YOU WOULD CALL THEM WEEDS

All those flowers are the size between the fingernails of my thumb and my little finger and even smaller - to some of them I would never have paid attention with the naked eye. My husband discovers their stunning beauty with the lens of his camera - with macro photography.

Maybe next time you see a tiny itsybitsy flower you will bend down and examine further - a magnifying glass could help to see the wonderful details.

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY

When I get a diamond ring - you thought THAT makes me happy? Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

When my son calls: mom, lets meet for lunch - that makes me happy!

When my grandson is in heaven (!) because Barcelona won and Messi gave a superb performance (yes, at the age of ten you still have heroes!), that gives me happiness!

When my husband hugs me out of the blue, that makes me very happy!

When my daughter gives me a compliment from her heart!

When Goldie jumps into my lap - rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, rrrrrrrrrrr - and sits quietly for some minutes!

When Yasmin sweetly says: I love you sooo much savta!

When my other daughter bakes exclusively for me a biscuit roll filled with strawberries and whip cream and affection! Wow, that makes me happy!

When my husband comes home from a hike beaming with satisfaction because he caught a rare flower with his camera!
When my brother ends every phone conversation, saying: Ich hab' dich lieb!
When my son-in-law listens to me patiently while I am rambling! 

When I look at my teenage twin granddaughters and find them so beautiful - outside and inside!
When my dog smiles at me!

When it rains!

When the sun shines!

When the wind whispers in my ears!

When the wind blows my brains out!

Of course there is a lot more that makes me happy - ahhhhhhhhhh, YES!!!

Ahem - hot water for a shower for example, or cherries, or martini on the rocks! :-)

I had a lunch date with my son this noon and on my way home my mind recalled many of the reasons for my happiness - which made me happy even more!

What makes you happy? Diamond rings? :-) Or the free stuff? :-) Or both? :-) :-) :-)

My lovely friend Aiva, picking berries in her garden, writing my name with berry juice, saying she loves me, and e-mailing me the pictures she took of it - yes, that makes me happy too - and smiling!

MAGIC CARPET

The witch bag I showed you traveled some time later to a second fiber art exhibition in another town, and I was asked to create an additional piece for the show. I thought if I had already made a bag for the witch I might as well make her a magic carpet too! I still had plenty of rusted material to incorporate into the carpet, which I crocheted with two different kinds of sisal yarn and torn fabric strips for touches of color. The patches are not sewn together, the work was constructed in one piece.

 Size: 19" by 20" (without the hangers and the "fringe")
Photographs by my husband Uri Eshkar.

A FEAST FOR THE EYE AND A CAR STOPPER

On our way to Nachal Kziv last Shabatt we passed Mailya - a very beautiful Arab village in the Upper Galilee - and I just have to show you this home which made us stop to admire its spectacular geranium adornment  - it can compete with any flower decorated house in Switzerland and Bavaria!! :-)

WITCH BAG

This is a funny bag, only for decoration, I created a while ago for an exhibition. It is crocheted with paper yarn together with painted tyvek bands. Sisal and torn fabric strips are used for the fringe. I made creepy ceramic faces and ceramic beads. I gladly incorporated all kind of found rusted stuff and dry plant and tree material, little twigs and shriveled and wooden fruit, like petite pomegranates, cones, and pine needles tied into a broom, tiny stones with holes from the beach and snailshells. Every thing I saw fit and thought a true witch would grab, was inserted and hung on it, together with all sorts of beads, with fragile feathers and strange yarn, an old thread spool my friend Aiva gave me, one big bead carved from bone, glass beads from Hebron, pieces of Bedouin embroidery and crochet doilies, shells and little bells, and ruined and tattered cloth patches I found half buried in the sand near the shore. What ever suits my fancy I will collect at the fleamarket and pick up from the ground on our nature excursions, stuffing the pockets of my trousers, while my husband is photographing flowers. I am a collector of free stuff, can't help it - like many of you, I know!
My son-in-law Ilan built the very fitting stand for the bag - such good hands he has!

 

It is very hard to photograph the bag as a whole -  only the details show you how versatile it is. Please zoom in! I had great pleasure to create this bag and I think it is worthy for any witch living in the woods!

First I had to make the ceramic faces and beads, this needs time, till it is bisque dry and then fired. After I had those ready it took about one day to prepare the crochet  materials, to tear the fabric into strips, to paint the tyvek and cut it into rounds to get long bands and then roll it into large balls. It took then two full days to crochet and embellish the bag, most of the stuff is right incorporated with the crochet, I think there was no sewing on at all. The bag was constructed in three parts, front and back and a long piece of gusset together with the handles.
Of course it took many trips and excursions over a long period of time beforehand to collect all those things! :-) Size of the bag:
15" (38cm) x 12" (31cm) x 3" (8cm), the fringe is 14" (36cm) long and the handles are 20" (50cm) long.