So today was the big day, I finally had my long awaited first sewing class. People there were nice enough and I was lucky, because we were not too many this time, so I had a huge table for myself. For my first project, I had chosen a simple burda dress pattern:

1) It is quite easy to do.

2) The cut is so generous it might even fit my terribly extreme hourglass figure. (- Yay for hourglass figures! Not yay for the stupid fashion these days that won’t fit any female looking female.)

3) I really need a summer dress.

For a fabric I chose some nice red linen. In my opinion, linen is not too easy to cut, but the result will certainly be worth the effort.

Our teacher is quite the nice person. Although I fear, she won’t have enough time for each of us once our number increases. I managed to cut out all pieces and even press the wadding (?) onto the collar parts. (One class is 2 1/2 hours and we stayed a bit longer.) What truly irks me, though, is that our teacher helps us along with our current projects, but doesn’t truly show us any basic stuff or techniques. So we’ll never be able to sew anything without her assistance. One of the others told me she was in that class for 4 or 5 years now, but she isn’t able to add a normal collar to a jacket she made by herself. Our teacher does that for her. Unless we try to learn stuff on our own in addition to those classes, it won’t do. - I intend to experiment a bit, of course, but how will I know I’m really doing things right? Sometimes you only think you did something correctly.

I guess, this is one more example for a class, where socialising is more important than truly learning something. However, I will enjoy going there. People *are* nice and I have far more working space available there than in my own flat. And maybe my first impression was wrong after all? I’ll keep you informed.

Tomorrow, my sewing class will *finally* start. I am so excited. Wish me luck. However, this didn’t stop me from beginning a “new” crochet project. It’s a shawl. I’m using my favourite pattern. It takes quite a few time and concentration to make, but so far I’ve managed to do it twice already. U/l a few photos for you, but they only show the first few rows. There’s still a lot to add. The colour is off, too. It’s more fuchsia than red.

[Click to enlarge]

Okay, before I turn my attention towards the main topic of this post, I will list the main events of my day:

1. Yellow water from the cold-water tap of my bathtub.

2. Sweetie-pie Tiva tries to jump onto the mirror, slips and crashes over heater and toilet to the floor onto her not-even-healed-yet back. Limps afterwards, but her embarassment was worse. Luckily. I totally freaked, of course, and coddled her for hours. I think she just stopped limping to escape from my worrying.

3. Did bake more bread, same recipe as always, but for some strange reason, it became ‘flat’. Still tastes the same, though.

4. Slept a lot, because it was so warm.

Now to more ‘deep’ matters. The month May is kinda dedicated to my mum for two reasons: First, Mother’s Day which is - at least in Germany - today. Second, the 26th is the day of my mum’s death. 17 years, that really disturbs me. 17 sounds a lot worse than 2 or 5 or 10 or 15. To me and right now anyway. However, since this is the first year I have a blog, I thought this a good time to get my mum some well-earned praise. You see, she was a total pro regarding crafting. I’m not sure there was a single evening when she didn’t tinker away. But her best disciplines were sewing, embroidery and knitting. She made a few stunning jumpers. I especially remember a white one made from angora with elaborate grey flowers embroidered around the collar. (When my dad learned how to use the washing machine after my mother had died, he washed it at 60°C and that was it.)

My mum also tried to teach my older sister and me what she knew. I learned how to crochet at the age of 3 or 4 and I got my own little but fully functionable sewing machine around that time, too. It was orange and white. When I was six my mum showed me how to knit, but somehow that just wasn’t my cup of tea. My sis and me and practically everyone else in the family ran around in the fabulous clothes she sew. Her dresses were kinda famous. I went through the remaining family photos (loads of moves reduced the number heavily and the rest is unorganised) to find you some good examples of what she did. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too successful. I will continue the search later. For now, the following will have to do (click to enlarge). I am sorry for the bad quality, but these are old. Even more so than my weak scanner.

Her own wedding dress:

Her honeymoon dress:

Blouse for my sis and dress for me:

My sis and I with two identical dresses (look greyish on the photo, but they were a light lilac colour):

Nightgown for my sis and jumper for me:

Red dress:

Both cardigans and my hat:

All three dresses:

Dress, coat, apron dress, jumper:

Nice comments would be … well, nice. My mum would be happy to know her work is still appreciated. It is. At least, by me.

P.S.: Tiva just fell into the tub full of cold water. She is such a clumsy sweetie.

Today, I looked at the slippers I made a year ago and thought ‘why not post a photo at AN’. They were inspired by a crochet pattern of the fabulous Erika Knight, although I changed a few things. Of course, they already look a bit used on this photo, can’t avoid that after one year of wearing. I made them for winter to wear with thick socks, so they are a bit lose now I wear them bare-footed. Might make a second pair, but have other projects planned first.

