241 Tote

21 Jan

A few months ago I posted about how much I loved Buzzmills version of the 241 Tote. Immediately after seeing her version of the purse I clicked over to Noodlehead and purchased the pattern.

I love the fact you can buy pdf versions of so many great sewing patterns on-line nowadays. Living in the Italian countryside has made it very difficult to get my hands on certain patterns for years so the fact that I can easily buy them online and print them out directly at home is just perfect.  Plus, the prices on most pdf patterns are much lower than buying one in a sewing or pattern shop.  The 241 Tote pattern costs $8 (approx. 6euro).
IMG_3925 The 241 Tote is a simple and straightforward pattern to follow. The pattern comes with several different features to choose from (pockets or zippers on the outside).  As the pattern is quite adaptable I opted to only include the pockets on the outside although it would be possible to have them on the inside as well.

IMG_3926I bought this lovely linen in Japan a few years ago (I think it’s Echino but am not certain) and have been patiently saving it for the perfect sewing project. Since it’s quite a bold pattern I paired it with a few solids and I love the result.  Come to think of it I really need to get back to Japan to find some new fabrics.
IMG_3932I even made a very bright version for my daughters.  This time I used a heavy (almost canvas) cotton from IKEA and some light cotton Petit Pan fabric (which I enforced with interfacing).  IMG_3931Definitely not a look for everyone but my daughters are in love with it!

 I’ll definitely be making a few more of these purses in the near future.

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Gratefully Grateful °2°

17 Jan

Is it Friday already?  Did this past week fly by for anyone else as well? The week was a blur of activities, appointments, organising the house, long chats with friends and even a shopping trip to check out the sales (which only happen twice a year in Italy…in January and July).  I love being busy and having lots to do but I’m looking forward to a nice quiet week-end with my family.   Our traditional Friday night ritual of curling up on the couch under a thick blanket with the fireplace burning and a big bowl of popcorn just might be my most favourite thing ever.  Add in a little Master Chef and I could stay there forever.

It’s week 2 of my Gratefully Gratefully series for 2014.  I love how doing this series makes me look for all the wonderful people, places and things I’m surrounded by.

I am grateful for…

DSC_0160…colourful washing lines on grey days.

IMG_2857-001…that I can wait in places like this while my daughter does her guitar class.IMG_8642…my kid’s love of Pasta Con Broccoli.IMG_3892…my daughters’ taste in shoes.

Anything that you’re particularly grateful for this week?

(Gratefully Grateful °1°)

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A Kid’s Life: Melbourne, Australia

14 Jan

Hello everyone.  Time for a new interview in my A Kid’s Life series.  I have to admit that I’m really proud of this series and all of the great interviews I’ve had over the past few years.  I’ve loved “virtually meeting” every single one of these families and luckily enough I’ve kept in touch with them all.  These families have been warm, friendly and open to share the details of their daily family grind.  I have big plans to meet them all in their native countries in the coming years (don’t worry, I won’t show up unexpected on your doorsteps!).  But what a great excuse to travel around the world!  Here are the previous interviews in case you missed them: Italy, Japan, USA, The Philippines, Tasmania, Canada, Belgium, New Zealand, Holland, Germany, Colombia, France, Switzerland, South Africa, India.

Today we get to hear from Bron and her family who live in Melbourne, Australia.  I thought it would be interesting to hear from a family living on mainland Australia after reading all about family life in Tasmania in a previous interview.  I was curious to see if there were differences between the two.  So far I’ve noticed that more languages are offered in Tasmanian schools, both love to eat Weetbix for breakfast and dinner is eaten at about the same time that Italian kids eat their afternoon snack!

Bron contacted me last week about participating in the interview and after hearing her family’s story and feeling her energetic and positive energy just by reading her email I was excited to read all about their life.  Bron and her husband Andrew have three kids.  Their oldest son, Cooper, has Cerebral Palsy (Dystonic Quadriplegia) as he received a brain injury due to lack of oxygen during the birthing process (read more here).  What this means is the damaged parts of his brain can’t communicate properly with the muscles all over his body.  His whole body is affected including his arms, legs, trunk and mouth.  He is cognitively a typical 8 year old boy who loves cricket and Lego though!

Last year Cooper started a fundraiser which involved him walking for 1km using his walker.  He ended up raising $15, 000 AUD to help build a kindergarten in Cambodia.  The family visited the school several times and were overwhelmed with the reception and gratitude that they were shown (especially Cooper).  

Is this not an amazingly inspiring family?

Bron writes a blog about her family life in Melbourne, Cooper’s developmental accomplishments and their travel adventures.

And now let’s hear what they have to say about daily life in Melbourne, Australia…

Sihanoukeville in Cambodia

Sihanoukeville in Cambodia

What country do you live in?

We live in Australia, in the state of Victoria.

Are you and your husband the same nationality?

Yes we are both Australian born in different cities/states.image-4

Do you both work. Or does someone stay home?

Andrew works as an arborist and I’m a stay at home mum.

How many languages are spoken in your house?  Which one(s)?

We speak English.  We also learnt a lot of sign language and gestures before our son began to verbally communicate.

