I am all behind!!!

Ok so I am way behind with my posts, nothing new there then eh?

On the 30th September we had pipe bands and brass bands parading the streets of Ag. Nikolaos for the Crete International Tattoo that was to be held that night. There were pipe bands from Canada, New Zealand, Scottish Highland dancers, a dance troupe from Estonia, Russian and Welsh brass bands and a Italian flag throwing troupe.

We went to the tattoo at the football stadium that night also but we were to far away to get any good pictures. We had a great time as I love pipe band music. Peter Karrie also made a special appearance and sang for us. He is a West End and Broadway star. Well that is it for now my next post will not be long in coming, in another couple of days. Need to get caught up with things that have been happening here. Cya, Judith x

Someone’s having a giveaway.

Do you like giveaways?

Do you use fabric in your crafts?

Then why don’t you all nip over to www.thepatchworkheart-heather.blogspot.com

_{and join in her lovely scrappy giveaway.}

_{Go on do it now!!!}

_{Cya Judith x}

World Tourism Day.

September 27th was World Tourism Day and in Aghios Nikolaos they had a Cretan cultural exhibition around the lake. You could sample olive oil, cheeses, wines, nuts, pastries beer and raki. There was Greek music and traditional Greek dancing.

Inco had a tent with a small display of works done by foreign residents.  Like us.

 

 

A good evening was had by all.

Quince and Cinnamon.

Today I made some quince and cinnamon jam. This is the biggest pan that I own and you can see that it is nearly full. There are loads of quince trees around and they are all laden with fruit, that for some reason goes unused. I picked a bag of these lovely fruit from a neighbours tree and set about making the jam. I now have 7 jars of luscious jam for our toast.

The next fruit that will be ripe are pomegranates. Pomegranate jam??????????

Watch this space.

Cya,

Judith x

Rain, rain go away!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh no, we were forecast for rain and thunder and yes we got it. The thunder was miles away so that was ok especially for Lucky who is terrified of it. Then we got the rain, a few spots at first then the whole thing. Mind you we need it as everything is all dried up and shrivelled.

In no time the verges will be spouting bright green everywhere. It is supposed to brighten up tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Me with my mac.

Cya

Judith x

What A Find.

A little background first. In times gone by the Greek people used to tip their rubbish over the mountainsides. Now today this is frowned upon  and is very unsightly, however it is still done. You can go along a country roads and find places where things have been fly tipped.  Usually this is builders rubble. Anyway we sometimes stop to see if anything of interest has been tipped. Something we could use like wood, marble, you know things like that. If your a follower of mine you will know that my cupboard above the bathroom door was made with  wood found dumped..

Anyway we went to the garden today to do some watering and on the way back we stopped at a dumping ground, just to have a look. There was some wood but not of any use, then something caught my eye buried in the rubble. We racked around a bit and found all these.

We have 5 pairs and 5 odd ones. I have cleaned up 3 of these wood shoe forms. Bet you can pick them out.

I think they have cleaned up well. I am sure we will find something useful to make with them. You never know what your gonna find and that’s why we keep looking. Does anyone have any ideas?

I also have another finish that I forgot to post the other day. This is my Baktus scarf that I knit to keep me warm in the winter it is graciously modelled by Lucky.

As you can see she is a little bit camera shy. It is so soft, I know I am gonna love wearing it. Oh! and I got the wool from one of the animal charity bazaars.

Got to go as Lucky is patiently waiting for her afternoon walk. Think she deserves one.

  Cya,

Judith x

Playtime and a finish Woo hoo!!!

Yes, I have been sat at my sewing machine again. It has been too long since I did any sewing. Anyway I thought I would have a play around and this is what I came up with. It’s  from Ricky Tims and is called convergence quilts.

Not sure what I will do with them yet, but I enjoyed playing around. Might make them into cushion covers, we will see.

Also I have finished up my denim throw/blanket. It has taken me ages to clip all the seams so that it would fray in the washing machine. Just sitting clipping caused a big pile of threads.  It was about time that I got it done. When I had clipped all the seams I checked very patch to make sure it was done and I found 21 seams unclipped. It pays you to check very carefully. Oh! I have just thought I never took any photos of this part. Too late now!Then it went into the washing machine on a cold wash. Cor, you should have seen all the loose threads from the fraying process. I shook it in the courtyard and they went everywhere. Now you are supposed to dry it in the tumble dryer but, I don’t have a one, so onto the line it went.  I washed it twice and then the washing machine didn’t pump out the water. Mmmmmh!!! PANIC!!!!

After I drained all the water off I removed the filter and guess what?  Yes it was jammed packed solid with frayed threads. I gave it a quick clean out fitted it all back together and hey presto it worked (Thank Goodness or I would have been in trouble from the other half.) Still after two washes it is still casting. Might take the hoover to it so don’t look to close at the finished photo.

So sorry but this is a terrible photo

It is supposed to get frayed more every time you wash it. I am pleased with it too. This was very easy to make sewing wise, but the clipping took a long time and it was very messy and hard on the hands. It is also  heavyish.

That’s all for now.

Cya,

Judith. x

Who likes their comfort then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Lucky's favorite way to relax. Yes it's a dogs life.

A Beautiful Pair

Good Morning!!!!!!!!!!

How are you all today?

Bright eyed and bushy tailed I hope.

Yesterday this was the veiw from my front gates at about 6.00 am.

Today this was the veiw at 7.00 am.

See the clouds we have had a lot of those just lately.

Anyway now for the beauties. For the last three times that this has flowered I have missed getting a picture, but today, I got them. Yay!

They open and die in just a day.

You can just see the cactus plant at the bottom of this picture. This plant puts a tremendous amount of energy in producing these large flowers and they are so delicate.

They have  a very fine perfume which attracted this wasp. Think he enjoyed his visit. He looked like he was anyway.

Yesterday I went to the beach with Jude and we had a lovely time splashing about in the sea. The beach was crowded as it was a very hot day, but there was a nice cooling breeze. Wonder how many people overdid the sunbathing?

Anyway enjoy your day whatever you are doing and catch you all again soon.

Cya,

Judith x

20 Years, Well I never.

The veiw from my gate this morning

What a lovely day to be celebrating 20yrs of marraige. When we got together lots of people said it would never last so I am saying today, "Well it has."

I am sorry that I can't put a wedding photo on here but my pc won't let my printer work.
So the above will have to do for now. This was took at our leaving party in 2007 just before we moved to Crete.

Our Potato Harvest.

Over the last couple of days we have been digging our potatoes and what a fine crop it is.

These should keep us going for a while. We are still picking courgettes, tomatoes, cucumber and aubergines too. When we get the ground that the potatoes were in cleared we will be planting some beans and maybe beetroot we will see.

My voice is still missing too. It’s very quiet around here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never mind, anyway I have managed to do some knitting this morning and also make some tomato sauce to freeze. A woman’s work is never done even with no voice.

Enjoy your weekend everyone

Cya,

Judith x

Oh, Dear I’ve Lost IT.

Well I had it yesterday, but this morning I cannot find it. I’ve looked high and I’ve looked low. What ever am I going to do without it?

I am just not me without it, do you think I should offer a reward?????????????????

A passion flower doing what it does best.

All I can say is that……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I have lost my voice. If any of you out there in blogland happen to see it please contact me. I would love to have it back.

Thanks.

Judith x

This Morning.

Yesterday and today we have clouds

It is slightly cooler up here and we have a bit of wind, which is nice.


Eventually the sun came up and reveilled a mist.

A New Month.

This was the veiw from my front gate this morning, just after 6.00am. Now it is quite noisy with all the morning chorus. The cicada beetles are all screaming their heads off. They make an awful din. But you get used to it. ( just as-well ).

Yesterday I spent a lovely time swimming in a warm sea with Jude. We have not had a chance to do this much this last month. I caught a bit sun and my face has been a bit red looking. After our nice beach experience we took ourselves off to do some grocery shopping and managed to spend our money.

Last night I went down to Nikos with Geoff and Jude and we had a lovely meal together just catching up with all the gossip. I had a lovely day.

Well that’s the good stuff over now for the bad!

Sunday we had a burst. We had water running down our steps outside. Upon inspection we found that the tank on our solar panel was pouring out loads and loads of water. My  hubby turned off the water and had a look. He thought that it was coming from a gasket on the side, but with it been Sunday all the shops are closed so we had no hot water. I know its hot here right now but I do not relish the thought of having cold showers, cool showers yes, cold no. Anyway he got a gasket yesterday and it seems to be fixed, HURRAY!!!!!!

Now what else have I done this past month?

I made some more jam, this time plum and elderberry and it is so nice, you had better believe it,  it is so yummy. I am really pleased how it turned out.

It looks rather black in the jars but it is a very deep red colour, like blackcurrant jam. This is not tart like the other one I made.

I did come across a recipe for elderberry chutney so might give it a go too. Elders are not that common here so I am keeping my source to myself.

I might also try and make some courgette and ginger jam as we have lots of courgettes coming from the garden now. I bought root ginger yesterday. I will have to sort out a recipe. I have a few to choose from.

On the crafting front, well nothing is getting done right now. I have something brewing in my mind. It is a challenge that I saw online and thought that I might have a go. We will see. Thing is I have loads and loads of UFO’s to finish. I am naughty not finishing up things, but hey I'll get there one day.

Do you have the same problem, too many projects on the go at one time and not getting any finished off?

Plums + Sugar = Jam

I went to the garden Monday and while I was there I picked a few under-ripe plums. They are quite small like big cherries really and they don’t have that plummy taste that we are used to in England. There are loads of these trees around and most of the fruit just drops off and rots on the ground.

WHAT A WASTE.

Anyway I found this nice recipe on www.cottagesmallholder.com

It comes under the title of wild plum jam and there are two recipes.

When boiling the jam took on a lovely red tone.

This is it in the jars. It looks lovely doesn’t it? If you like a slightly tart taste this is a one for you.

Sure to wake you up on your toast in the morning.

Cya,

Judith x

My new cupboard (part 2)

We are a bit further on with my cupboard above the stairs.

 

Just need some handles fitted now. Think they might be a bit rustic. I can’t wait to fill them up.

We have decided to paint the wood work, so that will be my job. Now what colour will I paint them, Mmmmmmm. Lets see. I can see paint charts will be in order.

Last night we went out with Jude and Geoff to a Taverna in Limnes. They were having live Greek music so we thought it would make a nice change.

I don’t know if you know it but the Greeks don’t go out very early and the Band still wasn’t playing at 10.00. Anyway we had a nice meal and a few drinks.

We left at 12.00 and they were just getting going. Wonder if anyone got up to dance? When we got home we could still hear the music drifting up the mountain side.

Hope you all enjoy your weekend. I’m off to have some more strawberries. They are just lush, only thing is they are now getting to the end of the harvest. Going to plant more for next year.

Cya oxo

Judith