Let
me introduce you to the Shockelhorn (the matchmaker), our friend Michaleen is
going to help me to match all the boys and girls around here. Are you ready to begin Michaleen?
Actually... me mouth is like a dry crust and the sun is that hot on me pate.
As
Ermanno, Luchino and Sebastiano are all settled with their new
wives/girlfriends, let's focus on Giulio.
handmade soccer balls!
I
decided he needed a sporty but classy outfit, so he's wearing an outfit from
the Tobacco Road Collection. I really like how this turned out. I think it's the
perfect style for him
The background pictures are of Marrackech Souk. We went to Morocco in 2010, and stayed in Marrackech only two days, before leaving for inner Oasis and Merzouga on a 4x4. Of course more pictures of our trip to Morocco will pop out as background in the future.
Carpets anyone?
This Souk is simply amazing, a seemingly endless dedalus of pathways, where you cand find real articrafts, a vast assortment of bric-a-brac, it's not difficult to get lost in here!
Where to now?
I
don't know a lot about Giulio, I know he's Goffredo's friend and probably his
associate in sleuthing. Mabye he has connections with the "underworld" so can help Goffredo to get precious information. He looks rugged but sophisticated, and very handsome.
I could
tell you blood curdling stories about him but, but me throat, me throat's
gone dry
We
have plenty of sophisticated ladies that could suit him, but as he arrived in
the house in the same period as Aurelia (Rare Appereance Dania Zarr) I thought
they could make a very cute couple.
don't be worried dear, I know every turn of this place.....
well, almost.....
you see, we are out of the souk. Let's have a tea on a bar terrace at Jemaa el-Fnaa square
To end their day at Marrakech, hey sip some tea with mint on a terrace overlooking Jemaa el-Fnaa Square, before joining the crowd and having a dinner at on of the delic stalls.
Jemaa el-Fnaa square
That's all from Marrakech (for now).
I
think they photograph pretty well together, here they're getting acquainted and
having a drink at the Mexican bar
the shockelohorn did it again!
Michaleen is pretty tired ater all this work. They didn't even offer him anything to drink!!
I hope
there's a bottle there, whoever it belongs to...
Hello everybody! Tomorrow Sasha and I will be off to Santo Domingo!
We were planning to go to Perù, then we realized we were too tired for such a wonderful but challenging trip (at least I am) so for the first time I'm going to try a seaside holiday.
Of course we are already planning some day trips around the island, but we are going to stay here
So the one thing we're sure about is that we are going to swim a lot!!!!
We'll be back by the end of november.
I really need this vacation, as I already know that when I'll return I'll be very busy at work: one of the girls in my team will go to work in Milan (I helped her to grab a huge opportunity and I'm so happy for her!). I've just finished the interviews and picked a new coworker. She will join us in december and I'll have to teach her and tutor her for a while. Tutoring is demanding but I like the challenge. In fact I'm very proud with my girls and boys, they are all having very nice carreers (inside or outside my team).
Problem is I'll have to do a lot of overtime work, and unfortunately my blogging is going to suffer from this.
I'll try to keep on posting, as I'm sure I'll be sewing like hell to relax myself, but I fear the quality of the pictures is going to suffer (making nice pictures takes quite a bit of time and post-production work).
Anyway in the next months you can expect to see Tecla's resurfacing (she's got a new wardrobe and a butler), and random pictures of fashions and dioramas (at least one good post for Christmas and New Year's eve)
Perhaps some crazy little story.
Speaking of crazy little stories: we printed the book I wrote for my nephews and it is having a huge success! A nearby elementary school even asked me if they can use it as a reading book for the kids.
I have to register it and send it to a proper publisher!
A huge kiss to all of you, see you again by the 27th of November!!!!
Billa
This is going to be a very long post, I just wanted to put together some nice photomontages of Vittorio and Margherita in their new outfits, it came out to be a full fledged ultra-long instalment of the Travelling Dolly Series.
I have never been to Florida, but Sasha was there two years ago and we selected some wonderful pictures he took on his trip there.
This was his itinerary. Vittorio and Margherita will start from Miami, then will go to the Keys, The Everglades, Naples, Edison's House in Fort Myers, Tampa, Orlando and Cape Canaveral!
(I want to go too Sasha!!!)
