Wordless Wednesday

Doğuş Power Center

When I went into Doğuş earlier I didn't notice the new entry nor this 'display'. Not sure if it's a bit creepy?

I love this entry in Wiki - There is a distinct lack of building between 1660 and 1993.... Neat to see that the Grand Bazaar was built in 1461 - we always associate malls with America - can I claim that Istanbul had the first mall?

Fairy Dress

What does the girl who needs nothing need - a fairy skirt of course.....

One of T1 + T2's friends had a birthday - we made this to order. She came over, checked out my net selection, we spent time designing the skirt, then I made it up, sewed on the sequins and took her back home for her tea, completing the outfit with a veil (no idea where that came from) T1 on the other hand designed an elaborate confection that will get it's debut at the upcoming big Halloween party - as the Bride of Dracula I think - I will post it when it's finished..... it needs some sort of lining - way too see through at the moment.

Hot Indian Chutney

I managed to snaffle the recipe for this chutney from a friend of a friend who knew the 'secret' - oh it's good..... very good.....

900g (2lb) apples or quinces
600ml (1pt) vinegar
25g (1oz) garlic
125g (4oz) peeled ginger root
225g (8oz) sultanas
125g (4oz) chillies
15ml (1 tbsp) mustard seed
15ml (1tbsp) salt
375g (12oz) dark brown sugar (though I only had perhaps 200g left so topped up with white sugar)

Peel & slice apples/quinces and boil in vinegar until soft. Add the crushed garlic; crushed, chopped & bruised ginger; sultanas; chopped & seeded chillies; crushed mustard seeds; salt & sugar for about an hour and a half. Pot and cover. Makes around 1kg (2 1/2 lb)....

I slavishly followed the recipe - OH SO good...... I was going to give a jar to a friend - no more.....

I've had enough ......

...... of Quinces falling, smushing and getting attacked by the monster slugs that are in the garden. (note to self - take picture of monster slugs) With the 'able help' of No3, I picked the quinces, she arranged them in the basket. We got a reasonable basket full - the slugs have had more - if they are any good will be interesting to see, not being a quince connoisseur I plan on making Hot Indian Chutney with them.... tomorrow....

Wordless Wednesday

Electric Substations

This beauty is between Maslak and Atatürk Oto Sanayi Sitesi. I'm starting to recognise a style with these, it will be interesting as I go in search of others in different districts to see if there is a city wide style or local to each area.

Ikea Mosque - a year on

Nearly a year ago I posted this about the Ikea Mosque - it's not finished yet, but I spied the glittering minaret from the highway and decided to go and check it out - there were no workers around, or security...

I wonder if the people who bought these apartments were aware of the mosque being built so close....

Did you click on the link? see the skirt? T1 has worn it exactly twice - it's now been passed down to No3.....

Petra Borner at Ikea

Yeahhay found it - alas- the cushion by Petra Borner is slightly over sized - I don't need a black cushion - I would love yardage of this - it's embroidered. The zipper opening is curiously at the bottom. There is no name credit to her either - sad - I might be tempted to make a bag from it, but I didn't buy one, just admired it - now I wish I had..... nice stuff

even more Ikea stuff

Scrafito-ish circles - lovely, but the green one with the concerntic ovals is a great design with the fold of the cushion coming at the center of the ovals - does that make sense?

More Ikea

I love the sashiko-esque cushion and blanket, the printed button fabric is so neat, but they only have it as cushion covers - don't need cushions ...

Trip to Ikea - positive and negative cermaics

I love these, though having a full set of Denby for 12 I hardly need them...

The last time I went to Ikea was in July, they've had a lot of new season stuff arrive here, though I don't think all of it has arrived yet. I went to get something - that they didn't have and Swedish meatballs (that are made in Turkey!) - what do they put inside them that makes my kids ask for them specifically? - there are lots of meatball options in Turkish cuisine - but they must taste different somehow - meat eaters any comments? more to come!

Wordless Wednesday

Owl Card

One of the cards back from our home made summer card making with the littles from Blair - cute? Would make a great applique.

Quince Bombs

Our quince tree is laden with heavy fruit. Most of it seems to be bug infested - bug infested quinces drop from the tree, heavy falling quinces HURT. Apparently I need to wait until they are 'yellow green' before I pick them. Maybe the bugs will save me of that job. Maybe a small person will get injured. Decision time.

Oya

This is one of my prize oyas, made as a gift for me, by a lady from Kahramanmaraş totally unexpectedly - the maker didn't know of my oya passion, these are huge, though the flowers will not stay open they have stamens, along with small decoration along the edges - I don't know if this 'monster' oya is of that region as I've never seen this scale before. I noticed that sadly one of the oyas is missing from a corner. This scarf is just so beautiful - I get it out and admire it often.

Hand Drawn Postcards

I signed up for a 'blind' swap of 'black and white postcards' - these are my contribution, drawn in pen on heavy watercolour stock, inspired by the landscape around the cliffs and the agapanthus and verbena in my garden.... will see what comes back....

Ship wreck

T1 and I found the boat yesterday - we took our time walking down the scrub area near the cliffs, we could only go so far, plus it was a lot further than we imagined.

The lifeboat where the crew came ashore safely. The ship 'snapped' in half, the prow sank and the engine went onto the rocks. The boat was empty, so no cargo to deal with, though I guess there will be oil leaks over time. All very exciting for a 5 year old boy - lots of new stories and questions about the logistics of ship-wrecks.... and pirates...

After the storm

Whilst it was a good 48 hours of solid, heavy rain. We suffered no damage - T2 and I went to find a boat that was wrecked on one of the beaches. The boat was empty and there was no loss of life. I just loved this grass, is super long - more than 1m tall. Doesn't it look calm?

Wordless Wednesday

Rain Rain.....


The rain started yesterday morning- heavy and relentless, the thunder and lightning just didn't pass until way after day break, a night of overhead thunder shaking the house and waking the littles means mommy is not a happy camper today. There has been flooding an loss of life in other areas of the city. I guess a sleepless night is nothing compared...

Spots

Over the summer we made and sent cards to various friends, this one came back from Heather - it got nibbled by someone or something en route - I feel the need for more spots in my life......
The littles went to school Friday half day, then Monday - a full day - 8.00 thru 3.10 I'm wondering what to do - well what to do first. Devastation is an underestimation of the whirlwind of mess 3 littles and 12 weeks of holiday produces, the blog, whilst pictures have been taken has languished.....

Bookcrossing

I joined Book Crossing years ago - It seemed like a good thing to do, I read a lot of fiction, but don't have space for a library and have realised that I rarely read a book twice - so why keep them? I do have a small amount of fiction that I am saving to either give to someone who I think will love it - or - read again. Several of my friends read similar stuff, and we have our own informal book crossing - or I often get shown to a stack of books and get told to take what I would like..... I stock up at the IWI Christmas bazaar (40 books last year I think!)

I'm not sure of the source of book. I haven't read it - yet, but I did register it with book crossing (that lovely number on the inside cover).... The cover of this book is beautiful - I love the way it is continued on the inside cover - I googled the artist Petra Borner - Oh my - love her work ..... now to schedule a trip to Ikea to see if the design she did is in there......

I spied

I spied this glittery shimmery creation - it would make a great Halloween tablecloth.... alas it's designed as a quilt. Sometimes I get surprised. Othertimes ....

Electric Substations

This beuty is in Tarabya, near Cent School - on a corner, so great access, the first I've seen with garffiti - this is becoming an interesting excercise, this one is painted by Sariyer council. I keep spotting them - there are some great ones to come, I just need to stop the car in a safe place as they are on busy streets....

Raw edge artificial flower applique

1. Gather your materials
- Choose a background fabric. I prefer ones that have some movement - colour but not too much so that it's distracting. Iron on HEAVY facing - if the fabric is flimsy - consider 2 layers.
- Choose your thread. I used up all the dog-ends on the bobbins - waste not and all. I like there to be some interest with the stitching - if you do this figure out a suitable bottom thread.
- Choose lower end flowers, not fancy silk ones (unless you already have them!) they should have some substance. Choose those that have some colour variation with-in the 'bunch' and substance. You need may quite a number of petals or leaves depending on the size you are working with.
- Get your sewing machine out - give it a good clean (an oil if needed) and change the needle. Put the darning foot on.


2. Disassemble the flowers or leaves, there will be dots of glue, wire and plastic stoppers to contend with - you may need pliers.

Remove any spines or plastic shaping things, the spines come off if you go from the thinnest part to the thickest - a thumb nail does the trick.

3. If you are sewing individual flowers down then think about placement and do 2 or 3 at a time.

If an all over - layered look is the outcome, then put on few pieces, sew them down and repeat. I didn't cut the threads till the 'layer' was finished. Then I cut them en mass.

You need to put the feed dogs down and play with tension before starting on the main piece. There is no need to tie ends off - you can pull the threads to the back before you trim the threads if you prefer. Build up the layers, change the thread colours, there are no rules.

Building up the layers

Tada! finished.

This one I cut into postcards. Follow the link and there are more examples.

Want one?

Using the same technique

Above and below A4 size

'Spring' ATC

These 3 cards were made with the theme -wild weeds. I don't like yellow or orange flowers. In my garden they are 'weeds' I used a daisy type flower, there was quite a hole in the center so I stitched a sequin over it.

Hydrangeas. I built up the background first with the large leaves then used the layering technique as per the leaf tutorial. There was quite a 3D element to the larger petals, they distorted as I sewed down the edges, making it hard, so I sewed a single straight line down the center petal and back to the center of the flower, then sewed around the leaves using a figure of 8, a couple or 3 times.

This was the card which inspired me to look at this technique from Carol in AK.