Sunday, February 28, 2010

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

I was searching the Internent about 'Quotes on Laughter', there are many, but this one I liked most:
'LAUGHTER IS THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE'
The man who said it was Victor Borge, Danish comedian, conductor and pianist.
This phrase is so simple and so true - nothing more heartfelt than two people laughing together!

This is my mother-in-law, Tikva, she is about eighty years old.

Friday, February 26, 2010

MAKLOT HA KESEM - מקלות הקסם

Those are some photos taken at a wonderful exhibition about knitting and crochet, at the Hankin Gallery in Holon, near Tel Aviv, curated by Sima Sela and Mirjam Bruck-Cohen, 109 Hankin St. Holon, (03-5027303) - the exhibition is open till March 13. and it is very worth visiting! I am sorry, I did not write down the names of the artists, their creations will speak for them...



 
  
This is a link to my two pieces at the exhibition, a witch bag and a magic carpet, and some close-ups of them.
They are crocheted from sisal and paper yarn and tyvek and fabric strips and I made the little ceramic faces and ceramic beads. All kind of rusted stuff and dry plant and tree material, which I pick up on our excursions, stuffing the pockets of my trousers, while my husband is photographing flowers, is inserted and hung on it, together with beads and feathers and fancy yarn and pieces of Bedouin embroidery and torn fabric pieces I found in the sand near the beach, and shells and little bells.


Thursday, February 25, 2010

NEW BAG


I made this bag for my daughter Carmen. The pretty ceramic button was made by my friend Jill from
GlazedOver.Etsy.com

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

PURIM

My friend Jill, the wicked one from New York promised me a poem in return for a cookie recipe!
Look what I got:

'Ok, here it is. It’s a haiku and it is based on Prince Hiroshi Hamentashi’s 14th century poem “I’m Starving, Let’s Eat.”

Chicken in coop, egg.
Sugar flour bake powder
Nuts, dried fruit, a CAKE!

Do you love it?'


I loved it alright! She ALMOST got me!

AND THE DESERT SHALL BLOOM

Usually the Negev Desert is dry and barren, often there is no rain year after year. But don't be fooled, inside the desert sand a whole wonderful world is sleeping, waiting for water to wake up. When the rain finally falls, the celebration starts!
This year we had plenty of rain and the results are marvelous and very exciting. A big range of flowers is fast exploding out of the dry earth, flowers, small and big and in the most beautiful shapes and colors. 
Those here are the special desert tulips (tulipanim how my friend Cochava calls them), Zivonim Sasgonim in Hebrew, which literally means: Colored Colored.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 And how about those gorgeous irises? Irus HaNegev.


http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=uri.eshkar&target=ALBUM&id=5441151678708017297&authkey=Gv1sRgCOnvn7_9m-mhdw&feat=email

At this link you can see a lot more flowers blooming in the Negev Desert right now. All the pictures have been photographed by my husband Uri last weekend.

OUR SUNSHINE

This is my granddaughter Yasmin. She is a very funny girl and when she tells you something, her eyes sparkle like little fireworks!


This is what I made for her lately. I bought some amigurumi crochet patterns (irenestrange.etsy.com) and I created the little bed from a tea box - I carefully disassembled it, covered it with fabric, (ironed on) and glued it back together.

Hm, then she wanted more - and she got it!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

WELCOME! BRUCHIM HABAIM! ברוכים הבאים

My name is Yael and I am pleased to meet you!

This blog is about art and craft and about sewing. I will tell a little bit about myself and about my family. I will mention my wonderful friends. I shall introduce our beloved four legged companions. And I would like to talk about nature. And about sun and rain and flowers and trees, and the sea and the desert - about the beauty, the history, the ancient places and the views of the Land of Israel, and about it's people.

Growing up in Germany, I was never very good in school when it came to crocheting potholders and knitting socks. That was sheer horror for me! I also do not remember myself as a child drawing or creating things because creativity was never encouraged by my parents, teachers or the culture in general. But I always loved beautiful things and was drawn to nature, especially to trees and meadows and wild flowers. I always tried to make my and my sister's room pretty by putting flowers on the table or draping a scarf over the lamp. What I mean to say is I probably had an eye for beauty from a young age and always appreciated and loved it.

