LA

There was a time when moving to LA would not even be a choice I consider.  But the more we visit the city the more I like it.  Off course, I realize to visit and to live in LA are two different things.  If the opportunity to move there comes along, I still have to consider a few things: a good neighborhood, one that I can afford to live in, with a good public school for my kids, and with a relatively good commute to the airport so I can go to work.  Is that a lot to ask?

The last few times we went to LA the kids always ask to go to the beach.  They love the beach.  I never thought much about the beach, but I love the beach too.  Growing up in Eastern Europe we went to Greece almost every year.  So the beach experience is not new to me, I just never realized that I missed it in all the 17 years living in the US.

So this past weekend when I had an opportunity to go to LA with my husband, I didn't think twice. In addition to spending time at the beach with the kids, I also got to see my college friend Isabel, who has never met my kids before.  And since the job my husband had was close to the fashion district I found myself walking though this row of street market where pinatas, Hispanic foods and candy were everywhere.  Walking along, holding a kid in each hand, I fit right in.  After all, I grew up in a developing country, where the atmosphere, street vendors, street food and all that goes along with it, is a common thing.







So who knows, maybe I will end up in LA one day.

Tornado

It's on a day like today when a tornado wipes a town in Oklahoma and many die, children included, that I squeeze my kids a little tighter, I hold them a little longer and I am thankful that my family is ok.  We live another day.

I think of the pain, grief and confusion that the families affected are going through right now and how their lives are changed forever and their healing process has not even begun.  I think of the families that only a few months ago lost their children and loved ones in the school shooting in Connecticut, or the ones in the Boston Marathon bombing just last month.  How are they doing?  And if I kept up with the news a little better there are probably many more tragic happenings that are too much, too many or too overwhelming to remember.
And there is nothing that I can say that is profound, that would make a difference.  Inside I hurt a little, and I wished that somehow that was enough to take a little of the hurt away from those who suffer right now.

SEW Somerset again

I got the new issue of SEW Somerset in the mail and I have to admit the first thing I did is list through to find the pages with my work.  This is the second time my work is in SEW Somerset, and I've also been so blessed to have my work in other Stampington publications, but each time I feel just as excited as the very first time I got published.
I spent my afternoon yesterday listing through, reading the articles and admiring the work of many talented people whose work was selected to be in this issue.

And here is the two page spread with my fabric rings.

Zentangle turned into Zen-shrinkies

I've been preoccupied with a new skill I learned from a workshop I took last week: Zentangle.  Zentangle is a drawing technique of repeating patterns.  It seemed easy enough, so I gave it a try.  It was a success!  I have been seeing patterns everywhere since the class.  I've been drawing and experimenting with the technique.  And it is how I got addicted to what I like to call Zen-shrinkies.
You know I like to use shrinky dinks in many of my projects.  So I tried to see what will happen if I draw zentangle desings on shrinky dink plastic and bake it.  I added color using pencils.  And I've been totally consumed in zen-shrinkies.

 

I turned them into rings too.

 

I added my original practice drawings I did in class, to my craft only blog: Stitch Play

 

Vacation

I've been busy, but not with working, instead with taking vacation.  I took vacation twice in April: the first week and the last week of it.  I didn't have big plans, and had a great time still.  I did some travel, visited family and some friends, spent time with my kids, enjoyed the beach in California and Virginia and did some crafting.

 

      

 

 

 

Soleri Bells

Sometime about a decade ago, during our first year or two in Arizona, David and I had a chance to meet Paolo Soleri.  Paolo Soleri was an architect, who in his early days in America lived with Frank Loyd Wright's family.  He was a great thinker and the very person that created arcology - a happy marriage of architecture and ecology.

Soleri used to hold lecture talks/conversations on arcology every week either in his residence known as Cosanti, or in the city he built just outside of Prescott, AZ known as Arcosanti.  David and I attended one of these talks and bought one of Soleri's books: The Urban Ideal (a compilation of conversations with Soleri from the past 30 years).


Here are some of my favorite quotes and paragraphs from his book:

1. "I think our gravest problem is the technological rage, the rage to do whatever is possible.  There is a difference between desirable and feasible.  We create a catastrophic avalanche of junk because it is feasible, when we should be paying attention to what is desirable.  I call that 'a better quality of wrongness.'  We are getting very skilled - skilled at doing the wrong thing in better and better ways.'

2.  "It is necessity to make the city package small enough so that both the man-made and the natural are at your disposal.  There is a limit to the size of any organism, whether biological or para-biological.  The city is no exception to this imperative."

