Christmas sewing

Lots of Christmas sewing has been going on here, hence my silence!!! Today is my first day of market in San Marino, 'Natale delle Meraviglie'. It's a wonderful event in the Republic of San Marino full of little wooden houses filled with lovely handmade products to give as unique gifts for Christmas! There are activities for kids and lots of food stalls! All in all a fabulous Christmassy atmosphere.

Of course last minute orders came in this week. They are always a priority so they can arrive in a timely fashion before Christmas! I found myself working like as mad woman preparing the items I was missing for market!

2018 diaries!

More photo albums!

More Christmas journals! These are available in my shop.

Nativity scenes!

And more Christmas decorations!!!

Oh and not to forget a birthday pressie for my friend's daughter who turned 8!!!!! This one I loved and will definitely be making more next week in this style!

That's about it for today I have to go and get ready for market! Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks so much!

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Antique market shopping

Last Sunday was my ideal day, I went to an antique market in San Giovanni in Marignano. Even better still, my daughter decided to come with me! We had a lovely brekkie together and she had fun looking at all the old Barbie doll clothing.

The town itself is lovely and old, the perfect setting for an antique market.

I found all manner of goodies without spending a fortune and came home feeling inspired and ready to create!

Beautiful old postcards from around 1900!

 

 

 A lovely supply of antique lace, trims and threads!

 Gorgeous old books with fantastic illustrations ready to be used in journals!

These incredible old letters, one is really interesting as on one side it was printed with a list. I read it at home and it is a list of people and their crimes sent from the police in Ancona, dated 1849! One of the crimes was plotting against King Ferdinando of the 2 Sicilies! I looked him up on the internet and infact, there was a revolution in 1848 against the king. It's such a thrill to own such a wonderful piece of history.

Finally there was this gorgeous piece a sampler completed by a student of the Benedictine nuns in 1874. I would have loved to buy this gorgeous piece but it was a little out of my price range at the moment. I was allowed to take a photo of it though!

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Thanks for reading!

Happenings

I know, I missed a week blogging, my aim is to blog every week but sometimes it's just not possible!! I think I need to plan my blog posts and pre- prepare so that way when times are busy I can still post on time!

A lot has been happening around here! Best of all the weather has cooled so I have more energy to work! We've even pulled out our doonas (duvets) so we can snuggle up at night! Love that!!!

School is back, so the morning school run has begun! 

Lulu decided to do some DIY and decorated her science ring binder. She was totally inspired by Jordan Clark, such a clever young college student. You can see her blog here and should definitely check out her You Tube videos here.

I had a market stall in town last Sunday. That was lovely and fun to see some of my other creative friends, it's great to catch up on what they've been doing over the summer. This lovely handmade market is held once a month in the Vecchia Pescheria (old fishery). The benches are marble and all uneven from centuries of fish selling!

Of course growth chart making is never far off. The last few I've made have been really fun and a challenge as I had to tackle some new theme requests. I was very pleased with the results!

I have a very talented friend Io & bianca (who I've mentioned before) who creates beautiful ceramics.  A visit to her instagram page is a must! Lately she has been painting her ceramics more, they are stunning, and she has started to do little watercolour paintings. I saw Carla at dinner and told her how much I loved her paintings and how much I would love to learn to use watercolours. I find them very intimidating though! We organised to meet a her house which was quite a challenging task with all our kids activities! I went yesterday, even though Carla had a fever, she insisted I pop round for a mini lesson! So kind!

When I arrived we swapped belated birthday gifts. We are always late with our gifts as we always like to give each other something we've created and/or supplies!

I gave Carla a stitched wall decor piece I made for her. She loves white, anything old and bunnies. I gave a sneak peek of this piece in a previous blog post where you can see what inspired me!

From Carla I received so lovely handpainted ceramic hanging decorations, a gorgeous much (to add to my large collection) and a watercolour set - paint brush, paper and watercolours. Such an amazing and thoughtful gift! 

I just loved watching her paint her gorgeous little designs and had a chuckle at my efforts! Mine aren't finished yet, I may or may not post those depending on how they turn out! Here are a couple Carla painted!

What has everyone been up to lately, any creating????

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Markets in Switzerland

Earlier this week we popped up to Switzerland for ASeminfesta in a small town Semione, Cantu Ticino. Yes I did say 'popped up', that's the amazing thing in Europe you are so close to everything! This always amazes me that you can drive 4 hours and you are in another country with a different language, culture, money, landscape and architecture!

Instantly, when we crossed the border, the vegetation was greener and the architecture changed! The mountains are amazing, I just couldn't stop looking at them. Lucky I wasn't driving we may have gone off the road!

The market was fun! Great to do something different and have a couple of days away. We met a lot of lovely interesting people who spoke Italian, English and German! 

I did mangae to have a look around the village. I left my dear hubby to hold down the fort and headed off to explore with Lulu! Here are a few pics of the town.

We decided not to sleep in Switzerland but instead drove back to Italy and stayed in an wonderful historical hotel, Palace Grand Hotel, Varese dating to 1911. I just loved it! The building was amazing and the grounds beautiful.

Rather than rush back home we checked the internet (what would we do without the internet??) to find out what there was to see in Varese - Sacro Monte di Varese seemed like the place to go!!! It's one of 9 sacri monti on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.

We headed up the hill to visit the amazing old hill town:  Santa Maria del Monte (on Sacro Monte). Let me say it did not disappoint, definitely one of the prettiest towns I have ever visited!

Everywhere I turned there was a photo opportunity, so picturesque! I went a little crazy taking photos, I think my husband thought I'd lost the plot!

It is a fascinating town with incredible views of the Alps on one side and lakes on the other! It is full of little lane ways, some of which are totally covered, like this one! 

At the top of the the hill there is a stunning church full of beautiful frescoes to admire.

 We finished off our visit with a wonderful lunch at Ristorante Montorfano. We sat on the terrace eating prosciutto crudo, burrata and gnocchi fritti (absolutely to die for!) and drinking sparkling Rosè wine. I would say the perfect way to end a super fun couple of days away!

What fun things has everyone else been doing this summer??? I would love here what you've been up to!


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Vecchia Pescheria (old fishery)

I am preparing for a creative market tomorrow in the old Roman fishery in Rimini, Woohoo.

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Artigiani in Piazza

I was honoured to participate in a new event this August 'Artigiani in Piazza'. It was a wonderful evening where friends and family came to visit!

 I made a lot of flowers for colour, so much fun!

And many new products! Some here on my work table, such a mess!

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