Malta took me by surprise - not only that I haven't expected it to be so different from what we've seen in Europe before. Or I should better speak of Gozo - a smaller island, with less tourist infrastructure and therefore being a bit more authentic in my opinion. I've seen too little of Malta itself to be able to judge on the whole. I ended up loving Gozo, which was unexpected, it was not a love at first sight. Probably for better. And three weeks spent there is not an argument to justify my ability to evaluate anything on this island. I had a feeling though that we have been living in Gozo for far longer than just three weeks. That's probably because of our "first-time-here", when every impression, especially a new one, which has been never experienced before (architecture, nature, cooking, way of life, new acquaintances, habits, local products, just to name a few) seems to be more intense and time passes away differently, or at least seems to. But I'm not going to speak about this today.
We didn't plan to go to Tallinn, but we were in Helsinki, just around the corner, so "why not".
Here's why we are talking here about travels - it's about what I learn about, or more precisely from countries. There's a whole lot, and there're also lots of angles a country can be interesting. My angle is and will probably remain the handicrafts. As well as spotting the structures, colors, patterns in architecture and nature that would be in my opinion "typical" and of course new from what I have known or seen before.
I got new books about Gozo lace, estonian embroidery, knitting mittens, weaving belts, some handmade memorabilia. What else? A couple of books on maltese architecture and history - that's something challenging as well since there're patterns, shapes, figures and other inspirational material that can be potentially diverted into handicraft motifs and sparkle new ideas.
I guess we missed a lot, but that's okay - I got back home with the feeling that I found some inspirational themes to keep me going in next months. I wish I could have an opportunity to also learn a bit more of the techniques staying in the country, like some weaving, and get my hands on it, or get some more insight into the meaning of estonian/baltic ornaments, or visit some more museums and have more time to look around. I'm happy with what I could find, make and learn, I'm quite happy, my friends.
What about work? Since I last posted here last month, precisely one month ago, I had like about eight productive days or so, and that's what came up and is coming up soon. I've recently made a Christmas calender - something I wanted to make since many years but got lost each time in too many ideas/techniques etc. There have been some Christmas cards as well, tutorial coming soon. Those ones came spontaneously as a side project from left-overs from the calender.
The calender is finished now and offered to a friend, and no, I do not have pictures of the result. But I'm working on another one, pretty similar, and then comes one more, and you will have more peeks, how-to's and explanations. The starting point was a vintage linen curtain I got this summer, because I loved the pattern. This calender project was the perfect match to give this curtain a new life!
Stay tuned!
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