Favorite Color Swap Questionnaire

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
Oscar Wilde "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
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Starfish mentioned Favorite Color Swap on her blog and like Oscar Wilde “I can resist everything except temptation.” (Lady Windermere's Fan). Matches were made yesterday and therefore I want to welcome my swap pal to the blog – hope you’ll enjoy it and here are the answers to the questionnaire.

1. What are your top three favorite colors?
All the different shades of green, but especially olive green
Purple
Orange

2. What crafts do you really enjoy?
Beading – my newest and strongest addiction
Crochet – old and comfortable love
Knitting - though enjoy isn’t yet the right verb for it, struggle with would be a better way to describe my current relationship with knitting
And I want to learn to quilt so I can make myself a perfect quilt I always dreamt about

3. What products do you really covet?
Books and beads

4. What other activities do you enjoy besides your favorite crafty things?
Reading, walking, listening to classical music (or “dead people music" as my husband likes to call it), baking, making breakfasts (I’m a morning person and it’s the only meal of the day I always enjoy making). I struggle to think of anything else – I’m sure there were many other things I enjoyed doing pre-child.

5. Is there anything you collect?
Quotes and poems.

I used to collect tourist postcards and bunnies, but due to lack of space I’m trying to avoid accumulating extra things. But I always fail than it comes to books and beads and yarn and…

6. What is your zodiac sign and/or Chinese zodiac symbol?
Taurus and horse

7.What are your favorite…

…scents/smells? I’m pretty picky than it comes to scents. I don’t like sweet flowery ones, but can’t think of anything I like except Verbena.

…types of music and/or bands? classical, jazz

…authors? Margaret Atwood, Erica Jong, J. R. R. Tolkien, Oscar Wilde

…animals? bunnies, cats, birds

…places to shop? I’m not a big fan of shopping (specially for clothes), but I enjoy browsing bookshops, craftshops and thrift/charity shops. And if I had lots of money I would shop on Etsy

…season? spring

…yarn/fabric/paper/other craft supplies? Did I mention beads earlier? :-)

…candies or goodies? I’m not a big fan of candies, biscuits (I think they are called cookies in US?) and tea are my thing

8. Do you have any wish lists?

No. I had an amazon one, but it is horribly out of date.

9. Are you allergic to anything?

No, not really

10. Do you have any pets? What are they?

No

11. Please include anything else you would like your secret pal to know about you- anything that would be helpful in finding you little gifts that you will really enjoy. Also, if you have a Ravelry ID, please include it here.

I just got my Ravelry invite and am trying to figure it out (id – fioleta). I’m easy to please and I would love to find out more about you, your traditions, family recipes, your town/country. Since I’m relatively new to the whole craft thing and always want to try something new any craft supplies will be welcomed. I also want to get back into letter writing (the old-fashioned paper kind) and painting/drawing. My favourite flowers are tulips. If you have any question, please ask.


Green & purple, tea & biscuits, favourite magazine & flowers - I think I had a perfect midday break today.

Can Flossy become a ballerina?

Meet Florence (or Flossy for short). She is from up North. She likes running, jumping and dancing. She came to London to pursue her dream of becoming a ballerina.
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I was toying with the idea of making a doll for Cat, but I don’t have a sewing machine and sewing by hand would drive me completely insane. And then I saw Katy’s dolls on UK Handmade Flickr group and after checking out her blog and Etsy store I placed a custom order. I think Katy’s bunnies are totally adorable. But if I got one everyone would know that I got it for myself, while with a doll I can pretend that it is solely for Cat’s enjoyment. And she is enjoying it, though I haven’t managed to get a good shot of them together, as the little girl is highly interested in grabbing the camera from me.

Random acts of kindness

It is the random acts of kindness and generosity that give us renewed faith in the world.
Sharon of Sound Bites

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On Wednesday, just after lunch, a package arrived. The first thing we examined on opening it was the Lost blanket book with Igglepiggle on the cover. You should’ve seen Cat’s facial expression - total confusion at first (I can just imagine her poor little brain thinking: how come he is in the book, not on TV?), followed by lots of smiles and pointing and turning of pages. Next we tried out the crayons and pencils before Cat’s nap. And still have finger paints to try. And there was a present for me as well - a knitting book . All from lovely Sharon, who decided to brighten up our day with random act of generosity. Thank you.

This week was full of them. Last Saturday we received totally unexpected package from my aunt with two Russian books. Naree helped out by babysitting while I had a long conversation with my boss. Julia gave me few presents on Friday. And yesterday we received a postcard with a beautiful sunset view of Ayutthaya from Olya. I feel very loved this week and the world seem to be a wonderful place despite poor husband spending 3 days in bed with a stomach bug. Thank you.

A bag of fun

My husband was home today with a stomach bug. Poor thing spent most of the morning in bed. But since he was home I was able to escape outside while Cat slept. One of my favourite charity shops, in which I bought lots of yarn, closed down and I’m in search of a replacement. So today I checked out one that is a bit further than others. And found a huge (and heavy) bag of broken jewellery.


There are some really scary things in it, but some nice ones as well. I’m having so much fun sorting through it all trying to untangle everything and hopefully will have even more fun creating something new out of all the lovely bits.

Wire Pendant

After my unsuccessful attempt to crochet wire bracelet and while my parents were stil here, babysitting the little girl, I went to the big book store in search of the perfect book to teach me how to crochet with wire. (Is there a better place to spend few extra hours of freedom for a self-confessed book addict?) I loved Crocheted Wire Jewelry book by Arline M. Fisch straight away and am finally trying out one of the projects. I’m crocheting a small round pendant using copper wire over wooden bead following instructions for Cube Pendant by Eugene Keefer Bell. Trying to figure out the best placement for the next slip stitch to achieve random-pattern covering is so addictive that I don’t really want to finish it.

Plastic Bags

Unlike naturally occurring compounds, plastic does not photo-degrade, it simply breaks up into ever-smaller pieces and lingers in the environment as an invisible toxic dust.
THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH article (with some very depressing photos) by the Institute for Figuring

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I hear a flapping noise; look up thinking “a bird” only to see a brightly lit plastic bag stuck in the tree branch, thrashing about in the wind. We live close to a big supermarket and the sight of the abandoned plastic bags is sadly very common. Luckily not all plastic bags end up polluting our environment at the end of their lives. Some of them are fortunate enough to be turned into the beautiful artwork (Rubbish Vortex and Crochet Sea Creatures by Helle Jorgensen)

Happy Mother's Day

I spent most of today work and after testing and battling with VBA and Excel Macros my brain feels too mushy to think of a good quote, so I’ll leave it for tomorrow.

I don’t think any of my readers are UK mothers, but since mothers should be appreciated every day I want to wish you a Happy Mother's Day. Have a great day full of love and laughter.