Sania Pell

croatian summer

August 28, 2011  in inspiring places, news

I have been holidaying in Croatia since I was born. My mother is originally from the capital city Zagreb where my grandmother still lives. As soon as school in England finished for the summer my brother and I would head off to spend the holidays there.

We still return almost every summer to the small fishing village on a little island in the Adriatic Ocean where the sea is beautiful and clear, the food is simple and delicious, the cicadas chirp noisily all day and the stars shine brightly all night in the deep black sky.

My grandfather bought a barren, rock-covered plot of land almost fifty years ago and built a little one-room holiday home which has been added to over the years. There is no internet access (we only had running water connected a few years ago!) so it feels like a real holiday.

The food is amazing. Fresh fish, bought directly from the island’s fishermen that morning as they unload their catches, are delicious cooked on the wood barbecue. Olives grow everywhere and the local families all make their own olive oil. The fig trees in our garden are covered in the most deliciously sweet fruits that you can pick and eat straight from the tree. And everyone grows huge, juicy tomatoes – perfect simply dressed with a little salt, homemade olive oil and vinegar. Heaven.

I’ve always made things whilst there and over the last couple of years we have been updating our little holiday home too. I’ll be posting photos of some of the things I’ve been up to whilst on holiday so do pop back soon. Hvala (Thank you!)

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break time

August 8, 2011  in news

I just thought I’d let you know I’m taking a little summer break from work and my blog but I will be back soon. It’s time to switch off and recharge my creative batteries and have some fun in the sun with my family.

I’m sure I’ll be scribbling lots of ideas in my notebook while I’m away and I’ll be back soon with more news and posts to share. In the meantime I would love to hear which posts have been your favourites and what sort of things you would like to see more of on my blog, so do please leave a comment if you have time. Thank you for visiting and see you soon!

Happy making,

Sania x

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a party skirt for my daughter

August 4, 2011  in diy craft projects, homemade

I made this little party skirt one Sunday as a gift for my four year old daughter from bits and bobs I had in my craft cupboards.

It is made from some beautiful oyster silk fabric by Bennison that I had left over from a photo shoot and had been wondering what to do with. As it’s silk it is really for special occasions only. She looks so sweet wearing it – it is VERY girly, which she naturally loves!

It is very simple to make and only took a couple of hours to complete. You can use any fashion or thin furnishing fabric for a skirt like this.  I usually use a ribbon for the waistband, but for this skirt I used elastic and then added a ribbon bow and button as a detail.  I already had both of these in my haberdashery stash.

This skirt is a variation of the Child’s Ribboned Skirt project in The Homemade Home. There are illustrated step-by-step instructions in the book if it inspires you to have a go. The photo below is from the book and is by the talented Penny Wincer who shot all the lovely photos. (© Cico Books)

And when my daughter out grows it, we can hang it up and display it in her bedroom. Who knows, maybe she will keep it for the future and hand it down to another generation to enjoy.

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black and white floral

August 2, 2011  in flowers

I took these photos back in the Spring, just playing around with with my camera for half an hour and seeing how graphic it looked with the white against some of my monochrome prints and a little black vase. The little pop of yellow from the stamens giving it that added lift. I find I swing back to bold and graphic when i’ve been working on colourful, pretty things and need that contrast to balance things out.

The flower is a from a Clematis that I have grown up the front of our house over the last five years. Each flower is about 15cms/5 or 6 inches across and every Spring it looks amazing as dozens of the huge blooms come out and fill the wall next to my front door. It makes me happy to have that welcoming sight when I return home.

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