinwheel earrings I made:
1, 2, 3 (based on a June Huber's Peyote Pinwheel Earrings motive).

28.9.1913-11.5.2010 A loss of a very dear person

2010-05-27T18:17:00.000+03:00

Before I start, I want to thank Omer for his patience and proofreading of this long story I would like to share with you about my grandma. This is the reason why I haven’t blogged for so long. I promised myself not to publish anything in the blog, till I finish to write some words about grandma. It took me much longer then I thought (4 months!), but that is the least I could do for remembering her better.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to offer to my very dear grandma the Field Poppy Brooch I knitted for her a few months ago, when still alive.
My grandma was one of the most unique persons I had ever known. She has greatly influenced the person I have become. Though she was already no longer with us, I insisted to accompany her back to earth. She was buried at the Parisian cemetery of Bagneux, Avenue des pommiers en fleurs (Avenue of the flowering apple trees!). I wanted this poppy to be with her wherever she goes, so I posed it on her coffin.
I have so many things to tell about her. It's hard to reflect it through text, but I’ll still try to transmit something about her for sharing her memory. My grandma wished us, her grandchildren, to call her in her nick name Ginette (derived from Genevieve) and not “grandma”. I think she felt that it keeps her young forever.

Ginette’s father was a military physician, who liked outdoor activities as horseback riding and ski, named Dr. Robert Bloch.

Ginette’s father, Dr. Robert Bloch

Dr. Robert Bloch

In 1913, Robert was recruited as a physician in the unit of the Alpine hunters (Chasseurs Alpins which are the elite mountain infantry of the French Army). At the age of 32, he met in Bayonne the young 18 years old girl – Adrienne. Unfortunately, I don’t know the circumstances of their 1^st meeting, but all I have heard is that they married in Bayonne soon after. My mom has all the letters they use to send each other as Fiancées, but I need to catch her to hear from her their stories.
Adrienne Reine Noemie, Ginette's mother, was the daughter of Jane Alvarez-Pereyre (renamed as Marenne Rosenthal) and Dr. Maurice Rosenthal (Mordko). She learnt at the "Notre-Dame du Rosaire" school with the nuns. Since she was Jewish, the nuns were respecting this and released the Jewish girls from the Christian Catholicism lessons.
Adrienne loved music and had the chance to teach my mother music basics. At the end of mom's music notebook, Adrienne wrote down some liturgical songs she knew from her mother, Jane Alvarez-Pereyre. These Jewish songs came from the Jewish Anusim in Portugal (that were forced to abandon the Judaism). The Alvarez-Pereyre were also Portuguese Anusim who traveled to England and from there arrived in the middle of the 18th century to south of France, to Bayonne and Bordeaux cities.
Adrienne was very strong in humanities. She knew lots of phrases and all of the "Fables de la Fontaine" by heart. She also loved to play the Bridge card game as did later her daughter Ginette.

Adrienne Bloch

Adrienne Bloch,1941

Ginette's maternal grandfather, Dr. Maurice Rosenthal
Dr. Maurice Rosenthal

Back to 1913, since Robert was away, Adrienne came back from Grenoble to Bayonne. She gave birth to Ginette in one of her father’s apartments on the 1^st floor and thus grandma was born on the 28^th of September 1913 in the quarter of St Esprit in the city of Bayonne (France). During World War I, Adrienne lived in Bayonne with her father, Dr. Maurice Rosenthal
Ginette was the first child out of three, fully named as Genevieve Caroline Judith Bloch.
66 years later, I was named after her as Judith. If you wonder about this name origin, then Judith is an ancient Jewish heroine that killed Holofernes, allowing Israel to counter-attack the Assyrians around 650 BCE.

Ginette with her brother Francis (~1919)

Ginette with her brothers, Michel-Gabriel from the left and Francis from the right

Grandma had 2 other younger brothers: Francis and Michel-Gabriel ("Michel mon frere"). Francis was also born in Bayonne, on the 24^th of November 1916, at the Boulevard Alsace-Lorraine, upstairs of a coffee shop. He was hospitalized on the same day on which Ginette was and passed away in July 2010, 2 months after grandma. Michel-Gabriel, born in 1919, passed away much earlier, already in 1961, at the age of 42. He is apparently buried in Marseille.
Francis was the beloved son of his mother Adrienne. Both Ginette and her brother Michel-Gabriel suffered from their discriminating mother. According to the family stories, Michel-Gabriel was the shame of his mother as compared to her other son Francis, the “successful one”. Therefore, Michel-Gabriel was sent to Marseille to be “hidden” with the priests, to take care of their garden (although he was Jewish…). Mom says he was a simple, very sweet and gentle person, always doing favors to others and loved to help. Michel-Gabriel was a quiet submissive person. One day when Ginette was a child, she was riding with her father on a bicycle to her summer camp. Crossing on their way, they noticed Michel-Gabriel poorly sitting in some corner. Robert came to him and checked what had happened to discover that he had broken his arm and wouldn’t dare complaining.
During the 2nd World War, Michel-Gabriel lived in a balcony of Boulevard Baudin in Alger. Family tells he had difficulties finding a stable job. One day, Ginette’s four kids joined Francis in a hotel in Geneve for holidays. Adrienne asked that Michel-Gabriel will not join, ashame of his appearance. I think that only to piss her off, they took him too along with them. He finally died from a breakage of the “rocher” (a part of the skull where there is a hollow for the ear structure), hyperthyroïdy, hypercholestérolémy and then a heart attack. According to Pierrette, my aunt, he was apparently hit where he worked and subsequently died from a heart attack. Pierrette says that he was often finding himself fighting someone. Adrienne (Granni) lived in Nice at the same time and didn’t tell the family about the death of her son Michel-Gabriel.