The pictures I added here are pictures of bells hanging on my front porch.  I bought them during one of the visits to Arcosanti.  These bells are one of the ways Soleri was able to raise funds to build his experimental city Arcosanti, which is still a work in progress.

If you are around Phoenix area, the Scottsdale Art Museum currently has models and sketches of Soleri's buildings and designs.  You can also visit in person his residence in Cosanti, or you can visit his marvelous city of Arcosanti.
Paolo Soleri died on April 9th this year.  He was 93.

Keeping busy

I've been quiet, but busy.  And sad, I've been quite sad and avoiding the news.   Even though there is no working TV in our home, news of bombings, explosions, darn politics and debates find their way to my ears.  I mostly listen to NPR, that's how I get the news.  And then once a week a visit to the office at my work lets me hear the TV in the breakroom blasting the news over and over and over.  Maddening!  I really don't have any right words to even begin describing my emotions, even though no one in my family has been directly affected or lost their lives in any of the sad news in the world.  Sadness fills me in for the people directly affected, and for my kids for having to grow in a world that is in such unrest.

So I've been keeping busy with work, the job that pays me every two weeks.  And with craft/hand work that makes me feel good.
Here's what I've been making:

34

It was my birthday last Sunday.  I turned 34.  I took the week off as vacation to spend time with my family and also catch up on some craft work and sleep. It was a good week off.   We spent a day on the beach in California, we had cake with my uncle in Palm Springs, and I was going to take a class this morning at a local craft shop but it got canceled.  It was a drawing class and I was looking forward to it.  But it's OK, I should learn to draw from Maggie.  She actually gave me the best birthday gift; a drawing of our family.

Moving

A little over a year ago, an apron I made out of an old skirt appeared on the pages of Belle Armoire.  Perhaps it was beginner's luck, but it was enough to encourage me to submit my work to different publications.  Almost every time I've sent something out, it has been accepted and published.  And as it goes with things like this, one is usually asked to share an email, a web, or a blog page, so readers who like to see more of your work can do so.  Without too much hesitation I usually give my blog site (that is this blog).  I don't mind sharing my work, showing off what I've made, what has inspired me etc.
But I've come to realize that my blog is not only about the things I create.  I started blogging to keep in touch with many friends I've made over the years who live around the world.  I read their blogs, they read mine.  This way I don't have to write the same letter a dozen of times.  I often share personal stories, good times and bad times, joys and frustrations.  And it was ok for my friends to read all of that.  But strangers who land on my blog by following a magazine article, shouldn't have to read about what I do with my children, or about my latest vacation, or things that went wrong and I was upset about it and needed to vent.  It's not right, nor it is professional to take innocent magazine readers into all of that.  And also my blog name Becha4779 says nothing at all about my work.  Those who know me, know that Becha is nothing more than my name spelled in cyrilics, followed by my birthday.  Pretty boring, and not very creative.
So because I plan to keep on creating and submitting, I felt it was necessary to create a blog where I can post my creative work only.  That site is Stitch Play and you can visit it here.
This doesn't mean that I won't update this blog.  I will continue to share what I am up to with my kids and family, as well as post about what I am working on. 
See you soon!

Happy Easter

Patrick and Maggie colored eggs yesterday.  They were impatient for the Easter Bunny to come.  I think they were looking forward for it with the same enthusiasm as they awaited for Santa.
Happy Easter! 

Get your dance shoes on, or 'opinci'

Every once in a while I get lucky and have a day off when a special folk dance event is going on.  This past weekend the folk dance group in Tucson was celebrating their 50th anniversary and had a special guest teacher Yves Moreau.  I asked my husband if he was interested in going to Tucson, so we all went.  He dropped me and my son off at Ina Gittings Gym at the University of Arizona, while he and my daughter went on a 'treasure' hunt at the local Bookman stores.
I've never met Yves Moreau, but I've heard from my folk dance friends that he is a great teacher.  When I walked into the gym I could hear his voice echoing a Macedonian folk dance song 'Slusham kaj shumat sumite'.  It strange to hear a song in my native tongue here in America.  Without wasting a second I joined the circle, tried to quickly learn the dance steps and sang along the familiar words of the song, that now I can't get out of my head.
He taught a few other dances and the night went on with quite a few dance request.  I knew some and joined in, others I wasn't interested (any couple/mixers), and yet for some I tried to dance behind the circle so I can follow and learn the steps.

We drove back home late last night, it was close to midnight when we got back to Phoenix.  And today, I got my Macedonian dance shoes out, known as opinci (see picture) and have been playing Macedonian music and dancing in my house.

