indoor gardening

Ok, I'm officially gave in to indoor gardening ;) These are purple basil and spinach - bought them in a supermarket yesterday. In a tiny pot - a handful of seed sprouted and then grew up, poor and weak. I planted them in small pots without dividing the spires. Some of them will die eventually, leaving space for the strongest.

Last Sunday

Gosh, I'm sooooo lazy!

March was such a strange month. I was doing something all the time, meeting friends, taking pictures, updating shops and stitching orders... But at the moment I feel like haven't done anything - I see no results ((( This is really such a distracting feeling, because I realize I'm tired - and I cannot understand why.

I discovered Ane Burn. She is an amazing singer and author, and her cover of the "Big in Japan" is the best ever, just the right one, she really captured the feeling of this song.

Well, I watched a bunch of neo-noire movies including D.O.A. (1988 re-make), The Man Who Wasn't There, LA Confidential and Black Dahlia (again and again - adore this film!). I love the Noire for long dialogues and monologues and for the beautiful music.

Oh, and I received my little Neko pincushion! This pincushion was created by Sawako Hayakawa, an artist behind Alleluja. This is a dream come true, no, seriously - I'm mooning over these pincushions for a few years, I didn't even know they are available for purchase ^__^. Neko is amazing, and I hope to have something else too (but it is oh so hard to decide what exactly, everything is totally fabulous!)

Beautiful Neko by  Alleluja

Tamago. Tank.

Ahh, I have finally completed all my opened side projects :) The first one was my petite Blythe doll (geeezzzz, I'm ashamed ^__^). I completed the rerooting of her hair, did some lip carving, changed eyes and removed the ugly eye-lashes (she has no eyelids anyway). This is the result - from kinky teen to delicate fairy (I hope...) She still needs some work and of course a pretty dress and some nice accessories. And I'm thinking about adding some tint onto her white hair.

My little Tamago

I called her Tamago, because my inspiration was that girl from Tenshi no Tamago (Angel's Egg) anime movie by Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano. She is nowhere close to an angel, but I'm sure that she can be a very very small egg ;)  Here is the reference picture:

Tenshi no Tamago poster.

And my tank is now completely ready to meet fishies ;) At the moment the only dweller there is my Betta, three Neocardina shrimps and two cherry shrimps (aww they are so cute!) Tomorrow we will go to the pet market to find some neon tetras.

Akai. He is so red! ;) Sometimes he reminds of a finest silk cloth, swift and eye-catching.

mid-February key take-aways

February started fabulously lazy and it still is ;)

I have
- totally neglected my Etsy-shop and embroidery;
- had some good sleep (sometimes even a little too much);
- saw my beautiful friend in Sevastopol and had a great time at her Pre-Valentines party (pics later);
- finally finished re-rooting my petite Blythe doll hair (yes, I'm obsessed and I got one, tiny baby ;) );
- celebrated the first anniversary of the PocketsOfArt (a collective shop I belong to)
- and - ta-daaaam! - two days ago I bought the aquarium!

For two days I was up to my eyes with it. I'm a complete newbie in fishkeeping, actually. Yes, I have a paradise fish and a betta, but the jars these two miserables live are far from being an aquarium. So of course, I made a couple of darn mistakes, but hopefully it is not too awful. I planted some nice plants, and even played some aquascaping with a small mangle snag and a couple of rough stones. Some pictures within a few days, the tank is not ready for a photo session yet.

My husband wants a flock of cute little neon fishes, so be it. Unfortunately, my Pod, the paradise fish, is too big and aggressive for them. I'm getting myself ready to let him go. So sad...

My darling Pod, the Paradise fish. My first victim ^__^ (pic by Tori Tokabari)

Old lady

This is my beautiful sewing machine. It is hand operated which is perfect for my small patterns. My father found it and fixed it up and then gave it to me. It saves me a lot of time, because earlier I had to sew everything by hand. And now I have much more time for embroidery ;)

She turns the scale at 15 kilos, so it's pretty heavy as compared to some modern sewing machines, but still, she is very reliable, she can sew anything ;)  It's made in 1956, and all covered with many scratches. Dad also had to fix the wooden support with screws.

My good old Podolsk sewer.

P.S.: I bought a Betta splenden today ;) It's a beautiful red male with gorgeous veil tail. I hope to make some pictures and show my new treasure soon.