At the age of 10, in 1923, Grandma took primary school in Nancy. On the same year her father, Dr. Robert Bloch, was posted by the army in the city of Taza (“bled” haut – bas, Morocco) and along came the family. Thanks to her talent, she jumped there one grade. After a while, the family moved to the big city of Casablanca.
Following the death of the maternal grandmother, Jane Rosenthal, in 1923, the family came back to Nancy and stayed there for several months.
They then moved to Dijon. Ginette shared her father with her doubts as for passing her exams “Je ne suis pas sure de l'avoir”. Then her father exclaimed: “There are no 2 options, but passing only!” “Quand on passe un examen on doit l’avoir! C’est comme ca!”
Grandma attended high school in Dijon (1924-1930) and successfully completed 2 matriculation exams in Mathematics-Physics and Philosophy, while playing on the cello in her free time.

Ginette at Dijon high-school (Lycee de Jeunes Filles, 1928-1930)

Ginette in Arcachon, 1929

Ginette, student in Strasbourg, 27 February 1933

Ginette with her cello and her musician friends

By that time, her father has been reposted in Colmar.

After high school graduation, Ginette moved to Strasbourg and attended a 2 year degree of General Chemistry (Mineral and Organic, 1930-1931), then another 2 year degree of General Physics (1932-1933) and one more year of General Botanics (Science instruction, 1934). In Botanics, she took a course with Prof. Maresquelle H.J, an expert on crown galls. This course will serve her a year later to pass an important exam.
One day in the late nineties, grandma took me to one of the pine forests in south-western France. There, I have noticed a series of extremely beautiful and interesting galls on an Oak tree. They were all in different sizes. It was similar to the shape of the Pyrenean Oak "Apple" Galls
I didn’t know what it was and grandma explained to me that these special plant tumours house some parasitic insects, such as wasps. Those insects develop inside the gall (which they have induced) and then drill a hole to emerge. I was fascinated! Still unclear exactly why, this observation has left a great impact on me. This was very exciting since I felt as if I discovered something new!
That day made me think that if I will not become an AstroPhysicist, then I will become a Plant science Researcher, an expert in galls. If still not as such, than an archaeologist or bible researcher. Eventually, I tried the Physics and it wasn’t for me. So I have studied Plant sciences in the Hebrew University and the Weizmann institute. The studies were fascinating, but lab work was not for me. Though the bible research and archaeology are very interesting, I don’t think I’ll turn to them in the future for higher studies, but who knows...

The oak apple gall from the ninetees in South France

A close-up showing the oak apple gall with the hole drilled by the wasp (at the right)

A close-up on the apple gall-inducing wasp

While in Colmar, Dr. Robert Bloch caught a kidney disease from one of his soldier patients and died from a complication (Scarlet fever + Glomerulonephritis). He was buried in Bordeaux (France) where at the same time grandma’s maternal grandparents lived. In the Colmar Army hospital (Hôpital Louis Pasteur?) you can find a sign in honor of my great grand-father, Dr. Robert Bloch.
As previously mentioned, Ginette’s maternal grandparents were Marenne Rosenthal (previously named Jane Alvarez-Pereyre) and her husband Dr. Maurice Rosenthal, also nicknamed as “papapa” or Mordko. Dr.Maurice Rosenthal was born in 1863 in the Russian Attaki city of the Soroki district, now in Ukraine, near Kiev. He was buried during World War II by his Jewish son Sasha (also a physician), Adrienne’s brother, in the Christian church of DonneMarie (France), although being a pure atheist.

DonneMarie Church (France), picture taken by Tcherome at fr.wikipedia

Albeit the crisis following the loss of her father, grandma continued the second year of Botanics, this time in Bordeaux (1934), where she also studied Zoology (1935). Then one more year of Geology (1936), a field which have become of high interest to her years on, also in her last years. I was fortunate to get the last book that she was still turning the papers of. The book is about geology, fossils and mineralogy.
Besides studying, Ginette liked to play the Tennis. When later she found herself married in Setif, she liked to play the Tennis with a gym teacher (Mr. Alain?) that used to say "avec la tete de Mme levy et les jambes de Mme Guibert, ce serait formidable" or in English “with the head of Mrs Levy and the legs of Mrs Guibert, it would have been perfect”.

Ginette playing Tennis, 1st at the right

Ginette playing Tennis, (Setif?)

Jane Alvarez-Pereire, Ginette’s grandma, or my great great grandmother, was born to Judith Fonseque and Alexandre-Daniel Capacite Alvarez-Pereyre. I remember Ginette telling about this nice grandma that bought her a bicycle when she was a child, which have made her so happy. Unfortunately, on the same day or so, the bicycle was lost or stolen. It reminds me of a similar story when grandma once bought me a magnificent Barbie Bride doll, when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I was so excited and happy about it! However, I lost it on the same day in a Metro station of Paris and you can imagine how disappointed I was.
Alexandre-Daniel Capacite Alvarez-Pereire, Ginette’s great grandfather, had 2 unmarried sisters called Ernestine and Arisi, as well as one brother called Georges. Georges, who was a merchant, assisted at work by his sisters, married a girl called Castro.
Arisi and Ernestine Alvarez-Pereyre (that Ginette cutely called Arsinie et Leantine) dispossessed their property to their brother’s (Daniel-Alexandre) grandchildren and Adrienne got a building in Bayonne.
While planning to apply to the aggregation (high-level competitive examination for the recruitment of teachers), Ginette’s mother, Adrienne, was contacted by “Auntie Julie” for a “shiduch” (matchmaking). “Tante Julie” looked for “good family Jewish girls” in Strasbourg (France) for “good family Jewish boys” in Algeria. However, Ginette was no longer in the school where Julie happened to visit, since she caught a condition from eating bad quality meat, such as lung or spleen. The condition was the “Gout (also known as podagra when it involves the big toe) usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. It is caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the blood which crystallize and are deposited in joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues” (Wikipedia).

