July in 31 photos - days 19-31

Hello August!

I can't believe you are here! 

(already?)

The start of the new month is the perfect occasion to look all my July photos and make some considerations about my "July in 31 photos" project and the month I had.

But first of all I want to publish here all the photos I haven't shared with my readers: they are about days 19-31.

Day 19: in Licata with special friends for a feast+concert. The streets were decorated with thiese colorful umbrellas. Great idea!
I took other beautiful photos of the concert, the harbour (my favourite of this bunch) and umbrellas at night.

Day 20: Sunday. Rest day + sewing. I designed a t-shirt pattern with the help of a t-shirt I have in my closet.

Day 21: We bought some elegant clothes for S. because this summer we are invited to 3 weddings.

Day 22: a very ugly photos for probably the most exciting moment of this month: the firts time we've seen Macchia's baby out of his/her "cave".

Day 23: Today mom sent me this photo of a giant flower born from a succulent plant dad bought some weeks before his death. I decided to publish it for this day, because it's too beautiful!!!

Day 24: Today I received a sad new: a lovely friends has lost her husband after years and years of life together. I've been sad all the day and decided to take a photo of a dalia flower in my garden to dedicate to this man recently died and to my friend.

Day 25: Cutting magazines! I saved some images for future collages and some other to paste into my moleskine journal. That girl on the bike... oh, she's me (I haven't blond hair and I'm not so thin, but I feel like this image is speaking about me).

Day 26: First wedding of the season! I like my green dress, all made of lace!
And I like my man into elegant clothes.

Day 27: trying to make a mat for my sewing machine using my braid od t-shirt yarn. After a quiet start, somthing went wrong :(

Day 28: Macchia's baby started to walk in our garden. Oh, I'm in love!!!

Day 29: Beautiful colors in the veggies I cook almost everyday. Love veggies!

Day 30: Sleeping with mum (probably my favourite photo of the month)

Day 31: I made pesto with the basil we are growing in our garden. What a smell!

Put a crocheted heart on your head

S. Valentine's day is approaching... it's time for some heart-related crafts! 

I still have some of the crocheted hearts AuntFran made for me monthes ago in different bright colours. 

Two of them are fixed on my soft rabbies (fuchsia and turquoise), but others were waiting to be used in some ways!

So I decided to experiment a bit with a super quick handsewing project and I decorated two hair pins with my crocheted hearts.

Aren't they lovely for a little girl?

I'm going to give them to my little niece C. (6 years old) as S. Valentine's day gift. 

Althoug I'm not a big fan of very bright colors, I'm learning to enjoy them when they are used in little things (they don't disturb my eyes too much!).

I like them :)

My favourite hair pin is this one in turquoise, for the colour and the way it is worked:

This is the back:

I made a little hole with tiny scissors (later closed with white thread) into a scrap of white felt to insert the pin. Then I've sewn by hands the two hearts together and ... ta-daaaa! Finished! :D

Love these little projects that give me some moments of happy creativity in these super busy days for my brain!

Are you making some heart or love related?

Share it in the comments, if you like!

A very happy (and wet) birthday

 

My birthday was yesterday.

Now I'm 36 years old. 36. Oh my god, time runs too fast!

I had a very happy birthday, filled by a lot of phone calls and people who came to visit me. Friendship is the keyword of my 36th birthday :)

I received also a lovely birthday card from Pam (in the photo you can see her coloured message inside) and ... a new camera from S!!!

Thanks to my sweet man I'm able again to take photos and blog them. I'm so happy and grateful! :)

My old and sick camera is resting in a drawer now, after years and years of good job.

 

I had a wet birthday, too!

Rain -___-

Rain all day.

I hated it.

A thing I like of being an april girl is that my birthday's weather usually consists in sun and warm air. Not this year.

Uh, and I struggled all the day with a bad cold.

But I'm happy the same :)

I ate two pieces of my strawberry cheesecake and a very tasty pizza with my love watching a movie.

And my lovely niece came to visit me and taught me how to dance, eh eh :)

And Vera published a post about me, where you can read my answers to some questions and see Vera wearing the bag I made for her 2 years ago.

 

So... I had a very happy birthday :)

And celebrations aren't finished yet, because mum and dad are coming here this evening for a 7 days long holiday.

I'm a lucky girl!

Spotted photo theme: found hearts

It's time for the second episode of "Spotted photo theme"! Love it!

 

 

Hanna decided that the february theme is "Found hearts" and here you can find her collection of photographed hearts.

 

I'm not a fan of haerts as a symbol, but, surfing into my folders, I  noticed I have taken some pictures of hearts here and there.

