Castle Gargonza

We just returned from our whirlwind trip to Italy. The 15 hour trip back wiped me out, but Gioia is running around like a mad woman. It is taking all of my energy just to sit here on the couch and upload photos from last week...

We stayed at Castle Gargonza for the wedding, and it was just lovely. The room was very Euro, with a little kitchen for making breakfast (and storing our wine and cheese). It was a perfect location for a destination wedding.

More pictures of the castle grounds are here and here.

Practicing

When you are two years old, you can no longer hold up one finger when people ask how old you are. But two fingers is tricky. Needs some practice.


I took these pictures while we were laying around in our hotel in Rome yesterday. The one below is my Every Day in May 28. Other recent Every Day in May images can be seen in my Flickr set here.

Birthday Girl

What luck! We are in the one country in the world where we can be sure they will spell Gioia's name correctly on the cake. Yesterday we celebrated two events: baby G's second birthday and our dear friends' wedding. It was a full, fun day.


Since there was a lot of wedding stuff going on, we had a small celebration by the pool for lunch. A few other wedding guests joined us in eating a little cake and singing Happy Birthday (in English and Dutch).

Such a big girl. So proud of you.

Rome

We are in Italy this week for our friends' wedding. We flew into Rome on Sunday and then took a train to a little town in Tuscany Monday afternoon. Which meant we had a little time to see Rome. Gioia was pretty jet lagged, but she handled it better than Mommy.


We went to see the Trevi fountain Sunday night. It was astoundingly crowded. We passed a group of Chinese tourists saying "Hen duo ren." You know it is bad when the Chinese say it is crowded.


Bright and early Monday morning, we did a quick tour of the Colosseum. We arrived at 9, and it was very nice and quiet. By the time we left at 10:30, it was like we were swimming through a sea of tourists. Thank goodness for jet lagged babies who wake up at 5 am.

More Rome pictures are here.

Dress - View A

Another pattern from the Stylish Dress Book - View A. I am really happy with how this dress came together. It was simple and fast. This will make an excellent beach dress. I just need to find a beach...

This fabric is one of my favorites from the stash. I bought it years ago off of a remnant table at Vogue Fabrics in Chicago (the downtown one). It was some ridiculously cheap price, so I bought loads. I used some of it for an ironing board cover a while back, and I still have enough for something else. A kiddo dress perhaps?

This was my Every Day in May 19 and 20.

Japanese Top

Geez Louise. It is nearly impossible to take pictures of yourself. This is the best I could do since my extra pair of hands are on a business trip to Tokyo tonight....

I finished the Japanese top - View D from Stylish Dress Book. I made the largest size (there are four sizes of patterns), but it wound up being super big. I just assumed I would be size humongous in Japanese world. Turns out, I may be only semi-huge. I had to take it in at the front center and at the sides. It looks much better after the alterations.

I used some precious Liberty lawn from the stash. It was a worthy pattern. I am pleased.

Buttons

When I lived in Beijing, I bought a machine for making fabric covered buttons. This week, I have been working on making a simple little top from this Japanese sewing book (view D). It needed some covered buttons, so yesterday I dragged out the button machine from the back of the closet. Except it was missing the button die, the little device where the button magic happens once you pull the big lever. Yikes! No more covered buttons!?

Luckily I found it today, buried deep in a bag in another closet. Which was very good news because my panicked internet research last night showed that these devices are pretty pricey outside of the Beijing fabric market.

The buttons in the upper right corner of the collage are the ones for my Japanese top. The others were made with some fabric squares that I got in a recent swap. I am not sure what I will do with them yet, but I like how they turned out. It is always interesting to see how a particular fabric pattern translates into a button (or bunch of buttons). Did you know there is a whole Flickr group dedicated to fabric covered buttons? Such pretty things....

Hopefully I will be able to show the finished top tomorrow, which has been my Every Day in May project days 13 to 17 (so far).

