BUSY AS A BEE

Hello my friends I have been busy as a bee trying to do everything I can get my hands on .   First of all I had been working on this painting for over 2 weeks and finally I completed it and I am super pleased, a customer brought it in for restoration , it had been damaged from her movers ,she picked it up yesterday and she was delighted that just made me so HAPPY!!!!

And on Sunday as I was on a walk I found huge pieces of wax on the sidewalk ,so I found a plastic bag nearby and proceeded to pick them up ,as I was picking them up a man walked by and he said that it was a huge candle and that some youngsters broke it in pieces.   I found enough bags to Carry all the pieces home ,so now I guess one of these days I will be making candles LOL !!!

I have been hand quilting the wonky log cabin quilts that I started about 6 months ago. now I can't possibly do 12 stitches and inch  I even got the tape measure out to see how many I am able to do 5-6 is the best I can do since I am using a thicker batting that I am able to buy here so I think I am OK plus I like the way it looks with the more spaced out stitches ,I am using two strands of embroidery thread .

Now I haven't done a trip around the world pattern for as long as I can remember so I decided to work on that a couple of days ,just for a break. I haven't taken a photo of it completed yet because it isn't HAHAHA !!! ,but I will finish it one day when I get bored with something else.

The day I was working on the painting I got a little bored and needed a break while up on the loft I decided to cut out some plexi glass templates which will help me in cutting out shapes and  fussy cutting my fabric so I did that!!!.

Since I had done a lattice fence quilt for Kristinas project quilting with a purpose http://www.toquiltorknot.weebly.com/

I decided to make some for myself ,so I went all out and decided to make them scrappy and the strips to be various widths ,I am up to 80 of these this morning when I last counted ,but they will come in handy ,maybe sell one or two to save money for that machine like Kristine has   OOOOOhhhh !! yeh !!! that machine  ,and I can always send one  or two to Kristine for her orphanage project .

While at the farmers market last Sat. someone was selling baskets like the one in the above photo so you can see that I got one and it is sooo handy to place my blocks inside, I will be getting more of these they are mighty handy.

As you can see I am using my plexi glass templates that I cut out ,HA HA HA !!! I am so clever, I am patting myself on my back .

And last but not least I finally started ripping into this little foot stool that I found ,boy am I glad I took a photo of it so that way I can see how to put it back together LOL .

Now that's about what I've been up to these days ,I look forward to visiting all of my friends to see likewise , I wish you all many pleasant hours of creativity and inspiration with whatever you are busy as a bee with lots of hugs ,theodora the busy bee

QUILTING WITH A PURPOSE PROGRESS

Hello to all ,I have been wanting to make this post for quit a while now ,things are just not moving as fast as I want, but there are some real good news from the Quilting with a purpose project which my friend Kristina is working real hard to complete.  As you can see from the photos things are rolling along ,she has been quilting all day these days getting all the quilt tops quilted. She had many fine Lady's offering  quilt tops,   I thank all of them and especially my two blog friends Vreni from Singapore and Valentina from Cyprus I just realized there names both start with a V   Ha Ha Ha !   .   I am so happy  she has a mighty fine group of Lady's helping her out in order to reach her goal , to have 50 baby quilts done by Christmas for the baby's at the local orphanage ,I pray for her and her group to have the streghth to finish this important task. 

http://www.toquiltorknot.weebly.com/ 

Above is Kristina's site I invite all of you to visit and see the many beautiful quilts,and there is a super video of her studio and her using the quilt machine that she has I just love it I must have one, but that is another story .

There she is  rolling out the quilts to be quilted the pastelish one is mine, but I like the one on the left more than mine,as they say the grass is greener on the other side LOL.                                                                 

                                                   Here is Kristina getting ready to quilt ,she has a nice machine and table which makes it easier to complete all those quilts.   About 3 weeks ago Kristine and her DH took an excursion to Cyprus to meet Valentina and visit the quilt shop there and on there way back they stopped by and visited me and my DH, we had a nice short visit ,took a stroll and ate at a souvlaki place and then walked to my friend Vaso's craft shop which is down the street from mine ,there I managed to remember to take a photo,I'm on the left and Kristina in the center and Vaso right.     

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The top two are mine, and the hello kitty down at the bottom ,I guess I was in a pastelish mood.

This is Valentina's ,isn't it bright and cheery .

This is Vrenis awesome quilt, I just love it.

kristina and one of her girls  proudly holding up one of the quilts.

Valentina sent me this beautiful tin sewing box with some luscious fat quarters ,I just love it all and I will treasure the tin forever, the fabrics I will use in a quilt.

Kristina brought me this real cute card trick pin ,and she has it pinned on a yo yo that she made,I just love it and I will treasure it forever also.

I just love the ladder that Kristine has in her studio ,I love all of her studio especially her machine oohhh... there I go again I must control myself, ever since I saw the video ofher using that machine on her site ,I can't think of anything else seriously  I would love to have one ,so I am saving my money  to get one, well I don't want to bore you with the machine , anyhow I wish all of you a happy wonderful time quilting may you always have enough binding. love ya all ,theodora

TOP HAPPY !!!

