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Textile Symposium and Nebraska Hall: Part I

Posted by christy in Events | Stuff I Like | Travels - (2 Comments)

Last week the Textile Society of America came to Lincoln, Nebraska and I got a chance to “crash” it by volunteering some of my time.  I was able to attend a few sessions, check out the international textile market, and take some of the participants on a field trip to the not-open-to-the-public collections on the 5th floor of Nebraska Hall.

All of the attendees were so knowledgeable that they were able to help the curator with a lot of the information regarding the pieces.  I was able to take pictures in there so I thought I’d show off some of what we were able to see.

Silkworm cocoon rattles

The background material is cornhusk. The pattern is made with wool.

19th  Century leather jacket–Love the fringe!

Most of the “beads” on these moccasins are porcupine quills.

Embroidered moccasins. I would totally wear these.

More pictures coming soon including a dress from Ethiopia that I love and some real “live” mummy toes.

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Summit Knitting: Take 2

Posted by christy in Events | Knitting/Crochet | Projects | Travels - (0 Comments)

You  might remember this picture from a post I did from my trip to Italy/Switzerland.  I took this picture on the train from Venice to Geneva.  I knit happily on that scarf for several more hours over the course of that trip.  Somewhere over the Atlantic, something went dreadfully wrong and I didn’t notice until I came home.

See the mistake?  There is an extra big hole off to one side.  Oops.  I know exactly what I did wrong and how to fix it but I lost my motivation.  Plus, I decided that this scarf would look better if I knit it the other way (vertical instead of horizontal).

Last night I unraveled the whole thing and started over.

Good thing I love the process of knitting just as much as the finished project!

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Tilt Shift Photography

Posted by christy in Events | Photography | Stuff I Like | Techniques | Travels - (1 Comments)

I’ve spent a lot of time watching tilt shift photography videos online over the past several months and never realized there was an easy way for those of us without a tilt shift lens or mad photoshopping skills to make some great pictures.  Then I started noticing some photos on Flickr that were made using Tiltshiftmaker.com.  I checked it out!  I made some photos.

The little house in the middle of the street was already adorable. Now, with everything look miniature, I just want to put that street into my pocket!

Here is the picture without any editing at all.

I’m trying to resist the urge to make all of my photos tilt shift.  Here’s one more that I did.

Want to see an amazing tilt shift video? This is full of scenes from New York City.

The Sandpit from Sam O’Hare on Vimeo.

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Le Rouet Knitting/Needlework Shop in Geneva

Posted by christy in Events | Stuff I Like | Travels - (1 Comments)

On my first full day in Geneva, I took a tram down to a neighborhood known for being a haven for artists, craftspeople, and the like.  My kind of neighborhood, you know?  It is called Carouge and I will admit…it was kind of overrated.

Sure, there was that kind of vibe and plenty of shops that fit the bill.  Maybe I was expecting too much?  One shop where I spent a considerable amount of time was the local knitting/needlework shop.

I couldn’t bring myself to pay Swiss prices for yarn.  Most of what they carried was generic wool, wool blends, acrylic and novelty.  Their needlework patterns were really cool, though.  I couldn’t bring myself to pay Swiss prices for those, either.

They did have a bit of a sale on some of their kits.  I ended up buying a tea towel kit.  I’ve been working on it and I’ll share the pictures later this week.

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Clever Jewelry Display

Posted by christy in Events | Home Decor | Projects | Stuff I Like | Travels - (2 Comments)

I’m pretty sure this shop was on Burano.  It was one of the cutest shops I saw the whole time I was in Europe.

Most of the jewelry was made incorporating felt beads and glass beads.  The colors were amazing and the designs had a modern whimsy that drew me in.

What really got me excited, though, were the displays.  These were really clever and could easily be replicated.  It would make for a gorgeous vendor booth display.

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Murano Glass Blowing

Posted by christy in Events | House | Stuff I Like | Travels - (2 Comments)

I loved going to the island of Murano.  That whole day in Italy was amazing because we spent the whole day on Murano (glass paradise) and Burano (lace and charm).  Burano will get its own post eventually.  Today is all about the glass.

Tangent: I’m LDS and in our temple at Winter Quarters they have some of the most beautiful bowls I’ve ever seen.  The picture below represents something similar.  But, I’ll be honest…I’ve never been able to find anything similar.  And, I’ve been looking.  A lot.