Tante Julie

Auntie Julie with her husband and son David & Robert Cain

Adrienne notified grandma about the "Shiduch" through "Auntie Julie with the violets crown on her hat" with my grandfather Edgard Levy. Auntie Julie lived till about 100 years old and both Edgard as well as Ginette often used to help her. She left a very messy apartment with tones of papers.

Ginette’s husband, young Edgard in his twenties

Edgard, even younger, student in the Central school of engineers

Edgard in front of the bamboo bushes

Edgard, who passed away before my mom even got married, was an Engineer and inventor, an Ecole Centrale graduate. Among various other inventions, he invented a modern system for cleaning the harvested wheat directly from trucks in bags of 100kg. Mom, when living in Setif (Algeria), loved to haul these bags on her back...
Pierrette and mom used to go the farm during summer times. There was a lot of dust there, but they still loved it! They slept there and used a yard toilet with one hole, where they put lime to avoid the bad smell.

Mom sitting on wheat bags (1948/9?)

The young couple Ginette & Edgard as well as Edgard's niece Simone Becache (1936?)

Grandma and Grandpa liked each other, got Fiancée and married within 3 weeks. I have in souvenir, grandma’s amazing blue silk satin fiancée dress that also fits me. Nevertheless, it is not anymore wearable because of some rust spots on it.

Me wearing grandma’s fiancée dress from 1936

On the 28th of September 1936, exactly at the age of 23, grandma got married in her mother’s apartment in Bordeaux. Few days later, in October 1936, she moved with grandpa to Algeria, the French colony of North Africa, where they lived for 26 years. Ginette helped in the family farm business and raised their 4 children. She used to count the wheat bags in order to avoid their stealing. At that time, Algeria was a territory in dispute, because France apprehended this part of North Africa in 1830 and tried to embed land and population in its state. Nevertheless, beginning in the 1950s, some fanatic native Algerian Arabs (Fellagha) terrorized other Algerians and European settlers. Most of the family got evacuated by the French government back to France in 1962, just before Algeria got its independence. However, Edgar and Ginette stayed in Algeria for one more year after the independence and moved to France only in 1963! They left most of their belongings in Algeria. The reason Edgard stayed longer and even after the independence, was apparently since he felt responsible on the Jewish community and had a lot of paperwork to finish. When he wanted to take some pictures of the farm before leaving, the workers didn’t allow him.

Edgard’s mother and daughter, Blanche Levy and Jeanine, 1938

Ginette became a mother at the age of 24. Her first child was Jeanine, born on the 17th of July 1937 in Setif, while Ginette and Edgard were watching a movie at the cinema.
It wasn’t expected that the birth will be in Setif, since they lived at that time in the capital city of Alger, but grandma gave birth to Jeanine where Edgard’s father (Charles) used to live.
All the three others, Pierrette, Claude and Martine were born in Alger.
Pierrette was born on the 10th of November 1938.
Claude was born on the 5th of December 1939.
Martine Blanche (my mom) was born on the 8th of May 1946 at the clinique of “Victor Hugo” in Alger. Since that same day was the holiday of “l’ armistice” at the city of Alger, celebrating one year for the end of World War II, Edgard could barely visit Ginette because of all the mess. All the same, mom always enjoyed the free day she had on her birthday in the following years.

Martine, my mom

Martine

During 2nd World War, Algeria was governed by the Vichy French government (the Nazi collaborating part of France). At that time, my aunt Jeanine, as a kid, as well as my mother’s cousins Simone and Jean-Paul, were forbidden to attend school, since this was a Marshal Pétain (Maréchal Pétain) anti Jewish law also applied in Algeria. However, my mother's cousin Michel was allowed to attend school since his maternal grandfather was killed during the 1st World War and his mother got a "pupille de la nation".

Edgard’s family owned mills in Alger called “Les moulins de l’ Harrah” and a carob factory to produce powder for animal feeding (with about 50 employees). During World War II, the mills were confiscated from the family under Vichy’s law and where hired to the “Grand Moulins de Paris”.

“ Antisemitic legislation in Vichy, initiated by the French government, was inspired by that of Nazi Germany. A General Commission on Jewish Questions was created in 1941 under the leadership of Xavier Vallat to carry out and enforce the regime's anti-Jewish laws. The first anti-Jewish law (Jewish Statute) was passed on October 3, 1940. It defined Jews residing on the French mainland (known as the “metropole” or “metropolitan France”) and in Algeria by race, based on the religion of their grandparents. In Algeria as in metropolitan France, Jews were forbidden to exercise any public functions: they could no longer work for the government, teach except in Jewish schools, serve in or work for the military, or even be employed by businesses with public contracts. Moreover, Jews were not allowed to participate in political activities. There were a few exceptions, mainly for Jewish war veteran”. (Holocaust Encyclopedia)

Census of the Jews in Algeria in 1940, formal document of Grandma

Portrait picture of Ginette (Algeria, 1942)

The Antisemitic General Henri Honoré Giraud sent Edgard and his brothers back home, from serving the French army.
In 1943, Edgard and his brother Andre, members of the Free French army (lead by Charles de Gaulle), were sent to Tunisia, to fight against the Nazi occupation. Edgard was in the 2nd DB (Division Blindee) of the General Philippe Leclerc and Andre was in the Italian campagnia. Edgard was injured in the shoulder, during a truck accident and had to stay there, in Menzel Bouzelfa (Tunisia). Wounded with a crushed shoulder for several months, Edgard had a surgery and the doctors put him a prosthesis so he could function properly. Ginette took a train with her small son Claude and travelled about one month to visit Edgard.
The Jewish families in Mazel Bouzelfa warmly received my grandma and Claude. One of these families came one day to visit Ginette in Setif and had some unpleasant accident there.
Soon after Ginette arrived to visit her husband, the three came back to Algeria.
One day before Edgard came back to Setif, Pierrette who was at that time about 5 years old, fell on her forehead and opened it. All her surrounding prepared her not to jump on her father once she will see him back, to avoid hurting him.
From a combatant, Edgard became a combat logistic supporter (apparently an ammunition officer) and he attended the military workshop.
Pierrette recalls he used to build for them, his kids, a wooden Jip and other wood toys.

