A few more holiday photos

This time from the Alhambra Palace in Granada.  It is a truly wonderful place and well worth a visit if you ever in Granada.   The photos speak for themselves, the stucco work is beautiful and quite well preserved where people haven't continually touched it.  The tilework was very similar to that we'd seen in Morocco and again reminded me of quilts.

 There are fountains down the length of this pool but they weren't playing the day we were there.

 The views from the windows in the Palace are spectacular and you can see the length of the wall that protected it from the outside.

 More examples of stucco and tile work.

 The gardens stretched for acres and were a series of small rooms, some sunny, others cool all peaceful.

 This little boy was talking to the fish and they were coming to talk to him, or perhaps they thought he would feed them.

 I've done a little sewing since I got back, the first card is based on Summer Solstice and is supposed to be Stonehenge with the sun just rising and a Druid.   I really should have turned him to look at the rising sun and if I had it would have been a lot easier, durr....

This card is based on "Coast" and is of an area of beach not far from where I live.  We often take Buster down here to run along the beach and chase the waves.  You frequently see wind surfers of people flying kites as there is normally a breeze even on the calmest day. 

goodies received

I've received a whole boatload of goodies over the past few days and have at last got round to scanning them so I can show them to you.

The first six cards are from the Surface Design groups 'May Blossom' swap.

 I love May Blossom the cow with her bell, unfortunately it stuck up a bit when I scanned the card so there is a darkening of this card, which is from Pauline.  The beautiful bird is from Lesley which is handpainted and finished with machine stitches. Carole has appliqued a branch and and embroidered blossom onto it.

 Irene's card also has painted the background on which she has sewn some pretty flowers on, I think created on a soluble fabric, very effective they are too.  Jan and Jacquie both depict flowers in different ways.  Jan's are stamped, painted and quilted, Jacquie has made use of printed fabric and photo printed fabric of blossoms plus a rather lovely stamp enhanced with a bee button.

 This card is again one of the Surface Design swaps with the theme of  'Coast'.  The card is from Pauline who has painted the background sky and used puff paint rocks and embellished the whole with hand dyed fabrics and topped of with hand embroidered flowers.

 One last swap, again with SD this one 'Art Dolls'  The top doll is from Debs and made from a tiny glass bottle.  The second doll is from Pauline and has beautiful moulded arms and face.

Last, but not least my QuiltGallery basket swap arrived all the way from Oslo, made for me by Anne Kari Holli.  It's a lovely bag, really sturdy just the right size for me to take to workshops with my lunch packed it it.   I love the faux quilting she has done on this bag.  It's made from strips of fabric sewn then attached to the bag by sewing them down the centre in a criss-cross fashion.  After that she has further defined the pattern by embroiderying large cross stitches in the centre of each  section.  I rather like this idea and hope she won't mind if I use it myself sometime in the future.

More holiday snaps

Did I say we'd been to a Potter's in Fez. Well I'll show you the piccies we took whilst there. The first two are of the labourers building a new kiln with mud, dung and sand.

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The worker at the top is covering the kiln in the 'plaster' the previous worker made.

Under the table the potter is moving the wheel by means of a wooden pedal and a piece of string wrapped round a pole, bit like an early lathe.

The pots are laid in the sun to dry but they must not get too hot or they will crack.

Once they've been dried and fired in the kiln they are ready to be hand painted.  All the patterns are drawn on by hand.  This young lady is one of the few women allowed to work in these premises and is a very skilled worker.   The youngest pattern maker is only 13 years old, the nephew of the proprierter.   They have very steady hands.

Examples of their handwork it is absolutely beautiful and so painstakingly done.

They also make tessellated fountains for gardens from the broken pieces.

Do they remind you of quilt patterns?

This young man is learning from a master craftsman (sat behind him).  They create the patterns upside down so its important he picks up a piece from the correct basket.

Finally the salesman who was trying very hard to sell us a portable fountain, yes all of these fountains have two wheels at the back so you can move them round your garden or home.

I bought a tangine with a Fez Blue design on it.  I probably could have got one cheaper at home but was so impressed with the amount of work they put into making everything I bought one from them.

If you are wondering, we missed the bomb on the Jamaa El Fna Square, it went off two days before we were due to go on holiday.   While in Morocco we did meet with several student protests but nothing serious.  We were supposed to go to Tetoune but as there was a student uprising there we were taken to Mekness which meant we visited all five imperial cities in Morocco.

