winter again ...

Since more than a week it is really winter now.  Rainy days, colder - this moment 16C, nights about 8C, what is maybe not bad for you but after all those Months of sunshine it is different...but I am still lucky, when the sun shines we can sit outside in the afternoon all winter.

Any way we had a beautiful rainbow last week, it was a double one but when I came back with my camera the biggest one was fading away fast.

And for my miniature friends:  I wanted to prove for myself I can do a multi colored granny piece, so I started - already some weeks ago now - an Afghan/blanket.
I can work on it outside when the sun shines or evenings when my DH watches television.
In the beginning I really needed to force myself to go on and not give up.  It is not really what I do usual :)
So I called it my exercise of patience.  I am over half of it now. and start having fun making it.
Sometimes it takes me longer to decide about the next color to use than making the next square.
Sorry the picture is a bit blurry, I promise a better one when finished.  I need new batteries for my camera ... the only bad part of living in a very quiet place without having a car: it takes some organisation to do shopping!

Christmas is coming close, so I made some Christmas themed small crochet pieces to put on eBay

http://tinyurl.com/crvyc9j

some tiny star doilies

 a Christmas stocking:  I made some the years before, because I never write down how I make something they are always a little different.  I am very happy with how this one turned out.

A Christmas tree skirt, I wish I had a Christmas tree to make a nice picture 'with tree'

and at last a piece I made last year.  It was a lot of work. I really like it but don't think I will make another one soon :)

My family left, almost a week ago and I am still recuperating.
We had a lot of fun and plans are made to have them back here next year!

climbing the hill:

 End of vacation family portrait:

 and here with our nephew, our private driver:

and just to prove I did work -just a little- a small round table top, I think it sold already...so work is waiting :)

End of August already ... I again I did not Blog  :)

First of all I want to share a picture of my petit point progress,  I love to work on it but had not much time the last weeks.

Last Friday my mother, sister and brother in law arrived at a hotel close to my house.
Because my sis has health problems and they did not know my house they prefered to stay in a hotel and visiting me during the day.  I 'chartered' a friend with car to help us drive around.

Now they have seen  the house and the possibilities the promesses for next year are made already :)
Friday afternoon we picked them up at the hotel and had a very nice visit home.
Saturday morning I would take them from the hotel at about 11h.  When I arrived my mom asked to help because there was a man who wanted to ask me something.
So I got out of the car and started walking to that man who was sitting on a bench filming with his camera.
I found it a bit stupid he was filming me while I crossed the street, thinking 'where am I supposed to know him from' and when I was there he asked me how he could get to the beach ...
The moment I did hear his voice I knew it was my brother!
They made a surprise for everyone.  He and his wife (of 3 years and I never saw before) arrived Friday night and made the same surprise for my mom and sister.  It was really fun.  But of course now we had not enough place in the car to go to the market in Selçuk.
The men decided to go by 'dolmuş'  little busses running between the villages.  For them it was a bit of adventure.
We had a very nice time as you can see on the next picture:

And yesterday my sis and my mom stayed with me while the others went in town...when they were back we had a lot of fun.
It is a long time ago I did laugh so much as I did the last two days!

Ok when you read this Blog I count you as a friend and then I can show you the next picture without being ashamed .... when they came back from the shopping trip to town they had new Tshirts and  ... and no they are not drunk they are always like that LOL

I think I am the only normal in the family :)

So today is a day rest for me: they want to enjoy a day of hotel luxury.
I am sure that before the evening everybody in the hotel will know them!

After finishing a 'long term' order I am finally free to work on what I choose.
And as it is still summer I like to sit outside in the garden, even the evenings.
So I decided to start a BIG petit-point carpet.

I started the design on the 15th of August and I only worked of and on on the piece .
My social life was quiet busy the last weeks, or should I say 'I finally have a social life again'?

The carpet is a challenge, it will be big!  About 7-1/2'' wide and about 11'' long
I made a little more than half of the first (small) border.  The larger border next to it will have a dark blue background and to finish I will also make a dark blue border all around:

I hope I will not give up on this one.
We have a 10th. update in the petit-poıinters group, I will try to update here also regularly.

And just for fun some pictures of our garden:
Mid summer daily harvest:

And two things you have to give your husband: water and fire :)

Hedgehog spotted!

