the last watercolours of the year and plans for 2016 :)

Christmas brought peace and relax and I seized this opportunity to spend some time cherishing my watercolours.

I painted the house where I was brought up. We lived in a flat on the first floor of this huge house- (Only the first two windows). On the side there lived a marvellous family with whom we were very close. We rented this flat from a family who lived about a 100km away and would only come in summer and on bank holidays so it felt as if the whole house belonged to us! I had a marvellous time there...

This is a house that I passed by when walking to the town centre with my mum. It was an old abandoned house that always tickled my curiosity. I wanted to know who had lived there, what had happened to them, why nobody cared about the house any more... Never found out

 

 

And now, to my plans for 2016 :) I have decided to paint and draw even more! Yes! I know it may sound crazy because my timetable is already very tight, but since I made some personal decisions regarding this coming year, I believe that being more focused on creating will give me a chance to spend more time with myself. And this is what I precisely need this coming year, no matter how selfish it may sound...

So, I joined this marvellous project called: COLOUR ME POSITIVE hosted by Lulu Art. Every Friday a challenge and positive quotes will be posted and we are to fill our journals with 'Works of Art'. Sounds fun, doesn't it? :)
The other challenge is on Instagram and is called WE DRAW THE YEAR. There will be four simple illustration prompts every month and each of us will give it the interpretation they feel in their hearts and souls. So excited!

So, stay tuned! a happy New Year to you all!

my first Amigurumi and probably the weirdest ever ;)

Star Wars is a big thing now, but not for me. I honestly don't care about films of this type. No offence to all Star Wars fans ;) So, I don't care, but have neighbours/ friends who do so I decided to make a Little 'something' for them this Christmas. The idea of what to make was suggested to me by a friend who every now and then sends me links related to crochet. Back in spring she sent me a photo of some Star Wars characters. My first reaction was: nice, but I'll never make it as I'm no fan, but then, when I realised how crazy my friends are about the whole Saga, I decided to give it a go. I found a pattern on Ravelry and made my first ever Amigurumi, also, the strangest one ever, most probably ;)

I started off with the head, ears and body:

 

then, made the arms and feet:

 

and finally, put it all together, made the jacket and ...Taahh dahhhh!!!

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, he got wrapped nicely and was joyfully gifted to make someone happy :)

 

In return, Doggie and I received the cuttest 'portrait' ever :)

 

 

 

Crochet shawl - work in progress

At the beginning of December I came across this gorgeous yellow mohair yarn and couldn't resist the temptation, but buy it :) I wasn't quite sure what I would make out of it, but I had to have it!! One never has too much yarn ;) Then, I came across a lovely pattern on Ravelry and decided to make a shawl for myself. I'm not even half way through as there were other projects I had to see to, but I will definitely finish in January :)

 

 

The Doggie is always there to help, of course :) Even though all he does is snoring ;)

 

 

 

 I worked on the train while heading for Barcelona to visit a marvellous exhibition entitled Pharaohs and Animals. The Animal Kingdom in Ancient Egypt.

 

 
 

 

And I worked from home :) I love the pattern! can't wait to see it finished!

 

Nini's ATC swap - December

It feels a bit like the ATC swap is quite a challenge now ;) the topic for this month is: SELF-PORTRAIT. For someone who's not very good at drawing faces, this is quite a strain. I did my best and hope my swap partner will be satisfied ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nini`s ATC swap November

The November ATC swap was a challenge! the topic was...ALIEN LANDSCAPE. I'm such a realist and such a 'down-to-earth' person that this topic seemed a complete misión imposible. Still, there was no way back as my partner was waiting for my ATC. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I ended up with something aceptable. Here's the outcome:

12 pages in 2015 - December

And so here I am with the last page in the 12 pages in 2015 :) The topic for the last month of the year was THROUGH THE WINDOW & FAVOURITE MUSIC. Since I'm not good at collage and the favourite music by no means seemed to make sense to me this time, I opted for the view I had a chance to cherish for over 20 years. This is the view from our kitchen window. I miss this place so much...

I used watercolours again. I'm really keen on improving, but also find them the most enjoyable to use.

12 pages in 2015 - November

I was a bit behind with my 12 pages Project as I made the November page in December ;) but still I'm very poud of myself that I managed to squeeze it in my busy timetable and spend some precious time with my beloved watercolours. The topic for November was GARDEN & TRAVELLING.I didn't hesitate at this one. The only city in which gardens are the most amazing and beautiful is in VIENNA, my beloved city. I was lucky enough to live there for 9 months during when at the university and fell in love with this place instantly. It was love at first sight and I will never forget the marvellous people I met there, the friends I made there (some of them follow my blog ;) so, a big 'thank you' for being here for me :) you know who I mean ;) ) and the gorgeous places I had the chance to cherish while exploring the city on daily basis.

 So, ...gardens in Vienna.

