More from Zara Home

More from Zara Home - a faux log cabin/courthouse steps, piped as well - something off with the balance of the logs though? T1 liked this beaded cushion - she said it looked like and aquarium - I can get that - it weighed a ton due to all those beads - we spent quite a time browsing in Zara... and Zero Liras.....

Cevahir and Zara

We parked in Cevahir and took a taxi to the ENT Dr for T1 - school was cancelled today due to yesterday's elections. After the appointment we went 'shopping' - and had lunch there. It's a monster mall - I really don't like it because there is too much choice - though there are quite a few vacant stores now and a couple of new shops - another branch of C & A - fantastic for school t-shirts. Zara Home has it's new season's stock - I am sure they wouldn't have been happy for me to take these pictures, so I got T1 to do them.....

I was fascinated by the time taken for the prairie points to be stitched on this cushion cover, they formed ridges - T1 decided it felt like a porcupine.....
I think the designers must have taken their inspiration from bubble wrap for this quilt - the circles were just under 1.5 inches across - and nice silky soft fabric.... very cool....

Elections

Yes I voted! Today was election day for the local muhtar, district council and city council. There is a small brass stamp and stamp pad for you to stamp your form 'yes' to who ever you wish to be elected - no pens. It was a slow process but one of the joys of living in Turkey and having 3 small children is a universal acceptance of que jumping - one of the invigilators saw us and pulled us to the front, still not a quick process but made our Sunday morning more interesting!

Christmas in March

The sun is shining - not a cloud in the sky, it's nearly April, the Christmas/New Year decorations are still up at Astoria. I'm feeling a bit mean for making comments about them, but shouldn't they have come down by now?? Am I just a grumpy old lady? Our 'local' mall reinstated their tree a couple of weeks back, plus all of their decorations are still up - they are filming there, which is quite disorienting to see the toy store filled with decorations - but I understand why. Maybe they are filming in this mall too?

Happy Spring

This cute spring chick flew all the way from NY to cheer me up! It's been a bright spring day here, but too many other things are happening for me to enjoy it. I just hope it heralds the end of 5+ weeks of daily rain. From my dear old (not in years but I've known her a long time) friend Dess. Super cute and up on my washing line out grabbing distance...

Incoming mail

These two arrived yesterday - South America from Karen (I think he lost a bead eye) and below - a group 54 card from Meri in CT

Wordless Wednesday

T-shirt

I would love to do the bottom left corner as reverse applique - lovely t-shirt... T1 refuses to wear it for some reason, will have to wait for baby to grow into it.

Cake

This morning was my turn to be the hostess with the mostess - Baby's 'baby group' came round, 6 moms - 6 littles - not everyone in the group but enough to fill the room and make lots of noise - 5 girls 1 boy, everyone tends to bring something to share and the hostess makes drinks, snacks for the littles and a home-made cake. In my effort to reduce the somehow unfeasibly large stock of cocoa I have in my pantry - hunted for a recipe - I found this one on recipe zarr - it worked perfectly and rose so much I couldn't put the nice flat top of the bundt tin upwards. It was lovely and moist - a great cake - with just half left it'll be gone very soon...

Busy? Mother's day.....

No post yesterday - just didn't happen, my freinds' small boy's party - with 15 littles and more than 15 adults - slightly crazy but fun. My debut as a narrator for a puppet show (an exclusive one off!) a creeping case of a cold that hasn't decided to come or not, and a mild case of self pity....
Today has been busy with tidying up - in a mad effort to divert me from what I should really be doing, I had an attack at my scrap cupboard (yep cupboard...) I have hoarded scraps for many years, never finding the exact one I needed when I needed it - it's a liability - I'm sure I'll find a small child in the bottom of the cupboard. In the past I did a lot of applique, this both generated and used scraps. I have a generous set of friends who would pass on scraps to me. Alas, the last 4 years I've not made a sizable quilt - the scrap mountain has continued to grow. I felt I should 'do something' about it - and was interested in this 'system' alas it's failure is that it generates a larger amount of 'waste' which is still usable and then the chopped strips and squares need storing. I'm not sure if this is a good idea to start this, given both the huge volume of scraps I have and my total inability to get rid of anything less than 1/4 of an inch square, then I have a hard time with that. Perhaps I should have kept on focus and tried to tidy up the heaving volcano of school offerings and bits of paper that seem to accumulate over the week. What do I do with my scraps scraps??
Oh yes... I didn't forget.... it was Mother's day for us English Moms...... I guess I'll have to hope someone remembers Turkish Mother's day... since no one remembered English Mother's day ... do I sound like a cynical mom of 3?? bahh humbug.....

Incoming mail

These 2 are from Liz in ID for the South and North America trades.

It's been a odd week with nothing creative happening but lots of things happening, I need to make something. Birthday party tomorrow - so perhaps Sunday.