Lieutenant Edgard, 1941
(who later became "commandant de reserve")

They were living in Alger, on the 3rd floor of 8 Boulevard Baudin, one floor under Edgard’s parents’ apartment (Charles and Blanche Levy). The family used to communicate through the wooden stairs and they also had a special common box that Charles was opening when he wanted to play and talk with his nephews. Andre, Edgard’s brother, was also their neighbor and lived in 6 Boulevard Baudin.
The building where Ginette and Edgard lived had a tall front watching the harbor and the sea beyond. On the other side, the building merged with the hill.

A view from Andre's Balcony in Boulevard Baudin,on Alger Harbor (1950s)

Alger harbor, from a similar angle, painted by Simon Mondzain (1930s)

In 1946, Edgard replaced his father Charles in Alger, while Charles went to the farms in Setif. That happened after my mom was born.

When my mom was born in 1946, they moved to Setif, to 2 Rue du Gautier whereas the apartment in Alger remained for the summer holidays.

Ginette, Edgard and the kids Jeanine, Claude & Pierrette

In 1946, Ginette, Edgard and their 4 kids went to visit Adrienne in Bordeaux (France). During a family stroll, my mom was in the baby cart. Somehow, the baby cart slipped and Pierrette immediately ran to catch it. For some very unclear reason, maybe just hysteria, Adrienne stroke two slaps on poor Pierrette’s cheeks. Adrienne had clear preferences among her children and grandchildren, which didn’t make an easy life for the ones that were not her preferences, including Ginette. Since then, Pierrette used to call her grandma Adrienne "Folecoche" (an expression coming from the author Hervé Bazin in his book "Vipère au poing", who called his mother that he hated "folcoche" (folle + coche) or crazy sow).
By the way, Adrienne was a great crocheter and I have some of the napkins that she crocheted as well as some of the amazing tiny crocheted lace she used to make. She passed away in 1980 while Ginette was holding me in her hands.

At the age of 19 years old, Pierrette went to Paris with her father to attend the exam for engineering school. She was accepted to the Polytechnic Feminine school in 1958 and studied there. In the beginning, she lived with a mean woman that denounced her to the tax authorities for having a new radio receiver. Consequently, she decided to leave and Ginette & Edgard arranged her an apartment in Sceaux.
At the same time my mom was in Rouen, staying with her sister's Jeanine family.
In 1962, grandma and grandpa moved to Sceaux, a suburb of Paris, where hey lived there in a 3 room apartment at a building’s 4th floor.

A view from the 4th floor apartment in Sceaux (Pierrette at the right and Jeanine at the left) ~1958-~1962?

They brought with them the entire living-room from Algeria and later on, rented the apartment as a sublet to a Japanese couple. When the Japanese couple left, Ginette proposed mom to take the living-room. Mom said “why not?” :-) Dad could very much appreciate this living-room and it was even taken with us when we did our “Aliyah” to Israel. So actually, this living-room was produced in Strasbourg by family members of Edgard, brought to Algeria (just after the original house in Setif has completely burnt), then brought to Sceaux in France and ended up in Israel!

The living Room in Setif, Algeria

Talking about living-rooms, I remember grandma’s Silky Napoleon III reddish armchairs with golden bees as decoration. They were stolen from her, while some nasty people exploited her elderness, telling her they will fix the chairs... Anyway, when grandma had guests, I remember her living-room as a lively place, full of conversations and discussions.

Bad picture with a glance on the Napoleon III reddish armchairs

Edgard, born on 5th March 1905, died from a heart attack at the age of 60, on the 2nd of February 1966 when grandma was 53 years old.
In order to make a living, Ginette had to teach in the well considered high schools of “Marie Curie” and “Lakanal” , at the city of Sceaux. There, she taught for 5 years as a “vacataire” (a substitute teacher without the up-to-date diploma) and then also in smaller high schools. She was a great, very appreciated and respected teacher. Ginette very much enjoyed teaching and travelling with her pupils. It was always very important to her to visualize as much as possible the fields that she were teaching: life sciences and geology.
Mom, that was at that time a physician student, showed Ginette her Embryology books, after years that Ginette didn't touch Biology material. Ginette was very interested and decided to give as part of her Life Sciences course, some sexual reproduction introductory lessons, with anatomical schemes. When the principle heard about that, he was quiet cross on her. However, he soon realized how revolutionary where these lessons and important to the pupils.
Ginette encouraged several vocations and had a great impact on several of her students, such as Dr. Daniel Lellouch, currently a Physicist researcher in the Weizmann Institute (Rehovot, Israel).
As an example for one of her lessons: yeast behavior, Ginette once asked her pupils to bring to school yeast and flour. She taught them how to make the Jewish Braided Challah. The school cooker baked all the pupils Challah and they all came back home with this "Jewish Bread" happy and smiling :-)

My mom and her older brother and sister were born in Alger with Dr.Leon Shebat at the Clinique of Victor Hugo. When Edgard started to feel bad, he was moved to the same “clinique Shebat”, which by then moved to Paris. He was unfortunately misdiagnosed for a heart attack and within few days in the Clinique, he passed away.
Pierrette, who was very attached to her father, bought the vault/grave.
Mom was just beginning her studies of medicine at that time and she was living with Pierrette in the 12th square of Paris, Place d' Aligre – close to university.

Mom got married on the 16th of March 1972 in Paris town council and on the 19th of March in the synagogue.
After Edgard's death, there was a Voltmeter and Ampermeter factory that Edgard bought in France that Ginette had to take care of. She managed to upgrade it and sell it with the help of her brother in law, Andre.