Vittorio's suit was my first attempt at a male complete outfit, I had to fix the jacket several times before I was able to get something that resembled what I had in mind. Now it looks acceptable!
This was the pattern I tried to use:
in fact it is a bit too complicated and detailed for a fashion doll, so this is the only jacket I sew using it.
Enough for Vittorio's suit. Margherita wears a dress inspired by a Tonner fashion from last year's collection.
In the end I only kept the general line, as this viscosa fabric I choose wasn't exactly willing to cooperate!
All pictures are by Sahsa.
Miami
Ocean Avenue
Versace's Home
Key West
Are you shure this is a bus stop?
do we really have to go to see Hemingway home? I have sore feet!
Hemingway Home
You were right, this is a great place!
Mallor Square - admiring the acrobats
I think I like you
Miccosukee - They are going to take a boat ride in the Everglades,
Naples - What a gorgeous beach! and they didn't had their bathing suits....Margherita is a bit upset
Fort Myers - Edison's Home
Tampa
Orlando - Disneyworld
Are we going to see the Muppet's Show, aren't we?
Cape Canaveral
This place was fun!!! I always wanted to be an astronaut
Vittorio and Margherita are quite a lovely redheaded couple, they photographed beautifully together, and in the end he's not such a boring guy as she thought!
As Florida's nickname is "the sunshine state" (and I believe it deserves its nickname, look at the light in these pictures!!!) our soundtrack shall be "let the sunshine in"!
Tomorrow Sasha and I shall be leaving for a tour of Uzbekistan! We will visit Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Urghenk, Shakhrisabz. Here's our itinerary:
So, finally, the boys and girls shall stay home and we will go around the world! LOL
Well in my imagination Shanghai was like this, perhaps I've seen too many old movies or too many new ones set in the 30's, anyway the modern Shanghai is everything but a disappointment!
But before that a few words about Odette's outfit: it is a reproduction of a fashion from Kenzo's 2013 Spring-Summer collection. Her shoes and bag are by TheVogue HK.
I picked several ideas from this collection, more Urban Safari to come!!! Carlo is wearing an IT t-shirt and a beautiful pair of jeans by HazelStreetDezigns on Etsy, I bought this and a couple of corduroy trousers before I tried my hand on male fahions. She sews beautiful clothes!
Thanks to his new hands Carlo can now hold his camera, as I wrote on his profile in the Mad about the boy page, he is a photographer. I found this lovely Canon Eos reproduction on E-bay. It is extremely detailed, in perfect scale and it came with several lenses and removable caps!!!! Of course this lovely object comes from China!!! LOL
Enough for the trivia. With their new clothes and accessories Odette and Carlo are ready to enjoy the last part of their trip to China.
Shanghai is a fascinating metropoli with its skyscrapers, the Bund with all its history and glamour, the elegant Nanking Road, the restored Old Town and in the midst the remnants of old and shabby houses (I couldn't take pictures of those). This is an exciting place, and Odette and Carlo didn't miss a thing!
But this is a place with at least two souls: and the Huangpu River flowing between the Bund and the Pudong Disctrict works as a very effective rappresentation of this. In fact the whole Shanghai has been undergoing a huge restiling since the 1990's, when the new urban planning was developed. A whole museum is devoted to this urban plan, and is very impressive!
Another museum not to be missed is the Shanghai Museum of Art and History, an amazing collection!
Shanghai Pudong skyline view from the Bund - Picture by Billa
Shanghai - The Bund - Picture by Sasha
Nanking road is the most elegant place in town, and Odette and Carlo went for some shopping, but came back empty handed....everything was soooo expensive!!!
Shanghai - Nanking Street - Picture by Billa
This is a view from the old town, this place is amazing, filled with little shops. In fact it is a big shopping center where you can find everything: green tea, dresses, wooden or jade artifacts, this the souverin's paradise! But the thing that impressed Odette is the feeling of modern Shanghai looming just outside the doors!
Shanghai - The old town - Picture by Billa
The last part of Odette's visit to China will be under the insigna of the Chinese Gardens, and in Shanghai she visits the first of them. Actually she already visited one in Beijing, but the Imperial Summer Garden is just too huge to understand the meaning of this kind of gardens in the ancient Chinese culture.
