Matching Necklace set - Bridal Lace, 7/25 motif challange

Hi,

This is a tatted necklace, with matching bracelet and earrings,   I used the pattern called Bridal Lace by Elaine Gan of Tatting box on Facebook. link to her site 
Their was not an earring on the pattern but I did two repeats of the pattern which made an earring.  I am pleased with the pattern and plan to do another set when I get time.
I made this before I went on holiday but only finished it off a couple of weeks ago.
I used Lizbeth thread no 20 Vineyard Harvest.
Hope you are keeping well
                          Hugs
                       Margaret

Day Trip to Turkey

 Hi,
We took a day trip over to Bodrum in Turkey,   Although we have been to Turkey a couple of times we have not been to the Bodrum area,   Turkey is a very  large country and it may not look it on the map,  it takes four hours to fly from one end of Turkey to the other,  which is the same time it takes to fly from here in the UK to Turkey.
We went over by Catamaran which takes 40 mins from Kos,    Yes it really is that close,  and if you were not careful you could be put onto a Turkish mobile network which works out more expensive.  in fact the guide for the day before we left Kos said not to answer your mobile while over there as it would cost 5 euros just to say hello.
We were taken to the highest part over looking Bodrum and the picture above is overlooking Bodrum,  As you can see in the picture above,   the castle in the middle this was built by the Knights of St John,  Yes they did get around the Mediterranean and they built a lot of forts and castles in Greece and Malta.

 This is a picture of the centre of Bodrum,   its a busy town and harbour,  we did visit some archaeology sites but I have forgotten what they were so rather than get things wrong  I am not including those picture in this post.
We were taken to a gold shop,   it was an experience as the group walked in the door was shut behind us,   we had a look around,  if you stopped and looked they pounced,  there were several rooms including a silver room, a gold room,  precious stones room,  rugs and clothes,   all expensive,   even having a drink proved costly.  we were then taken when we had finished shopping to the centre of Bodrum to have free time shopping and lunch.

The harbour at Bodrum
Bodrum is five degrees hotter than Kos,   which we worked out at around 35c perhaps a little more,  on the day we went.
It was an interesting day
I hope you enjoyed this post and until we meet again Take care
           
   

                                      Hugs
                                  Margaret

Kos - Our Holiday at the Aegean Village

Sunrise from our balcony

Hi,

I know this is a late post but since we arrived back I have had the flu and the last couple of weeks its just laid me out.  Anyway better late than never and this was the most brilliant holiday so I just had to write about it.   We stayed at the Aegean Village near Kardamena,   lovely hotel, personally we would recommend this Hotel and will go back again in a few years time.  We like to leave a gap for a few years but will definitely go back,  we could not have wished for a better place.   The food was lovely the room was lovely with the biggest bed we have ever had, Vernon laid across it and he's 5ft 10ins and there was still several inches from the edge of the bed,  it must have been 6ft across. Certainly larger than a King size bed.

  They said there was a mini bus to take you up to and from the room which were in blocks going up the hill side 24/7  yes well we have all read things in the books and its not quite true,  well it was it did not matter what time you need the mini bus he was there,  you could arrived back on site after a night out or arrive at the hotel in the middle of the night and he was there.   

 The beach was directly opposite the hotel just a walk down the slope,  looks hot yes it was.  The gardens were immaculate watered every night.

The gardens surrounding the hotel

Hotel Entrance

Swimming Pool

 The pool was peaceful,   and they had a brilliant animation team that's the European word from Entertainment group,  they would come around starting at 10 o'clock with "We are going to do Yoga at 10 o'clock would you like to join us",  then it was mini golf, darts, etc etc all day,  and then at night more Bingo,  and the best Greek night I have ever been to,  with a group of dancers who did three sets, first was ancient dances of Greece, then traditional dances and then modern Greek dances with a Greek band.  We did take some video of the night.

View from our balcony

This is the view from out Balcony,  to wake up to that view every morning was a treat,  that's Turkey in the background,   we did do a trip to Turkey and I will do a separate post on that.

We needed a restful holiday and that's what we had a great holiday at a good hotel.  When we were about to land at Kos airport I saw a blue dome on top of a hillside with lights going down the hillside,   little did I know that's where we would be staying.

This is the view from the bus stop

I am going to finish with this picture,   my husband is not into computers at all,   now I wish I had brought him this tea-shirt.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend

           Hugs

        Margaret

Diane's Snowflake. 6/25 motif challenge

Hi,

I do love Diane's snowflake,  but I had a brain wave on holiday,  yes they do happen occasionally,  the snowflake at the bottom is her pattern,  but I thought it might be nice to add beads,  so I took away the Josephine knot in the middle of the chain and added four beads,   this is the result,
I think they are rather pretty.  the chains are slightly longer instead of 4 double stitches I have done 8 double stitches.
What do you think?
Here's a link to her blog
                 Hugs
             Margaret

Holiday Tatting. 5/25 motif challenge

 Hi,

Another beautiful day, pity yesterday was so horrible,  I suppose we did need the rain well the garden did.   Today I have the holiday tatting I did on Kos,   although their is a bit more than this but my hand has stropped me doing so much.
The above picture shows some snowflakes,  as you might have read in a previous post the Greek lady thought they should be bigger and done in thicker thread.  OK I have tatted these in No 20 Lizbeth thread.  They are Wheel of nine rings from Christmas Angels and other tatting patterns by Monica Hahn,  Snowflake Ornament from Easy tatting,  Diane s Snowflake (which you will see again in another post)  Anna magazine December 1991 no 32,  and Katie Johnson's 3 dimensional angel which I made slightly bigger by adding an extra double stitch on the chains and rings.  still not sure I like it a bit bigger.

This is the Flowering Quatrain Bookmark by www.leblogdefrivole.blogspot.com link to her blog
I used one of the balls of Lizbeth no 20 I won from Rachel last year called Carousel,  this is the first time I have used this thread.  I did a spiral chain and using the corner pattern made a square end.

Update here is how far I have got with Renuleks mat,  I did the last row in red by the pool and started the white just before we came home,   In 30 degrees heat plus it was a bit hot to tat too long.   I did talk about this in my last tatting post.

I hope you are having a nice weekend, until we meet again Take care

                                 Hugs
                             Margaret

Sport no balls / Male birthday

 Hi,,
Today's card is going into two challenges,   I made this card original or the CD Sunday Challenge and then could not make up my mind with the one I used last week,  so its going into the two challenges for this week.
CD Sunday Challenge was a male birthday card,   why are men's cards so hard to do?
Cardz4guyz challenge this week is sport no balls,   I think this card fits both.
I used the Klever Konstruction, once in a lifetime volume one CD again for this card,   I found this image on the toppers section,  one I have not really looked at before,
I matted the image on red metallic card,  added a red ribbon and gold peel off's motor bikes with gold peel off's to finish the card off.
The backing paper looks more pink but it is red,  the light is playing tricks with the camera.
Hope you are keeping well until we meet again take care
Hugs
                                 Margaret

Kos find

Hi,

We were walking around the town of Karadmara in Kos,   I brought some jewellery for the grand daughters and daughter in law,  and as we were leaving Vernon noticed some tatting,  When I looked it said needle tatting,  its very unusual to find tatting on sale in Greece,  so out came the camera.   The lady in the shop came out and said she made them, ( the picture above is her shop window),  well we ended up having a conversation on tatting,  naturally.

She asked if I had any tatting with me,  well I always take my tatting with me where ever and I said the next time I came into Karadmara I would bring some.    

Well I did,  I showed her some snowflakes and the Renulek's mat I am working on. (I will do a separate post on them)  she looked and said they were too fine,  I needed to use thicker thread and they would be bigger, it would be easier on the eyes,  

Anyway she showed me her needle,  it was the thickest needle I have ever seen,  I think it would be used on making leather saddles or goods,  her thread is thick too,   she explained she could not buy tatting items so I gave her the web address of Roseground.com.  Unfortunately I don't use tatting needles and I did not have a spare shuttle with me to give her,  I hope she will be able to get a proper tatting needle.

I think I will stick to my no 20 thread and dainty tatting.

I did some tatting by the pool,  it was over 30c so it was too hot to tat for long, Renuleks mat is coming along slowly,  an old lady staying at the hotel stopped and looked,  I think she was Danish and said something which I had no idea what, anyway the next day she was back again and said in English that it was lovely,  I thought that was nice of her.  

I will post my holiday tatting in another post.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend

Until we meet again Take care

                                     Hugs

                                 Margaret