Ginette & Edgard with their 1st nephiew, Bertrand (1962)

Ginette had 13 grandchildren (from Jeanine: Bertrand, Stephane, Tristan – from Pierrette: Alexandra, Maxime, Miranda – from Claude: Floriane, Berenice, Alexis– from Martine: Sabine, Severine, Judith, Noemie) and about 20 grand grandchildren.

Ginette portrait in her driving license of 1969 (56 years old)

Ginette loved driving and she drove till about the age of 84, I think, when she got an Herpes zoster in her eye. She was very attached to her driving license, strongly symbolizing her important independence.

Ginette loved Nature, Life Sciences, Botanics, trees and flowers, Geology, Palaeontology, Anthropology, travelling around the world, trying new food, reading, knitting and spending quality time with her grandchildren.
One of her travels was to China at the age of 75. She climbed the China wall, tried all kind of strange creatures served as food and got a beautiful rice cake for her 75th Birthday.
At the same summer, she also took part of a Setifian summer camp (for people that lived in Setif, Algeria). She did with her friends boat rowing and nothing could stop her :-)
Her friends there remained with a wide open mouth that she wasn't taking any medical drugs, as they all used to take. She almost didn't take any medical drugs till the age of 93!
Ginette had a good sense of humor and used to keep me often during summer times, when we had a great time together. I asked her several years ago what would she do if she had the opportunity of a new career and she answered she would love to be a professor of Anthropology or maybe Geology.

Itinerary of the cities where Ginette lived

Grandma was the kind of hard persons that you get very strongly attached to. She never complained about anything even when she didn't feel well. She has always been optimistic, trying to find the good out of the bad ("dans notre malheur on a de la chance"/ “in our bad luck we are lucky”) and was a very very strong person and personality. She loved life and left us at the age of 96 on 11th of May 2010, 3 days after mom’s 64th birthday.

Ginette took care of her mother Adrienne till her very last day, in her apartment in Sceaux. I remember she told me she used to take her out to the Versailles Palace and Adrienne was very happy with that.
Pierrette, living quiet close to grandma, took care of Ginette till her very last day as well. Grandma biggest fear was to be put in an elderly citizens' home, while her true wish was to die at home. I admire Pierrette for all what she has done for grandma! I am really happy that her will was respected, even if it was not always easy for her surrounding. She spent the last 2 days in a hospital, suffering from nasty pressure sores, treated under morphine to try to relief her a bit. She went away few hrs after mom arrived to separate from her, while she was already in coma. It was as if she was expecting mom to arrive. When mom saw her, she cried and immediately said “Shma Israel”, telling me grandma looked like a cute sleepy little bird.

I sent grandma a virtual present of some art piece I know she wanted to have:

This is Frank Meisler - Noah's Ark with Waves sculpture

(the picture comes from his website gallery)

Rest in peace grandma.

Nahal Mearot (North of Israel) 18.2.2005

Ginette opening her 90th birthday presents, 2003

Le jardins des plantes aux musee d'histoire naturelle, Paris

Masada, Israel (1987?)

Jardin botanique de Bayonne, Bayonne, July 2006

In one of Bayonne's garden, July 2006

At the age of 93, Ginette holding a fossil in Amoudei Amram (South of Israel) 6.3.2006

A close up of the fossil in Amoudei Amram (South of Israel) 6.3.2006

Ginette in one of her favorite suits, near the Hortensia flowers that she loved so much, Biarritz, July 2006

24.5-20.7.10 Two Herringbone Bracelets

2010-05-24T10:26:00.008+03:00

Thanks to Daffi's mom, I started teaching beadwork to a new student that was found to be in love with herringbone.
So we started with 2 herringbone bracelets.
The first one is based on the B&B edition book "Basic Beadwaving Herringbone Stitch" with the "basic bracelet" designed by Julia Gerlach, appearing on p.7. However, we used only 11/0 seed beads to simplify.
For the clasp and toggle, I made a stick and donut also based on Herringbone. Unfortunately, I don't know who should I give to the credit for the idea of the beautiful donut. The stick ends were a development of mine.
I was very satisfied to learn this simple trick of adding a bead to the end of the herringbone row that serves as the turn to the next row and also decorates nicely the bracelet.

Again, I don't know who to give the credit for the following 4mm cubes and 11/0 seed beads herringbone bracelet pattern.
The button is based on the "Glitzy Button Bracelet, variation of netting" from Alice Korach 's "Beading with cubes and triangles" book, pp.19-20.

6-20.5.10 A Freeform Circle Bracelet for Daffi

2010-05-20T00:18:00.004+03:00

As far as I can remember, this is my 1st freeform jewelry. Daffi asked me to make her a bracelet that will fit her special Montana blue Italian dress for a special family occasion. We then chose the colors together and went mainly on the shiny and AB seed beads that Daffi likes very much. The dress rosettes served as my inspiration source for designing it, while the most difficult part of this challenge was to place them in such a way that it will still remain harmonious, but yet interesting. The first half of designing the circle elements on the basis of 8 was quiet fun and gave me several ideas that can be used in the future for other jewelry. The 2nd half out of the 11 working hrs I spent on, was the most difficult one, as I had to sew the elements, decide and choose which to put next to whom. Omer was a great help here, as I was nagging him to hear his opinion for each possible combination I thought of.
Daffi was very happy with the bracelet and that is a great satisfaction :-)

16.8.10
Daffi kindly sent me this great picture of her,
ta da...

13-16.5.10 Fontenay aux Roses and the "Tarte au pommes Normandaise"

2010-05-16T10:16:00.015+03:00

During the "Shiva" on grandma, Ariane, my cousin's partner, was just our great guardian angel.

