This week, I am grateful for…
…this little fur-face named Birdie who spends his days attacking my ponytail.
… colourful little sunny spots such as this that are to be found all over my house.
…yellow striped guitar cases and the little guitarist who carries it around with pride.
Have a great week-end everyone!
As some of you may know I’m a huge fan of snail-mailing and pen-pals (see some of my snail mail projects here and here). It’s something I’ve been doing since I was a little girl and something that I got my kids involved in since they could just write (those early letters are almost impossible to understand but man are they cute!). They started writing letters to their grandparents and slowly over the years started writing to some of my friend’s kids who live in other countries around the world. For our kids writing to their pen pals was also a great opportunity for them to practice writing English (my kids are schooled in Dutch and French).
Over the years I’ve loved seeing the relationships they’ve formed with their pen pals and hearing about their big plans to all meet in person one day in the future. In this technologically focused world these little things make a huge impression on our kids.
A few weeks ago Jen and Dave asked me if I would help them with the new episode of their PBS Adventures in Learning series and when I heard the topic was Pen Pals I jumped at the opportunity. It was so much fun to help make (with lots of help from my better half who has the patience to figure out how the video feature on my dslr works). Take a peek and let me know what you think!
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).
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.
I 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.
I 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). 
Definitely 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.
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…
…colourful washing lines on grey days.
…that I can wait in places like this while my daughter does her guitar class.
…my kid’s love of Pasta Con Broccoli.
…my daughters’ taste in shoes.
Anything that you’re particularly grateful for this week?
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…
…my kid’s artwork. It just makes me smile a lot.
…the coloured houses on the island of Burano.
…people who paint multicoloured chairs.
…kids who photo bomb my shots of decrepit walls.
…fountains such as this and seeing my kid’s reaction when they figure out where the water comes out.
Enjoy your day everyone!
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.
Many 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)
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!
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:
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:
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.
I 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.
My newest Traveling With Kids column is over on Classic Play today. And this one hits home for me. Literally. I write all about our time spent on the South Shore of my hometown province of Nova Scotia. I don’t want to sound biased but it really is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
The South Shore of Nova Scotia is all about the simple life. Great beaches, picturesque fishing villages, cozy little cafes and bakeries and lots of hikes and walks along the beautiful coastlines and in the local forests. In other words, the perfect destination for a summer family vacation.
As a family we love biking. And we love food. So when we saw that some local businesses were organising a day of cycling with gastronomic stops along the way we were immediately on board. Mangia Bevi Bici is an event that has been going on for three years and is slowly gaining popularity by many people living in our small region.
The idea of the day is to do a 30km bike tour (or a shorter 18km version for the little ones) and make small stops in various towns and villages at local restaurants, community centres and gastronomic shops.
Along the way there are stops for antipasto, primo piatto, secondo piatto and dolce. The organisers mapped out a perfect tour along picturesque little streets and roads with just the right amount of cycling in between stops. Usually at each stop there was a choice of several different dishes along with lots of wine and even grappa at the secondo piatto stop. The tour included a surprise honey tasting stop as well as some gifts for the kids along the way (cycle hats and water bottles!).
Some of our favourite dishes of the day were the Pasta con Pesce di Lago (Pasta with Lake Fish), Gnocchi alla Zucca (Pumpkin Gnocchi), Lavarello alla Griglia con Arancio (Grilled Lake Fish with Orange) and of course the impressive cheese and salami plate at one of our favourite local farm.
I’ll be honest though, eating all that food and then having to hop on a bike was at times challenging. I made the suggestion to the organisers that they might want to think about installing a nap-tent halfway through the tour next time.
Even if the sky above was chasing us in between primo and secondo piatto we managed to avoid the storms for most of the day.
Even despite a few steep hills, some fallen off bike-chains and the odd flat tire it was a really wonderful way to spend a beginning-of-fall Sunday. We’ve already started the countdown for next year.
(all photos were taken with iPhone)
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Jillian in Italy Interview by Classic Play!
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Embroidery With Kids
Father's Day Origami Garland
Miniature Bulletin Boards
Surprise Activity Garland
Italian Crostata Recipe
Snail Mail Booklets
Doily Fairy Lights
Jan Fabre Exhibit With Kids
Japanese Handicrafts
Miniature Waffle Cookies
Jillian In Italy 