Doll for Hope #2

A boy doll this time - complete with snazzy tie (somewhat askew). This little guy cracks me up. He makes me think of a skater dude who grew up and became a programmer. Hopefully he will make someone at Casa Bernabe laugh too.

There is still time to make a dolly for Craft Hope, y'all! My two kids will be shipping out tomorrow.

This little guy is my Every Day in May 12. For the record, I took a break yesterday. Too pooped to do anything but fall into bed after work. It happens...

Drumstick Bag

A drumstick bag for my hubby. Because he needed one and gave me very explicit instructions for how to make it. It turned out quite nice. The fabric is a special piece I got in Beijing. It is an ethnic fabric, somewhat heavy weight.

If I ever make one of these again, I will add a tab closure to the side, just like a knitting needle roll.

This is my Every Day in May 10.

Dolly for Hope

Craft Hope is hosting a handmade doll drive for a deserving orphan facility in Nicaragua: Casa Bernabe. If you have time to make a baby doll between now and June 13, head on over to Craft Hope to sign up.

This dolly is made from Wee Wonderful's Olive pattern. She is a bit wonky, but hopefully someone will love her anyway.

I have been working on this little doll for a few days now; she is my Every Day in May 7-9.

Every Day in May 6 - Self Portrait

For today's creative endeavor, I tried some self portraits using the Canon 50 mm f/1.4 lens. I was not very successful with getting the focus right, as you can see from the shot above. The internets seem to say it is near impossible to do, actually.

Recognition

On Saturday evening, Chris and I left baby G with a babysitter. We have used a babysitter in the past, but this time we left before bedtime, before she was in her crib for the night. All day long, we talked up the babysitter. She is coming over to play with you! Isn't that fun? You can read books together...play legos...yay!

But as we were getting ready, Gioia went to the cupboard and got out her own shoes. She even put them on. When the babysitter arrived, Gioia happily called out her name. But after a few minutes, she figured it out. We weren't taking her with us. I looked over at little G, sitting small on the couch, glancing between us and the babysitter. And I saw her eyes well up with tears. Tears of knowing. Of recognition.

She survived our leaving that night. Everything worked out fine. But in that moment of stillness and tears, my heart broke for her a little bit.

This picture is my Every Day in May 5.

Every Day in May 4

These strawberries are growing in a hanging basket on the balcony. A little birdie told me that Gioia keeps asking when she can eat them.

Soon. Very soon.

Every Day in May 2 and 3

I took this picture yesterday as we climbed the mountain a second time. The picture itself was for challenge day #2, but today I downloaded a trial version of Photoshop Elements to see if I could make it better (day #3). The photo on top was the original; the one on bottom is the edited version.

Bib Swap

When I get into a crafting rut, I tend to make bibs. Lots of bibs. They are simple, which in my world means "can be done while mindlessly watching television." But they also can be great canvases for creativity. Lately I used the bib pattern to test out some of the antique piping I bought at the Paris flea market. Pretty nice with a red monogram and checked lining.


I have been playing around with swap-bot lately, and I decided it was time for me to host a swap of my own. Would you like to join? The head on over to sign up before May 15. Once partners are assigned, you will have three weeks to work on your bib and put it in the mail (deadline is June 6). You can sew, knit or crochet - whatever works for you! I hope people have fun with this. See you at swap-bot.

Free bib resources

Sewing patterns:
Chickpea Sewing Studio Pattern
Nested bib pattern
I use version B from this site for most of my bibs. I added seam allowances to the pattern so I could use two fabrics, turn and top stitch.

Knitting patterns:
Simple baby bib
Cable-edged bib
Intarsia Bib pattern

Crochet patterns:
Coats and Clark pattern
Super cute US flag bib

Every Day in May 1

I have decided to take up the Every Day in May challenge: To do something creative every day in May. I am not sure I will do the same thing every day. But today, I started with a little photography as we walked around the 'hood this afternoon. This was my favorite shot.