I actually realized that YouTube has quite a selection of videos on which the dancers feet are visible so I can try to learn the steps.
Here is list of some of my favorites.  You can YouTube them by the name:
Bavno Oro
Chupurlika (I saw some belly dancers do this one)
Eleno Mome
Ravno Oro
Urva Fanka
Kopacka (men dance)
Adana
Kalajdjisko
Dedo Mili Dedo
Karamfil
Pajdusko
Syrto Kofto
Rumelaj
Yalaryal
Imate li vino
Bajracheto (also known as Zensko Beranche)
Pembe
Maleshevsko
Belasicko

Bunnies

'The Crochet Dude' had posted a crocheted bunny.  It looked like those chocolate bunnies you get for Easter.  So I tried to make a template to make my own, sewn one.  A miniature one.  And it was a success!!!  I am now making a whole bunch.  They are very tiney (1 1/2" hight).  These are the ones I made for my kids.  Happy Spring!

Mint and parsley

This winter was cold for Arizona standards.  Some parts of the Phoenix valley even got snow(flakes).  Needless to say that a tomato plant that I started in the fall was killed by the handful of frosty nights.  However my mint and parsley flourished.

What I've been working on

Just a few things I've been working on.
1. Owl necklace.  I used muslin and scrap fabric to make my necklace cord.

2. Same concept as the owl, I just used a skeleton key for a charm.

3. Tag art.  Still not sure what I am doing with this....practicing for now.

4.  This was an old tea box.  It held teabags.  I kept it because it looked like something that I can use.  So I repainted it, and used decorative paper to make each section pretty.

And then filled it with necklaces etc.

Going to a birthday party

A boy in Maggie's preschool class had a birthday and she was invited.  We went to buy a gift and she said to me that he is a boy, and needs a lego toy. 
I wrapped it for her, and she drew on the wrapping: shapes, circles, squares, hearts.  She wrote To and From.
She was pretty excited and impatient to get to the birthday party.  We were the first guests to arrive.
'Happy birthday Levi' - she said and handed him the gift.
He opened her gift first.

 

Sahuaro Ranch

From today's outing at Sahuaro Ranch Park.  I think I like old, rusty things.

Mini canvases

Some day when I have some spare time I am going to learn to paint.  Until then I am going to use Modpodge, pretty paper and lace, as I did on these tiny canvases.

Phoenix International Folk Dance Festival

This weekend Phoenix International Folk Dancers had their big annual festival.  I used to dance with this group every Thursday, and I've not been able to do that in the last few years because of work schedule.  I try to catch up with them any chance I get.


I went alone to the festival, no kids.  A feeling of guilt and excitement kept me company on the drive to the other side of town where the festival was.  There were quite a few people, most of whom I know and can call friends.  A couple from Tucson (photo above) was there.  I love to watch them dance.  They've been dancing for many, many years and now well in their retirement age, they have not given up dancing.  It's what keeps them young.  They are so beautiful together.
My Bulgarian friend Lora was there.  And her husband snapped this photo of us  (below) when the festival was over.


Apart from the familiar sounds and steps of Eastern European music, a Phillipino dance group performed for us. These pretty girls moved like flowers in the wind.  I enjoyed watching their dance mastery when they performed a dance holding a glass full of liquid on top of their head and one in each hand. (Nothing spilled, wow!!!)


The spectators got a special treat when a local zumba teacher (his name escapes me at the moment) showed up and performed a flamenco dance.


I had a great time.  And I am secretly excited now that this week I don't work late and will head over to the Irish Cultural Center on Tuesday night to catch up again with Phoenix International Folk Dancers.

Happy March 1st

It's March 1st and a beautiful day in Chandler, sunny and clear blue skies.  I put on a bright, green, beautiful dress this morning, made out of eyelet lace.  It's probably more suitable for St. Patrick's celebration than March 1st, but I wanted to wear something pretty and inspiring, and this green dress seemed to fit my mood well. 
I have a list of things to accomplish, some crafty (working on some St. Patrick's stuff), other require crafty skills but no creativity (making curtains for our movie room).  I also have a list of people whose birthday I missed days and weeks ago and I am working on some gifts to mail.
Happy March 1st!!  

Martinki (photo above) - on March 1st in Eastern European countries people give & receive martinki which are supposed to bring health and happiness in the coming days.  The martinki above were given to me by my Bulgarian friend Lora.  However Maggie and I were making martinki bracelets this morning, which is the Macedonian version of martinki.