This little number got lucky ,and I feel lucky I found it in my stash basket full of items I call "IN THE MAKING"'  or more proper my "' basket of shame'' !!l lol .  I don't even remeber what I was looking for Oh!! I just remebered I was looking for a piece of batting  in which I wanted to make a practice pad  ,as soon as I saw it I dropped everything to work on it ,I had purched the linen fabric 2 years ago and cut  it out , and then I got into something else like always and placed it in the basket..

I had to adjust the darts I think it was fashioned for a normall hieght women, I am on the short side or I should say petit.

I struggled with the zipper ,but I prevailed

I was thinking of adding something to it like crochet lace, these I found !yes some nice lady didn't want them enymore ,they were sewn on at the edges of pillows ,I simply ripped them out to use for my creations .

I also had some embellishements from a past flea market trip ,aren't they pretty ,I just couldn't decide what to go with .

I finally decided on the lace ...what do you think??

I sewed it on by hand and I went to my box of nick nacks and found this pin that I had puchased .... get ready 29 years ago I remember because I didn't have eny kids yet ,me and hubby used to go to the Pasadena flea market that used to take place at the P.C.C on the 2nd sunday of every month at the parking lot ,so this pin is from there I love it .

the finall result how does it look!!!!

FLEA MARKET SUNDAY

I woke up early on Sunday I was really anxious to go to the flea market downtown, I got on the metro train and was on my way.

As I was changing lines I came upon a set of tiles and I thought that is a nice pattern for a quilt ,what do you think ?

There were loads of people and most were tourists,there was a group of students from the U.K. and on the other side a group of scouts.



As I had to change a second time at Sindagma square I took some photos of the Ancient ruins that were excavated during the construction of the new metro line .

I reached Monastiraki and I stepped out and this is the sight to my right ,you can see the Acropolis at the top.

I walked the narrow streets and saw antiques of all kinds.

This little tin caught my eye ,but the lady said 20.00 euro I passed of course.

I thought this was interesting a grape leave roller ,I took a little video to share ,but it was taking to long to upload ,but I think you get the idea,I also thought who would get one of these.

Many stands of old books and mag.

On the other side of the section with narrow, winding  sidewalks with shops and antique stands ,I have a better view of the Acropolis.

I walk down this long wide sidewalk to the flee market which I go to.

As I walk I pass by some ruins.

As you can see there are many fabrics ,but they are mostly knit and not preferable for quilting , once in the past I did find some pretty cotton prints ,the Gypsies sell all the fabric for 1 euro per meter , not bad if you can find something nice .

I did get some blue thread from them for 50 cents .

This Gypsy had some nice duvet covers with matching pillows ,large single size for only 3 euros, so I got two of them ,the cotton is so thick and crisp I just couldn't resist.

This pile had tons of lace ,as you can see I got some ribbon with squirrels on it and some real pretty red and white flowers for only 3 euros. and at another pile I found some real pretty vintage floral prints for only 7 euros. some large and others various sizes,but I was so busy searching in the pile I didn't take a photo.

I left and went back the same way ,but this time went through Visinias square where they have tons of furniture and many other Antiques.

Outside the Monastiraki station ,I saw a stand roasting corn and chestnuts..

And a fruit stand.

And the kiosk next to the Bread rings stand .

To my surprise I ran in to a friend that has a craft store in Marousi ,she went down for a class on felting ,but it was the wrong Sunday,so she also walked around  Monastiraki .I showed her what I got ,and then she showed me the grape leaf roller that she bought and I quickly showed her the little video I took and we laughed, so I snapped a photo of her while in the train,we laughed so hard we missed the station where we should have gotten off,and we laughed again and returned to the proper station to make the change.

I took these photos as soon as I got home ,aren't they pretty?

This reminds me of my Aunts sofa covers when I was a little girl .

I also got this little milk glass bowl, I actually had one just like it ,but it broke so I thought one day I will find another one, and I did for only 3 euros, notice the squirrel  ribbon there are many meters of it ,but the flowers one was only a short strand.

These are the duvet covers ,I was really happy to find them the cotton is so nice and thick, I was thinking I could applique some flowers on them.

On my way home I passed by a bakery and saw these birds feasting on a loaf of bread ,there are so many of them you can hardly see the bread , I thought it was cute and I must share.   I would like to thank all of my sweet friends for stopping by and visiting me , I truly enjoy all of your sweet comments ,I have been so busy in the store making frames lately I don't have any time to respond, and when I have a moment I get interrupted and I forget what I was doing and I might have sent a response to some of you twice , I hope you all understand .I am still working on the charity quilts I have finished 2 and have a third to go ,would also like to thank Vreni and Valentina for there participation in the quilts for the  Thessaloniki orphanage , my friend Kristina is coming to Athens and she will also be  visiting  Valentina in Cyprus I wish I could also go ,but it is impossible , I wish all of you happy quilting and crafting.