Crochet Christmas Wreath 2011

After a long pause, here I am with this year's Crochet Christmas Wreath.

All you need is a base and zillions of chains... the base and the pretend branches of the wreath will take you only a few hours to finish, so no big deal. If you click here, it will lead you to the first part of the tutorial I posted last year. And please don't look for the second part of it because it has never been written... I know, I know... shame on me! For the holly leaves and the berries I followed this pattern. And for the crochet candy canes after a long session of googling I came across with this blog, which has video tutorials besides written instructions. I wanted to make smaller candy canes, so I chained 33 instead of 50.

This year I tried to make my wreath to have a snowy effect, so I used a glittery white yarn as well as the regular green one. Enjoy it!

Love,

Gonca

Cookies

In between too many projects waiting to be finished, and tons of housework to be done, I cooked some cookies for the craft party I was going to attend today. The recipe is very simple.

All you need is

• 125 gr fine sugar
• 250 gr butter
• 520 gr all purpose flour
• 1 egg

First you beat sugar and butter until it is creamy. Then you add the egg, and the flour. Don't add all the flour at once, as the amount might be too much depending on the other ingredients. Knead until you have a stiff enough to be rolled cookie dough. It wasn't mentioned in the original recipe, but I chilled the dough for about 30 minutes in the fridge. Then, flatten it 1/2 cm thick and cut into shapes. I got my lovely cutters from Vienna a few years back and used them for the first time yesterday. Shame on me for not putting them into use for so long. Aren't they adorable?

For those who can read Turkish, the original recipe is here.

Back to life, back to reality

After being away from the hustle and bustle of the city for about 3 weeks I'm back home again.

During these 3 weeks I've done many things including crochetting-surprise (NOT!)-, gardening, eating tasty stuff-putting on weight as well-, improving my yoghurt making skills-yes I can make yoghurt from scratch-, and spent quality time with my parents.

I have lots of things to show and tell about my holiday. But first I need to settle down. There's a huge pile of clothes and bed sheets waiting to be ironed, and a complete room to be re-organized. I'll also be showing some of my finished projects for the shop update. Soon, very soon I promise.

Holiday

The last 5 weeks have been soooo hot that I haven't been able to upload anything here. I was hoping to start a few new projects this summer, but obviously I didn't foresee that a summer could be this hot in this city. It was either 29 or 30 C at night, and with the help of humidity 36 C felt 50 C something during the day. I couldn't saw, crochet or knit anything at all.

Enough with complaints! I'm off to the sea for 20 days this afternoon. After a long journey-a 14-hour-bus trip- I'll be swimming in the bluest and cleanest sea ever in my country. Will be back in 2 weeks. Till then take care of yourselves and don't give up checking here, because I'll be back with "sneak-peek" pics of my new shop updates.

A Picturesque Field Trip

As daddy being a member of the race management team in the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2010 which is held in Istanbul, and a sightseeing boat trip was organised by the comitee we, the whole family-including my sister who came from the US for a 3-week-holiday-at-home, had a chance to join them on the boat. It was supposed to be a 4-hour boat trip along the Bosphorus, but the teenagers on board weren't interested in seeing the architectural beauty of the waterside residences, or palaces, or mosques, and ancient churches that are situated on both sides of the Bosphorus. Instead, they were either chatting on the top the shades or throwing water bottle caps or water itself to each other, and finally the trip was cut short and we stepped on land 30 minutes before the scheduled. Very typical of teenagers I guess!

I realised once more how lucky I am to be living in such a beautiful city like Istanbul. Actually, each time I'm crossing the bridge which connects the two continents, Europe and Asia, the scenery takes my breath away. No matter how many times I've been on that bridge all my life, it always feels like being there for the first time.

It was really a hot and humid day yesterday, and the boat was full of teenagers from all over the world, so please excuse me for the poor quality photos.

It's officially summer!

10 reasons to love summer:

1. Birkenstocks & sandals. Free your feet ladies...

2. All shades of pink nail polish on my toes. Love 'em!

3. Longer days. I really hate it when it gets dark at 4 pm in winter!!!

4. Swimming! Oh I love the sea when it is cold and crystal clear. But that's gotta wait till I go on

holiday in June.

5. Floor length flyaway skirts and dresses. Especially floral and romantic ones.

6. Sailing. I don't have a license, but I happily assist dad when we go sailing.

7. Ice-cold beer.

8. My new magic lip moisturiser with SPF 15. It's called magic because the transparent lipstick

turns into a lovely rosy pink on the lips.

9. New knitting and crochet projects. (2 are on the way to be photographed and put here)

10. Delicious summer fruit: Cherries, apricots, grapes, and peaches, my favourite of all by the way.

HAPPY EASTER ALL!