She took care of us for the stay, the food and all that we needed.
She is full of beans and taught me how to make the "Tarte au pommes Normandaise"!

and yes, it WAS a success!
so here is the recipe:

Ariane's Normandy apple tart

The ratio should be of about 200g "liquid" slim white flour : 100 g butter

Ingredients for dough
• 315 g white flour
• 40 g white sugar
• 125 g soft butter cut into small pieces approximately of 2 cm
• carefully and gradually add a quarter cup of cold water - to harden the soft butter

- Add the ingredients and mix well with your hands to create a bloc. Add water if necessary. The dough should not be too crumbs, but more consistent.
- Leave to rest between half an hour for two hours
- Roll a circle out of the dough on a map with some flour, in order to reach a thickness of about 4 or 5 mm
- To fix the holes if there are any, take some water and use it to add external dough parts to merge to the circle
- Fold the circle into 4
- Move to a round baking dish, by putting the circle on a cookie sheet and deploy again when inside the dish. You can move the sheet a little better to put the circle nicely in the middle.
- Cut the excess and use them for decoration over, such as for tart bands

Ingredients for the filling
• About 8 small apples, peeled, pitted and sliced to segments
• a packet of vanilla sugar
• white sugar
• bleached sliced almonds

- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius degrees
- Add the apple slices from the outside towards the inside,very dense, almost standing on each other. Depending on the size of the baking dish, you can reach up to 3 circles plus/minus
- Scatter over the apples the packet of vanilla sugar and the sugar (about 3 or 4 tablespoons)
- Decorate the tart
- Add butter pieces on top of the tart

- Put in the oven at 180 Celsius degrees about 20 minutes or until the apples soften when you prick them with a toothpick
- In a pan, fry the sliced almonds in butter. When dropped from the fire, scatter some sugar and mix.
- Disperse the roasted almonds on top of the tart before serving

Bon Appetit!

Some pictures of the inspiring apartment of my aunt with a beautiful view on the surrounding.

The bag above is apparently a Dutch Knitted bag with tiny vintage beads (I think even smaller than 18/0), that my aunt bought in some Antique shop. It is just beautiful!
My aunt gave me as a present a superb antique German lace-crochet book ""Irische Spitzen" from 1900!
When will I have the time to explore all its content?

27.4.10 My 1st Publication In Print - The Flame Tree Flowers Earrings

2010-04-27T19:22:00.023+03:00

About almost a year ago (27.5.09), overwhelmed from the magnificent Brachychiton acerifolius blooming in my surrounding, I decided to immortalize that moment by beading flowers that will not wither.

This is how the Flame Tree Flowers Earrings were born.

Today, I got 2 copies of the Jun/Jul 2010 Bead&Button magazine, issue #97. One of them with a kind note, that something I might be interested in appears on p.48:

and indeed very interesting ;-)

As you can see, I prepared several versions in order to test if my instructions were correct and how I could improve the design.

I can't express how much I appreciate the work done by the B&B team from the very beginning of all this process till the moment I got the earrings back.

When I saw the 1st draft revised by the Editor Julia Gerlach who tested my project, I had one thing in mind. How PROFESSIONAL you are! No words and just a pleasure to work with people like these that know how to present and write so nicely, clearly and concise.

This is my first ever publication and this leaves me with a good feeling. I never managed to publish when I was in Plant Science Research, so this is for me a great opportunity to compensate on that with this article :-)

Additionally, it was great to receive B&B newsletter and see the promotion of my earrings handmade by Julia Gerlach:

Finally, I surely hope you will enjoy beading them and surprise me with your versions of it!

17-21.4.10 Baroque Spades Necklace Inspired by Varda's Netted Necklace

2010-04-21T00:12:00.015+03:00

My friend Varda kindly sent me a scheme of a netted necklace she had designed. I haven't seen the necklace yet, but she asked me to try the scheme and tell her how it goes.
I opened the file and saw the first row, which seemed to me at 1st sight to be the whole necklace. I made one element and found it very nice. However, it looked to me too "simple" to repeat this element to the circumference of the neck. A flow of ideas ran through my mind and I decided to flew with them to finally come up without too much hurdles with my own design of the necklace you can see above.
Ammusingly, while chatting with Varda, I discovered I had actually missed the 3/4 of the scheme and related only to the 1st row out of 6 or 7 of them!
Thanks a lot Varda for being a source of inspiration to me!
I gave the necklace today to Nomnom for her coming birthday and another excuse for celebration... She will have to buy some purple clothes now - I know she is not so much excited about that ;-) ...

16.4.10 From Hirbe Farage to Har Bental, Har Keta (Nahal Nimrod), Daphna Memorial Monument, back to Beit Dagan

2010-04-16T14:14:00.014+03:00

Larnus Beetle

בורדן בוהק Syntomis mestralii

Thymelicus lineola (?) הספרית

טריכודית 4 הנקודות Trichodes quadriguttatus

מרווה כחולה Salvia indica L.

Lytta (?)

Embia (?) on
סחלבן החורש Cephalanthera longifolia

סחלבן החורש Cephalanthera longifolia

סחלב אנטולי Orchis anatolica

שמשונית הטיפין Xolantha guttata

אנדרטה לזכר 73 לוחמי אסון המסוקים - גן 73 הסלעים
Memorial monument for 1997 Israeli helicopter disaster

4.4.10 Journey in the Sataf with the nephews

2010-04-04T23:09:00.018+03:00

בן סחלב צריפי Anacamptis pyramidalis

סחלב שלוש השיניים Orchis tridentata

עלית זהובה Smaragdina viridina

Picture taken by my nephew Gavriel (9 years old)
wild bee on a Cistus salviifolius

2-3.4.10 Loop Baby Toy Teether for Neta

2010-04-03T12:39:00.018+03:00

I didn't find the proper time to realize the original idea I had in mind with this hand teether, so I had to find something quick and "sure". I had in my "to do" list this loop baby toy, kindly shared by Amy Herbst here, which turned out to be a great choice for that same short time.

