Chips Anyone?

While we were on holiday in Croatia, we discovered these yummy potato chips that we think were seasoned with red bell peppers. Since everything was in Croatian there was no chance at figuring out the ingredients & since there were pictures of red bell peppers on the bags, we assumed that's what they were seasoned with. These were a wonderful snack while on our week long sail (we went through 4 big bags of these.)

The colors caught my eye right away (luckily) which made me think, "I wonder what I can do with these to make myself a cool souvenir from this trip?" (Of course my DH thought I was a nut for flying home with trash in my suitcase), but look how they turned out & he seemed to think that maybe it was a good idea that I brought them home after all :)

© 2009 Tracy Borders

© 2009 Tracy Borders

Finished, they are each 6" by 6". I used Peltex between the chip bag layer & the hand dyed cotton backing fabric to give the blocks more stability. I just love that I was able to take something that would have normally been tossed in the trash & make a wonderful souvenir from it!!

I still have two unused chip bags & am thinking of maybe designing a little clutch purse lined with hand dyed bamboo fabric? I'm a little concerned though about whether the chip bag "material" would be able to stand up to regular wear & tear. Can it be sealed with a polymer medium or will it just flake off? (Am going to have to consult with a friend of mine that uses the medium in a lot of her work & see what she says.) :)

My brain is in a funk.............

Ever since we got back from holiday in Rome & Croatia, my non-creative brain has been in a funk! One day, I was determined to try to attempt working in my studio & I ended up organizing & cleaning it instead (which was actually needed).

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon working on a single quilt block & didn't get ANYWHERE!! Maybe I'm trying to hard, maybe I'm not trying hard enough? But I'm finding this frustrating & a little depressing!!

I did, however manage to create a journal using Evolon & submitted it to hopefully be published in Marion Barnett's new book. Sorry no pics to share (yet), it was one of those things where my deadline was tight & the last 3 days before deadline, I put MANY hours into it, so by the time it was completed, I was tired of looking at it AND it was finished the night before the morning it was to be sent out, so I didn't have time to photograph. I also wasn't sure if my photography work would be able to pick up the play of light of the Evolon & Golden Acrylics & since Marion is having everything professionally photographed, I wasn't too worried. Sounds like my biggest worry should be getting my journal back. Marion says she's love it so much, she doesn't want to part with it :)

If anyone is interested, I've been slowly adding pics of our trip here to our Flickr account. We took over 1100 pictures & as you can see, I've only added about 1/5 of the photos to our site. All the deleting of the bad photos & putting names to the good ones & only doing about a handful each day, it's taking a little bit of time. Feel free to check back on the site, since I'm constantly adding new photos.

(Hopefully by next week, I'll have some art to post!!)

No art today to share, however...............

Since I don't have any new art to share today (it's all in progress, either sitting in dye baths or drying after being dyed) I'd thought I'd share with you a couple of purchases I made while in Italy :)


Some of you are aware that I love my green Chucks (Converse sneakers) & that I took them to Italy with me. My motto, "I can never have enough funky (but comfortable) shoes." So, while in Rome, I came across these & HAD to have them. I refer to both pairs as my Italian Pumas :)

While I was admiring my new green shoes, my loving DH, who always says that I have way too many pairs of shoes as it is, locates the shoes below for me. (He always tells me that I have too many, but he's really good at supporting my habit & luckily has GREAT taste. :)

And, can I tell you, that my green is SO popular in Rome right now, it's unbelievable!! Swimsuits, underwear, shoes, socks, handbags, etc. It's all I could do to contain myself. I did, however, cave & purchase an Italian leather handbag dyed green, of course!! :)

Hopefully by next post (if all goes right) everything that's in progress now, I'll be able to soon share with you!!!

Rome/Croatia Teaser Photos

We took over 1050 photos while on our trip, so it is taking me awhile to go through each of them & weed out the bad pics & put names to the rest.

