Too much figs? Make jam!

We have a lot of figs now.

A lot.

Friends and relatives are giving us baskets of these fruits they pick up in their gardens (so they are organic, too). So tasty!

We like to eat them, but they are really too much for me and S., so I decided to make jam and preserve their deliciousness (I'm not sure about this word's existence) for next winter.

I like this kind of activities.

It can be tiring, sometimes, I know, but it gives me real satisfaction. In autumn I really enjoy to see the jars of preserved food I've realized during summer. Not only jam, but also tomato sauce, pesto, jars of dried italian spices (oregano, basil, rosemary, ho pepper...).

It's a way not to waste planet's resources (a drop in the ocean, I know, but it's important for me).

Yesterday I made 6 jars of jam (some big, some little).

And today... a yummy breakfast for me :)



Glossy!

In my last post I've written about a new bag I was making with my new recycled fabrics. Well, I made two :)

I experimented with a particular glossy fabric I have in different colors (I picked up two clothes, white and brown). It is an elegant tissue, glossy, with embossed stripes and stylized leaves. I like it!

These fabrics (part of upholstery pattern books) haven't big dimensions, so I can sew only small/medium bags (they are my favourite, anyway; for me it's not a limit, it's what I like to make and wear).

I mixed them with another recycled fabric (cream with a light pattern of leaves and flowers).

I made two 100% recycled bag. It's totally my style!

The first bag is pearl and ivory (available here):

The second is white and brown (available here):

I worked on two different designs, adapting my usual models to the fabric's feature. What bag do you like best?

Yesterday

... washing, folding and saving my new fabrics to recycle: eye-candies, beautiful colors and interesting textures. And a lovely floral scent everywhere!

... preparing a sewing corner in my new home: my sewing machine finally arrived by car thanks to a friend (a travel 1200 km long!) and I arranged a corner of one of our (almost empty) bed-rooms to sew in it (an old little table, a plastic stool). I'm getting ready a box for my tools, too.

... picking and drawing some wild grass: not so simple as it seems!

... starting a new sewing project for my shop: a little cream and ivory bag.

An explosion of colors in my new fabrics

Look at this photo!

What you see is a part of the pile of new fabrics I've received by my friend Vincenzo.

He's becoming an important guest of this blog, don't you think?

He is the upholsterer who gave me damask's clothes from old pattern books coming from his workshop last february (I've turned it into some bags I've happily sold in my shop; the last one is still available here).

Some weeks ago he gave me two big bags full of high quality and colorful fabrics: some of them are part of pattern books, some are leftovers from his works (curtains, kitchen's accessories...). They aren't "old style" like the damask, but have a modern and fresh look.

All of them (and this is the important part of the thing for me) will not finish in a garbage can (as their destinywas supposed to be): I'm going to recycle them and to give them a new life as bags or accessories!

I like in particular these two series, because of the assortment of colors and the characteristic patterns they have.

Very little dimensions, however! Working with them probably will be a little creative challenge!

In the pile I also found some synthetic sheets with amazing patterns and colors, perfect for autumn:

And some cotton sheets probably I'll use for my kitchen (the white and brown one is perfect to be turned into a table runner in my white and wengè kitchen):

 

I've also found some sheets of damask, but in softer colors than the previuos, some small pieces of red faux leather and a lot of silk (in orange, champagne and beige; some clothes have flowers embroidered).
I've never used silk for my works before. I'm not sure how to sew it, but I really like it and I'm thinking to something elegant to do with it (for weddings? maybe!).

Some recycling joy is coming for me! Happy and lucky girl! Yeah! :)

From the past: recycled t-shirt yarn turned in a coin purse

Do you remember when auntFran and I recycled a lot of old t-shirts into yarn to crochet or knit?

We made a striped bag for me and a bag for auntFran.

Well, we made also a little coin purse. I've always forgotten to show it to you, but today I've found some photos of it I took last June.

This coin purse is 100% recycled, because is made of:
- t-shirt yarn
- linen from old clothes (lining) 
- zipper saved from an old pair of trousers

The coin purse is now in my pile of finished objects waiting for their destination. Nobody is using it, right now. I'm thinking about uploading it in my shop, but I'm dubious. It's really well-made, but probably nobody is interested in purchasing this kind of little-handmade-recycled purses.

As usual, my aunt Francesca crocheted the yarn and I sewed the fabric lining. 

I really miss our collaboration, now that I'm so far from home. I hope we can make something together when I'll come back home to visit my parents. Probably a bag or something similar.

The moon, mount Etna and other beautiful things

Last friday S. and I were travelling towards a village near the seaside to spend some days of holiday with two special friends. We were in the car when we arrived near mount Etna, the tallest sicilian (and european) volcano, and saw a beautiful landscape.

A silver and bright moon was looking Etna's top; sunset made pink the smoke coming from the volcano and all around was purple and blue.

During these three days of holiday we lived in a beautiful apartment with a big balcony. In the following photo you can see what we could see every evening from it.

A giant moon over Nebrodi mountains.

Sometimes nature is so beautiful!

And what about the sea? Look:

S. and I, together with our friend, have swum in this blue sea lookin to Eolie islands.
I'm so thankful that nature is so beautiful! And I'm lucky to live here, close to these lovely places!

Coloured Dala horses in my journal

Some days ago S. and I bought a set of crayons for our little niece Chiara (4 years old). The project (the hope) is to leave them in our home, so when Chiara will come to visit us she will be quiet for a minute or two making and colouring a drawing.

A set of new colors in my home... uhm,  I couldn't resist! I used them. I know, they are for my niece, ok, but a little test don't make me a bad aunt. Or not?

Aniway, I used them for some coloured Dala horses.

I tested my handmade stamp with black ink and I embellished them with bright colors (I wanted a page full of creative joy).

Then I wrote a title: "Dala horses... in many colors". As I wrote this words, I remembered a post by Hanna with the same title.

Funny! :)

Probably I can consider my journal page a sort of answer to Hanna's post.

Making this super-simple page has been important for me. I noticed how I miss colors in my new life. I want to buy watercolors and brushes soon. And other art&craft materials, of course!

Making a Dala horse stamp

Last week I had a lot of fun making a Dala horse stamp for "Dala horse craft-a-long", a cute idea of four talented bloggers (Carina, Hanna, Pam and Kathryn).

You can join, if you want. This game has simple rules: make by hands an object related to Dala horses, photograph it and upload the photo in the dedicated Flickr group.

As I read about this idea, I wanted to join, of course.

I like the idea of working intensively around a subject and to do that with a lot of people in the world. Amazing!

But I haven't a lot of craft material here in my new house (no fabric, no embroidery thread, no watercolors...), so I decided to handcarve a stamp.

I took some photos of the process...

... and I tested it in my moleskine journal, as usual!

I like it! :)

I decided to embellish my horse with a simple geometric decoration, probably really far for the traditional patterns used in Sweden (if you are interested, read Hanna's posts about where Dala horses are made and about the traditional painting tecnique).

I used a sheet of Adigraf: it's simple to carve, but I'm not fully satisfied by this material (it's too thin and soft, in my opinion).

Probably I'll fix my stamp on a wood board, like I did with my two stamps of the little prince. I think this is an important trick when you work with Adigraf; the print on the paper comes out better.

I hope this post gave you some inspiration to join this game and realize your Dala horse! And if you are not a crafty-person, well, you can read all the posts about this topic written by Carina, Hanna, Pam and Kathryn. Don't miss them!

These books are (in) a treasury

I'm not a compulsive maker of Esty treasury like someone. No.

I seldom realize a treasury and I'm slow as a snail in making it: usually spend a lot of time looking for the right items to collect around the choosen topic.

But I have a lot of fun the same!

It's a lovely tool to share beautiful handmade items!

This year I'm challenging myself: I'm making treasuries about books I love:

- Twenty thousands leagues under the sea

- The little prince

- Mary Poppins

- Little women

- Moomins

- The secret garden

- Pippi Longstocking

They are all "children" book, but I really like them also now that I'm an adult.

Please, click on my treasury list, enjoy and come here to write me if you found something interesting. All handmade items, or vintage! And sweet memories about amazing books :)

A zine about collage by Tattered Edge

It's time to talk again about zines' world!
I love this form of self-expression!

Recently I've purchased two mini-zines written by a canadian girl (Lelainia) who runs an Etsy shop called "Tattered edge".
One of them, "Collage and composition", was in my birthday wish-list. I started to be interested in collage this spring, but I was a bit confused about how to start and what to consider when working on collages, so this little book seemed very interesting to me.
The second one I've purchased, "Tipography: art by the letters", captured my attention because I like fonts and everything is typography-related. So I added it to my cart and paid.

I quickly received them in a beautiful recycled envelope, made of a folded magazine page (probably a magazine about art). On the back I found amazing canadian stamps with two of my favourite animals, butterfly and dragonfly (do you remember my recent love for stamps?).

Both the zines were packed in a plastic envelope. Lelainia sent me also a little gift I'll try to use in my future collages for sure!

"Collage and composition" is my favourite. It is a small work of 8 pages, but it has also a cover with inner pockets with two samples of collage to watch carefully. It's a simple and clear text, parted in five chapters ("Scale", "Color value", "Texture and depth", "Creating the layout", "Finishing touches"); the chapter about colors is my favourite.

If you are interested in Lelainia's work you can also read her blog.

And now, please, help me: can you explain me why I'm so scared by making a collage?
Have you links of tutorials or ispirations about this art to share with me?
Probably I already know the solution: I have only to try and follow what my creativity suggests me. I know, I know.

I love goats

Do you like goats?
I do.
My boyfriend's dad is a sheepherd. He is 79 years old and he wakes up every night at 4.00 a.m. (four!) to go to his goats and spends the whole day for them (in summer he comes back home at 7.00 p.m.). What a hard life!
This is his herd in a field my boyfriend owns. Near this field there are his orange trees.

I really like this kind of goats with white hair and black heads. But I like all kind of goats, because they are clever and brave, wiser and cleaner than sheeps, funny in their ability in eating everything they find.

I also like other farm's animals, like donkey and ducks. Donkey is so beautiful, strong and wise! Dark brown donkey we have here in Italy is my favourite. Ducks, well... they are so funny! :)
S., instead, loves horses and he can "drive" them. I hope he will have the time soon to go to a trip on a beautiful horse; he will be happy for sure, I know him!

And you?
What animals of the farm you like best?