Hi everyone,

I am back literally (from my overseas visit to my family) and virtually (right here on the blog) and finally catching up with my life…

My trip was great, if we forget not one, but TWO encounters with pesky stomach viruses…bleh. Got one as soon as we arrived to Belgrade and then another one when we came back! That one kept me home, missing all the fun of our Seminar – double bleh!! Second one was even a bit worse, but hey, I survived and it is time to get on with life!

Hard to find a place to begin though, with all the emotions and inspirations from the trip and all the stuff waiting here, once I came back. So, lets start with some images to share with you from Serbia, country I was born in. Not sure if you know, but quilting really doesn’t exist there as a traditional art/craft but many other things do! Hand embroidery is one of them:

Knitting is another:

And a very old one, mostly from the past is weaving. Below is a quick shot of stack of bed-size “kilims” (you could say they were in old times as quilts were here, a proper dowry?), that my mother-in-law did when she was young girl and new bride…many years ago. Wish she still had her loom, but it’s gone.

A close-up:

And another close-up of a smaller thing – this is actually a woven belt, worn as a part of the traditional outfit in old days. This one was actually made by my husband’s grandma (it is only about 4″ wide and about 4 feet long):

With such detail, I would call it a “miniature” of the weaving, don’t you think? Amazing.

I wonder how much this art is alive still over there? Definitely not as alive as quilting is here, but I hope it won’t disappear. The others are doing better, since those images I showed you above are actually from women selling their creations to tourists in this small town called Vrnjacka Banja, where MY grandma used to live and now my mom and aunt spent their summers. I love how these ladies still work, while vending:

There is so much more I could show you… I do have hundreds of photos!  Maybe more later. 🙂

Now, happy first full day of Autumn! Love the chill in the air and even some first shot of fall colors! This is what I saw during the morning walk with Marley:

All those brilliant colors are coming, inspiration will be everywhere and since gardens will go to sleep slowly, it also means – more time to sew! I hope all you lucky ones who enjoyed Seminar have lots to share soon – can’t wait to see!

I had to miss it but I KNOW Seminar was great and HUGE, BIG THANK YOU goes to Mary Ellen and Jan as co-chairs and ALL of the Seminar committee and volunteers!!

Hope all of you will leave comments here, telling us all your impressions of Seminar, what you learned, what projects you started? Show some love to all hard-working Seminar volunteers! 🙂

Off I go, lunch break over – talk to you all soon! Have a marvelous Monday,

Marija