So far, I've made it through 72 photos, only 978 more to go, which is ok, because as I go through them it brings up very happy memories :)

When going through our Rome pics, I have noticed that Rome has been documented VERY well in books & on the net. So that pic that I took of the three columns, actually does have a name & it was easy to locate the information.

Thought I'd include a few photos of my most favorite places.................


While in Rome.....................................

The Pantheon was my MOST favorite place!! We had tried to get in to see it for two days & both times, they were having Liturgy services. The third day, we went really early in the morning & it paid off. There were only about 7 people inside including my DH & I. What a BEAUTIFUL & peaceful site!! AND with only the 7 of us inside, it was so quiet & I hate to use the word but "awesome", I found myself quite emotional. I could have spent hours there just looking around & enjoying the site. Unfortunately, that didn't last long, a huge drove of people entered & that calm peacefulness disappeared, which was really too bad.

My second most favorite place, the Coliseum

If you're wondering, the top two photos are not postcards, I actually took those pics, myself & am VERY happy how they turned out.

DH & Me

Those who follow my blog, know this little gal. Adriana went on our trip with us & had a blast. She wasn't camera shy either :) We have pics where she's overlooking Palatine Hill, hanging out in the Amsterdam airport waiting for our flight to Rome, overlooking Old Towne Dubrovnik from our apartment & hanging with mom at the Trevi Fountain & St Peter's Square.

(I had to share this.) While walking the Roman Forum, I came across this beautiful ruin. It was just sitting there looking SO brand new :)

Rome was wonderful to see, all of it's Art history, the culture, the food, but I think we enjoyed Croatia just a little bit more.

It's so hard to explain why.............like in Dubrovnik, the culture, the people, the food, everything seemed more relaxed, seemed like the "old ways" (if that makes any sense). Rome, as we know is "old" too with the art & history, but it seems modernized, tons of people walking everywhere, driving their tiny little cars & riding their scooters everywhere & the feeling I had while staying in Dubrovnik & visiting the villages while on our Flotilla, seemed a lot slower & kind of "old world". It was just wonderful!!

We flew into Croatia around 9:30 at night & this was the most spectacular view from our apartment of Old Town Dubrovnik. (Glad we brought the tri-pod for the camera along.)

Old Towne Dubrovnik is surrounded by a high fortressed wall & you can walk all along the top of it capturing beautiful views. DH took this photo of me resting at the highest point on the wall overlooking Old Towne. (Think he did a great job at taking this photo, even though, he's an engineer, the guy has an eye for art.) :)

There are 6 of us (co-workers & friends) that all enjoy sailing together & about a year ago one of them mentioned doing a sailing Flotilla in Croatia & here we are!! There were 4 of us on one boat & the other 2 invited another couple that were friends of theirs. We had a WONDERFUL time!!

This placed tied with Old Towne for my most favorite place in Croatia. We had one free day & evening to go wherever we wanted to moor. We actually were planning on just anchoring in a cove nearby, but after a day of very strong wind & waves, the women of both our boats (either from being seasick or just "shot" nerves) ruled the majority & "strongly suggested" that we moor here in Trestenik (Trstenik). Apparently, the Ferry used to stop here but has since moved on to a different place to tie up. You can see both of our Sunsail boats moored up right in the very same place the Ferry used to dock.





This little village was absolutely fabulous!! We had coffee & gelato at their cafe & had a wondeful dinner at their outdoor restaurant AND it was so quiet & NO winds tossing around the boat!!

That evening, while on a walk, we discovered the Grgic Winery. The next morning, we visited for a wine tasting. Now you may be thinking, tasting wine at 10 AM? Something I noticed while on this 2.5 week trip, time on a clock meant nothing. Wine tasting at 10 AM, drinking a beer at a cafe at 10:30 AM because it's SO hot & humid, eating hot dogs at breakfast. Now that is an entirely different & VERY hilarious story. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken, but there were 4 witnesses.

We had thee most FABULOUS time while in Rome & Croatia & have already started planning for our next trip? Greece? Thailand?