The past few days, I took the time to cook some actually decent meals. I used to twice a day, but somehow that stopped when my schedule became chaotic. Now I am forcing myself to take the time again. I enjoy cooking and felt my health deteriorating shortly after I stopped doing it. (I am a food-combiner, so I have tons of veggies and bio stuff on my menu. Changing that to whatever is available at the next bakery so abruptly was idotic.) I have been searching for nice bread recipes, more specifically a recipe for hazelnut bread. My mum used to buy it for us as a special treat or, that’s what it felt like to me. Today, I tried one of the recipes found and I think it turned out delicious! It is different from how I know it (nuts in black bread), but I still like the outcome. However, next time (yes, there most defn. will be a next time!), I’ll gotta halve the ingredients - the bread I got is big enough to be three breads.

Also, my dinner turned out nicely, too. Okay, I have prepared this dish many times before… Isn’t it sad I am becoming one of those persons who photograph their meals and even post the pictures?! But I *do* enjoy cooking and I am so ridiculously happy, I took the time for it. (Note: the bread next to the zucchini/courgette is not the hazelnut bread.)

To make up for all the food stuff, here is another shot of my delicious, I mean sweet, eh… cute Kaori. She was incredulously watching me sinking my arms to the elbows into sticky dough.

Today, when I came home, I was missing a cat. That is not unusual, but it normally is Kaori hiding artfully. This time however it was Tiva. I gotta admit that I overlook her sometimes due to her rather dark fur. Yet, I do know *where* to look for her. This time, I had to run through my flat three times before a yawn led me into the right direction. She opened her eyes the moment I came into my bedroom, otherwise I’d have overlooked her again. She was lying on my reading chair which is covered with a very comfy brown lambskin. She looked so perfect ontop of it, I took some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Okay, I admit I have been kinda lazy these days - but only in terms of posting and crafting. I had a long interesting (to choose an ambigous expression) week full of just-too-important appointments. To interrupt at least the non-posting period, I will share some new eye candy of my cutie-pie with you. *everyone jump up from their chairs and cheer* You should feel honoured, because Kaori usually runs when I only so much as reach for my camera. Today though, I was lucky =)

P.S.: She is so cuuuuuuuuuuute!!! Love her. <3<3<3<3<3

Uneventful day. (I liked that!) Apart from some grocery shopping, all I did was sitting at the kitchen table puttering away. I have been working on a new crocheted cardigan. The pattern is simple enough, but for some reason, I keep miscounting the stitches. So, it is clear that I need stitch markers. I have some, but need more. Besides, who likes these boring markers?

A look into my unorganised box for jewellery making told me that I had all the necessary stuff to make my own markers.

While I was at it, it turned out that the rivet pins I had in stock where rather shortish. So, in consequence I messed up the markers with the square beads. Will have to redo them, I guess. I made two batches, each consisting of 4 stitch markers and 1 row marker. It’ll do for now.

Afterwards, I started to make a batch of light blue paper beads. Might finish them tomorrow. I am just not sure yet if I should add some powder to them as well (compare with the brown beads).

Being the klutz I am, I managed to get my favourite (crocheted, of course) oven cloths burned. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the yarn I used left *cries* Nontheless, new oven cloths are now on my list of things to make soon. My kitchen is rather ugly, but spacious. I truly like sitting there, working at the table and listen to Agatha Christie audiobooks. Besides, it’s heartwarming to see my cats give up their favourite spots in the living room to join me. At least Kaori is always around <3<3<3

But I am totally rambling, a clear sign that I should finish this post. Thank you, Cat and Carol, for your comments! They’re are quite encouraging. I will try to update the About A-N page soon and also add a page just for my pies. Or shouldn’t I? Easy to get carried away…

Before Easter, I started to make some paper beads, but only managed to finish the first batch today. I know some of my friends are waiting for photos, so here they are.

I pasted the paper with decorate coat and rolled the beads on skewers and thin knitting needles. To assure they wouldn’t unravel while drying and to give them an extra shine, I covered my fingers in the coat and spun the beads between them. When they were dry, I added golden powder with a soft brush (a small cosmetic brush from a travel set) and used a bigger brush to coat the paper beads with transparent enamel varnish. Later the whole batch went into the oven for half an hour and - voilà! Personally, I love that they are shiny, but that you can still see and feel the texture as well.

Some crafters roll the beads on drinking straws and cut it away on both ends of the paper once they’re dry. That does have it’s advantages as you don’t have to worry about getting the beads off nor about the unprotected insides that may fray with time. However, that is for each to decide for themselves.

I am planning to do some blue batches in the near future - if I do have the time. There’s hope, because I already cut the paper stripes, but haven’t come around to do the pasting and rolling part yet. Will keep you tuned if you’re interested.

An extremely cold (not to say freezing!) Easter weekend compelled me to finally work on my revamped personal site Anti-Nostalgic. Using WordPress seemed to be the most comfortable, lazy solution. As of yet, I have no idea, how frequently I will post here, only the future will tell.

Since I declared to be a devoted cat mum on the About A-N page, I see it only fitting to open this site/blog/whatever with two photos of my pies. They wish to deliver an important message to you: