August 2013 Italy - Part 1 (Tuscany)

Finally, a glimpse at our lovely holiday in Italy. We stayed in this very beautiful converted farm house, called Magnifica, that is situated on a horse farm in a lovely little village called Fauglia, just about 25 minutes from Pisa. The owner, Paula, grew up in this farm house and have since converted it into five beautiful apartments/villa's. We had three very spacious bedrooms and a lovely private outside area where we ate and enjoyed many happy moments, a beautiful lounge filled with wonderful books and a kitchen and dining room with the original fireplace. It couldn't have been any more perfect, as there were other kids to make friends with, a park for the kids to play in, a swimming pool, what more could you want. The gardens were what I would call 'National Trust gardens', they were very beautiful and there was no shortage of space for the kids to explore and run around in.

We spent quite a few days just enjoying this wonderful setting, soaking up the glorious atmosphere, just lounging at the pool and relaxing and it proved the perfect balance for our daily excursions. The kids would very happily have spent every day here as they just so loved having a pool to play in with their new friends. Josh started swimming without armbands just short of a month before we went on holiday and it was incredible to see him develop over these two weeks. He went from just swimming to diving in all the time, swimming to the bottom of the pool and being able to backward dives, dive bombs, you name it. He wanted to be in the water from the minute he got up and with 32C weather every day for the full duration of our holiday, who wouldn't. In fact it became a bit of a joke as there was a digital thermometer in the town advertising the temperatures, and my doh (darling other half) was convinced it was broken as it read 32C every day, until one night we had the luxury of having a meal without kids (thanks Ma & Pa) and on our way home it actually read 28C. Little Es started swimming without her arm bands for the first time and did it about 3 days before we left, which to be honest was a blessing as I don't think my nerve would have held it for much longer. Once the arm bands went, she became a little reckless, to the point of putting herself in danger, but we were all on tenterhooks and her swimming confidence kept on growing, from someone not wanting to dive in at all to someone permanently jumping in doing the the most hilarious killer wale dive I have ever seen, I was in stitches every time.

We enjoyed quite a few day trips out, firstly to the lovely city of Pisa, where the wonderful husbands pushed us around (I think one of their easier days, they were amazing!!) and we enjoyed lunch at a wonderful restaurant right by the side of the leaning tower of Pisa. No one braved the steps as the kids were to young, but it is something for the future. 

Our next trip, and most definitely one of my favourite places that we visited, was to a very beautiful city called Lucca. Lucca is set inside a ring of Renaissance walls fronted by lovely gardens and huge bastions. Apparently the city is reputed for once having seventy churches, which would explain the number of beautiful piazzas that we encountered around almost every corner. We indulged in to the big open spaces that hardly felt touristy and enjoyed seeing many people seeing the city from their bikes, something we would have loved to have done, but for now we were using our other wheels. Lucca was a great deal more wheelchair friendly than other places we visited and to be honest, I could happily visit Lucca for a week, just to lounge around in cafes soaking up the atmosphere and getting high on the treasures displayed in the very impressive antique markets. The markets take place every third weekend of the month and fortunately for us, our timing was perfect. I honestly could have spent a fortune and so wished we drove as I would have rammed the car full of very beautiful antiques. Everything there was to my taste and the fabrics and linens were simply to die for. I was very restrained and bought only a few bits (which I will show in another post), but I could have left with a great deal more. We visited the San Michele in Foro, which apparently has one of Tuscany's most stunning facades, pictured below the leaning tower of Pisa. The church is first mentioned in 795, but was rebuilt in 1070 and the facade was done by a famous architects in the 13th and 14th century. The picture of the horse drawn cart was taken in one of the Piazzas and so was the photo of the kids playing hide and seek. It was tranquil, relaxing, yet quilted with beautiful buildings.

One of my other little highlights was visiting the casa (house) of Puccini. Having spent many an hour in my life singing his opera's and arias I wanted to see where this Master of Music lived and I sneaked a picture of his piano, where he wrote most of his music. I felt a little emotional being in his house, and somehow felt a little connected with something that formed such a big part of my life for so many years. Everyone enjoyed Lucca, even the kids and I don't think any of us really wanted to leave that night. It is definitely a place I am going back to.

Being only 30 minutes away from a beautiful coastline, we spent on day at the beach, which I was so excited about before we left as I love the sea and so miss seeing it every day. The beaches weren't that great to be honest and even though we enjoyed our day there, we didn't really feel that we wanted to rush back. The beaches are all packed with loungers and it is very well set up, but for me it detract from the natural beauty of the coastline, that you just couldn't enjoy. 

We also took the kids to an amusement park as a little buttering up before they had to spend hours looking at ruins and what they would deem as 'boring' days out. It was a great, but very long day and my Ma and Pa were so wonderful throughout!! Both Ma and myself absolutely LOVE roller coasters and even though us two arrived in our wheelchairs, we decided that needs must we were going at the very front of this roller coaster and boy did we have fun. To be honest most probably not my best decision to date, but it is a memory that I will treasure for life. Our evenings were mostly spent at our casa and the sunsets were simply breathtaking. What I loved more than anything was just listening to the symphony of cicadas and insects playing to the darkness of the night.

Well if you have gotten this far, well done! I will share our trips to Firenze (Florence) and Rome with you very soon.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend.

Warm Wishes

Hannapat

xoxo

Stitching Sunday

I am so excited to be joining in with Chrissie and her Stitching Sundays. I have really been looking forward to this as I have recently had a couple of lessons from my Mum whilst being on holiday, and I can honestly say that I absolutely love doing a little embroidery.

 

 

Over the last couple of weeks I have done a bit of stitching here and there, a few fairies, gnome's and flowers, but my next project, along with finishing off the last couple of stitches on the flowers, fairies and gnome's, is to start my little robin. I love robin's and for me it always signifies winter and Christmas. It was interesting to learn that the reason that people started putting robin's on Christmas cards, was linked to the fact that the 'Robin Postmen' wore red uniforms at Christmas, which is what inspired them to put robin's on Christmas cards.

 

I didn't trace the little robin, but just drew it straight on the linen fabric. I prefer using a pencil for my drawings, maybe because I feel it is a little less permanent and also because it works just fine for me.

 

I am also hopeful that I will find some time over the coming weeks to start this mixed media project, where I will be using some ribbon and also embroidery floss. It is a really sweet teacup that my Mum bought for me in South Africa and to be honest even though I feel a little apprehensive about starting something so big, I am equally excited about it.

 

Fortunately Mum also gave me her little box with ribbon and I am so pleased she has, as it is seems to be a tricky business trying to do it on line, so if any of you have any advice with regards to where to find a good ribbon stockist (Chrissie), then please share away.

 

So, now it is just a case of getting started and I so look forward to the next couple of weeks of stitching with Chrissie and also for seeing other people's creations, such fun! Chrissie also has a fab button/badge for the stitch along that you can add to your blog if you haven't already done so.

 

 

So that's it for now on the stitching front. Hope you have all enjoyed a good weekend, ours have been wonderful and after a chilly night last night, it was time to get the Eidies out as we will most certainly need them from now on.

 

 

With that wishing you a snuggly Sunday and best wishes for a lovely week full of happy stitching moments.

Warm Wishes

Hannapat

xoxo

Holiday Makes & Granny Square Crochet

The last week has been somewhat busy, but I have tried to savour every minute before my babies started and returned to school yesterday. For days beforehand I felt so choked up, but it has happened and my little flower doesn't seem to like it one bit, gulp! Fortunately the first three weeks are staggered and with only a couple of hours in school everyday it will hopefully help her settle in and also give us some quality time when she gets home. I have been meaning to show and tell all about our wonderful holiday, but for now that will have to stay on the back burner for another couple of days. In the meantime I will quickly share the holiday crafty goodness with you.

For my lovely regular readers, you had a little peak to see what was in my bag to take on holiday to Italy and as always I was a little ambitious to say the very least. I knew beforehand that the objective of the holiday was to spend quality time with the whole family and to do little else and that my lovelies is exactly what I did. I pushed myself and had fun with the kids and enjoyed time with Ma and Pa just being, something I really miss, so all I have to show for that is the most wonderful memories that I will treasure for as long as I live. We did enjoy a couple of evenings where Ma showed me the ropes of embroidery and if I  had to show you all the photo's (which Pa took as he giggled at the sight of his rather clueless daughter), then you will all have a good old belly laugh. Unfortunately for you and fortunately for me I am not sharing these with you, but I will share a few, so without further ado.

 

 

I loved how the family just sat together in the evenings and enjoying some reading, talking and embroidery, it was so so wonderful. I took these little drawings I did with as I have something special in mind for them, but more about that when I finish them. It was such fun working the pretty lazy daisy stitch with Ma and learning how to do it properly.

 

 

I also took these sweet fairy drawings, which I got from this Doodle Stitching book, which is aimed at a future project. This was more fun than I could have imagined. The first time Ma showed me how to do ribbon embroidery, her exact words were: 'It is as easy as falling off a log!'. Now that might be the case if you are a frog sitting on a log by the bog (I love this sweet Usborne phonics story), but for this frog, who was rather agog, it was rather fun sitting with some ribbon by the bog, waiting to fall off a log. Ribbon embroidery is such fun and I am completely lost in the endless opportunities that it can conjure up. In fact I have already started a little ribbon embroidery project, which will take a great deal of time, but more on a later date.

 

For the fairies, we used a combination of stitches, including French knots, another great stitch. It is such a simple, yet effective stitch and I am actually using it a fair bit at the moment with another sweet little project I will share with you soon.

 

Now on to some crochet. This little flannel worked up quite quickly on the plane and for this I used Drops Paris Cotton and followed the Cotton Square flannels' pattern from the very lovely Granny Squares Crochet book, which I discuss in a little more detail later on. It is a sweet little project and I will definitely be making some more of these. I personally so enjoy seeing pretty home made cloths around the house to brighter up the bathroom and kitchen.

 

Three generations enjoyed an afternoon by the side of the pool where we sat together to do a little crocheting, trying to show little Es the 'ropes'.

 

Before we went away I had already started to work on my Lazy Days throw. I still needed to work quite a few squares to finish the first two rows and then 'join as I go'. I also made it a little bigger than the pattern as I wanted it to fit our bed, but to be honest I measured it on the bed in Italy, but as it turns out it might still be a little on the small side. The good thing about making something like this is that there are a myriad of uses for it, so it most certainly won't be waisted.

Thanks to a five hour drive to Rome and waiting around in airports, I managed to get the first part of it all together. I always think it takes twice as long to work the ends in than it does to actually crochet a square, but that's all part of the 'fun'. Even thought I haven't really touched the surface yet, there is something rather satisfying about getting the first stage of it done.

The pattern is from the lovely book Granny Square Crochet by Catherine Hirst. It was a gift from my doh (darling other half) for my birthday and what a wonderful gift it is turning out to be. Usually when I get a book, I feel inspired and there are a few projects that grab my eye, this book on the other hand has so many wonderful projects that I want to make and in fact I have already finished three of them and now working on the fourth. Each and every one of the projects I have finished have turned out lovely. The first being a pair of arm warmers, which I made as a gift for a bloggy friend, and then the flannel mentioned above and also a cowl which I worked up this week, but more on that at a later date. There are so many things that I really love about this book, the fact that it is so easy to understand and follow, that it uses UK terminology (I appreciate that this might not be helpful to everyone) and the fact that Catherine Hirst uses inexpensive yarns, such as Stylecraft Special amongst others. Furthermore it is also a lovely coffee table book to flick through as the photography, design and presentation is very pleasing to the eye.

For anyone interested in a good and easy to follow crochet book, this is the one. There are many wonderful and inspiriting crochet books out there, but this one is up there with them all. There are so many wonderful patterns in this book, and I have tried to captured only but a few for you to give you a feel for this wonderful and inspiring book.

1.Sunrise potholder, 2. Square flannels, 3.Granny bunting, 4.Cushion Cover, 5. Bedcover, 6. Tea cosy, 7. Arm warmers, 8. iPad and iPhone cover, 9.Granny Stripe Scarf.

There are so many project waiting to be put into action and I also have a little stall to prepare for at the end of the year so the next couple of months will be a busy time for creating and making, but more importantly also a time where my body is going to get some much needed time to heal and relax and I am really excited about the prospect of working on improved health. I have been waiting for this moment for so many years and it is so lovely to know that I will soon have my days to focus on my structured daily rest, but also to try and see if I cant get some further improvements that will last. For now though until the middle of September I am just going to make the most of the hours I can get with the lovely little Es and embrace this beautiful season Autumn that is slowly stepping closer to knock on our door.

 

I am feeling excited about Autumn, I love the changes that seasons bring and Autumn is definitely one of my favourite seasons. I love the colours and the smell. For now our garden is still holding on to that summer feeling, like many of us I suspect after such a glorious summer, and it is looking beautiful with so many flowers joyfully singing. The roses are still flowering and the Rudbeckia have just opened their beautiful dancing yellow petals. I really love this gorgeous plant, it has such attitude and charisma and there is something special about having your garden bask in their yellow glow when autumn comes calling.

Before I go, I wanted to say thank you to all you lovely readers for always leaving such wonderful comments and being so supportive. You are all amazing and so very lovely and I wanted you to know that you add a little brightness to my days, so thank you so much for that. As a little thank you a bouquet from our garden, especially for you.

 

Wishing you all a very happy and creative weekend ahead.

Warm Wishes

Hannapat

xoxo 

A quick Mint Wreath Tutorial

Now that all the lovely mint in our garden is in flower, I thought I would share a quick and easy to make mint wreath with you. I made two of these yesterday, one for our front door and one to hang inside the house and the aroma is simply wonderful.

 

 

It is such a simple little project, yet it looks gorgeous and smells wonderful too. For any of you not in possession of an old ring,you can just use some wire, like I did when I made Lavender wreath. Fortunately, or unfortunately for us, our old barrel planter broke yesterday, so I now am the proud owner of three metal rings and a handle (you never know when you might need to get a handle on things?!). So what better way to use it than to make some wreaths.

 

 

 

So here goes:

1. If you don't have a metal ring, then make some out of wire by shaping it into the shape of ring and getting at least four-five rounds, so the ring-base is solid (you can refer to the picture a the bottom of this post.
2. Cut some mint when it is in flower and make sure to cut them quite long.

 

3. Wind the mint around the ring, weaving it under and over the ring and keep doing it until you have a substantial amount of mint on the  ring and you are happy with the fullness of your wreath.

4. Now use your string to secure it in at least two to three places.

Once you have done this your wreath should look something like this and then you are ready to hang it.

 

Then I made another for inside the house as they smell so wonderful.

 

Happy Monday to all you lovely people. 

 

Warm wishes

Hannapat

xoxo

Wordless Weekend: 30 Aug-1 Sept'13

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm Wishes

Hannapat

xoxo

Ciao

We are back and we had the most wonderful two and a bit weeks away in Italy. I feel so lucky that we spent time with my folks in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and my heart yearns to go back and also to be with my parents again. Why is it that when you get older there is this great need to have time with your parents, am I alone on this? For me, I would love to have mum around the corner so we can natter over cups of tea and whilst creating and also for our kids to spend time with their grandparents, it is such a special relationship. Fortunately I did have these two very special weeks and Ma & Pa (I know you read this!) you are both very special and I love you!

 

I generally embrace the idea of coming home, there is something special about being in your own space and bed, but this time, I could have happily stayed in Italy forever, a girl can but dream. The first sight that greeted us were our newly painted doors and windows and yes it made me smile, it's finally done and I am so pleased with the end result. This was followed by a very overgrown garden that's in dying need of some loving hands. The pesky weeds have been having regular parties here in our absence, as to be expected, and it most certainly looks like they've been having far too much fun.

 

 

 

 

There is something special about walking through your front door when you get back and once I was inside, it felt good to be home and although I was faced with washing and unpacking and a zillion other jobs, there is always a little part of me that wants to hold on to that relaxed feeling that somehow only holidays can bring. The reality, it didn't last past a couple of minutes, but we are slowly getting back in the swing of things. I have made some progress with catching up on blog reading, with a little more to go, so sorry if I haven't gotten around to all of your lovely blogs as yet. It was my intention to do a little blog reading whilst away, but the internet connection was just a little temperamental and after the first couple of days, I decided to take a break from it all and it was the best decision. It was truly relaxing and there was a very big part of me that loved it more than I would like to admit to myself. It did bring up many questions about how much time we spend on and with technology every day, but I kinda like it and it has been great to catch up on what you have all been up to, you are such an inspiration to me.

 

I intend to do a couple of posts to cover the holiday, really as a record for us, but also for the rest of my family to share. In the meantime, I am going to make the very most of the last couple of days with my little lovelies as school starts the middle of next week and yes my baby is starting school, so big changes ahead, not sure I am really ready for them to be honest.

 

 

We have done a little baking and little Es helped me to work through the jungle to pull up some lovely looking garlic, carrots and beans. We also indulged in one of our apples, which are a great deal tastier than anticipated, I love this element of surprise.

 

 

 

One of the first things I love to do is to fill the house with flowers from the garden. There is something very special about having flowers in the house and I so love this beautiful red rose of ours, its fragrance is beyond heavenly and there is something so magical about Angel's Blush, I love the way these beautiful clumps are shaped out of delicate white flowers. I fortunately managed to get a small posy of sweet peas for the house, but the next step is to get all the seeds for next year's planting.

The first photo was taken shortly after we arrived in  Fauglia, Tuscany and was taken from the car. I absolutely love Sunflowers and have failed miserably this year with the ones we have planted, but even though the sunflower season was drawing to an end in Italy, we were fortunate enough to find this one field with perfect sunflowers dancing to sun, such a delight.

 

 

I will be back soon with a some goodies from our trip, and also to share the crafty bits that made the holiday even more enjoyable. A very big and warm welcome to my new followers, it is so lovely of you to stop by and I look forward to getting to know you a little better.

 

Wishing you all a very happy Thursday.

Warm wishes

Hannapat

xoxo