 

My favourite is this one:

 

 

This is the keyhole of an old door of a church. The door has been made probably in the 18th century and so this heart-shaped keyhole.

I took this photo around 4 years ago, when I was working as historician of art for an amazing project of cataloguing.

 

Another photo I really love is this one:

 

 

It's a heart accidentaly "shaped" by a thread on my pincushion in 2010. Sometimes nonliving things can be very creative :)

 

I found an heart on a cake, last september. We were celebrating my "parents-in-law" 60th (!!!) wedding anniversary and our niece ML made and decorated this lovely cake and added a tiny heart:

 

 

 

And here we have some hearts AuntFran crocheted for me this winter (I'm using them for my bunnies now!):

 

 

And a sweet memory: the cake S. bought last year for Valentine's Day:

 

 



A thank you message for Roberta written into a heart (+ me):

 

 

I'm not sure to be really into the theme with some of these photos.

I mean... some of these hearts aren't "found", but "handmade". 

But I think they can be included in the game the same!

Hanna, if you're reading, let me know if I'm wrong or not!

 

Here the first episode (critters)!

We made a Christmas wreath

S. and I worked together on a Christmas project last week.
We made a wreath for our front door.

This is my first Christmas wreath ever. There isn't this kind of decoration in my parents' home, because of a "strange" position of the main door (it is hidden under a porch).

 

To make it we used:

- branches of grapevine (part of the grapevine plants S. has in his garden): we braided them when still tender and yielding

- bows I made with a red+gold ribbon S. bought in Catania

- real branches of an unknown (to me) plant with lovely and tiny red fruits and green leeves: our niece bought it for us

 

 

Although our original idea for it had to change a bit during the making, I love this wreath!

I like its natural style, the rustic look of the grapevine branches, the use of real plants in it and how the colors of the bows and the fruits match!

And I'm happy that S. and I made it together (we rarely have crafty-time to spend "as a couple").

 

 

Before making it we saw a lot of beautiful Christmas wreath in the shops and we planned to buy one for our home. But the most beautiful and well made were too expensive, so we had this DIY idea.

And we reached some things: we had our wreath, we spent happy time together and with our niece, we save money, we have a one-of-a-kind piece :)

Handmade ornaments are the best!

 

Christmas wakes up creativity in (almost) all families. People start to make ornaments, arrange things around Christmas tree, make beautiful wrapped packages, etc. It's all about creativity :)

And this is expecially true here in Italy, where we decorate our homes also with rapresentations of Nativity (often handmade and very complex).

I wrote this little note in the comments of Pam's post about Italia Team Nativities. Follow the link to be delighted by a lovely round up of nativities and other Christmas inspirations! There is my nativity, too!

In love with these postage stamps

Last week S. brought me from his office a big paper envelope full of postage stamps he saved from the mail they receive every day.

He knows how I like postage stamps: they are a tiny work of art with a lovely "jagged" frame.

 

 

I felt in love with a lot of them, but today I want to show you my favourite.

 

The first one is perfect for this month. It has the words "Buon Natale" (= Merry Christmas") and a lovely drawing of a wintery landscape and reindeers' silhouettes contrasting with a dark snowy sky:

 

 

And I'm glad that someone decided to dedicate a stamp to protected species of italian donkeys:

 

 

There's also my favourite: the ragusano donkey!

 

I found two postage stamps about scout movement, too!

 

 

I used to be a very happy scout girl when I was younger and I am always enthusiast about all things scout related!

 

This envelope full of tiny art has been a great gift! Thank you, sweetie :)

Now I'm planning what to do with them.

S. said that his project is to frame the most beautiful together to compose a panel to decorate a wall in our home. Lovely idea, expecially because hiding this beauty in a drawer it's a pity! I want to see them every day :)

But  my mind started to develope other ideas. Hope to have the time to realize some soon (too busy, too busy! Why free time isn't enough???).

A beautiful bride will wear...

... my bag :)

I'm so happy!!!

My friend Francesca will marry Nicola next June and she asked me to make her a bag to wear in that special day.

This idea really excited me, particularly because it had an ecological implication: the bag is made of scraps of fabric of the bridal dress, left-over from the dress making and destined to finish in the rubbish can.

Isn't it great?

I like eco-sewing :)

Francesca suggested me the design: she really like the "Josy clutch bag" by Ithinksew, so I used this pattern with some alterations.

Francesca also suggested to decorate the bag with fabric flowers, so I realized three little peonies (similar to the peonies I transformed into brooches some monthes ago, but smaller).

Great idea! They really add a romantic and stylish touch to the bag.

