A paper love story

I must write this before the energy fades and/or I become too lazy....

A long while ago I won a place on an e-course. There was a competition and I was required to write a post about why I loved paper. I won!!
Apart from being a wonderful course I also became a 'member' of a Facebook group created specifically for this course. Some of us became friends, as far as the screen would allow and we were just 'there' -encouraging, asking, commenting and sharing, always sharing.

It was proposed (I think last year) that we should meet and create together. Thankfully we have in our group people with amazing organization skills and this meeting didn't end up as another dream.
Thirteen of us managed  to find our way to the Isle of Bute where one of our 'members' has an incredible studio where we could all fit.

We walked, talked, ate, visited places, laughed and cried, started many projects, shared ideas and inspired each others and talked, talked and talked.  We were there present, finally in the flesh, with no screen between us or thousand miles away. For a few days we rejoiced in the company and the bond we had created for the past 3 years.
I'm happy I made the effort and was able to be there and I'm extremely grateful to this group for being so special, so extraordinary . It was truly a joy to be there... to be part of those wonderful days.

Lots of love, the paper and friendship kind,
Giova

In a nut shell (a very small one).

Summer came and went. How and where?? I've no clue! It seems to me it went by in a haze of stitches, birthdays, a new pet, a short trip to the other side of the pond, another closer to home and much wandering, and plotting.

This year we couldn't go on our traditional road trip, so we got a pet. How's that for planning? What really happened is that we finally succumbed to our little one's demands for a kitty. It seemed like the perfect time to get a pet (we have been postponing this for 12 years or so).

We feel absolutely delighted and blessed to have her in our lives. I'm  astonished to the hours she keeps, she loves sleeping on top of my fabrics (my precious indigo), and loves all things related to keeping you distracted to what you're supposed to do. Oh! And my phone is filled with pictures of her...

Spending two wonderful weeks with my mother and sister (and my little one who travelled with me), was simply the best therapy one could hope to get if one needed therapy ;) I'm feeling energized (except for the part where jet lag was involved), full to the brim with vitamin D and ready to stitch well into winter (providing the cat lets me).

So far so good!

Wishing you all the best, and a lovely crisp and gorgeous autumn, or spring if you're on the other side.
Giova (the most inconstant blogger there is).

Things that make me happy

This week feels like summer, and obviously my inner hibernating bear has woken up. Everything all of a sudden makes sense. I am from 'south of the equator," after all. Here are recent pictures of things that make me happy.

 Colorful paper garlands.

Blue skies and tulips by my desk.

 Wilted tulips also fascinate me.

Road trips show me a world outside my own very limited 'world.' And the views are always stunning!

 Giant thread spools of colorful thread and yarn. What a sight!

And Paris! Always Paris. Even if only for two days. Glorious baguettes, croissants, and Ispahan!!

Wishing you a warm and colorful week ahead,
Giova

Hill of Crosses in Lithuania

A visit to Lithuania had been in order for a while now. My father travels there often and had invited me on several occasions but there was always something that prevented me to go, until now. We stayed in Vilnius but I really wanted to see the Hill of Crosses for myself. It is a 2 and a half hours train ride and then 15 minutes by car from the station.

"The Hill of Crosses is a place of Catholic pilgrimage that is believed started in 1831. The uprisings of 1831 and 1863 led families to place crosses here as a symbol for missing family members. It was bulldozed by the Soviet Union several times between 1963 and 1973. This place has come to signify the peaceful endurance of Lithuanian Catholicism despite the threats it faced throughout history." The hill remains under nobody's jurisdiction, therefore people are free to build/bring crosses, images, rosaries, scapulars as they see fit.

I'm still thinking about this place, as it has a very strong energy, unlike cemeteries or churches, which are usually more on the peaceful or comforting side.

I do know how it feels to have a family member missing. My father was kidnapped in 1996, fortunately for us he was returned 6 months later. But for those 6 months nothing made sense, there is a certain feeling of desolation and despair that accompanies you for every wakeful moment. Every breath or bite of food you take requires an enormous effort. The uncertainty of it all  bites you second by second, leaving nothing but despair, and that is what I think I felt here in this place.

I'm glad I got to see it, especially with my father next to me.

I wish you a beautiful and peaceful month of March,
Giova

A weekend of Paper Love

As I mentioned in the previous post, I went to Edinburgh to meet some of the alumni from the PaperLove e-course. I was very lucky a couple of years back when I won a spot on the course (because of this post I did). And I am very lucky now, because I got to spend the weekend surrounded by women who are in love with all things paper, just like me.

We got to play around, and make beautiful things...

Paint hearts and then book bind them together...

And talk and eat, share stories and exchange paper...

Then work some more...

I actually had a dream (on saturday night) about rocks in the shape of hearts, and a beautiful book- binded book (it was blue of course)...

And then we finished this one, and I am jumping with joy with the result, I mean... look at those wonky hearts, and that beautiful cover? What's not to love?

So far this is all I got inside, but I don't like to rush and fill things up...

These are some of the "alumni" I got to spend the weekend with... spot the mess?? Yeah baby!!! That's the stuff dreams are made of...

 Like rocks in the shape of hearts...

Paper doilies, and my first ever Peanut Butter Jammie Dodgers!! Yummyyyy!!!

Sending you lots of LOVE and wishing a very lovely Valentine's day!
Giova

Visiting Solingen and the Klingen Museum

A few weeks ago we decided  to visit the Klingen Museum in Solingen after a tip from a blogging friend. It is only 2 hours and a bit from Amsterdam, and well… I do love scissors, cutlery, knives, pointy things, etc… and this was just that sort of wonderful place.

 A thousand times swoon!

 And swoon a bit more…

 This one would look perfect in my collection…

How beautiful are these cases with the green and silver?  The perfect pocket knife. So sad they don't make things as beautiful as they did before.

 After all those gigantic swords, it was time for an ice-cream break.

Lo' and behold, we got lost but we found my kid's mothership, a Haribo supermarket. Guess who was the happiest in all the Solingen land?? I was!!

We drove 30 more minutes to see the Cathedral of Cologne, ate some amazing pretzels and then time to go back.

A very fun day for all of us, and perfect as a day trip. As a family with two kids that have almost a 10 year gap between them, it is sometimes quite difficult to find things they both can enjoy. This was really the best trip for both of them.

If you have any amazing ideas of things we could do, please, pretty  please let me know?? I will be eternally grateful ;)

Wishing you blue skies and tons of gummy bear eating,
Giova

Tulip season in Holland

This might not be any news for you, especially if you follow me on Instagram, but I love tulip season. I'm always quietly waiting for it to happen, and when it does, I feel I'm ready and fulfilled to wait another year for them to bloom again.

Every year it is different, even if they might look bit similar on the pictures, the colors and placement of this colors is not. I call it color therapy, and the most effective one. After 1 minute standing in one of those colorful fields, your soul immediately feels better. I tried filming it, and you can watch it here.

I hope this color therapy injects you with a little joy!

These last pictures, and the ones below are tulips we got to pick ourselves. I love them because they are all different, not like the kind they sell at the flower shops everywhere here, and the black background is my latest  obsession.

 A stylized version.

And a not so stylized version. Our messy dining table, but what the heck, if you're looking at the mess, then you are not really seeing those beauties.

This is our third year visiting the tulip fields, and you can see them here, here and here if you like.

Wishing you a wonderful and very colorful day,
Giova