How many kids do you have? What are their ages?

We have three kids.  Cooper is 8, Pepper is 5 and Elwood is 2. Continue reading →

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SuperCut Fabric Shop

9 Jan

As some of you may know, I love pretty fabrics of every kind.  I don’t drink.  I don’t do drugs.  I don’t smoke.  But I do love to buy (lots of) beautiful fabrics.  I have a gorgeous collection of materials that I have purchased all over the world and I use them on a daily basis.  I may use a new fabric right away or I may even save it for years before using it.  I often sit in my sewing room and look through my beloved materials and imagine what beautiful projects I could make with them (that’s what happens when you don’t have a TV).

Since living in Italy (for more than a decade) I’ve bought almost all of my fabrics outside of Italy.  I really searched for shops here that had beautiful fabrics but I just couldn’t find any that really appealed to my taste.  So after years of buying primarily in Canada (every time I return with a suitcase full), in Belgium (here is my favourite shop) and from Dutch online shops you can imagine how excited I was when I found out about the Italian online fabric shop SuperCut that is based out of the city of Bergamo.  I’ve always been a huge fan of supporting local small businesses so this was a great find for me.

The very sweet French owner Marine has excellent taste in fabrics and after going through her shop I realised that she picks out pretty much every fabric brand and design that I myself am so fond of.  It’s really a match made in heaven!  You can find fabrics from Liberty, Petit Pan, Echino, Kokka, Kitsch Kitchen and many more.  Marine stocks cottons, canvases, linens and even has a great selection of oilcloth and notions as well.  And SuperCut ships all over Europe.

Yesterday I ordered my first SuperCut fabrics and they actually arrived in my mailbox this afternoon.  I was like a kid at Christmas as I was opening the beautifully wrapped package.  And everything I ordered was perfect.  You can’t imagine how long I’ve been looking for fluo pink and yellow bias!

My lovely purchases

My lovely purchases

And as an added bonus many of the SuperCut fabrics are currently on sale (even the Echino and Kokka fabrics!).   So pop on over and take a look!

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Gratefully Grateful °1°

7 Jan

Hello and Happy New Year to you all!  I still can’t believe it’s 2014.  Wasn’t it just 1986 and we were all hanging out listening to Manic Monday by The Bangles in our Benetton rugby shirts, teased bangs and frosted pink lipstick?

Sometimes I still can’t believe I am a wife, a mother of three and….a grown up.  An almost 40 year old grown up.  Almost.  I’m going to enjoy my last months of my 30s like you wouldn’t believe.  Then I’m going to enter my 40s with flair and enthusiasm and a positive attitude about ageing.  Hold me to it.

I’ve been pretty much off the grid the last months (except on IG – I love that community so much) and I’ve really missed writing and posting here in this little space of mine. As I mentioned in my last post we went through a hard time this past fall.  My daughters lost a very good friend to cancer.  It was so deeply sad for us all.  Seeing and helping my daughters grieve while trying to deal with my own grief was one of the hardest things I’ve been through. I was in survival mode and there were moments when I thought I was going to crash.  But we made it through.  And although we miss our little friend every single day and think about her often life has continued.  We have so many beautiful memories of her and those memories are making the pain of losing her feel a little bit softer every day.

So to get a positive start on the New Year and to motivate myself to get back to this space I’ve decided to start a new  project.  I’m going write a weekly post about things I’m grateful for.  After everything we’ve been through that’s what has touched me the most.  The fact that I have so much to be grateful for (I know it sounds cliche and cheesy but it’s true!).  And to go a bit deeper, I’m really grateful for being grateful.  There were moments in the last months that I couldn’t get past the low feelings and emotions to see all those wonderful things I have in my life.

So here’s to picking up my neglected (but much loved) camera again.  And to seeing the world through rose coloured glasses.  If you want to join me in this project I would be ecstatic.  Just leave a comment with a link to a post or photo or whatever else you’re grateful for.  And hey, why don’t we even create a hashtag as well!  #gratefullygrateful14 would be perfect.  So here we go!

I’m grateful for…IMG_3014-002

…my kid’s artwork.  It just makes me smile a lot.


…the coloured houses on the island of Burano.
IMG_3452-001

…people who paint multicoloured chairs.DSC_0126-001

…kids who photo bomb my shots of decrepit walls.IMG_3177

…fountains such as this and seeing my kid’s reaction when they figure out where the water comes out.

Enjoy your day everyone!

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Mini Cheesecakes with Mincemeat

17 Dec

Today I have a little re-post from last Christmas.  My lovely friend Judith from the amazing blog Joelix wrote this guest post for me after I had hand surgery a few days before Christmas and was unable to do anything for close to six weeks.  These Mini Mincemeat Cheesecakes have been a big hit here on Jillian In Italy (and Pinterest) and I’ve heard from several readers that they are absolutely delicious. I have them on my to-do list for this coming week-end.  Click on photo for last year’s post and free downloadable recipe.

joelix-mincemeatpies1Many thanks again and gros bisous to you Judith!
(check out Judith’s ABOUT page on her blog…by far the best and most creative photo of any blogger around)

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A Kid’s Life: India

22 Nov


Hello all.  I’m still here (after over a month’s absence on Jillian In Italy).  We’ve had a difficult month but things are slowly starting to get back to normal.  Thankfully.  All I can say at the moment is that I’m so grateful for my family and our good health.  So so grateful.

Today I wanted to share a new interview in my A Kid’s Life series.  Learning about regular family life and traditions from around the world is one of my favourite things and since I started this series a few years ago I’ve learned so much about different cultures around the world.  And as much as I love to hear about how different a culture is from the other side of the world I also find it so fascinating that there are so many similarities between all of our daily grinds.

Today we’re going to hear from Kanchan and her family who live in Dehli in Northern India.  I actually “met” Kanchan on Instagram (follow her here) and I was immediately in awe of her colourful photos of their life and surroundings (not to mention the gorgeous colourful fabrics that she sometimes photographs!).  I’ve been fascinated with India for years and we’re actually in the midst of seriously contemplating a family trip there in the near future.

From the beginning Kanchan was warm and friendly and so open to share her family’s daily life and culture with us here on Jillian In Italy.  Kanchan, who lived for over 20 years in Dubai, decided to return to India so that her two daughters would be close to family and friends and learn and appreciate all that Indian culture has to offer.

So let’s hear all about their life in Delhi.

A temple in Delhi

A temple in Delhi

What country do you live in?

We live in India

How many kids do you have?  What are their ages?

We have two girls.  Diya is 12 and Naina is 10.  And we have two beloved daschunds.

At the Amer Fort, Jaipur

At the Amer Fort, Jaipur

Are you and your husband the same nationality?
Yes, we are both Indian

Do you both work?  Or does someone stay at home?

I used to work for an airline in Dubai (Emirates).  Now I am mostly at home with my girls.  My husband does financial consultancy from home.

How many languages are spoken in your house?  What one(s)?

English and Hindi.

At what age do kids start school in your country?

Most kids that we know start school at two and half years old.  By three and a half they go to Kindergarten in a proper school.  Our schools are mostly English medium and the curriculum is 10+2.

Continue reading →

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Traveling With Kids: The 100 Memories List

4 Oct

I’m over on Classic Play with a new Traveling With Kids column.  This time I share our favourite way to document and preserve our family vacation memories (besides photos).    Click here to read all about it.

 

Have a great week-end!

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Internet Inspiration

1 Oct

Since I haven’t been able to do much of anything blog-related lately I thought I’d share some favourite projects, links and videos I’ve been enjoying on the internets lately:

joelix-our-home-screen-1

Ever wonder what it would be like to buy an old factory in France and renovate it into an amazing designer house?  My friend Judith from the blog Joelix did just that and is letting us all take a virtual visit throughout.  So beautiful.

Another talented friend of mine Jennifer from the blog Classic Play just released her new PBS video series called Adventures in Learning.  These short videos are a full family project with her and her kids starring in them and her husband filming and producing them.  They are great fun to watch as a family and have the added bonus that they are educational!  Above is the video on stargazing and learning about the constellations.  Click here for the second video where they visit the local farmer’s market:

530c35ec312b8a19f9638ded0f7af66a

Here’s a great board to follow for all you Pinners out there.  The Mamas….Making Pinterest board is full of the most amazing and creative ideas for families of every kind.  Everything from kid’s art projects to family friendly recipes to sewing projects just for Mom.  And I’m proud to be part of it.

6a01156fdc946b970b019aff9f79ca970c-800wiI cam across this gorgeous purse made by Jane from the blog Buzzmills. It was one of her Selfish Sewing Week projects and I absolutely love her choice of fabrics, designs and colours. The pattern is the 241 Tote from Noodlehead.  I’ll be buying it to make with my weekly sewing group (and I have the perfect Japanese Echino fabrics to use!).

Some days you just need something silly to put a smile on your face.  This did it for me.   And it’s possible I even headed out to my chicken coop with my old fashioned ghetto-blaster and re-enacted the whole thing.

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Blackberry Lavender Jelly

19 Sep

IMG_2705

The other day I was in my local fruit and vegetable shop and I noticed they had some gorgeous local blackberries available.  The deep purple (almost black) berries were fat and plump and perfectly ripe.  I knew I had to buy them but wasn’t yet sure what I would do with them.

When I got home I took a little tea break in my garden and noticed my neglected overgrown lavender plants.  Usually I’m not a huge fan of using lavender in cooking and baking but I thought the dainty lavender perfume  would match perfectly with the tart blackberries without giving it that soapy  aftertaste that I’m not so fond of.

So I decided to make some homemade Blackberry Lavender Jelly and I’m so happy I did.  It turned out to have the perfect amount of tartness and sweetness paired with a delicate hint of lavender.  It’s a quick and easy recipe that is perfect for serving with fresh out of the oven biscuits.  We’ve already gone through two of the three bottles so I think I’ll have to whip up one more batch before blackberry season is over.  Maybe a Blackberry Lavender Crostata would also be appreciated by friends and family.

IMG_2684

Read on for recipe… Continue reading →

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