It took me about 4 hrs of work.
When finished, I went to Ravelry to see other projects done for this loop baby toy and found a beautiful knitted version by A lliLucy, also posted on her pretty blog. Good idea to try it in knitting for the future in case I try to make another one.

30-31.3.10 Borot Lotz - West Har Hanegev

2010-03-31T23:27:00.002+03:00

Like it and want to see more? Click here
One of the most magnificent trips and views in my life so far, an exceptional sight on the desert in full bloom.

24-27.3.10 Lavender Vine Lace hat for Uria

2010-03-28T12:01:00.000+03:00

It's been a while that this free pattern of the Vine Lace Baby Hat by Sandi Wiseheart is in my "to do" list. I remember that about a year ago or less when I first looked at it - I immediately understood I couldn't make it since I didn't know anything about knitting, not to say of working in the round with several needles that sounded to me then as a miraculous skill :-)

Although I have done several mistakes there (will need to practice more in order to loosen my knitting tension as well as making sure to tighten better in between the needles work, while working in the round), I really love the result of this cute hat!

After the starch blocking, I thought to decorate it with a Lavender flower designed by Lesley Stanfield in her book "100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet" on p.58, project 28.
I had already tried to make it a few months ago for Ynon scarf's, with no success.
However, this time, I saw by chance a forum post by gracecody in ravelry with exactly the same question I had and a very helpful response from AggieMay which really helped me to understand. So here you go for those of you who want to try and encounter the same problem.

In Row 5, how to cast on 3 sts and then binding them off, altogether remaining with the same number of stitches?

*You begin to knit 1,

then use the knit cast on on the next stitch, 3 times !(and make sure this is the knit cast on and no other type of cast on. It happens that in the beginning I understood completely wrong this knit cast on and thought it was some kind of yarn over several times. It’s not! so check your knitting books or internet for demonstration, if you are not familiar with it)

Now that you have added 3 new knitted cast on sts to your left needle (starting from 1 stitch and ending with 4 sts), in order to bind them off, you need to knit the first new 2 sts. On the right needle, pass the first knitted stitch over the 2nd knitted stitch. Keep on by knitting one st from the left needle and bind it off on the right needle by passing over the nearby st to his right. Knit one more and bind it off the same way. You will now have on your right needle 2 sts only. *
Repeat all this explanation (*) as required till the end of the row, 4 times in total.
In the book explanation, they have forgotten to include the first K1 in the square parenthesis. You end up with 1 Knit!

If it helps, here is the citation of AggieMay post:
“Remember, to cast on 3 you need to use one of your 9 stitches so, Knit one, using the next stitch, cast on 3.
Now, to cast them off again, you need to knit 2, pass first stitch over second, knit 1, pass stitch over, Knit 1 pass the stitch over so you have now used the stitch you started your cast on with as part of the cast off.
You have now used 2 of the 9 so when you repeat the K1, Cast on 3, cast off 3, 4 times, you have only 1 stitch left so you knit that.”

By the way, the crocheted leaves are taken from the fern instructions leaflets, pp.110-11 in the "Crochet Bouquet" book by Suzann Thompson.

PLEASE Don't be cross at me!
Thank you so much for your vote, I really appreciate your action and opinion. I had a tough decision to make on how to embroider the Lavender flower on the hat and this time the decision was not made upon the majority vote, but other strange decisions to promote number 2, such as:

It looks better on the elephant doll
It looks to me more decorative this way
The vote summary was 72% for n 1 and 27% for n 2 with 33 votes at the moment of writing this post. Since 27 is my lucky number this is just one more excuse to chose n 2
I am stubborn
Omer suggested n 1 and myself n 2
I hope you forgive me :-(

Nomnom got the Lavender perfume and soap, while the small baby, called Uria, received a cute hat for his first week in planet earth world.

Mazal Tov small sis!

Please vote: What do you prefer?

2010-03-27T13:34:00.009+03:00

24.1-18.3.10 Elephant Pacifier Clip for Ynon

2010-03-18T22:06:00.005+02:00

This cute Elephant's instructions can be found on pp.101-102 in Itty-bitty nursery book by Susan B. Anderson and errata here. Very nice project made with cotton yarn and 3 mm double pointed needles and hook.

This is a present for baby Ynon, who already got a scarf, but his mother also needed a pacifier clip. I couldn't refuse and had to try this one.

15.3.10 Tso Flower Ring

2010-03-15T19:07:00.005+02:00

The original six petal flower project appears for free in B&B website and is based on the explanation of the new yet familiar Tso stitch that contains elements of peyote and right angle wave (B&B April 2010 Issue 96, pp.18-19). Hsiao-Hsuan (Eddy) Tso (kikiba), who stands behind this stitch, has published in B&B website some of her masterpieces works and is a very original and talented beadwork artist (to visit her gallery there, click here). She also has an etsy shop under the nick kiki8800, now also selling beads, in addition to booklets and original jewelry.

I first encountered her work few months ago and fell in love with her 5-petal special flower, such as in this creation she did. I was very curious to know how to make them and contacted her for more information. It took some time but I finally had the great surprise to receive the B&B magazine and see that they have published the secret of the Tso stitch :-)
Evidently, I had to try it immediately and started with 11/0 instead of 8/0 seed beads. I quickly realized, that it would become too big to my taste even in 11/0. So I had to move to size 15/0 seed beads and work with a size 15 needle, which make the work harder (since the holes are smaller and you need to go over several times) and probably longer ( several hrs, maybe 4 to 5).
I managed to finish this project even if I was a bit dissapointed from the stitch after expectation of 1 whole year from now. It feels like if there is an error, it can be difficult to spot immediately and almost impossible to repair, unless you unpick a lot!
Anyway, I admire Eddy for her creativity and patience to bead so many of these flowers creating lovely colourful and lively necklaces with this stitch.
I was too lazy even to make a couple of earrings, so I stopped in 5 petals and made a ring out of it.