 

I used my beloved watercolours. I like the way it turned out, but I struggled with the grass so this is something I need to work on ;)

 

12 pages in 2015- October

The October theme was *THE BEST TRIP & PEACE*. I had absolutely no doubt about it this time. This September I travelled to Slovenia to visit a special friend of mine. This holiday was exceptional, peaceful, inspring, joyful ... just the best...

12 pages in 2015- September

I finally came round to making the September page whose theme was *BEST GIFT*. It took me a while to think of something that I would like to draw. At first I thought about a toy I got as a child- a gorgeous colourful Clown that would play music. Thing is I have to look at an object to draw it and I don't have this toy any more so I opted for something that is a *perfect gift* at any time...

C*H*O*C*O*L*A*T*E

 

 

getting ready for Christmas :)

This year I decided to start making Christmas cards and little crochet gifts well in advance :)

I opted for cards made using watercolours. 

I also made some cards using the scrapbooking technique. I am no good at making them on my own so I went to a workshop and here's the outcome.

The little crochet gifts are SNOWFLAKES

I had the best helpe ever- my sweet Doggie :)

 I also made an attempt at making a Granny Squares Christmas tree, but after my better half said it looked like a *bell* I gave up... ;)

birthday card- watercolours

November was marked by a special birthday thus I decided to make a special card for my friend. I used my beloved watercolours. Here's the outcome...

a *sweet surprise* for a lovely friend, Linda

the Sketchpack project - exhibition

The Sketchpack project is organised by a marvellous lady from South Africa. She started the project as a local thing, but with time and thanks to the Internet it grew and reach quite a few people all around the world. She launches the project annually and then exhibits people's accordeon booklets in a special exhbition hall in Cape Town. The latter is only available for those who can get the original booklet and submit it once it's done. What I didn't expect was that she would be so kind as to print one photo of our works we had posted in the facebook group and make it into a collage. 

So, my *flowers* were exhibited in Cape Town too!

 

sketching out and about

A special friend of mine gave me a little Moleskine notebook for sketching and taking notes. I put it into a little pencil case together with a set of pencils and a rubber and decided to carry it around in case a chance to use it croppped up. And it did!

I was in my favourite town sipping tea by the sea and sketched a boat.

 

Then, another day I was waiting for my partner and instead of texting friends or 'wasting' my precious time on my phone, I sketched a butterfly.

Birthday cards making

This year has brought important birthdays and I decided to make special birthday cards for my friends. I used my favourite watercolours :)

One of my friends is turning 70, a very special number, isn't it? and he is in love with LIGHTHOUSES so I decided to paint one:

Another friend is turning 40 and he is a photographer, so a camera was a must ;)

 

I also made 'regular' one ;)

Nini's ATC swap- October

October has brought another ATC theme. This time it's HOME. I didn't hesitate much this time. When I saw the topic, I immediately thought about the gorgeous SWEDISH houses, the red ones, you know ;) I find them marvellous. I don't know what it is about them that makes me like them so much, but definitely there's something. When I visited Sweden 2 years ago, I fell in love with these gorgeous red dwellings and thought that perhaps one day I could move to Sweden and buy myself a gorgeous house like this and make it a HOME ;) Thank God dreaming is free ;)

So, here's what I produced:

12 pages in 2015- August

While working on my July page, I felt quite inspired and made the August page too ;) The theme for this one was: JEANS & JELLY BEANS. Another challenge ;) 

I decided to paint a pair of jeans, of course ;) and then a box of Harry Potter Jelly Beans in the back pocket. The proportions are not great, but these were my first trousers ever! I normally don't draw people so clothes are quite a challenge. I found it quite interesting, though and feel like making more attempts at it. So, here it is:

12 pages in 2015- July

The theme for the July page in Nini's *12 pages in 2015* was HOME & WAVES. It took me quite some time to decide what to make. At first I had an idea, but struggled immensly making it. I wanted to paint a rough sea as I now live in Spain and by the sea which I adore so I thought this would be a splendid idea of putting Home & Waves together. Unfortunately, it was just so hard draw or paint them. No idea why... but I struggled. I then put it off for quite some time until the idea dawned on me. I did paint waves, but going a bit out of my comfort zone... I'm a realist and pretty down-to-earth person so using pinkish and purplish was a challenge and also the house on the waves... ;) Still, I'm happy with it. Wonder what you think...

100 days of...Granny squares blanket finished :)

Here I am to proudy announce that I *finally* finished my Granny Squares Blanket :) I managed to reach the 100 days at last! Just because life gets in the way a bit ;) it was impossible to work on it on daily basis and I ended up working on it for much longer. Yet, it's done! My first ever crochet blanket I am very proud of :)

the blanket is 110 by 150 cm in size and consists of 165 Granny Squares

 

here's the details of the squares and the border

While I was working on the blanket the Doggie kept me company and became a regular *user* of the blanket. He seems to have claimed it as his ;)

 

To make this gorgeous blanket I followed the instructions from this blog: Solstrikke