Just some days ago I wrote I hoped to see a hedgehog ... and tonight my cats did discover one :)

Lucky discovered the hedgehog and did learn not to touch!

He looked a bit scared but escaped safely under my tomato plants!

I loved the visit!  I don't know why but I always loved hedgehogs.,
Once as a kid I had one as a pet for quiet a long time ... now I feel totally home here :)

summer!

Nobody told me the days would be much shorter after retirement :)
I was not as much on the loom as I hoped for, but I have been working on a 'stitching order', making some new crochet pieces for my weekly eBay AND working in my garden!

fire screen, stitched petit point, an order  to go with one of my carpets

Usual I put pictures of the tomatoes and other veggies, so here a picture of some of the flowers!

my DH and our cat ... and as you can see I have been stitching in the garden ...

one of the critters in my garden

I took several pictures of animals I see here, luckily for me I was not around when the first scorpion in the garden was killed, and I was already asleep when the cat brought her first snake home :)

So here some pictures of nicer meetings in my garden:

the tortoise was just outside of the garden.

Still hoping to see a hedgehog ... they say there are some around

And finally a picture of our second cat Lucky:

both cats love it here, I think maybe even more than we do LOL

 

Spring was short and Summer seems to have arrived here already.
It is more than 30 C  for the third day in a row!

Here a picture from some spring visitors in our garden:

I have been working in the garden, in fact making a garden, for the last Month.
But because I need help it is not yet finished...
I hope tonight or at least tomorrow night the last part of the hard work will be finished  so that I can start growing flowers and some vegetables.

Minneke Poes loved to sit on the earth, between the lavender plants:

And now back to my loom, and to show you I am still working, this is the wool carpet I am working on this moment:

Today I started listing on eBay again,  there are some nice pieces this week:

http://tinyurl.com/btmnxdl

Brand new crochet pieces and some very nice carpets.
one of the new crochet pieces, a nice square:  




















And some of my favorite silk carpets:

and a tiny one, perfect for half inch or quarter inch scale:

And  to finish for today, just for fun a new picture of our cats:
looking outside on another rainy day

Sunday 10 March, not to bad only a Month without posting on my Blog  :)

This winter we had a lot of rain and thunderstorms...I hope weather will improve from now, today was a sunny day 20C!
So I have been sitting outside in the sun working on my crochet.
I finished a 'prototype' for my IGMA submission some days ago and I have been working on the 'definitive' piece today.
Here a picture of the 'prototype' do you like it?

In the 'real piece' I did make some changes to make it look better, it will also be less round and more star shaped.

So this makes 4 pieces ready now my last one !
I still did not decide what to make crochet or a stitched piece ....maybe I will make some try outs first.

And just for fun a picture I took because I love my cats so much  (and my DH also of course):

I am a little jealous they prefare to sit on his lap ... but maybe it is because I am not sitting still enough :)

A little more than a week ago I finished a loom of silk carpets.
Again some Aubusson type carpets, here an example of one:

And I also am listing again regularly on eBay.
I try to have at least one new crochet piece every week.
This week there is a nice star table top, I am not really happy with the fringe, maybe I have to take it of:

and how it looks an a small square table:

update :-)

I am really bad in 'blogging'!

Maybe I can give excuses, I have been busy and stressed and and... so I will try to explain what happened:

We moved!
It is a big difference in my life.  I hope to retire from the shop in Selçuk (If my husband does not call me back there when the season starts!)
We did buy a house in Kusadasi - closer to his shop - and live in a very quiet , green place.
OK it is a long walk  -13 minutes :-) - to the main road and the bus stop.
It will take me half a day to go to the post office, and shopping will be not easy also (we still don't have a car).  Thanks to a friend living close by I get a lift to the supermarket now and than.

It is in a 'closed site' with 31 houses, in a big garden, and it has a shared swimming pool (nice for summer!).

This was before we moved,  most of the blinds are closed here: we get a lot of light at home!
And in this picture you can see the hill behind our house.
My workroom is on the first floor (we have only one :-)  ) where the little balcony is on the right - with the open blind.

It took me only some weeks to pack everything, clean the new house and move ...

A view in our living space from the kitchen, you can see we have cats :-)

from the living space to the kitchen, and I did not clean up before I took these pics ....

And most important my workroom.
When I am working on my loom I have a good view on the olive groove from my window,
and of course my cat(s) -only one in the picture- like to sit close when I am working:

The view: