Tag Archives: photography

Tutorial: Small Fabric Basket

19 Mar

{Here’s  little simple sewing project from the Jillian In Italy archives.  I think this would be a great project to do for Easter for the kids or even with the kids.  I can just imagine a garden full of these sweet little baskets filled with Easter eggs and candy.}

Here is a very basic tutorial that a good friend of mine designed for a very sweet little fabric basket.  Very quick and gratifying.  I used oilcloth for the outside and a cotton for the inside but it would be possible to use only cotton as well (or even nicer would be linen).  If using cottons or linens I would recommend using interfacing to make it stiff enough to stand up on it’s own.  The paper clips are used to avoid getting little pin holes in the plasticized material or oilcloth. Please let me know if I wasn’t clear on any of my instructions (I know the corner part is a bit hard to see in the photo).

Read on to get full tutorial. Continue reading →

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Cinnamon Swirl Bread

15 Mar

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For ages I’ve been wanting to try and re-create a bread that we ate often when I was little.  Cinnamon Swirl Bread.  I remember my mom used to buy it on the week-ends and I’m pretty sure my brother and I could polish off a whole loaf in one sitting.  If there happened to be some left over (rarely) we ate it the next day toasted with butter (almost better than eating it fresh).

Yesterday when the loaf came out of the oven and I sliced into it so I could take some photos I knew it was not going to be possible to wait until the week-end to give it a try.  This no-sugar-during-the-week thing that I’m doing is great and I admit that I’m feeling much better in general.  Geesh, it has been almost six months that I’ve resisted the urge to eat everything from chocolate cake to fruit pies to bags of my favorite candy.  But the taste of that bread yesterday was probably the best thing I have eaten in my entire  life (have you noticed that I tend to exaggerate slightly sometimes?). No regrets here.

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When my kid’s arrived home from school famished I served them this and they were ecstatic.  “Mama, it’s like a gooey cinnamon bun in the middle of a  loaf of delicious bread!” and “Mama, this is absolutely the best things I’ve ever tasted in my entire life!” (the exaggeration trait was apparently passed on to a few of my kids).

So my advice to you all is to make this bread this week-end and let your families/friends/pets shower you with praise, love and thankfulness.

Read on for recipe…

Continue reading →

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Moroccan Pigment Painting

14 Mar

1-IMG_6298As some of you may know last month we spent a week visiting the beautiful country of Morocco (see my travel column about our time in the Atlas Mountains here).  While in Marrakesh we spent quite a bit of time wandering through the maze of souks (markets) and admiring all the various stalls and shops selling leather purses and slippers, ceramic bowls, carpets, jewelry, antiques and pretty much anything else you could ever desire.

One of our favorite shops to visit were the spice shops.  They were full of bottles upon bottles filled with every kind of spice and herb you could ever imagine.  The aroma these shops give off can be smelled from far away and is almost intoxicating while you’re actually inside.

At the shop above we bought little plastic sacks filled with freshly ground cumin (did you know in Morocco they put salt and cumin on the dining table instead of salt and pepper?), Moroccan 35 spice, the most intense yellow tumeric I’ve ever seen, Moroccan curry and the most amazing and pungent smelling cinnamon ever.  Since returning home I’ve tried all my spices and they are absolutely amazing.  They add so much  flavour to any dish.

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But the most intriguing items we bought in one of these little spice shops were the coloured powdered pigments.  At first we had no idea what all the jars full of coloured water were but the kind shop owner Mohammed explained that these are pigments used for painting and dying clothing.  As a lover of bright colours and anything creative I decided to buy some to experiment with back home on a rainy day.  As luck would have it, the week after we arrived home we had a stay-at-home day and these pigments were the perfect activity to stay warm in front of the fireplace.

Mohammed told us to mix small amounts of the pigment powders with lemon juice.  I think the kids had just as much fun doing this than the actual painting.  The colours turned out so vibrant and reminiscent of the colours we saw everywhere in Morocco.

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The paint has quite a different texture to normal paints and actually dries with a beautiful smooth and almost shiny finish.

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It’s not often that these big kids of mine have time to sit down and paint for a morning like we did so often in the past.  I have to admit that I loved every single minute of it.

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Miniature Bulletin Boards

11 Mar


1-IMG_6699The other day I had to do one of my bi-yearly trips to IKEA to pick up a lot of stuff I don’t actually need (besides tealights and napkins of course).  While there I came across 3-packs of round cork board heat-pads for the kitchen.  As soon as I saw them I knew I had to make miniature fabric covered bulletin boards for my daughter’s room.   They are turning 11 in a few weeks and I’m planning a surprise bedroom make-over and thought this would be perfect to decorate their walls with something useful.

So as soon as I got home I plugged in my hot glue gun (I’m so scared of that thing) and started cutting out circles in various fabrics.  I cut the circles out slightly larger than the heat-pads in order to be able to fold them over the back edge and attach with glue.  And yes, it is very dangerous for burning your fingertips.  I’m pretty sure I don’t have any fingerprints left.

1-IMG_6870In the end I made six boards using different materials.  When I have painted the girl’s room I will arrange them all above their desks for them to pin up various photos, letters and keepsakes (please no boyfriend photos for a while though!).  For the photos above I attached a few to the art corner cupboard in our living room.  I think I’ll be making many more of these in the coming weeks.

1-IMG_6860Now I just have to figure out the best way to hang them up.  For the cupboard I used 2 sided adhesive pads found in the local fai-da-te (DIY shop).  But for attaching them to walls I’ll need something a little sturdier.  And advice out there?

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Gattinara, Piemonte

8 Mar

One of the things I love about the place I live is the fact that we’re so close to so many beautiful areas.  We can hop in the car and be in the centre of Milan in less than an hour (depending on traffic of course).  We can arrive at the Swiss border within 45 minutes and to the beautiful city of Lugano in a little over an hour.  The Mediterranean Sea is a beautiful relaxing drive of less than two hours as well.  It’s wonderful to be able to wake up on a Saturday morning, look  out the window and decide what kind of landscape we’re in the mood to visit that day.

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As I mentioned here  a few months ago, this year we’ve decided to explore and discover as many new and lovely places as we can in the region of Piemonte.  We are actually only minutes to the border of Lombardia and Piemonte (I do my grocery shopping there) and have actually seen very little of it over the 12 years that we’ve lived here.

Last Saturday morning we decided we wanted to do a nice little hike but weren’t in the mood to be in the car for very long.  We looked at a map and decided on the town of Gattinara which is a mere 30 minutes from our doorstep.

We all packed into the car and off we went to find some beautiful spot to take a stroll.  We arrived in the town and noticed there were signs that led up to a famous antique tower.  We followed the steep road up into the hills and vineyards and found just what we were looking for.

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We parked the car, visited around the tower for a few minutes then headed off on foot among the rolling hills covered in vineyards (which apparently are some of the best around).  Along one of the dirt roads we decided to follow a sign for the abandoned castle of San Lorenzo.  The weather was still a bit foggy (which it often is in Piemonte) and we slowly made our way up through the woods.

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The castle of San Lorenzo (XII-XIII) is in ruins but well kept and great fun for the kids to explore and climb around.  The sun broke through the clouds just in time for our picnic and we sat at a lovely old stone table in a little clearing in a wooded area.  The view we had on the abandoned castle was just perfect.

1-IMG_6749After lunch we strolled around the castle grounds and enjoyed the first sun we had seen in days.  In the middle of the ruins the kids found the ultimate climbing tree.  So while they climbed we sat back and enjoyed the views over the region and the Sesia River.

1-IMG_6735As usual, we had the place to ourselves.  I always find it amazing that you can find these gorgeous little deserted spots in the middle of nowhere.

1-IMG_6752Although it’s always a bit difficult to get the kids motivated to leave the house on week-end mornings they are always so happy when we are visiting these places.  They love the walks through the woods, vineyards, hills and towns and they adore hearing about the history behind all these places.

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Yet another great day out discovering Piemonte.

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Traveling With Kids: Atlas Mountains, Morocco

7 Mar

Today on the blog Classic Play you can check out my first write-up on our recent trip to Morocco.  This column is about our time spent in the Atlas Mountains (my write up of our time in Marrakesh will be coming up in a few weeks time).  This area of Morocco is so stunning and really gives you a taste of the “real Morocco”.  We met the friendliest and most welcoming people, ate the most delicious food and went on the most gorgeous hikes/treks.  Can you tell we fell in love with the area? I’d recommend to anyone visiting Morocco to rent a car and head this way.  So pop on over and take a look!

 

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Cucito

5 Mar

For some reason I’ve been really busy at my sewing machine lately.  Every day I find myself holed up in my sewing room with little bits of  thread hanging from my hair, on my clothes and pretty much all over every surface in the entire house.

Once I start on a project I seem to lose my sense of time and what else needs to get done around here.  In other words, we’ve been living off take-out pizza and canned tuna  for a few days now and the house is looking a little worse for wear (not yet squalor state yet though!).

Here are a few finished items from the last week:

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I’m trying to bring the funky back to smocks for the little ones.  Oh yeah, it was never there.  But seriously, I’m going to change the way the world sees smocks.  I have big plans.

Unfortunately I had some issues with this MaxMara fabric running (see the little white lines coming from the bias?) due to the stretch in the fabric.  Any tips out there on how to avoid this?  Thinner needle perhaps?

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I’m in the process of taking a creative map making course over on Skillshare and I decided to step away from the computer and do something handmade.  I printed off a map of Europe on some cotton muslin and embroidered our first trips as a family.  Now I still have to figure out whether I make it into a pillow, or something to hang on the wall etc.  Any ideas?

1-IMG_6816Last week I finished making up a few wallets in our sewing group.  It was always one of those projects that seemed too advanced and complicated but in the end it was actually quite do-able.  There are a lot of pieces involved and three weights of interfacing but I didn’t have a breakdown…not even once.

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Look!  A zipper pouch, credit card pockets, and a snap closure! What more could you want in a sewing project?  Pattern from 101 Fabric-by-Fabric Ways To Sew a Metre by Rebecca Yaker.

1-IMG_6814And last but not least, today I whipped up this little bag  (similar to this one from a few weeks ago).  This beautiful cotton fabric is Point of Sail by Michael Miller.

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Jillian In Italy Interview on Pret A Voyager!

28 Feb

Anne from the lovely travel blog Pret A Voyager interviewed me about my travel experiences and it’s up on her blog today.   Pop on over to take a peek (there are lots of photos too!).

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Oatmeal Molasses Bread

27 Feb

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Today’s recipe is one that reminds me of my childhood in Nova Scotia and the Saturday Farmer’s Market where we bought it.    It reminds me of drizzly mornings at our kitchen table with thick slices of this bread covered in a layer of butter (and sometimes even some molasses on top of that).  I’ve never found another bread that has the same moist and spongy consistency.  And one that seems to be loved by everyone who tries it.

Yes, I am this bread’s #1 fan.

This past week-end I made one big loaf of this Oatmeal Molasses Bread and two smaller loaves.  The large loaf was scoffed down in no less than 5 minutes and the other two I froze for a lunch with some good friends this week.  And just to let you know, once unfrozen this bread feels just as fresh as when it comes out of the oven.  This bread can do no wrong.

Here in Italy it’s almost impossible to get your hands on molasses so I have to use  my stash sparingly.   And I’m pretty sure there is no real substitute for it as well (if you know one please let me know).  I think it’s the key ingredient to making this bread so moist and…perfect.  Luckily my husband is traveling to America for work next week and molasses is on his grocery list of things to bring home.

Continue reading for recipe…
Continue reading →

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Friday

22 Feb

It’s Friday folks.  And I couldn’t be happier about it.   Getting into the early morning school routine is always so difficult after a vacation.  And the snowy weather the last few days really made me want to cocoon at home with the kids in front of the fire.

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During the snowstorm yesterday I made these Oatmeal Raspberry Squares (raspberry variation of these from The Pioneer Woman).  They are just so amazingly delicious.  And I realize I say that about every recipe I post about on this blog but I just have a talent for finding and trying out recipes that are delectable. Might help that the majority involve large quantities of brown sugar and butter.

These squares are so quick and simple to whip up.  In less than 10 minutes prep time they were in the oven baking.  And I just want to boast about the fact that I didn’t even try one tiny little piece of these bars when I made them yesterday.  My no-sugar-during-the-week rule is still on (5 months) and even though it took every ounce of self-control my body had to offer I made it until today to have a taste (past noon on Friday is considered week-end to me).  Yesterday evening I watched my family devour them and ooh and aah about how yummy they were and I sat there, with my jaw tightly clenched, and resisted the urge to shove my face in the pan and polish off the entire thing.  Round of applause please.

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Another little piece of news is that my Embroidery With Kids craft is on Disney’s Spoonful blog at the moment.  Exciting stuff.

Indian Butter Chicken Meatballs

I also wanted to share the link for this recipe for Indian Butter Chicken Meatballs.  I made it for the family this week and and it was a huge hit,  So much flavour and simple to make up beforehand.  My kids all said it was one of their favorite meals (ALL of them…it’s a miracle).

Besides going to an Irish Dance Show on Saturday evening, we have a very relaxing and low-key week-end planned.  Lots of walks in the woods, pancakes and some puppy-sitting for friends.  Hope you all have a lovely week-end!

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