Experiment

Well, my first try at a couple of techniques.

I followed instructions from my new book 'Beginner's Guide to Machine Embroidery'.

I tried out my new fabric paints and the metallic threads. Oh, and the iron-on interfacing.

I'll continue and show you the finished results soon, exciting!!!

Any helpful suggestions would be grateful.

A little bit of rain!!

Just look what happens....

A couple of days after the rain and there are fresh new shoots popping up everywhere. The donkeys, sheep and goats will be so happy!! The olives will be plumping up so that will make everyone else happy. The sun is out again so I'm happy too!

I'm back

What a week and a half that was..........

We had our first down pour since April, over 5 cms. in a couple of days. Much needed by the farmers and growers. It was lovely as after a while the heat, dryness and thick dust gets you down.

We went to the opening of an exhibition of artwork at the Municipal Gallery in Agios Nikolaos with friends. The theme was Metamorphosis, a rather wide subject. It caused a few problems as some artists who thought they should have been accepted, weren't and some were accepted who people thought shouldn't have been. But, hey, what the heck,it's art. On the whole it was interesting as we don't get to see much contempory artwork here.

We lost our internet connection for most of the week, no reason, just nothing...

I caught a really nasty bug, which had me coughing, spluttering, sneezing, wheezing and all the other words ending in "ing ". Much to Geoff's pleasure I've handed it to him now.

I managed a small amount of experimental quilting so I'll take some photos and see what you think.

Goodies from England, yeahhh!!!!!!!!!

My quilting friend Chris arrived back from England with loads of goodies on Friday. We met up on our usual Tuesday meeting today.
Just look, magazines, books, threads, fabric, patterns, rooibos tea and rooting powder.
It felt like Christmas, she also told me about her experience at a quilting group she visited and all the many shops she HAD to visit. Well done Chris, I know it was a bind, not!!

Not for the squimish..........

Ok, so who's idea was it?

Somebody came up with the idea that what's good for the locals..is good for us.

Ian picked, we picked, until we had rather more than we realised

We washed and divided, took out the nasty ones and any little animals and insects.

Then, came the stage you may want to turn away from.......... I was apprehensive. I washed my feet then went for it. Judith and I stepped into the trailer while the men poured the grapes in.

We slipped and slid about, squashing away

It took hours and hours and we ended up sloshing around in the dark.

The chaps were at the other end filtering and pouring the "juice" into a huge barrel and believe it or not, we managed to gather 35 litres!! This is left for 40 days then bottled... I know, I'm not holding my breath either. words like vinegar and yuk come to mind. No, we haven't added anything to it.

The "must" and all that goes with it has been emptied into 2 bins, covered in water and in 8 weeks, we will be distilling it to make Raki. There will be several licenced stills around at that time. They have a licence to run for between 12 and 36 hours.

I looked this morning, there's alot of bubbling going on!

It's a dog's life,( with a little help from his friends)

Just found collage in Picasa.

Lap Quilt

I like this warm lap quilt. It reminds me of dark cold nights, snuggled up dreaming of lovely things like chocolate and wishing on stars.

Hopefully, I'll be able to pass it on to a grandchild, sometime, hello! anybody listening??????????

Sun shade shadows

Nice!

Singing

Went to choir practise this morning, first meeting after the summer break. Great to see everyone. Inga, our leader, was on top form. We sing in her garden under trees to keep cool and hide from the sun, still in the early 30's here today, so it's very strange to be practicing for our Christmas concert...........

We are a multi lingual group, Swedish, Welsh, German, Dutch, Norwegian, as well as English and we sing in a wide variety of languages. Last year we sang a Polish Xmas song,took ages to learn!

We have also had concerts with visiting foreign groups. And we've been paid for a couple of dos!

Fame..!! here we come, anyone want a CD? I'll tell you when we release one, don't hold your breath.

It's very therapeutic, singing, all that oxygen rushing into your lungs. I always feel much brighter and livelier when I've finished.

Neapoli Folk Museum, Crete

More examples

of the beautiful work in the exhibition.

Sorry about the last couple of photograghs being slightly off but I was trying not to use a flash.

Here we have the infamous 'cafenio', the stronghold of men, this is where they sort the world out, play tavla (similar to backgammon) have their hair cut and drink raki or coffee. God help any woman who tried to set foot in there! True even now, in some areas.




Isn't this lovely? just a small example of some of the weaving. such wonderful colours.














Yes, I know it's a mess, but that's how it is........

Not a good photogragh, but these are some examples of the wonderful intricate lace work.

Neapoli Folk Museum, Crete

Went off to visit the museum in nearby Neapoli yesterday.Very interesting. A very good, well stocked museum for such a small town. The whole building could do with some renovation, we nearly put our feet through some rotten floor boards in one room.
This photograph is of a room that has been set out to look like a typical Cretan kitchen/ living area. You still find these fire places in many of the houses here. All the cooking was done over the fire.
The lace work above the fire place is very typical too.
In front is a raki table and chairs. Raki being the spirit made from the grape must. Reputed to fix anything, drink it, rub it on!!
Here's another example of the crochet/lace work that is produced and adorned round the house, even now.


A school room, Nearly lost my leg in here, so, no closer!























The loom and other pieces of basic equipment regarding weaving, spinning and wool making.
The very sad thing is these looms are left, abandoned, in many houses. In fact,we had one in the house we bought but when we were given the keys the previous owners had dismantled it and thrown it away. You see many of the pieces now as frames for mirrors or just ornaments.

Walking the Sea-dog

Now, look at these, walnuts!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be keeping an eye on these. Anyone know how to pickle them??

And these are ready for the picking right now, hopefully, nobody will get to them before me... pomegranate juice with watermelon juice is so good for you.

Now, don't look if you're squeamish, in these rusty old barrels is what people will be drinking soon, it's this years village wine!!!!!!!!!!
Honest, on the whole it will be great,well, drinkable!!!

And this is our corner of the village, a lovely little valley which is hidden from most winds. At the moment, there are sheep and goats with their bells jangling climbing up in between the olive trees looking for some juicy morsel.

The almonds have mostly been picked and you can see them drying on flat rooves throughout the village.

The olives are coming on nicely, we willbe picking them in December/ Jan.time they will needlots of rain before then, what a thought as I sit here without a cloud in the sky.

Isn't this lovely?

Walking the sea-dog

Took my camera on our walk this morning to catch some of the gems around at this time of year, not a great deal but some are so beautiful.

Take this for example,it's chicory, a wonderful delicate flower in scrubland. Once the sun rises and the temperature climbs the flowers close.

This delicate little thing is very prickly

Delicious and juicy, difficult to pick without getting tiny thorns in your fingers but well worth it.