Asia Adventure

This summer has been one of new and old adventures!

I was lucky enough to revisit Hand & Lock, an established embroidery company in London, who i spent a month with last summer! I loved seeing familiar and new faces at this lovely and friendly company and once again learnt an awful lot!

Thanks Hand & Lock!

But for my latest adventure three friends and myself set off for south east Asia for a month, travelling around Thailand, Vietnam and Laos! This is a new continent for me to explore and i couldn't wait to get absorbed in to a new culture.

These beautiful and incredible countries were each such unique experiences, and i couldn't have had a more amazing time. Each country has such a different feel, with its own fascinating history and such warm and friendly locals, but having so many similarities, making it feel like a new start everywhere we went and yet always so easy to feel right at home. And don't get me started on the food! (drooling as we speak...)

But there's no better way to describe these amazing places than through the power or sight, so here are a few images that i hope will inspire you as much as they inspire me.

Looking over Hanoi

Fishing village, Halong Bay

Vietnam

Beautiful details of the Reclining Buddha Temple

And again

And again!

Temple in Laos

Everyone knows the Phi Phi island

Waterfalls in Thailand, with water as cold as our own

Rice fields in Vietnam

One of my favourite places in Laos

Cheeky Elephants in Thailand, asking for MORE bananas.

Welcome, Sunshine!

What lovely weather we have been having lately! And how very inspiring it is too!

Over the past week i have been enjoying the sunshine immensely, and have been soaking up all the sun and all its glory around the lovely Sussex! 

All this beauty around me has given me the urge to paint again, and to snap up lots of pictures everywhere i go!

Here are a few moments that i couldnt pass by:

I hope you too, are enjoying the summer!

Summer Antics: Europe

My radio silence comes with explanation... Summer 2012 has held many exciting new experiences for me! The first of which is travelling around somewhere i have not yet ventured to, despite being so close... Europe! On June the 8th me and two friends set off to Prague, where we started our three week Inter-rail extravaganza! We had no plans of where to go, only taking with us our packs with three weeks worth of clothes and our purses, hoping to find accommodation in each place we went to as we went along! Go with the flow and take things as they come, my answer to everything!

So from the beautiful Prague we then went to Vienna, rich in art and architecture, having enough time to stop in on the Klimt exhibition (fantastic!), before continuing our journey to Croatia - Zagreb, Krk island and Rijeka, as well as a beautiful national park! We then managed to tear ourselves away from the stunning scenery, coast and friendly locals, to make our way up to Budapest! A very interesting city indeed! After a few days we then went up to Krakow, rich in history of the war. We made sure we went to Auschwitz, something i think is very important to do to fully understand and appreciate just how terrible death camps and the Holocaust was. After an emotional few days we then went for a brief stop in Berlin (I'll be back for more!) Before our final stop in Brugge, where we felt quite at home and were very grateful for some home comforts (CHOCOLATE ON EVERY CORNER) as well as a charming, pretty small town for which we are much more accustomed to, being country bumpkins ourselves and finding the bigger cities a little daunting at times! We had the best time we could have possibly had, but sadly had to make our way back home to England, so i could start my first work experience placement the next day! No rest for the wicked!!


But before i tell you more about that, here are just a few selected photos from our trip! Some inspiration to get me started to do some summer work before uni!

Prague

 Vienna

 Vienna

 Vienna - Food market (we spent a long time there)

 Budapest

 Krakow

 Brugge (isnt it lovely!?)

Flower Power!

Hello all :)
As today is such a grey day, i thought i'd add some colour to our lives!
And seeing as all ive been looking at for the past 8 weeks have been flowers of all different types and colours, lets add a little bit of flower power to this old blog!
Hooray for flowers!

Aw wasnt that nice! All taken from my mothers lovely garden back home in sunny old sussex!

We have just started our new module: EMBELLISHMENT!  And we are starting with embroidery, my FAVOURITE! So i will be sure to report back soon with new and exciting bits and pieces of all kinds of embroidery! Woo and Yay!

Welcome To My World

I feel i may have gone a bit mad with the first few entries, i do appologise! I get a bit excited a bit too easily! I will try to keep future blog posts a little more quick and snappy in the future!!

But before i do that, i thought i would show you a little bit of my world, and let you in on why culture is such a strong passion of mine.

I have spent the past year travelling and living in such rich and fantastic communities in Tanzania, Kenya, New Zealand, Bolivia and Peru. Doing this has allowed me to meet the most amazing people, find a new understanding and attitude to life, and learn new and exciting crafts and ways of life. And this is only the beggining! I intend on visiting many more enchanting cultures to really absorb their way of life and their intense cultures, learning their crafts and approaches in textiles amongst other things as i go.

So instead of rambling on and boring you, i'll show you some photos i have taken along the way. I hope they give you the same rush that they give me.

Lots of love!