Shanghai - Yuyuan Garden - Picture by Billa
Gardens were intended as places to meditate, relax, listen or play music and of course they had to be build accordingly to the rules of feng shui. Chinese gardens are really different from European gardens, they look natural and they are a sort of miniature representation of a perfect world: with their small apartments, pavillons, mountains, rocks, lakes and rivers filled with lotus flowers and colouful fishes!
On their next stop Odette and Carlo are visiting the Huangang Park in Hangzhou on the West Lake (one of Unesco's World Heritage Sites) and everything looks as it is ready for a photographic session. Carlo is so thrilled. Now, this is a place to try his new camera!
Hangzhou - Huangang Park - Picture by Billa
Hangzhou - Huangang Park - Picture by Billa
Hangzhou has got its old town with shops and stands, and a picturesque network of channels. This town is renowed to be, along with Suzhou, one of the most beautiful cities in China.
Hangzhou - Old Town - Picture by Sasha
Odette and Carlo also visited an ancient pharmacy, where one could buy any kind of ingredients for the Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Hangzhou - Old Town - Picture by Sasha
Just outside Hangzhou is the Lingyin Temple, wich means the soul retreat temple. At the entrance of the Temple are the Feilai Feng grottoes, where several Buddhas are carved. This smiling and happy Buddha is absolutely amazing. Nowadays the Temple is filled with Chinese pilgrims (very young ones) as it looks like the younger generations are redescovering religion (while Buddhist Monks are discovering the I-Pad LOL)
Odette and Carlo were very lucky to take this picture alone, as the place was buzzing with hundreds of people! As you can see they're trying to "pull an Avedon" (that's the reason why the Buddha is laughing so hard)
Hagzhou - Lyngin temple - Picture by Billa
Shuzhou is really one of the loveliest places on hearth. And here Odette and Carlo are going to visit what is the apotheosis of the Chinese garden, but first they are going to visit a very intriguing place: the Tiger Hill. To reach the pagoda at the top Odette has decided to try yet another mean of transportation, while Carlo prefers to jog a little to keep fit (Chinese food is very tempting).
Suzhou - Tiger Hill - Picture by Sasha
The Yunyan Pagoda's lean is just 3 degrees, but it looks like it's quite a lean!!!
Odette believes she's in Pisa and tries to straighten it up!
Suzhou - Tiger Hill Pagoda - Picture by Billa
At the foot of the Hill, is the Wanjing Villa with its huge collection of Penjing (literally "tray scenery"), also known as penzai, which are potted landscapes. This is the ancient Chinese art of depicting artistically formed trees, other plants, and landscapes in miniature from which the Japanese Bonsai originated.
Suzhou -Penjing garden - Picture by Sasha
Odette and Carlo having some fun with this scenographic door: The Vitruvian Dollz
Suzhou - Penjing garden - Picture by Sasha
And finally they visited the Humble Administrator Garden. I think these pictures give a rough idea of what I was talking about speaking of a perfect miniature world:
Suzhou - Humble Administrator Garden - Picture by Sasha
This is a female room in one of the Pavillons, Odette can't really figure out how to play this instrument, I believe it is called a Guzheng.
Suzhou - Humble Administrator Garden - Picture by Sasha
Suzhou - Humble Administrator Garden - Picture by Sasha
There's a wonderful book, one of the great classics of Chinese literature, which takes place almost exclusively in a garden like this. It is called The Dream of the Red Chamber, I would highly reccommend it, is a great reading!
Suzhou - Humble Administrator Garden - Picture by Sasha
Before leaving China, Odette and Carlo can't miss a visit to Tongli, the Venice of the East. The town is built on seven islands and is crossed by 15 canals. Wooden tour boats ease down the waterways, duck under bridges, and glide past residences, stores, gardens and restaurants. Most canals are no more than 30 feet across affording intimate views of the passing scene.
Tongli - Picture by Billa
This is extremely romantic, and by now it is clear: Odette and Carlo are an item!
Tongli - Picture by Billa
of course they pay a visit to the local souvenir's market.....last minute shopping
Tongli - Picture by Billa
As she really loved everything about China, Odette wants to leave you with this beautiful traditional song played on the Guzheng: High Mountain and Flowing Water, listen and just imagine slowly boating down the Li River.....
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