28.2-10.3.10 Turquoise Indian Amphora for Mom

2010-03-10T00:11:00.007+02:00

Mom came back from India with this amphore and kindly asked me to prepare for her a nicer necklace, such as a nice spiral. So here is the "before":

and "after":
closed amphora:
opened amphora:

1-3.3.10 Work Meeting in Sion and Ovronnaz (SWZ)

2010-03-03T00:42:00.008+02:00

Raclette (cheese) evening with steamed potatoes:

Beautiful and tasty dessert of chocolate tartelette with pistachio:

It was too quick, but better than nothing ;-)

We had a beautiful weather on the 1st day in Ovronnaz and very gentle snow on the 2nd day.
All the vines in the area were naked and I had a very pleasant afternoon with a friend, in Sion centre. One of the things I was the most impressed of in Sion is this green garden with recycled glass pieces:

7-27.2.10 Gilet sans manches de Phildar

2010-02-27T22:04:00.003+02:00

GILET SANS MANCHES #026-T9-269 (Phildar No. 026, Hiver 2009/2010, size 34/40) by Phildar Design Team, is the first knitted cloth I have ever knitted ( excluding all accessories).
I used 9mm round needles and 3 skeins of Peach Pastel Super Soft Yarn of TeDdY's Wool , knitted with doubled thread (exactly 300 m/300 gr).
After painful trial and error, I had to unpick 13cm height of work with 196 st, to discover that the right number of st for my size (S) with this doubled thread is 110 st.
Glad to have accomplished it. Got the drive to make it when I saw it on one of my French relatives, in one of her visits to Israel.

27.2.10 Arum Lily by Lesley Stanfield

2010-02-27T19:12:00.003+02:00

To fit the "Gilet sans manches" from Phildar 26, I prepared this Arum Lily brooch from Lesley Stanfield's book "100 flowers to knit & crochet", p.57. It took about an hr of knitting, maybe more and I really like the result in those pastel colors. The cactus underneath is called nopalitos, originating from Mexico and is also edible. I got it as a present from Uri Regev and I can't wait for it to grow so I can cook it with garlic, salt and olive oil. Yami...

27.2.10 Carrot by Lesley Stanfield

2010-02-27T19:09:00.004+02:00

About an hr of knitting, this cute carrot brooch designed by Lesley Stanfield, appears in her book "100 flowers to knit & crochet", p.49. I had in mind to fit it with the "Gilet sans manches" from Phildar 26, but Omer told me I would look like someone who has just got out from the kitchen, so I had to try something else...
The green part of the carrot differs from the instructions and is crocheted in one part only.

19.2.10 From Bar Giora Old train station to Dir Hasheich (near Ness Harim)

2010-02-19T23:43:00.010+02:00

Another beautiful day trip, this time closer to Jerusalem. We prepared a great omelet from the edible flower buds of the poisonous plant Ferula communis כלך מצוי. We also saw 3 different species of orchids:

and beautiful ciclamen leaves...

17-18.2.10 A basket from rolled newspapers (canudos de jornal)

2010-02-18T16:33:00.021+02:00

Following a visit to Arbel's very interesting blog "סיבוב נוסף", I was quiet enthousiastic of her basket weaving creations, especially the ones with the rolled newspaper (or newspaper canes) basket such as this one.

Then I got an email from my friend Pnina with a link for an Hebrew tutorial of basket weaving with newspaper canes. Of course, that was an immediate decision, the same day all preparations for the task were ready.
In fact, it happens to be a bad experience at first, since rolling newspaper sounds so easy, but actually requires a lot of skill in order to get a unified/even roll/cane from both sides.
I almost gave up, feeling really stupid not to manage rolling a cane of newspaper evenly, but I gave it another try the day after. I saw that one of the rolling techniques uses a skewer and that was very helpful to practice in order to get better looking canes.

The rest went more smoothly until the finishing of the basket. There is also a problem that I haven't solved yet, "how to connect the canes with the white plastic glue so that I won't have to wait ages but on the other hand - the connection will be stable enough?" Maybe using hot glue?
Maybe preparing a giant cane and let it dry 24 hrs? (nah...? too messy?!). I have seen somewhere that people use laundry hanger to hold the connection with the white glue, but that makes the work really slow, isn't it?

For the finishing, I tried the technique (I don't know its professional name) I learned in the basketweaving workshop with Yonit Crystal, but I couldn't remember it. Finally, I somehow recalled it and just later discovered that the technique showed in the Hebrew tutorial is much simpler, but wasn't clear from the explanation there ( it is folding the 2 cm warp edges simply backward or forward).

I have gathered here some interesting links on the subject in case you get hooked, so enjoy!
It seems that this craft is very popular in Brazil, where the term in Portuguese is apparently "Canudinhos de jornal".

My basket is not yet finished, but I have to decide how to continue:

Just go over with white glue
First paint it with acrylic and then go over with oil varnish
Spray it with some color
Leave it like this

???

15.2.10 Omer's Homemade Spindle

2010-02-15T22:05:00.002+02:00

Very proud of my Omer, after begging him for a while to produce me a spindle, he prepared for me this perfect tool. Yourrai!!! :-)
Now I need to find some time to practice on it ;-)

12.2.10 Bitronot Beeri

2010-02-12T23:29:00.005+02:00

Meloe cavensis

חיפושית רפואנית מצויה

מכלוא של סחלב דבורנית דינסמור עם דבורנית צהובת שוליים

Bitronot Beeri is located in the south of Israel, close to Gaza. It is well known in Spring for its anemone carpets. Actually, there were many anemones but mostly dispersed. Omer and I spent a beautiful day trip with a tasty picnic among the flowers.