FOUR PUPS FOR CHRISTMAS

In December someone decided to dump four pups in Neapoli at the back of a school. They were only about two month old. They were asking for someone to foster them till they were rehomed.

We decided that we could rise to the challenge as we could have them on our roof and they could sleep indoors at nighttime. So we took them in.

They ran around playing and chewing my plants and causing havoc until we confined them to the roof with a gate.

They grew and grew until the three white ones went to England leaving only Bronwyn who was going to Holland. Sadly that didn’t happen as the person who was adopting her backed out.  Anyway then Covid 19 happened and all flights and borders were closing. Bronwyn was going nowhere.

She is still here, but hopefully going to Holland on the 17 July. Someone else is adopting her. I am so pleased for her. She has missed out on a lot of things like been socialised with other dogs or people.

She is big and boisterous and my small dogs can’t cope with her bounding about. It’s not safe for them as she gets very excited with them.

I’m just hoping that she has a lovely life with her new humans as she is a lovely dog in both looks and nature. Fingers crossed that it all turns out good for her she deserves it.

That’s all folk

Cya

JUDITH x

I’m not going to apologise.

I’m not going to apologise for my long absence but I am going to try real hard to make a come back with this blog now.

We are staying home most of the time now what with Covid 19. Greece has not had many cases but that could all change with tourists been allowed to come for holidays. In March I had a very bad chest infection, and honestly I thought I was dying. Breathing was difficult and I was very frightened. My lungs seemed to be that congested that as I exhaled the air seemed to get trapped and it felt like my lungs were bubbling. So, so scary. I went to see the doctor and they wouldn’t let me in they talked to me through the glass door. They did however write me a prescription for antibiotics which they handed to my husband through a window.

So what have I been doing? I have been doing a lot of sewing, knitting and baking which I won’t go into here as that will be other posts. What I want to talk about today is gardening.  My garden is right at the top of our property and is very small. The soil is terrible as it is mostly stones, the more you dig it the more they come up to the surface. It gets full sun most of the day so is very dry. The last time we cultivated it was 2011. In 2014 I planted some thornless blackberries.  That first year we had quite a good harvest but  every year since they tend to get cooked by the sun just before they ripen.

This is not good so hoping for better results this year

So in May my husband , Ian was going to use our small tiller to turn over this small plot. It wouldn’t start. So off it went to the repair shop. It must have been there for nearly three weeks. They couldn’t find a replacement part. Eventually the found one that fitted and Ian got to turn the garden over.

So this is my garden with my first plantings. The garden is on a slope as you may have noticed.

So I have planted tomatoes, courgette, turnips, beans, cucumber, patty pans, Brussels, melon and peppers. Everything is now growing away nicely. We have picked our first 5 courgettes which I turned into courgette fritters, recipe to follow in another post. 

 These next photos show you my garden now.

 The cans are for my safety, so I don’t poke out my eyes.

 Now we are looking forward to a lot of homegrown vegetables in the coming weeks but tonight there was someone at our door. He came into our courtyard and presented us with this from his garden. Good job I have plenty of courgette recipes and that we both like cucumbers.

Oh happy days!

That’s all for today.

Cya soon.

Judith.  X

It’s been a long time!

Well it has been a long time since I posted on here. Bet you all had given up on me.
We are still living in Crete and enjoying it very much. Hope brexit doesn’t cause us much bother. We will just have to wait and see. Nothing final yet.

we Still go out for doggie days out. Rosie and Sam love going in the car, even just down to the shop.

 Sam just loves the water. Even in the winter he just runs in and lays down.

Rosie is more a land lover unless it’s a rock pool with no waves.

The last doggie day out we nearly came unstuck. We went down this concrete track that ended up a 

dirt track and we came face to face with a river where the road should be

Couldn’t see how deep it was or if there was any pot holes or anything. Thought we better give it a miss. We had to shunt back and forward a few times to get turned around. Then came the interesting bit getting back up the hills we had just come down. Our little car got back to the main road without much bother. We don’t have 4x

I joined Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt this year again

This is on Ringo Lake that I did last year. It is still not sandwiched but hopefully soon.

This years is called Good Fortune, I put the last border on it last night

Good fortune top finished. The lighting is not very good but this was taken at a quarter to midnight.

Last year was a bad year for me and my whole family. My lovely sister was diagnosed with Lymphoma. This knocked the wind out of our sails. It was very aggressive and she lost her fight on the 7 August. 2018. My mother died when I was eight and my sister played a very big part in my upbringing. I miss her terribly, miss our long chats on skype. I keep thinking, oh illl give Lily a ring, and then it dawns on me she is not there.

 

Lily and Steve.

I hope this year is a better year. Fingers crossed it is.

Cya Judith. X

Quick update

I now have 5 blocks done of my extra 9 that I am making. Do you think I will finish them all by next week. before I go on my travels to England?

So much to do and not enough time in the day.
Wish me luck.

Cya Judith. x

The Time Was Right.

Well yesterday I had an urge. I started sewing my pineapple blocks again. I have one complete and one nearly half done.

Still enjoying the process.

Cya,

Judith. x

A day out in Chania

We took a day trip to Chania last week. We being my friend Jude and my husband, who kindly offered to drive us there and me.

 Someone had told my friend that they where selling material on the outside street market for 2euro a mtr. Well that was enough for us to go take a look. It is about a 3 hr drive from where we live so we got up at 5.30 to leave at 6.30. Nice early start.

The market was huge compared to the ones around where we live and sure enough there was a stall selling material for 2 euros.
We dug amongst the piles of fabric and made our purchases



A nice little haul.

With our purchases safely stowed away in our car we took to the streets. No, not to shop but to wander through the old town like tourists do.

Nice entrance to a taverna

 A working fountain.

An old church

This is Rega, lovely horse who took us for a nice little jaunt.

We had lunch at the harbour and even visited the Maritime museum and had a horse and carriage ride. A good day was had by all.

Catch you all next time
Judith x

My Pineapple

A while back I posted a photo of a pineapple block. I found the free pattern on the Fons and Porter website under log cabin. I finished the 16 blocks and sewed them all together.

Well it's just not big enough for my bed, which I already knew. So I printed off another 9 patterns, but due to having visitors and having a cataract removed I have not started them yet. I don't know when I will get back to it as our holidays are looming ever closer. The extra strips are already cut so it's just sitting waiting for the right time to start again. Really loved paper piecing this.

That's it catch you all soon,

Judith. x

Still creating

Ok so I might not be posting very much, but that doesn't mean I am not making stuff. These photos are a few of the things I am working on.

I started these ages ago. The focus fabric is vintage and I rescued it from the back of a van full of rubbish. I made four cushions.

This is called chaos as it is just a humble of colours.

I have make a bundle of scrappy blocks. 36 in total. I was not sure how to finish these off but Bonnie Hunter gave me some great inspiration. You will have to wait a bit longer of these to be completed.

I go to my local knit and matter group in Neapoli. I have been crocheting this long jumper for ages, but I only do it when I am there. I don't have a pattern. I am just winging it. I have the back and front done and the two sleeves just need to do the yoke. There's no hurry as the weather is warming up nicely here. Got a bit of a tan already.

This pineapple block is the first of 16. I have just started it. I spent two evenings cutting 1 1/2 inch strips. The blocks are 18 inches square. There is no new fabric in it. They are all recycled fabrics.

I also bought myself a new sewing machine. Still learning how to drive it, but it's great. Still haven't tried all the features yet.

It's a Pfaff  Performance 5.0. Super pleased with it.

Well that's about all for now, must go and dig a bit more garden now.

Cya. Judith.x

2015

• Well hello to anyone who is still following me. Christmas and New Year was quiet for us. Think the least said the better for I saw the New Year in with two black eyes. Not a pretty sight I can assure you. No I was not in a fight or anything like that. We went out to collect some wood for the fire and I got in the way of a small tree truck that decided to flip over and hit me right between the eyes. It knocked my specs clean off my face. Miraculously they never broke. I had a scrape above my  left eye and both  eyes puffed up and went black. No photo proof either.
• We have had all sorts of weather recently to. 
•  Sun, rain, thunderstorms, snow,  cold winds and more rain. Lots of places have been flooded and blocked in by snow. Don't for one moment think because Crete is a hot country that we don't get cold weather in the winter because we do.

 Things I have been making recently were this cushion cover for our secret Santa at the knit and natter group I attend. 

The above passage was from last year and never got published.

This year 2015 has had a few ups and downs.

 We still have a lovely view from our door.

 We have seen some lovely sunsets

 I am still making things. This a a shawl made with a lovely variegated yarn made by Alize.

 We have had plenty visitors. My sister and brother in law. My son, Graham and my nephew Stephen and his wife Tracey. (pictures above).

 We have visited many beaches. This is Vai beach. Much more commercialized than the last time we were here.

My plants have flowered continuously all summer.

We have had loads of tomatoes, beans, onions and melons from our very small garden. We still have cabbages and broccoli and tomatoes to harvest yet too.

 They put fibre optic cables through our village.

 Very quick method for digging the hole to lay it on.

 I have visited England this November and we saw some snow.s

Went to visit Lucky. This is the spot where she is buried. She used to love getting her feet wet in this stream.

The downs.

I fell down the steps outside and split open my head and broke my left wrist and I am left handed.

Ian fell down taking the dogs for a walk and broke his right wrist and he is right handed.

We still haven't got the outside of our house painted because of the heat and our wrists.

 I think that sums up our year up to now. We still have Christmas to look forward too as my son Graham is coming so that will be nice.

That was a quick catch up, sorry if it has been a bit long winded. I am really going to get back into blogging so watch out for my posts and thanks for bearing with me.

Cya,

Judith x