This fabric is lovely. It's soft and 'shimmering', but it doesn't move when is under the presser foot of the sewing machine, making the sewing simple and fast.

It is a bit too light to be used for a bag, so I made it stronger with fusible interfacing and two pieces of a new material I bought in my favourite sewing shop here in my new little city: it is a sort of plastic net, strong in mantaining the shape but light.

I'm going to show it to you in another post, if you're interested.

This bag is going to be on the top of the best 2012 craft projects. Pure love! :)

I can't wait to see the photos of Francesca's wedding and see her wearing my bag together with her lovely bridal dress!!!

Sicily: Calatabiano

Last saturday S. decided to go for a short trip to a small village not far of here: Calatabiano.

It was the day of a famous religious feast: the inhabitants celebrate San Filippo (Saint Philippe) in a particular way and S. wanted to show it to me.

We spent a lovely afternoon, taking part of the event, enjoying nature, visiting Calatabiano's monuments (the ruines of the arab-norman castel and some churches), having dinner outdoor.

I want to show you some photos we took.

The firts photos are about the San Filippo statue carried by devots in red clothes: according to the tradition they bring this heavy load from the ancient church dedicated to Crucified Christ (on the hills) to another church at the center of the village (in the valley). And they do that running (yes, running) on a downhill lane (link in italian).

They probably are a bit crazy to be brave enough to do it!

But this tradition fascinates me a lot!

Processions with statues or other images of Saints, the Virgin Mary or the Crucified are usual in Italy (I wrote something about it in my post about Saint Lucy for Pam's blog), but this is very unconventional!

When the run finished, we visited the church and, on the top of the hill,  the castel:

We enjoyed a great sight from here. 

These ruines are a sort of a panoramic balcony when you can see the Ionian sea, Taormina on the left (it's in the center if this photo, on a peaked hill... can you see it?) and Mount Etna (fuming) on the right:

So evocative! :)

I think spring is the perfect season to take your car and a good pair of cosy shoes and explore the world!

Quality time, new things learned, some exercise done and great photos to look and edit when at home!

We want to do it more often, since Sicily (but the whole Italy, honestly), thanks to its story, offers so much to see!

Amazing birthday

Hi, everyone! :)

I'm writing from my parents' home. We are having a great holiday here!

Yesterday we celebrated my 35° birthday and I smiled all day! :)

This has been probably one of the best birthdays of my life, because:

- the sun shined all day

- the day started checking my e-mails and I noticed that an australian buyer purchased one of my items. Happy me!

- Mum coocked for me a birthday lunch and we eat my favourite dish of the north: polenta!

- After lunch my aunt, my big cousins and the little dog Mila came to visit me and we eat cake together (and we had a lot of fun!). Really a yummy cake, look:

- Then S. and I visited a lovely museum in my favourite town (Lodi): the "Printing and art print making museum" (I'm going to write a blog post about it, because I have a lot of things to show you!).

- I met my lovely friends Alice, Cri and Pietro for dinner: we had pizza in Lodi. How I missed them in these 3 months in Sicily!

A lovely day, full of joy and beautiful things!

Archaeological trip!

Last sunday S. and I decided to spend some time in Catania to visit the monuments I studied for my exam.

I am well prepared on history of art from middle age to our days, so we decided to start from an archeological tour.

We visited the Greek- Roman theatre.

It stands up at the center of the city, among baroque churches and palaces.

As you can see in this photo, the theatre had been covered by houses after the end of the Roman empire.

The archaeologists had to remove some of these buildings to let the theatre emerge. 

Like in the ancient times, the theatre can be flooded for particular shows, thanks to subterranean waters.

This vision of ancient ruins and water really fascinated me :)

We visited also its inner tunnels, moving from sun light to a dark atmosphere.

A lovely sunday afternoon :)

A yummy cake for Valentine's day

We are not big fans of Valentine's day, honestly.

S. and I haven't celebrated this festivity before, but this year we had the opportunity to celebrate the first Velentine's day at our home.

So S. (he's is a romantic man) bought a cake to eat together after dinner.

A sumptuous cake, as famous sicilian pastry making is used to.

This is the only thing we did for Valentine's day: eating a delicious heart-shapes cake together. It's totally our style: a simple life :)

And you? How did you celebrate your Valentine's day?



Drawing faux postage stamps for a postal office in the woods :)

I've done something funny during the weekend.

Funny and challenging in the way I like.

I've drawn 22 faux postage stamps in black&white, filling two pages of my moleskine journal (pochet size).

I started without a precise intention. I was waiting for my boyfriend in the car, last saturday: empty and boring time I decide to fill with some drawing.

