Holiday weekends

I love May and I love all of those bank holiday weekends! It stresses me a bit that I have to plan all my work extra-carefully to get stuff done but once I'm out of the office it's amazing. And if you're lucky with the weather as we have been for the past week, a family visit can be the perfect occasion to do some sight-seeing and indulging in all those spring/summer pleasures that we have been desperately craving the whole winter.

For me that included finally eating outside on our terrace, visiting the Royal Greenhouses in Laeken (again), shopping in Ghent, working on my next cardigan, drinks at the park, and a visit to the Belgian seaside. Holiday-weekend-bliss complete.

Sorbetto(s) 1 and 2

 

As I mentioned in my last sewing-related post, I've become a little frustrate with my sewing projects lately. The last Lilou didn't turn out the way I was hoping for, hence it's still lying unfinished next to my sewing machine (only the zip is missing).

Then I has some threading troubles that were driving me to the edge of insanity (the first few stitches would be fine, then suddenly the upper thread would lose all tension and create loops on the underside of the garment). I finally figured out that it was because of the thread (thanks Emily!), even though I had previously used it and it was fine! Somehow this threw me back to my first sewing experience in school where I ended up crying through the lesson because this machine did not want to cooperate - I think I might have mentioned this traumatising episode before.

Anyhow, the bottom line is that I decided to take a step back and first make some eaiser projects again before taking on something more complex; I think I simply overestimated my abilities in the case of the second "Lilou". So, back to an old-time favourite, the Sorbetto top! I had actually sewn my first one (in black) a couple of years ago but never blogged it so here it is together with the latest version with sleeves and flower print.

I have worn my black Sorbetto a lot so it already looks a bit worn down but I love the fit and also the detail with the ribbon, a souvenir from Ukraine. For my second Sorbetto I added the sleeves (according to a pattern I found here) and I left out the pleat in the centre. However, due to my stupidity when cutting out the pieces I didn't have enough fabric to cut from the fold so I had to cut two separate pieces, hence the white lacy ribbon in the centre - it's covering up the seam.

I still love the pattern and this success has given me back a bit of confidence. I want to be 100 % sure I don't mess it up when I start cutting into my Nani Iro treasures...

New fabric!

 

 

Even though I'm taking a bit of sewing brak at the moment this has not stopped me from buying more fabric. And, thanks to my amazing friend Ilaria, my stash has now been enrichened with two super-soft and amazing Nani Iro fabrics, straight from Japan! I'm still figuring out what to make but I'm very excited to plan with the different patterns and imagine what it will look like when finished.

With the Chambray I want to make another "Miette", this time with pockets, and for the other ones I haven't got anything specific in mind yet. I did notice that I definitely favour polka dot patterns but that was a purely unconcsious bias.

Armenia & Georgia

After the shock of the terror attacks and a couple of months of damn hard work I was really looking forward to this trip. Of course we had to change our flights because the airport was still closed but that was surprisingly easy and non-bureaucratic (not flying low-cost might make a difference after all...) and we arrived in Yerevan leaving all my worries behind.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, this was actually our Plan B destination after Iran fell through but it could have definitely also been a Plan A. Armenia and Georgia are two very different countries and are interesting and beautiful both in their own right. We chose to spend more time in Georgia because we also wanted to go to the coast and see a variety of landscapes but  Armenia would have deserved at least an extra week to discover more.

We spent most of the time in and around Yerevan with day trips to Khor Virap and Lake Sevan - there was still quite a lot of snow around Sevan and the landscape was beautiful. From there we took the night train to Tbilisi. Those old Soviet sleeper trains are one of my favourite modes of transport, so comfy and nostalgic!

Georgia is generally much more touristic than Armenia but having said that it was still low season and we hardly met any other travelers (and we kept on bumping into the same few people that we saw both in Yerevan AND in Tbilisi). We spent a few days in Tbilisi with its lovely old town and then made our way to Gori, Akhaltsikhe, Vardzia, and Batumi at the Black Sea on the border to Turkey. On our way back we were supposed to also go to Kazbegi up in the mountains but I was sick the last three days so Thomas went by himself.

All in all, it was a great trip: relaxing, easy to organise, and people were incredibly friendly. Don't be scared of the Great Caucasus, try something different and be surprised!