Showing posts with label Travel diary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel diary. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

When Life Gives You Lemon Fabric... Remembering our Most Inspiring Italy Trip!


Ciao! 

This past May, we traveled to Italy. Of course it was full of beautiful old sites, landscapes for days, and a constant delicious flow of local food and wine! Sensory memories stick with you and that's what makes traveling the best. 

We've started a tradition of picking out fabric from our travels to make throw pillows for our home. I recently finished our latest souvenir pillow, appropriately representing our Italian adventure in a vibrant lemon print!  

***

Counting our blessings at the Trevi Fountain. It seams like a cliche and cheesy stop to some, but it's pretty incredible that it was originally built in the mid 1700s. 

***

More delicious cappuccinos than I can count...I love a good coffee moment, and the lack of to-go coffee options all over Italy really makes you sit and take it all in. Of course I fully embraced it.

***

It's important to get in your photos to remember how amazing it is that you were actually seeing an incredible thing in person. I feel so awkward trying to pose, and yet strangely more comfortable jumping like a big goober in front of people for photos. Once a gymnast, always a gymnast!

***

Lemon ricotta, all kinds of lemon desserts, lemon with fresh fish, lemon sauce on your pasta, limoncello, lemon soda...

***

The walk to our house in Modica, a beautiful old town in Sicily. Much like our "New York diet" of walking everywhere, the stair climbs in Modica really balanced out delicious eating and drinking. It's built into mountains and makes for some pretty incredible sunsets. 


Cheers from the incredible deck of our rental. 

***

Lemons, lemons, lemons...

***



In Syracuse (Italian name Siracusa), where the waiter brought us freshly caught fish covered in basil and lemon + crispy white wine.
  
***

Beautiful Noto, Sicily.

After accidentally driving our tiny car down a pedestrian only street in Noto, we found the infamous Cafe Sicilia. Yum, yum, yum. We also bought a whole box of desserts to go. 

***

Waking up in our beautiful Palermo apartment.

Eating one last fried rice ball as we are about to board the ferry from our stay in Palermo to the Island of Lipari. 

***

The old port on the island of Lipari. 


We were lucky to hit wildflowers blooming everywhere.

***


Life giving me Lemons - at our Island house. 


***


***


 We found this perfect fabric in a tiny shop near the port in Lipari.

***

I love how the latest pillow came out and what this tradition is adding to our home. Where to next??! Happy traveling friends!



Cheers! Live in Color 🤗!

xo,
     Erin

Follow along the journey of ErinElsie and *Textile*Repurposed*Style.* Subscribe by email in the sidebar of my blog or sign up for Bloglovin!
Follow on Bloglovin



Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Living in Color! - Textiles of Chile and at Home with Our Sentimental Souvenir

Living in Color! - Textiles of Chile and at Home with Our Sentimental Souvenir 



It's fall ya'll and I'm back from a blogging hiatus. This past spring, I did a road trip adventure through a region of Chile. Of course I couldn't get enough of the textiles and art. We've started a tradition of collecting fabrics from our travels to make throw pillows for our sofa. It keeps us surrounded in our colorful memories!    


In Chile, we were on the hunt for an authentic Mapuche textile. The Mapuche are one of the most native indigenous inhabitants, and are best known for their wool textiles. Chile is home to some of the finest wool in the world and the Mapuche have long woven this wool into fine ponchos and home furnishings. 

Source: http://vidamapuche.blogspot.com/2010/
I love that this shopping instantly made us dive into the story of these native people and their craft. It gave us an appreciation for these artists and the lands they inhabit. There's a strong chance you and I have seen copies and reproductions of their work pop up in mass market chain stores without even knowing it.  
Source: http://vidamapuche.blogspot.com/2010/
We found a great market in Pucon, Chile selling Mapuche textiles. They are not cheap, but as a maker, I totally understand needing to be compensated for your work. 



So many beautiful things, I wish we could have bought them all!  



Ponchos and high quality wool everywhere! 


Color inspiration overload!



Another fun shopping stop was a cultural center and local artist collective in Licanten.



We were excited to also find an awesome coffee stop next door after being on the road all day. For a girl who enjoys a proper coffee moment, they don't really offer to-go options, hehe. You have to sit and have your coffee! They served ours in a pottery native to Chile, mostly produced in the village of Pomaire; which we later learned eating and drinking throughout our trip. 





We picked out this beautiful green Mapuche textile for our pillow.  




Floor time! I am a total floor person, so I made this pillow big and full to double as a cozy floor cushion. 



 We are loving what this tradition adds to our home. Live in color friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a lovely week!


*Check out this old post about our sentimental souvenirs :)
http://erinelsie.blogspot.com/2014/04/sentiment-and-souvenirs.html


P.S. Shop great new items in my ErinElsie online shop, created with special bits of reclaimed vintage fabrics, recycled denim, and leather remnants. Save 15% off  these totally one of a kind items by using code FALL15 at checkout or the shop link below!  




Follow along the journey of ErinElsie and *Textile*Repurposed*Style.* Subscribe by email in the sidebar of my blog or sign up for Bloglovin!
Follow on Bloglovin