Incoming mail

This week looks like it's going to be all cards, I got 3 today, but have only put up this one, I hope it's large enough to see the 'poem'. From Debmarie, it's nearly a year after the original closing date (which I missed too) it was well worth the wait! C is for Candy - the fabric was stamped then a piece of clear film that has been through the printer with the poem placed over it, then quilted. SO neat. Love it - I may borrow the idea one day. I need to do something creative, my week has been spent sorting things out and doing other stuff...

Wordless Wednesday

Incoming mail

These 2 cards arrived Saturday -above from Karen in ID, North America for the AITM trade, and from Rosemarie in the UK, for A2M G54.

Incoming mail

This card arrived Saturday - it's tyvek, net, photo transferred and non-cotton fabrics - From Michele in CT. A2M G54

Mohini - toilets

These cute door signs for the toilet were in the Mohini mall - neat eh?

Mohini

I was aware of the 're-purposing' of this mall - it's a mall that serves a large compound, but very close to one of the oldest malls here, needless to say it didn't do too well and it has be 're-purposed' as a Kids mall - everything is kids based, a lovely bookstore, with a great English selection, clothing stores, baby stuff, a few restaurants, a kids gym and play areas. The lower level is consumed by a large 'arcade' this is where the birthday party was held - and reason for visiting the mall. Unlimited tokens and lots of friends - 5 year old triplet birthday boys, in 3 different schools, so it was busy - lots of kids. We checked out the rest of the mall after the party.

This is some sort of vinyl flooring with the design part of the structure rather than purely on the surface, they had a great time doing this floor, hopscotch, line drawings, great stuff....

We didn't get chance to use these 'pods' circular windows, each padded, fitted with a flat screen tv and a wii - free to use, there were about 8 of these, all playing the same game, but SO neat.

Blossom

The first of many blossom pictures to come, blossom season is upon us - yeah! - it's been raining on and off all day and I was able to take this when out with a friend, watching 4 of our joint 6 kids playing outside in between the showers - fun as they are all within a year of each other so play together nicely, plus T1 has a thing for her older boy - pizza and home made hummus for dinner and long farewells, the next time I think we'll see them is in their new home in Northern Cyprus.

BQL Calender Challenge - March

Done except for the binding - I used variegated purple/pink and dark/light green. I now notice that there is one missed green square - something to do tomorrow... will trim it later.

Wordless Wednesday

Oya - Chile Pepper

Oya is deeply siginificant and different flowers have different meanings, chili peppers signify problems with the in-laws. I had great trouble finding a chili pepper - in the end I got this lone chili made as a sample, the maker was reluctant to make more. I did find some antique chilies in a beautiful antique textile store in the spice bazarr but they were just way too expensive.

Camera Case mark II

I made up these larger cases, both fit, but I think I'll go for the top one, it's a bit bigger. Will see how it goes. Does look 'slightly' better than the sock! these were some of the trimmings from the BQL September bag - stitch and flipped on muslin, with some scrap warm and natural batting. Velcro fastening.

It didn't rain at all today - the first day for a long time! yeah. There is some blossom out in the garden - spring may be here!

BQL Calender Challenge - March WIP

I got the top pieced for this months challenge - taking a little blue from the Jan/Feb pieces, and adding the green and pink - I like the ballance, will look good with January's piece, that has 4 blocks accross. I felt a bit crummy whilst making this - it should have gone together super quick, in the end there was a lot of 'frog stitching' happening. I like the result, though not the original plan, Will FME the dark squares I think...

No blog yesterday - the first day I've skipped for a long time. T1 decided to share her virus of last week - kind wee soul she is - I wasn't very happy, nor was T2 or baby..... what on earth did people do before washing machines. Thank you Mr Siemens for your hard work last night.

Let's hope everyone feels well enough for school tomorrow.

Incoming mail

2 nice bits of mail today - the shaker from Rita in Canada, and the house from Jan for A2M G54 - I recognise some of the roof fabrics.

Incoming mail

I got 4 cards today - 2 here and 2 more to come - probably tomorrow as I have a busy day. The penguins are from Mary T in Tx, below the carnation is from Leah in SC, both are A2M G54 cards.

Wordless Wednesday

BQL Calender Challenge - March

The March challenge is started - photo printed, strips pieced and chopped, just to sort out the arrangement of the colours within the checkerboard - the photo was taken by my neighbour last March when she took pictures of baby and me in the garden. Somehow this March is almost a season behind. I did spend time pruning the hydrangeas that run the length of the house today - baby thought it was fun to be inside looking out - watching.

Camera Case

Solidia sent me these charms with my ALQS quiltlet they've been hanging out on my desk until yesterday. I have this 'great' camera case, not wanting to pay a huge amount of money for a bulky case I opted for the 'odd sock' option. This is one of baby's odd socks - perfect size and zero bulk... not a problem if it gets lost either. It does however generate a lot of weird looks, bowing to public pressure, I made the little pouch to 'fit' sadly the flap is a little small...... back to the drawing board, no doubt this will be snaffled by T1, or I may re-assign it before she gets her hands on it. Maybe I'll use up some of those selvages I've been saving...

A year of trees