When we were in Murano, all I wanted to do was find something similar.  I was on a quest.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.  There was nothing even close.  The vase above comes from California (and costs $485).  After searching in a gazillion shops, I realized it wasn’t going to happen.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t find some amazing glass.  I did!

We found some places where you could actually see the glass blowers at work.  I thought this guy looked cool with his shorts.  It was really hot in there.  They also were super fast!  I guess you kind of have to be so the glass doesn’t cool.  Most of my pictures of them at work look like the one below.

Most galleries didn’t allow photos so I don’t really have many photos of the actual glass.  We also visited a museum all about glass and it was amazing.  No photos.

I brought one piece home with me.  It was on a sale rack (bonus!) and it matches my home so completely that even though it wasn’t THE ONE I was looking for, I’m super happy with the purchase.

I’m not super happy with this photo.  I should have taken it outside.  Does this one show it a bit better?

Now I have another reason to beg my husband to bring me flowers every week.

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Mosaics in Venice

Posted by christy in Events | Life | Stuff I Like | Travels - (0 Comments)

In Venice, we were surrounded with amazing craftsmanship and history at every turn.  These photos represent some of the mosaics found on the outside of the Basilica di San Marco.  That first photo amazed me with the shading details.  Can you imagine trying to recreate that?

I wish I could have taken photos inside.  They were even more amazing.  At their official site, you can see some virtual tours of the inside.   With over 8000 square meters of mosaic alone, there is a lot to see!

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Artist Jean-Etienne Liotard

Posted by christy in Events | Stuff I Like | Travels - (1 Comments)

While in Europe, we visited several different museums.  Most of them didn’t allow us to take any pictures and I’ll have to do with my mental memory to relive the beautiful things I saw.  In Geneva, I knew I had to buy a couple of prints.  There were two paintings in particular that spoke to me.  I immediately fell in love with them.

This is the one that started it all.  Doesn’t this lady look like someone you want to know?  Or be?  I’d totally be friends with this lady.  Her name is Madame Louise d’Epinay.  She was a writer, had a relationship with one of the Brothers Grimm (among others) and hung out with Voltaire.  When she was in Geneva, she was painted by Liotard.  Once I saw this painting, I knew that I wanted to find out more about the painter.

This is one of his self portraits.  Isn’t he awesome?  If you were living in the 1700′s, wouldn’t you want to know this guy?  Or be painted by him?

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Summit. Travel Knitting

Posted by christy in Events | Knitting/Crochet | Projects | Travels - (0 Comments)

Last night as I was packing, I realized that I didn’t have a good knitting project to bring along.  I did a search on Ravelry and came up with this project that fit perfectly with this skein of mystery yarn I got from Julie.  I’m modifying it a bit to suit my taste.  I’m making it into a scarf so instead of 15 repeats of the wavy pattern, I’m only doing 5.  I didn’t have enough yarn to make a shawl, anyway.

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture.  It was late at night and all I had was my camera on hand (the other camera was packed).  You can’t really tell how beautiful the yarn is.  I should be able to post some in progress pictures over the next few days.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so excited about a project!

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The Art of Craft in Italy

Posted by christy in Challenges | Events | Travels - (0 Comments)

I leave tomorrow.  I will spend just 2 1/2 days in Venice but I’m going to make the most of it!  There are a few things I want to do for sure when I’m there and those things involve glass and lace.

Murano is an outlying island of Venice and is known for its long glass-blowing history.  Now, it is mostly industrial and the artistic glass is mostly for tourists.  I don’t care, though.  There are a couple of great museums on the island and some of the factories give tours.  My goal is to take at least 1,000 photos on my trip and I can’t wait to show you what I experienced!

Burano is known for its colorful houses and lacemaking.  I may just have to bring back a hanky, doily, or two.  I’m definitely going to check out the Lace Museum on the island.

I’ll try to blog as much as I can while I’m gone.  You can bet that something from my travels will end up in the August craft challenge packet!  Because of that, I’m going to need to place a firm limit on how many people can participate as I will only have so many of certain supplies and no means to purchase more once I get back to the states.  If you want to participate, get your packet before they’re gone!

Ciao!

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