Scuol

Before The Wedding - I went down into Scuol - I spotted this but don't know what kind of lace it is, all the windows on this house faced the busy main street so they needed some privacy - it looked hand done, but it was difficult to get close.... pity all the shops except the supermarket were closed between 12 and 2, there was some interesting window shopping.

The Wedding

I'm home - The Wedding was fabulous - in the middle of the mountains in Switzerland with stunning views (more photos to come!) the bride looked gorgeous - my baby brother is a happy man. I danced and laughed, laughed and danced - didn't get too drunk and had a great time - Russians certainly know how to have a wedding - it was great fun.

We threw fresh petals at the bride and groom......

More pictures to come - came home to a sick baby.......

Thumb tack

Thumb tack? - is that the right name for the metal disk with a sharp post sticking out of it - used for putting up posters, really, I'll remember sometime the right word - anyway these circles were made with one - taped to the bed of the machine, quite a involved process, but 'easy' once you get the rhythm - these were trades again 2007, continuing the spots, dots and circle theme.


The last scheduled post - will be back from The Wedding tomorrow, maybe with some pictures, maybe with just a hangover, could be with both - the 3 littles stayed home with DH.

Spots, dots and circles

Spots have been a recurrent theme in my work over the last couple of years, this first panel didn't produce the right cards, they were good and I traded them, but something was missing - or there that shouldn't have been.... so I did them again


The stitching was smaller and the 'binding' missing - just a pale grey zig-zag that blended in. They were both made in 2007.


I have an urge to make a 3rd panel, using different size spots - but lots of other things to finish first, maybe I should get quilting fabric out and make a larger piece since T1 and T2 will be in full time pre-K in a weeks time, leaving baby as the only distraction.....

Scheduled post as I'm at The Wedding.......

Sunspots - more of them

In between getting stuff ready for The Wedding Thursday night I managed to do a few sunspots, slightly different to the first lot, but many spots to do.....



Scheduled post as I'm at The Wedding.......

Black and White

The zebra is from the zoo - the bird from a local 'farm' the bird reminds me of twill fabric.

Wordless Wednesday

Zoo - again

Yesterday was cloudy, it's the last week of the holidays and a trip to the zoo had been promised. So off we went. T1 wanted to see the tigers, T2 wanted to see the monkeys.
En route to the Tigers, via the lonely lion (the other 2 lions were not in their usual place - I wonder if they have been moved on) we went past the 'smelly bears', they do pong. This guy was performing his ablutions, he was fun to watch as he was quite itchy, and spent a lot of time scratching. To 2 x 4 year olds this was hilarious. We found the leopard and panther for the first time and both beautifully majestic. I don't know how we missed them in the past. The crocodiles looked like they were in the same place as last time, but I figure they must have moved in the last 3 months.

The monkeys were up to their usual tricks, they had bread and carrots (though don't like runner beans) and were very interested in both T1 and T2. This zoo wouldn't come close to 'European' safety standards, but that's part of the fun. You can get very close to the animals. A bit too close sometimes - the zebra is a bit too friendly. Baby was just thrilled by it all, last time she didn't really react to the animals, this time she was interested. We spent a lot of time with the monkeys and tigers.

A year of trees

Happy Birthday Baby

It was baby's first birthday today, my dear friend was in town, en route to the south and a vacation. It's really 7 years since I saw her in N.Y. - and was good to catch up, she got to meet the kids, I got to see her youngest, who isn't so young.
On our way home we tried to go to our favourite kebab place - Haji Bey , where they do the most delicious veggie kebabs too - alas it was closed, so we went to their home town rival Garag Kebab - it was interesting to try, but I prefer HB.
There was no party today, just a few happy birthdays. Birthday party to come later. We did however introduce her to Kemal Pasa Tatlisi, with Kaymak (clotted cream) it was good.

Bottle Cap Pincushions

I got all of these back, I'm only sure where one comes from.
#
This one is so funky, it looks like a 'Walnut Whip' - are they still made? or a Turban on an Ottoman headstone.

This one looks like it's got a palm tree growing out of the top, but they are just little flowers and leaves.

This was my all time favourite of the group. I know this came from Heather in Scotland - we have a mutual friend. It's done on her embellisher then all the beads etc by hand, it's like a fake cake - it does have a red heart on the base, very cute...
I heard from a quilting friend that I've not seen for 9 years - I hope to meet her tomorrow - so maybe no blogging.... maybe some interesting photos - 3 littles can do quite a bit of 'damage' to a 5* hotel lobby, plus it's baby's first birthday - party will happen later.

BQL Bag Challenge - August finished

Finished - such a quick bag, and once I read the instructions properly it's SO easy. Not reading the instructions properly meant that there is a small amount of the lining showing on the inside - looks quite good, though isn't strictly the pattern - sorry Kandy. Looks big enough for the keys, camera and phone for The Wedding too - yeah!

BQL Bag Challenge - August

Queen of the last minute, I keep on planning to start the next bag as soon as I get the pattern - maybe it'll happen in September...... I pulled some silks out and went for these. It may go with the dress for 'The Wedding' - it might not be big enough. Will see. The tab has mirrored blanket stitch rows (3) though they are hidden by the grain of the silk. Not sure yet if it will be light inside or outside. Tomorrow I'll get it done, it's really a quick bag, I can't believe I've not got my finger out by now and got it done.

Wordless Wednesday

Haberdashery

I had to go to Nisantasi today, which is next to the textile area - Osmanbey. I only needed 2 pale pink zips, but couldn't find them near home - so off to my favourite haberdashers it was. This is a sliver of a shop, it must be a maximum of 3 meters wide, it's long and tall ceilings - it's stuffed with stuff, stuff and more stuff. The 3 guys at the end of the shop were making a huge quantity of covered buttons with a 'machine'.


The shop spills outside and there are 2 adjoining shops in a covered passage - they all sell slightly different things, along the street are a lot of very similar but slightly different shops. I once had the chance to go into the 'store' for this shop, it was totally amazing, yes they did have the pink fur trim, but SO much more. All the small boxes have beads and sequins in - they have nearly everything - as long as you can explain it, gesture it or draw it, they'll try their best to find it.
Failing that they'll send you to another shop that they think does have what you need, they are truly fabulous. I wish they were closer, it takes about an hour to get there.

Bottle Cap Pincushions

These were made back in December 07



These 3 were made in March 08.

I joined a couple of trades for bottle cap pincushions way back when, I used Coke bottle tops - they are really quite easy to make, and oh so cute. Pictures tomorrow of some of the ones I got back. It's been humid and heavy all day. I pulled out some silk to make the BQL August bag, measured how big a zip I need from the big haberdashers in Osmanbey tomorrow - putzed around, done very little apart from the necessary - just too un comfy. Where is that rain - the grey thick clouds are hanging over us, it was dark at 7.45 tonight, we need rain.

BQL Bag Challenge - Febuary

This is the February BQL challenge bag - I altered the handle so that I could clip it over the back of the rear headrests and the contents would stay upright - alas the headrests have had to come off with the 2-3 stage booster seats - good idea for a couple of months anyway. It is of course in the same fabric as the flags, but the bag came first.
Today was not so hot, 32-34 degrees, but SO humid. No sewing - not nice, lets hope for either a good wind to blow the humidity away or a rainstorm to clear the air - or is this not how to get rid of humidity?

Blue Dots

I've not seen this before, though then again I'm a Coke drinker, a special shrink wrapped design for the 'Doors' restaurant group - neat eh? love the blue circles, but then again I'm in a bit of a dot/spot/circle phase. The food was good too.

Incoming mail

This wee wonderful found it's way into the letterbox today - it's black and silver metallic stitching shows up dull grey - the red metallic looks like regular red and the metallic paint looks flat - There seem to be 2 eroded layers over the base of light blue. It's a sparkly card, but ohhh so interesting, (why is it SO hard to photograph metallics?)
I think it's done with a soldering iron, before stitching but perhaps using a less melt-able base? This technique isn't in my artistic vocabulary.... I'm interested to find out if it's low-tech enough for me to do, and the inside scoop. It winged it's way from Australia, made by Llynn for the PAW40 trade, her word was checks.

Incoming mail

from Amanda B Art2Mail G48

From Michele F Art2Mail G48
These cards arrived today, good as I felt so crummy all day, perhaps a mild dose of what ever caused baby to be violently ill yesterday. Fortunately I'm feeling better now, but I burned my precious Thursday where I get 4 hours of clear time to do my own stuff.