I have a very early memory of a visit to an aunt during which she sent me into her beautiful garden and gave me some tiny vessels and vases made from unglazed clay to play with. It was such a lovely moment…I can still feel the flowers over my head and still imagine myself playing in the sunshine among the flowers and weeds with those lovely things. That day, I was completely happy!

It wasn't until I got married (very young) and had children that I started creating things. I sewed clothes for them, crocheted ponchos and scarves, knitted sweaters and so on.
That was also the time I made my first patchwork throw - it was a present for my sister. One side had green and blue patches, the other side had patches in red shades. To my great sorrow, my sister has already passed away, but this throw lives on in one of her daughters’ homes. It is about forty years old by now. It was not quilted because at that time I had no idea about quilting and patchwork. Then one day I found a Burda magazine which had patchwork wall hangings in it, with explanations as to how to do it. From that time on I was hooked!

I got divorced and not long after that married again and moved with my husband to Israel, where I have been living now for almost 30 years. This is my true home and homeland. In 1989 my husband was assigned to work in the United States, so we lived for four years in California and one year in Texas. Of course, once there I indulged in everything related to patchwork and quilting! It was a great time and I learned a lot. I did not take many workshops, but there was this abundance of books coming out. Patchwork and quilting was just newly being considered as an art form and everything was very exciting! All those quilt fabric stores! All those quilt exhibitions! The lovely American Quilters Museum in San Jose! Returning to Israel I found that a Quilters and Patchwork Association had just been established and this art and craft form gained momentum here too. It was terrific!

After making a lot of wall hangings and bed quilts, I eventually settled down to making mostly bags which I sold in two galleries in Israel. Recently I create beautiful, decorative and useful things with a strong focus on good workmanship. My creations are usually very colorful and I like to add beads, tassels, ribbons, buttons and lace as well wherever the piece seems to communicate the need.

What I love most is just designing something new—throwing all my fabrics on the table, getting more and more excited, making a BIG mess in my work room, cutting and trying to figure out how it would look best, having another and another idea and sewing the first item of a new line. Only after all that do I get organized, clean up, put everything back in its place and start working a little less like a mad hatter. I love this!

What advice would I give to artists and crafters? I’d say DO WHAT YOU LOVE…and do it as well and as perfectly as you can.

Monday, February 22, 2010

THE CARPENTRY SHOP (HA-MINSARA) MAKTESH RAMON, NEGEV DESERT


A trip to MAKTESH RAMON, the worlds largest maktesh with it's magnificent panorama, located in the Negev Desert south of Beer Sheva, is always a very exciting experience. The crater, once covered by an ocean, was carved out by ancient rivers and erosion over the course of millions of years. Displaying a vast diversity of hills, mountains and rock formations and a wide range of fantastic colors due to mineral contents, it is 500 meters deep at it's deepest point.


This weekend we went to visit the maktesh, and enjoying it's marvelous views while driving slowly down from Mizpe Ramon, we stopped at the so called Carpentry Shop (Ha-Minsara) at the central part of the crater, the meaning of it's name becoming clear while hiking up the wooden trail on the low hill. Black prismatic stones sticking out of the ground and strewn over the whole place appear to be sawed out of bigger pieces. They have been created from heated sand, sand like sand on the beaches, which turned to liquid and in cooling down formed the rectangular and hexagonal prisms. By picking one up, we noticed they are very light weight, not heavy like real stones. Resting at the top for a while, breathing deeply and taking in the spectacular vista of the surroundings awarded us with great pleasure.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

'A little wickedness, and people are hell to each other.
A little compassion, a little generosity, and people are paradise to each other.'
             Amos Oz - 'A tale of  love and darkness'

I think, this phrase is the quintessence of all human relation ships.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Confession of a blog illiterate

I have to admit I am completely new to this and I still don't know how to post photos, pictures and links, how to change the settings, the fonts and the colors, how to make my blog really beautiful - I will ask for help, from my husband, from my friend Vered, and I will learn and try by myself!
English is not my mother language, so please forgive my mistakes.