Stallis, Crete, and Koni Village

 Hi,
This is Stallis on Crete,  its a lovely place to go on holiday,  the beach is sand and the blue Aegean Sea awaits you.  It is safe for you to go to Greece on holiday,  nothing has changed on the Islands,  yes they had had trouble on the main land but there is no trouble on the islands.  The tourist season is quite and they really do need the visitors to come.   They are still as helpful and as willing to help the tourist but they are getting to be a very poor nation.   You will find just the same over there as here,  empty shops and restaurants,  not helped by the hotels who have all inclusive holidays,  therefore there are less visitors eating in the restaurants.   
They are going back to the old way of living,  light by oil,  and heating and cooking by wood fires,  why because they don't have enough money,  they also have food banks in Athens just the same as we have here  and they are growing more vegetables on spare bits of land to help those who cant afford to buy food.
This is the beach at Stallis,  with brightly coloured umbrellas the bars and restaurants have sections on the beach and will sever you drinks down on the beach.   There are a lovely lot of shops in Stallis and we became friendly with Maria who owns Irene Shop,  her beautiful embroidered tablecloths, runners, and many other items are really lovely, she only buys the best,   there are plenty of handmade tablecloths that take hours of work.  I should have taken a picture of some of them,  at the moment she is working on a cloth, with gold and red beads and cross stitch and when finished she will put a red velvet edging around it,  it will look spectacluar when it is finished,   it is going to be handed down to her children.  If you go to Stallis please pop in and see her,  and then go across the road to the bar,  they have the most comfortable seats under Palm fond umbrellas where you can sit and enjoy a drink beside the beach.

 This is Koni Village,  Yes it is that steep,  Vernon missed the bit that said not for the less mobile,   that hill nearly killed me every day.  and this is only the beginning,  there are 10 blocks of apartments,  there are at least five not in my pictures and they are up an even steeper hill,  this was bad enough. There is a church right at the top,  sorry I never got that far up the hill.   The Village has two swimming pools,  one is the other side of the wall down at the bottom,  that is quieter and apart from the noise from the main road,  more relaxing.

Our apartment is the one at the top of the yellow building straight ahead in the picture,  Vernon was not amazed at having to carry the cases up there,  as he had just had physio on his shoulder and it had just got better,  only to undo all the physio by having to carry the cases up,  but once in the room the view was brilliant overlooking Stallis.

View from our room looking down the path of the entrance to the Village and beyond towards the sea.
The town and beach was a walk away a  bit quicker but taking the tunnel under the main road and then down the track,  only about 10 minutes to the beach and a further 10 minutes to the centre of Stallis.

Another view out over.   The restaurant in Koni Village was really good and reasonable,   in fact where ever we eat the food was reasonably priced and good value.    They had a Greek night on the site with a barbecue,  the Greek dancers kept on getting up the guests to dance,   yes I did get up and Vernon had the video camera out.   

View of Stallis


Crete is a lovely island to visit,  there is a wealth of archaeological sites on Crete and a lot to see.   The buses are cheap but the run on GMT,  Greece maybe time,   they can be either 10 minutes early or late but will arrive around the time they say. The main crop is olives and there are olive trees everywhere,  in the winter when the tourists go home the main  work on the island is olive picking.
  We did do a trip to Santorini which I will post another day.  Greece is still good value for money,  but with all the money troubles they have the Greek people we spoke to really do believe they will be going back to the drachma currency (which was there old currency before they joined the Euro) and coming out of the Euro.
We had a lovely restful holiday,  which is what we really needed. I managed to do a lot of tatting, and some knitting before running out of wool. I have already posted some tatting but there is more to come.
I hope you enjoy my post and until we meet again take care,  hopefully summer will return and the rain will disappear.  I don't know about you but I am fed up with the rain,  I am looking forward to seeing the sun again,.
                          Hugs
                       Margaret

Holiday Tatting Number One

Hi,


Today I am showing some of the holiday Tatting I did while I was on holiday in Crete.
They were all tatted with Lizbeth no 20 white thread,  there will be some more over the next few days/week

This is one I have done a lot of and is a pattern from the Anna magazines dated December 1991,  its one of my favorties.

This one if the middle of the be-stitched pattern called Tatted 10 point Snowflake,   I love this middle and it makes a lovely snowflake on its own.  I think its time I did the whole pattern even though I do like the middle of this one..

This is a new one on me its from a book called Easy Tatting which I brought Bethany for Christmas last year and its called Five-inch Snowflake.   I do like this pattern although it was a bit fiddly in places.










These I am making the 5th motifs of the 25 motif challenge which I joined last month.   The 1st, 2nd and 3rd motifs were put on the blog while I was away and they were the test tatting I did for Wendy,  The intatters Spring Tatting Exchange  and Introducing Taurus, and my goats.
I hope to get the holiday posts done over the next few days.
In the meantime I hope you have enjoyed the long bank holiday and are keeping well.
Take Care
                                  Hugs
                              Margaret

Pay it forward or PIF

Hi,


Some months ago Wendy  did a PIF,  which means the first three comments on the post gets a gift made for them.   I did comment and how there is a gift on its way to me,  I will of course show you when it arrives.
In the meantime under the rules which are :-
Authors of the first three comments will receive a handmade gift,
But they in their turn - promise the same on their blogs.


So if anyone would like a handmade gift then please leave a comment on this post,  the first three will get a handmade gift made for them.


Only comments left on the blog will be counted and e-mail comments will not be acceptable.
                                            Hugs
                                         Margaret

Knitted Tablecloth and Baby Clothes

 Hi,

Well so far its been fine and I have got some washing dry,  does not look good for the rest of the week though.  I also managed to plant some bedding plants out in the garden.

As you can see I have been busy,  this cloth has taken many hours of knitting,  at times its been sitting looking at me,  as I just got fed up with it,  but its finished.

Its knitted from a vintage German pattern,  in white cotton,  which can be machine washed,   I have put it in my Esty shop this afternoon.    I hope you like it,   it measures 37 inches or 94 cms circular and was knitted on no 12 needles and number 12 circular needle.    I have no idea how many hours it took me but I am glad its finished.

This is also something new for my Esty shop,   this is a baby Matinee coat,  bonnet and booties all knitted in white double knitting wool.  This is a vintage pattern,  which I have knitted lots of times and everyone seems to like.   The size I made is for an 18 inches or 45.5 cm chest or new born baby.

I hope you like these new items,  when the shops open on Wednesday I have to go and buy a new colour ink for my printer,  I forgot that it ran out before we went on holiday so until I do I cant do the Sunday Cd challenge card.  I am still thinking of ideas for it this week.

Until we meet again I hope you are enjoying this long weekend and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations,   I am waiting to watch the show tonight and see Elton John on the stage,   sorry Vernon will have to suffer tonight as hes a country and western fan.   I would love to Elton John live,  I used to have his Mother and Father come in my shop years ago and his Nan and Aunt although I did not know it at the time and found out some years later.
Take care
Hugs
Margaret

Chop Sticks

 Hi,


Yes we are back from a holiday in Crete,  you have been having the same weather as us in Crete,  sun,  blue skies and  blue of the Aegean Sea was a wonderful restful holiday,  just what we both needed.  The stress of the last six months in particular has been extremely great and I think both Vernon and I were totally worn out.
We had a lovely meal in a Chinese restaurant,  we do like Chinese food and this restaurant opened up in the resort while we were there,  the pale blue material ones were given to us on the first night and then when we had another meal we were given a pair each,  they are beautiful,  too beautiful to use, the photos don't do them justice and the colours of the patterns on the chop sticks have not shown up as well as I would have liked.  The material they are packed in is really gorgeous with Chinese designs embroidered on it.

 Before we left my Orchid was about to flower,  so I missed the first three flowers opening up,  but these pictures show you what they look like when I came home on Wednesday morning,   yes it was 2am when I had my first look at them.   It was a lovely welcome home.


I do have some good news to share,  four weeks ago I hinted that Vernon was ill,  in fact he was diagnosed with Prostate cancer,  although in the very early stages we have now been told since we came home that they are not going to do anything.   They don't think it will do anything and will not develop enough to kill him.   They want him to have an MRI scan in six months,   if nothing has changed it looks like he can get on with his life.   This is a  huge weight off our shoulders as we have been trying to get our head around it.  After everything that happen to me last year,  it just felt so awful to have Vernon facing an operation and so soon after he had retired in November.   It has not been the best start for his retirement with Mother, Peter and now being told he had cancer.


I did some tatting on holiday which I will show you soon,  I also took some wool to do some knitting for my shop,  the pattern said one 100 gram ball,  but I don't have enough to finish it,  the shop has ordered me some more,  so that's another item for you when its finished.


I am preparing a post about our holiday and day trip to Santorini they will be posted over the next week.
I hope you are keeping well and until we meet again Take Care
Hugs
Margaret

High on a mountain top .......

 Hi,


I am sure the title might get you thinking,   well my herd of Goats has grown, and I was thinking of the Sound of Music,   High on a mountain top a lonely goat etc. etc..


The black Goat went to Sheila and the white goat has gone to Janette in Blackpool,  both guessed that we were tatting a Goat on the TIAS this January,    I know this is a late post but they have been tatted over the last few months.


The black Goat was tatted with coats black no 20 with white eyes and the white goat was tatted with Lizbeth white no 20 and has black eyes.   I think the white Goat back leg went a bit curled I have no idea how it happen but when I pressed him the leg did go straighter.
So my herd has grown.   The other person who won my game called Sue never did get in touch,  so I was not able to make her a Goat.  If she reads this and remembers she guessed Goat please get in touch and then I will make you a Goat.


                                                                --ooOoo--

Look what my husband brought me,   I am delighted with the book and hope to make the peacock sometime soon but don't rush me I will get around to it.
Bethany was also in ore of the peacock so now all I have to do is tat him.   I have already decided which colour to tat him in.
There are some other lovely patterns in the book no wonder every tatter is buying the book.




This is the last scheduled post and we will be home soon.
Until we meet again take care
Hugs
Margaret

Introducing Taurus

 Hi,


This is my Taurus the Bull,   I was asked to tat a Bull,  well after looking for a pattern and not been able to find one,  I designed my own.


Well this is him,  the picture was taken before I had pressed him and the cotton left was used to attach him to a card,  which is at the bottom of the post.


Here is he in close up,   I used Lizbeth thread Gold and white no 20,  with two black beads for the eyes,  I used some threads for the tail I tried some long picots but it did not look right so I just attached the threads with a loop,  on a very small picot.


I have not written up the pattern yet although its written in rough and I will be putting the pattern in my esty store when its ready.


The card I used a backing paper that I also used for the tree card I did a couple of weeks ago for the Sunday CD Challenge Trees and Shrubs.  I sewed Taurus on a pale green card although in the picture it looks blue but it was pale green and pale green spot paper,  the edging was green/gold peel offs to finish off the card.


I hope you like him,  I am pleased with him,  it took quite a few hours to design him,  the front legs could have been a little straighter but I think hes got a cheeky face. I hope they like the card,   I did enjoy designing him,  one thing I can say he was all my own work,   if you think there is any part of him that's from another pattern,  all I can say he came from my brain. 
Until we meet again in blog land.
Take Care
Hugs
Margaret