Medieval drawings

Holidays or not, I can’t sit all day long, contemplating my navel so I took few things with me on the camping trip, including my belowed sewing machine LOL.  
 I haven’t started jet but the big plan is to quilt the Pheasant quilt without usual rush and dedlines. I’m determinate to get quilting into my fingers.  Just imagine sitting at your sewing machine in sand dunes, overlooking the sea!

But for the interim I started playing  with the idea I was brewing for few years but never really had time for it. I admire Medieval paintings and drawings very much, especially the early period.

I have a quilt in mind to play with some Medieval style application. I definitely want to play a bit with needle turn applique and give hand quilting a try. I think all these things fit well together – Medieval art, needle turn applique with a bit of rough embroydery and hand quilting. 


For the beginning  I need a bit of medieval style to get in my fingers so I started with a rough copy of one of the Bestiary’s animals, just for some practice. It took me three days (and two seasons of Downton Abbey LOL) to go so far which probably means a block in two weeks. Maybe at the end I will run out of time and it will become my first lurking UFO but it has been a good fun so far.  

FOG AND STASH CLEARING

My journey continues. I’m still soaking in the beauty of Pyrenees. Last couple of months I learned completely different Spain than usual yellowish dry grass around Ibiza decorated with few bougainvilleas. 

Like moss as lush as you can find in the best rainforests! And I’m on the Med climate side of the mountain; the Atlantic climate border is still some 30 km away. 

The weather... Have you seen a foggy morning in mountains when mist drops down? 

It is fab-luss! My camera gives only a poor resemblance of the breathtaking beauty. 

 The clouds like a stream run down the slopes, making a mountain disappear and appear within just few minutes. 

I try to walk every day, enjoying autumn flowers and beauty of mushrooms.

As usually in October, my knitting bug hit me hard again. Knitting is very seasonal thing for me – I do not knit from April till September, but at the beginning of October the yarn stash is out even if I’m still in T- shirt like right now.  It’s addiction, very hard to cure. 

 

So I dag deep, collected all the leftovers and tried to capture all the colours of the autumn. The hat and the scarf with pockets. It is so crazy in colour so I named it after the famous Cathedral in Barcelona – I’m quite a fan of Gaudi myself. 

Makeover nightmares

I feel like I'm lost in this modern world of materials for renovation. The times when I felt like pro and actually knew what I'm doing, was 30 years ago. Since then the choice pf plastering materials itself seems like have grown to amount demanding a full college course to start with. Yes, you got it right - I am starting the quick makeover at least in some rooms. Welcome into my nightmare! LOL

I hate wasting money. I hate feeling like an idiot. Going to the DIY and finding exactly what you need and might need... humiliation for me. Because it means exactly that - spending money on silly things and feeling like an idiot.

 The other day shop assistant convinced me that I definitely will need a liquid to remove old wallpaper. Definitely! So, ok, I got that. Last night while I was dead after our day out the youngest decided to try to remove the wallpaper by herself. In an hour she removed one wall, all by herself and perfectly, without any removal liquid, simply dry. So now I feel like an idiot. Felling for tricks of the shop assistant. Urrrgh!

Today the other walls will be cleaned and then I will do the cracks, so no, no fancy felting or piecing for me until it's done. Pleasures of the summertime, ouch! LOL

Knowing all the horror coming I escaped to woods yesterday. What can be better than a day in a forest! Wild berries and mushrooms, weird moss and beautiful flowers!

And the beach in the middle of the nowhere where the only company you can find will be a lost beaver or a moose coming out for a swim in sea. The best day for a long I had.

Riddle me this!

Today I spent a day doing nothing, just playing around. It was great so I would like you to join me for a little fun with the guessing game. So there are 6 pictures - try to guess what it is! Hope you will have some fun!

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2.

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6.

Later on I will show the answers, but without them right now there will be more fun! See you later!

Answers bewlow:
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.1.Mr. Spider

2. The back side of mushroom

 

3. Gums of a dog

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4.Another mushroom

5. Cute hairy caterpillar

6. The bilberry

The green shades of rain

Yesterday's heat ended with a storm - gusty winds, hail and some lost rooftops. Sadly it took also two lives - a child was hit by a roof slab and an elderly lady - by a branch. In our Zoo large block of cages with  4 squirrels, some rabbits and Guinea pigs were lifted in air and then tipped over.
Today the storm was followed by 40 mm of rain, leaving city in a mess with overflooded streets and hopeless traffic jams. But also -all is so fresh and green again!

All who survived will face bright and clean morning tomorrow. It made me think. How many storms I'm ready to take to wake up in a bright, fresh morning. How many loses are worth the new, bright awakening? And the most important question - after so many storms... will it be really still the same myself who will face the new morning?

When the storm sweeps away so much, when the rain washes away nearly everything ... and when it happens again and again, looking for that morning becomes like living through a fairytale never to be told...

Coping with the heat

When temps reach +34C here, any outdoor activities become difficult. Swimming is nearly the only option to survive. But long travels to seaside... exhausting. So the nearest like (even in the centre of city) is suitable. Off we went...

Imagine summer, heat, and the centre of a million city on a Sunday... OK, you got it. Water was boiling - 4 people per square inch or near to that. LOL While in places where swimming was banned, it was peacefull and serene...

And even untouched... Wild flowers and berries all over the place. But the most surprising were ducks. We saw few different breeds of ducks who were so used to crowds that simply ignored people and were swimming at arm distance from screaming and splashing humans.

So that was it about today... a bit of wildlife in the heart of the city.

Lonesome George dies

Yesterday BBC announced some sad news. The last Pinta giant tortoise has died. With no offspring and no known individuals from his subspecies left, Lonesome George became known as the rarest creature in the world.

Another one has gone. Lost. Forever. Because of the actions of this terrible vermin - human. I'm not crazy green or something but these news always leave me really sad about human race. About how bluntly irresponsible we still are, taking one space out of gene pool after another even without an excuse. 

For the last 50 years of his life without anybody of his own race around he was feeling probably quite lonely.

More about his story here.

We stomp around this Planet like reckless monsters, killing everything and everybody on our way. And gradually such way of living has started to haunt us back. It only seems that we are getting stronger. The sad reality is rather opposite... sometimes I wish the declined health would reduce the human population faster, before we'll manage to completely kill this Planet.