One card two challenges

 Hi,


Another day and it's raining here now and there is a storm coming in from the Atlantic which already has weather warnings.  Looks like another wet  and very windy day tomorrow and the weekend.  Brilliant as I am doing a summer fair at the nursing home which Mother lives in.  




Today I bring my card for two challenges,  very unusual for me but I fancied doing both so I made one card for both.
First the Sunday CD challenge this week is Beautiful Ballerinas and the Joanne Sheen Challenge Lavender and Lace.




I made this card using a stamped image and matted it on a glittered lilac card.  I  coloured the image with pro-markers,  I cant remember the name of the stamp.   I used the backing paper from the Joanne Sheen CD - Pamela West collection,   I made a bow with lavender ribbon and added a strip of  real lace into the bow leaving a long ends which I put under the image and left a pieces hanging under.   The flowers were a gift from Janette some time ago and are dark blue/purple and I finished off the card with silver peel off's.


I hope you like my card, 


Until we meet again take care and stay dry.




Hugs
Margaret

Look at these earrings

Hi
Yesterday the postman's brought these gorgeous,  well they are more than gorgeous they are totally stunning beyond words earrings from Wendy  of Umi and Tsuru link here to her blog.   They arrived really quickly from Singapore and were her gift on the PIF (pay it forward)
They were tatted in Country Kitchen Lizbeth 40 with Swaroski crystals beads and crystals
Thank you I really will enjoy wearing these earrings.


We are back to the rain and wind,  tomorrow looks really horrible again at least here were I live we are not flooded,  if we were the majority of the country would be flooded as we are quite high up on the Mendips.


Try to stay dry and take care
                        Hugs
                     Margaret

Holiday Tatting Number two / 25 motif challenge number 6

Hi,


Well we had a fine day on Saturday and I got my washing dry,  Sunday has been dull with a few spots of rain,  more promised later, Monday well that's forecasted with yep more rain.  Where did the sun go,  I don't think we left it in Crete. 
Today I am bring more holiday tatting,   and there's more to come, but lets do today's offering.
1st picture is from the Free Tatting Pattern.com site link here and is under the heading tatted Bookmark number 4,  its an easy pattern,  I did it with Lizbeth Rainbow Taffy and Lizbeth white both in no 20.   The heart was Happy Heart by Joelle Paulson's blog link here

This bookmark is called Floral Tatted Bookmark and designed by Kersti from Intatters link here 
I did this bookmark in Lizbeth Falling Leaves no 20,  this is an easy pattern and I did enjoy doing this bookmark

These crosses can from Free Tatting Patterns.com. link here   Its a nice pattern and very easy to do,
One is plain Lizbeth white 
The other is in Lizbeth Purple Splendor and white both in No20 thread

These two bookmarks I have done since I got home, both pattern link are listed above.
The top one is the Floral Tatted Bookmark in Lizbeth Purple Splendor and the other one is as listed above and in Lizbeth Falling Leaves and white both are in no 20 thread.
I still have some more tatting I did on holiday which I hope to bring you during the week.




Hope you had a good weekend
Take care
                            Hugs
                        Margaret

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