Back Again

Typical thin horse this one has just off-loaded its cargo and is much better fed than some of those in the souks.

We got back from Morocco in the early hours and its taken me well over 24 hours to recover and download my photos onto my pc.  These are a few of the many taken while in Morocco.  I'll post more later.

Street stalls in Meknes en-route to our hotel.

The 'mens wear department' of the souk.  This square is much bigger, cleaner and lighter than anywhere else.

Decoration on one of the many entrances to the souks in Fez.

The labyrinth of lanes inside the souks in Fez were very narrow, often dark and riddled with skinny cats.

As a comparison this is the entrance hall of our hotel in Fez.

Dyers in the tannery.  The day we called in the smell was bad but better than it had been a few days before when the refilled the vats.  Men splodge about in the mud tubs and scrunch the leather into the dye vats with their feet.   A bit like treading grapes only they smell worse.

  These sacks are full of raw wool.  People pay for the wool a bit at a time until they have enough to fill a mattress.  The wool comes complete with fleas so each year the mattresses are dismantled, the wool spreadout across the floor and the wives deflea it and sew it all back up again. 

One thing we saw constantly in Morocco were Storks nesting anywhere up high.  Here they are on a building site.

Some of the shops outside the souks, this one is a tangine and plate sellers.

IT bits and pieces anyone?  This is in the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter market.

More tomorrow, got to go and sort out dinner.

One that got away

How many times have you set off the washing machine and halfway through the final rinse you come across an 'escapee', usually a sock.  Well I've found an escapee from the EG postcard project so before I leave for foreign parts I'd better pop it up to show:

 Here is Jenny's 'Giraffe and Acacia tree at sunset'.  She has used a piece of her hand-dyed fabri,c added silhouettes and them embellished with machine embroidery.  I have one more card yet to come in but it won't be ready before we go away so it will have to wait until a later date.

We're all packed, the cases are by the front door, the carry-ons are also packed and I've dug out a large tote to carry all my bits and pieces for the journey.  Sorted out some sewing to occupy my hands while we travel, filled up my ipod with books I haven't yet read, and a paperback just in case and packed sandwiches in case we get peckish.  We leave in a few hours (04:05am) so I'm going to have a shower and try and get a couple of hours sleep.

The news tonight wasn't too promising with a bomb going off in a cafe in Marakesh, one of our stops in Morocco.  Never mind I'm not going to worry about it.  Speak when we get back around mid May with, hopefully, lots of things to show you.

Two more days and we're off to foreign parts

At first light, well actually before first light!!, we're off to Spain and Morocco and won't be back until around the 20th May when I hope to have lots of piccies to show you.  In the meantime I've been trying hard to get all my commitments finished and in the post.  This is what I've been up to inbetween trying to organise the packing of clothes etc for three weeks away. 

 Not made the teddy that stays at home but the Easter Basket is for Wendy part of the Quilting Gallery swap, you can see all the other baskets here on their Flickr site.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1445124@N20

 Next are my little art dolls for Pauline and Debs who swapped with me on Surface Design group.  I made the felt previously and cut out a rough heart shape with a head, buttonholed/blanket stitched them together and embroidered them.  The faces and feet are ArtGlitz charms.

 Now for two cards from Dayle in Australia with home I did an ingredient swap.  Not sure which one I like the most and was surprised at the amount of bits an pieces I sent her she'd managed to incorporate.

One thing left to do before we go and that's to work out how to make an insulated cover for my insulin pens to keep them cool while travelling.   I may get another posting in before we leave but if not I'll see you all mid May.

EG Olympic Postcard Project

Not sure how many Embroidery Guilds in the UK are doing the Olympic Postcard project but ours is and these are the cards produced by our members.  Each guild was given a 'participating country' which was chosen by picking a name out of a hat system.   Darlington EG was paired with Uganda and I got the dubious honour of co-ordinating the project for our guild.   My first thoughs on being told we'd got Uganda was Idi Amin, Aids, brutality to women, gorillas.  Not very inspiring but further research showed me a beautiful country with rain forests, abundant birds, beasts and flora.  The one stipulation of the project was that the flag of 'your chosen' country must be the first postcard on the strip.  Each strip is between 9 and 15 cards long.   Each card is 6" x 4", laced onto archival board, backed and signed and dated.   These are the cards made by our members, Marigold Kelly, Linda Doughty, Joan Bainbridge, Pat Camburn, Carole Wilson and myself. 

I'm sure you'll agree they are all very different and "didn't they do well".