I have had a wonderful week (or rather more appropriately weekend) for inspiration and my Sunday Sunshines this week come from sunny Bratislava in Slovakia. My husband and I had a little break away from our work in Budapest and took the train to the beautiful Slovakian capital for a few days of culture and relaxation. The weather was perfect and we had such a lovely time, but I'm digressing.
The buildings in the old town area of Bratislava are beautiful and ornate, they are also wonderfully kept and looked after. I particularly liked the tiling on this building and thought the green brown and mustard design would be really cool for a beanie hat.
There were also lots of little artisan shops dotted around and I liked one in particular which was up an old backstreet and in a little arch. I find looking at other people's work so inspiring and there were so many beautiful handmade things in this shop; crocheted earrings, sock toys, springy hanging sewn animals, cards and magnets among lots of others things.
On our final day in the city we visited the Slovakian National Museum. It was the first time I suppose that I had truly appreciated visiting a museum and really thought about the objects and displays. I found lots things to inspire me here including the colours and patterns of the shells and the shape of the parasol mushroom, I thought it would make a great look out place or home for a fairy! However I also got more concrete ideas like seeing the old wooden duck toys made me want to make sock animal characters from them (please excuse my lack of drawing skills but I am just learning and was trying to practise)
and seeing the different species of mice has inspired me to think about stories for them to make into crocheted toys. I felt particularly drawn to the hazel dormouse with its really long tail and whiskers and tiny ears and the edible dormouse with its squirrel like tail. The museum also had a special exhibition on items from Tahiti and I really liked the rug patterns. I sketched a few shapes that I liked (again apologies) and I feel that these may become the focus for a set of greetings cards.
Anyway it was great to get away and explore somewhere new and to open up new ideas and possibilities with that lovely Slovakian sunshine!
Ps. Thank you to my wonderful husband for these beautiful photos of our holiday.