Holidays

Summer holidays are starting soon.

Many shops are preparing for their closures, like the "macelleria" (butcher shop) near my house that is closing from July 6 to August 24... now that is a holiday!!

I don't think an artist ever goes on holiday.

The brain is always alert to new designs and new inspirations.

I leave Verona on Wednesday for the south and have packed my sketch book.

At the end of last summer, my friend and I planned to do some fabric dying this summer using natural materials like local plants but it gets so hot down there....

One Year Ago

Well, the year has passed...

An entire 365 days...

A birthday bouquet from my special friend

since my last birthday.

You may remember my bellezza project where I took a picture everyday for the year...

from birthday to birthday.

It was more difficult than I thought.

I got out of the habit (aren't we all creatures of habit!!) when my camera died in October finally succumbing to the salt water that got in the mechanism that summer. I was without a camera for one week and that threw me off my game.

I saw beautiful things every day but may not have photographed them- because they were fleeting things, or by the time I got the camera out the subject had passed or the photograph didn't do the subject justice.

I plan to make an iBook of all those photographs when I get back to Canada in the Fall.

There is beauty in every day.

In the Zone

This Sunday a radius area of about 1000 metres from the Arsenale had to be evacuated.

I saw these posters up everywhere but never bothered
to read them... I though it was
advertisement for an art show!LOL

It wasn't an emergency. It was a planned evacuation.

picnic blanket -perfect summer accessory! I made it this morning.

A bomb from WW2 was discovered and had to be disarmed.

I never get tired of Kaffe Fassett fabric

I live in the demarcated zone. I decided to go to the Ad Maiora studio and sew for 3 hours.

I miss sewing...when I sew I am 'in the zone'. If you sew you know what I mean.

I made some triangles
Yes, I still use Thangles!
They give me an accurate HST without
measuring and I use up my pre-cut strips.

The city had an erie feeling- no one on the roads, all shops closed, no cars, lots of police presence and a loud speaker reminding people of the hours of evacuation.

World Wide Knit in Public

It is the official day of knitting in public!

A nice group of us met at 9 AM this morning at a local 'bar'.

We started with coffees and by noon we were onto "aperitivo".

As always lots of laughs!

There were some showing their work and others being inspired!

A few lessons happened!

People from different parts of the world that were in Verona on holidays stopped to see what we were doing and have a chat! England, New Zealand and United States.

This lady is from England. 

Even a bee stopped in!

A couple from the United States read about our event on-line and came equipped with yarn and needles!

Italy was the European country with the most locations registered. 27! Brava Italia!

Look Up

When my husband asks me, "Where is the ...." and I answer, "At your eye level", I forget he is so much taller than me and that my eye level isn't his eye level!

San Procolo crypt

Look up, once in a while...

San Procolo crypt ceiling

And be inspired by what's up there!

San Procolo, rose window

Ms Emma Designs no more

That wonderful one-of-a-kind store, Ms Emma Designs, is closing!

My latest purchase from Ms Emma Designs
Hand-painted silk

The designer will still be making clothes and selling on-line only. Her site is under construction at the moment.

In the meantime, there is a big sale at the store on Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, Ontario.

Owner and designer, Sofia Verna,
always saved her best scraps for me.
I have been using her fabric bits in my textile art since 2007.

Best call before you visit.

 (Anyone interested in my Umbria trip (end of august, 2016) will be lucky to have a class in hand-painted silk with Sofia Verna at her studios in Italy!)

                      365 Eglinton Avenue West (2 blocks West of Avenue Road)

Grand Closing Sale

Fashion… fixtures… furniture

Great deals on summer and upcoming winter colletion

From $5.00, $10.00, $20.00, $30.00…

Calabria Invitation

My work, Collision with Melancholia (radiation series), was invited to be exhibited in the show La Pui Bella in Rossano, Calabria, Italy, in July.

My piece (right) at the Art Gallery UniCredit
during Verona Tessile

I plan to be there for part of the run. I have been to several shows there over the years. It was a great pleasure teaching at their week-long quilt retreats in the past.

Great fun! Such good food and so well organized! The hospitality is unbeatable!

Fabulous technique!
The author had all her samples in large cellophane envelopes
so we could pick them up and turn them around to examine.

Maria Rosaria Nola, master quilter from Calabria, organizes the event along with her quilt collegues. She has written her first book.

Maria Rosaria Nola (right) was promoting her book
at Verona Tessile. The piece
on the front cover was awarded
1st prize traditional
 at the Verona Tessile
International Juried Show in 2011

It is on appliqué and is very well written.

She explains so many different techniques and because the photos are so well done one can even understand the steps without knowing how to read italian.

Congratulations Maria Rosaria!