weekend

I made a rabbit Friday, out of a man's shirt and some fabric leftovers. it helped overcome a deep weekend blues that jumped at me earlier that day and forced me into a strange driving away mood. coming back from my little private trip I stopped at the vegetable shop in Fureidis for some hot peppers, and they were selling freshly cooked, still warm vine leaves stuffed with rice. I bought a box of those as well, and felt so much better. an example of the vain, empty consumption culture that I'm part of :-)

Then I went home and made this fellow. I think I'll make a dress for him, but I can't stop thinking that he's a He.

Saturday we went to the children's Museum in Holon near Tel Aviv, but couldn't go in since we didn't call in advance. Isn't that weird? Anyway we spent the morning in a playground, then went for lunch at a Georgian food restaurant, Nanuchka. They have these pretty amazing lampshades:

And just a nice shot of O and A and some Staropramen.

spring time

It's only february but it feels like spring already... There aren't many reasons to be happy living in Israel these days. Politically we're going for a disaster, there's no water and there were almost no rains this winter, rent prices aren't dropping enough and the school system is terrifying for parents of a 5 year old. But at least we can enjoy sunny days like today, when every bug is crawling out and every bird is out singing and the air is full of humming and buzzing and the flowers are all blooming in pink and yellow and red and purple...

I made some corn and banana muffins with the kids (so helpful; near nervous breakdown) and we took them for a picnic in the nearby Ramat Hanadiv park.

Hilel was wearing a pair of very warm flannel pants that I finished last night - still there are some adjustments to be made to the pattern - the crotch is too low and there's something wrong with the pockets.

I'm tired... another episode of "the century of self" and off to bed.

peter and the wolf - a beautiful animated version, a bit grim and spooky. the ending is different from the original story, a more humane solution.

landscape to play with

I started making this landscape play-mat over a year ago, it was supposed to be a birthday present for my son who was about to be 4 (he's now 5 years and 2 months old and I finally almost finished...). I got the idea as I watched him play with an ugly road carpet over at a friend's house. This sort of play mats or carpets can be a great platform for inventions for children, but the way they are often done is somehow closed, there are too many details that have to do with a lifestyle that is not ours (ice cream and pizza parlors around every corner, not that we avoid pizzas and ice creams but I don't think they should make up the only cultural reference for kids). So I thought of making an open landscape with roads, and when playing the children can place different objects or dolls or whatever they feel like to make a story up. There's a mountain and a sea-shore, a lake, fields and meadows. in my kids' room there are baskets with stones they collected, shells, little animals and trees that I made or that somehow made their way over to us. it's fun to see how different bits and pieces finally find a place together in a game. It's still not finished, I'm planning to frame it with some other fabric. but I'm not sure if it would make it all too bound or limited. maybe when he's 6 I'll have the answer..

*the mess at the background of that top picture is an example of the embarrassing truth of our house.

top view with a zip line who's purpose remained a mystery. the red car did some dangerous driving on it:

waves and sea foam:

I used paper clips to help the trees stand upright:

To characterize a field, I created little pockets to place the vegetables in them: