shopping bag and weekend in Marathea

Summer is really here now. Tomorrow we expect 41 degrees Celsius! Really hot!! Weather to stay inside, good to get some sewing done! 
For years I use my own shopping bag, but now, since we have to pay for the plastic ones, lots of people use nice shopping bags. Love the fabric from this one.

I made the bottom and handles from canvas and put some lining in. 

And then I went for shopping!!

 

Two weeks ago I spend a weekend at a friend who lives in Marathea, close to Gytheion. She lives on top of a hill and you can see the sea from the terrace.

It is a beautiful view and in the evening you can see the lights from other sides of the bay. She planted a lot of trees, olive trees, other fruit trees, cypresses. This is a wild one, I think they call it prunari. It is a shrub and the whole hill is covered in it. When you prune it you can make it into a nice tree. 

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 Last year I made her some cushion covers to match the tiles and garden.

 

She has a lovely stone house and we had a great weekend together! 

This weekend I stayed home and worked on an idea for a quilt to participate in the exhibition of the Hellenic Patchwork Guild and after that maybe in the exhibition of the European Quilt Association next year!!! Who knows!! A lot of thinking and working to be done! Have to keep my head cool in this heat!!!

cats and backpacks

Three weeks ago my daughter who lives in North Carolina, came to visit us. She liked my laptop backpack, so I made her one too.

 

The lovely light blue fabric is cut from a German dirndl dress, they use at the beer festivals. This kind of dresses are sold in Sparta in the second hand shops. Lots of the second hand stuff comes from Germany!

I love those dresses! The cotton fabric is from an excellent quality and has nice patterns. The skirts have a lot of fabric. 

 A zipper pocket on the back for valuables.

 My daughter has two cats, and fancied the little mini quilts to put on a chair or sofa or on your lap, to have a nice sleeping place for your kitty.

 She took one, so I made a few more. I want to sew for red cats too!!

This is my cat Flopsy. Most of the time he looks a bit angry, but he is very sweet. He has a difficult time with the stray cats in the garden! They chase him. He is neutered and is no match for the stray ones! 

I have to rescue him sometimes. But...he also enjoys the garden.

On a cold winter day, when he was inside we were watching a documentary about the oceans. Suddenly the fishes caught his eye, he walked up to the tv and he sat there watching for quite some time. So funny!

I am back !!

As I am a very busy bee the last few months, I neglected my blog completely. I felt guilty about that, because I like blogging.So, I will give it a try again!

Running a workshop center isn't an easy job. It takes a lot of time and effort. The summer months are more relaxed because there are hardly any workshops, but....we have to prepare for the next season, so still a lot of work to be done!

So, where to start???

The last workshop I did was the making of a Dresden Plate. I love them. They are impressive.

 

Besides this one, which I made now, I have a blue Dresden Plate, which I made into a cushion some years ago. 

The cushion next to it is a rag quilted one, made from flannel. The Quilting Bee Sparta made a rag quilt, which will be donated, amongst others, to the orphanage in Lamia. We cut 4 pieces more than we needed, so we didn't need to think twice what to do with them. 

The rag quilt is nearly finished, that is to say, the sewing is ready....the cutting not yet! That is an awful lot of work, and not very interesting. But...it has to be done and one of our bee members took it home to finish the quilt. 

The other two quilts are also made by the Quilting Bee. I still have to make pictures from all the work they did.

That's it for now! Soon to be continued!!!

International Day of Peace, World Alzheimer's Day

Today, the 21st of September is a special day! 

First of all it is the International Day of Peace. Very important, because there are still too many people in the world, who live in war zones, are harassed because they are different, even in the smallest unit, our family, there is still too much violence. So let's all try to be peaceful and loving!!

It is also the World Alzheimer's Day. The average age we live is going up and up, which is very nice. One of our greatest fears, however, when we grow older is Alzheimer. A dirty word, a fearful word ...go away, we don't want to think about it! Let's hope science will find a cure quickly, or some medicine that slows the process down.

 

Some people with Alzheimer seem to relax when they are given a fidget quilt, a lap quilt with fidgeting items, like e.g. zippers, closures, elastic band, buttons, pockets, keys, ribbons. Also different structured fabrics are nice for feeling and fidgeting. 

These quilts are also called comfort quilts and they can be made for autistic children as well. We are going to make a lot more of these lap quilts and donate them to the home outside of Sparta, where they have an Alzheimer unit and a unit with physically and/or mentally handicapped children.

A little bit vintage

Vintage is in!! In styling you see it everywhere; clothes, earthenware and so much more. I've seen some beautiful pieces and got inspired! Vintage fabrics are my favorite. These mini quilts are very practical for use in a baby basket, a stroller, car seat, or just to use as a changing pad. I made them this summer.

The tulips are from the 70's. Not old enough to be vintage, nor are the fabrics I used. But, a lot of pieces are from recycled fabric. 

 More flowers on the back. No idea how old this fabric is!

This one is made up of curtain fabric (background), pieces of a duvet cover, a second hand pillowcase and fabric from old stock.

 

The hexagon flowers are done with the English Paper Piecing technique.

I love EPP, because you do it by hand and can watch a movie or have coffee with a friend while working on it. Below a different style! Bear is a piece of old children's curtain.

 

The embroidery is a vintage wall hanging my mother-in-law made.A few years ago I made it into a cushion and now I love it! When an old shop in Sparta closed, I bought two rolls of vintage flannel. The fabric from the bib is one of them. It has cowboys and donkeys! Wondered why it didn't have horses instead of donkeys!!! These fabrics are also all recycled, except from the checkered one.

The weather is still hot here and still no rain!!!! The mini quilts are not much needed at the moment! Babies and grown-ups still sleeping under a single sheet!

What did I do this summer?

I did a lot!! But... do I have anything to show for it! I managed to make a few things! Summer time, so I made a few beach bags.

Unfortunately I only went to the beach once this summer. After our swim we had lunch at a friend's house in Mavrovouni. Traditional Greek lunch!!How I love those baked potatoes, and not to forget the ouzo en the Greek salad!

We had continuous heat waves in July and August. Too hot for the beach!! Temperatures reached 47 degrees Celsius in Sparta!!! Oohhh, inside with the airco and the fan! Just making more beach bags!

 I did a lot more this summer, but will post (I intend, I hope to) more in a few days!!

 

Official opening A & B Creating !!

Barbara and me

We did it! We celebrated our new workshop center a week ago. Here we are on a hot, hot opening day in front of the EPP top, made by members of the Quilting Bee Sparta!  

Besides patchwork & quilting, we will have lessons in ceramic art. Angelika Fritzsche lives in Skoutari, a small village on the seaside.That is where she has her art pottery. She will come to Sparta to teach as from September. We are so lucky to have her. Her work is beautiful!

 

Angelika, making her own pictures and explaining a technique to Eleni

The quilt in the background, that I made, goes extremely well with the pottery. Don't you think so!We will have all kind of sewing workshops, making bags, rabbits, toys and whatever else comes up in our minds! 

You can also learn how to sew clothes, so you can make your own wardrobe. Wouldn't that be cool! I am stuck inside at the moment, with extreme hot temperatures from over 40 degrees. Yesterday it reached 47 !!!!!! I am making a patchwork summer top, nearly finished it. Will show that next time. But, don't worry, we also teach normal dressmaking! 

 

Jolanda Fotopoulos will be teaching. She made this lovely outfit.

The art of making jewelry is also on our workshop program. We will use different techniques, which gives you the opportunity to make the perfect accessory for each of your outfits!  We will do some teaching in the summer, but most of our workshops will start in September. 

It was a lovely evening, with lots of friends. Papa Kostas from the St. Nicholas church (our neighbour) did the official blessing. This is a custom in Greece. This priest is a very nice man and has a lot of worthy activities in his church.

Some more pictures of the event