I drew a stamp. I found it funny and I drew a second stamp. And a third.

The thing became addictive and soon a funny idea knocked to my brain: designing a lot of postage stamps for MadameRenard's post office.

I'm 34 years old, but I still like to play :)

I gave a title to all of the stamps I've drawn.

PAGE 1:

1- my main passions (sewing, books, childish things)

2- stylized sewing tools (pins, bottons, tape measure)

3- italian landscape

4- flowers under the rain (inspired to my batiq n.5)

5- a fox contemplating the sunset

6- leaves and fruits

7- white fox

8- creative tools (pencil, scissors, brush)

9- bread on the kitchen table

PAGE 2:

10- yummy fruits for a fog

11- abstract

12- dragonfly

13- italian village in summer

14- geometric black&white

15- happy fox

16- a passion for softies

17- clothes drying in the wind

18- footmarks

19- stylized book spines

20- a fox in love for a new dress

21- snow

22- dawn on italian Alpes

All of these stamps have something to say about my world, my passions, my being italian, my totem (the fox).

I've tried to play with different subjects, shapes and styles, giving attention to every little detail.

I've noticed that working on small scale is a good thing for me and, though drawing in a rectangular frame is usual, I really like to work into squares (am I ready for inchies?).

I'm so happy when a creative practice teach me something about me and shows other creative ways to walk.

My boyfriend has been really impressed by these two pages. His favourite stamps are n. 3 ,5, 15.

Please, write a comment and indicate your favourite stamps! I need to know it! :)

Etsy Italia Team for Geca Onlus

Probably my readers remember Vera.
It's a lovely girl who runs a great Etsy shop. She lives not far from my old home in the north and invited me to share a table to sell our handmade goodies last June. I consider her a new special friend, received as a gift this year.

Vera is suffering from a rare disease, the ARVC: Right Ventricular Dysplasia Cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease that causes serious cardiac problems.
You can read Vera's story here.

To help Vera and all the people who are suffering this kind of cardiac illness, Etsy Team Italy, together with all its members, has decided to start a campaign in favor of GECA ONLUS, a non-profit organization founded in Padua to support and help people affected by heredo-familial heart diseases and their families (420 families are active in carrying out programs to support research on these diseases).

From July 9 to September 9, you can buy beautiful hearts made by our team members at our charity shop: at the end of the campaign, all proceeds will be donated to the association that takes care of people suffering from this disease and supports the genetic research to fight it.

I donated a pencil case with a red heart crocheted by AuntFran in the front (sold).

There are other lovely items in the shop, handamde by talented girls of Etsy Italia Team. Please, take a look and, if you like something, don't esitate to buy: your help is important!

A love message in the garden

We have a little garden on the back of our home.

You can enter in it from the kitchen and I love sitting there after dinner with S., when a fresh wind comes from the country after a hot day.
A week ago we installed a tube for our plants-of-the-future and S. covered it with cement (we have some projects to restyle this part of the home, it isn't finished yet).
When the cemento was still wet, S. wrote in it a message for me with a little stick: "Silvia, T. A. T.". In italian it sounds "Silvia (my name), ti amo tanto" ("Silvia, I love you").
Now every friend who comes to visit us can see this love message for me. Lovely. And funny.

I love you, too :)

Goodbye

I have a big surprise for my readers.

Tomorrow in the afternoon I'll leave my home in the north of Italy to live in my new home, with S., in the south (Sicily). I'm going to live 1200 Km far from the place where I grew up, studied, met my friends and where my whole family still live.

A new life for me and S. Together.

Honestly, it's great, but a bit scary and sad for me. I'm afraid of homesickness and I haven't a job there. But, hey, it's the right thing to do and I'm happy about my decision. Happiness needs hard choices, sometimes.

I don't know if this blog will be updated regularly: we have a lot to do in our new home and I haven't internet acces yet.

But I'll do my best to write some blog posts soon. It's a promise!

Goodbye!!!

Uh!
Before leaving this page I have a question: Isn't my new banner beautiful?
It's clear, funny and have a professional look.
Francesca made it for me. She is a talented web designer and has an interesting Etsy shop (Myminimallook) where she offers custom banner.
Thank you, Francesca, I love it!

Cinque Terre: art and nature

I spent my birthday and the next day in a beautiful place here in Italy, not too far from my home: the "Cinque terre (= five lands) national park".

It has been a romantic trip with S.!

I saw a lot of beauty around me, ate good food, walked in mountains trails with the sight of mediterranean sea.

Tonight I want to share with you some photos I took when I was there: photos of nature and art. Enjoy!