Puglia - Ostuni, Alberobello, Locorotondo and Polignano a Mare

 

At least once a year, we go to Bari, my husband's birth city, and also the city where we were married.

It's located in one of the most beautiful Italian regions-Puglia.

This year, as the weather was a bit tricky and traveling to bitches wasn't a great idea due to crowds and traffic, we decided to visit a few nearby cities: Ostuni, Alberobello, Polignano a Mare and Locorotondo. These are just a few, but really, all small cities are so beautiful, with characteristical architecture and old, pebbled streets.

It's really incredible how popular these cities have become, so many of the typical apartments and houses have become places to rent and stay in vacation.

xx, K.

Toscana vacation

It's been a while since I took some time to post about travel, but this summer we had such an amazing time in Italy, and posting about some great places to visit is always good, even as a reminder to myself;)

Tuscany is always a dream to visit and this time we took some time to explore few cities. We were staying at the Ligurian coast, at the small city called Castiglioncello.

We enjoyed the beach, especially the Quercetano Bay with it's rocky coast and transparent, clean water. 

Italian cities are greatly connected with railway and train can be a great transportation for reaching nearby cities. City of Pisa is only one hour away and Florence one and a half. 

The only thing that I wouldn't recommend if visiting amenities and cities is to choose a calmer period of the year, like spring or fall, as summer crowds and temperatures can really took you to desperation sometimes. Especially if traveling with smaller kids.

Of course, non of these crazy circumstances couldn't spoil our determination to enjoy some amazing sights and treasures, and I will just post pictures now and hopefully, when having more time, I will put more captions.

Italian kitchen is famous by it's delicious meals, and fresh produce is what is a guarantee for successful and amazing food creations.  There are many cities around immersed in beautiful Tuscan mountains and countryside, with beautiful vineyards and great restaurants, so it's very hard to make the wrong decision.

More coming soon,

K.

Kelimi quilt pattern

I am so thrilled and excited to launch my newest quilt pattern in my Etsy shop: Kelimi!!!  🌿

This quilt pattern is quite easy to make, as it’s created with HSTs (half square triangles) units organized in blocks A and B, with it's mirror images:A1 and A2 and B1 and B2.

More about making HSTs units can be found HERE.

This pattern is a version of my original Kelim quilt pattern, differing only in size of the HST units and their grouping into blocks.

It comes in different quilt sizes:

- baby I: 4 blocks 

35.5” x 42.5”

- baby II: 4 blocks 

35.5” x 42.5” 

- throw : 16 blocks 

70.5” x 84.5”

- bed: 24 blocks 

84.5” x 105.5” 

This pattern is also my first project with my newest fabric collection: Eclectic Intuition, shipping to shops next month. 

During this week, on my Instagram, I will present 15 stunning versions using Kelimi quilt pattern in different Art Gallery Fabrics. 

Quilts were created by my amazing group of testers that I can’t thank enough for all the help, support, engagement and beautiful work on this quilt pattern:  

Barbara @missdaisey7 - THROW

Becky @keepmeinstitches - BABY II

Julie J+M  @sewingarts - THROW in two versions - they have the kits available for both variations!

Kerry @thatssewkerry - BABY I

Amanda @sweetpeadesigncompany - BABY I

Aurora @auroraa1714 - BABY I

Alicia @wildblooms_quiltco 

Sue @vinyardquilts - BABY I

Lynne @tinkingalong 

Katherine @thesolentquilter 

Robbin @sewfarmquilter - BABY II

Mary @embercraftcompany - BABY I

Shantell @shantelllavigne -BABY II and a backpack with Kelimi blocks

Brittney @brittney.frey prepared blocks to be sewn into the quilted jacket

These are just some details of their amazing work, so I suggest to click on their pages to see more and show them some love. 

To celebrate my Kelimi quilt pattern release I decided to do an exclusive Instagram giveaway!🎉 
I will choose 5x2 lucky winners and email the pattern 💚

To enter the giveaway and win this pattern, please just go to my Instagram account - @katarinaroccella and see the details.

* The giveaway will be closed on Thursday, July 28th (8 p.m. Central European time) and winners will be announced there same day.

Also, for those that previously purchased my Kelim quilt pattern , I activated the special coupon code: “KELIMI50” for the 50% off until August 3rd!

Happy summer,

Katarina