The last week of March.

How time flies.March just ends in an hour.And I can't find time even to blog.
I am so glad I love taking photos and so usually I have those to remind me of events as well as I can add them to the blogpost without too many words and make a proper blogpost. Or at least that's what I think!
Anyway last week...
I tried macarons for the first time and I wasn't really impressed! I still prefer meringue.

I made sweet potato fries and loved them. In fact I made them in the oven not in the pan.Along with a red pepper omelette. (No, this is not a recipe blogpost!)

We celebrated the 25th March National Holiday at school and at home with the family and you can read all about it in the previous blogpost!

We attended a shadow puppet performance by Thodoris Kostidakis. He was very good.

 As the weather all week was rainy and foggy we didn't walk much!Cold too!
Look at these photos of light and shadow near the theatre where we attended the performance.

We volunteered had our own shadow puppet performance for the children and friends of Amymoni, who support children with blindness and other special needs.

They had their Easter bazaar where I bought some gifts but will be showing them when they are received.

The kind and thankful people at Amymoni thanked us with gifts too.

Then on Saturday we went casting for subs for a movie at a hotel in the city centre.There were hundreds of people there.

And on Sunday we started filming!

But more about the experience of making a film in the next blogpost!

25th March National Holiday!

We are off school today as it is the National Holiday of 25th March 1821.
It is raining of course! So almost everywhere around Greece the parades were done under rain. It was funny that this year no bars were put around the politicians to protect them from angry civilians. People could attend the parades and enjoy them and afterwards they could dance to traditional dances! Excellent!

We didn't go to the parade. We stayed in and prepared a special dinner for the family!

Mum made her popular cod fish croquettes (salt cod nuggets)with garlic sauce, I made the salads, tomato and green salad, along with octopus salad. And the dessert orange pie.

Here are a couple of photos taken from yesterday's festivities at school.

 The tsolias (Greek presidential guard) was made at school by our talented Art teacher Ms Yiota.

Total eclipse of the heart!

I loved that song when I was young...er!
Anyway first of all I'd like to thank everyone for their comments in recent blogposts! I try to answer the comments of those people who have e-mails connected to their names, not everyone does!
Also I'd like to thank the visitors through the Madam Samm and !Sew we stitch. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to visit many blogs yet but I will soon.
Let me now show you what kept me busy this week!
We spent a day at school with the fear of the eclipse! A day before the eclipse the Ministry of Education sent us some instructions which obliged us to stay inside the building all the time during the eclipse and not allow the children to look at the sun!

There were various reactions to that but of course we had to follow the instructions.
We even had the curtains closed. At some point I had an hour out of the classroom and tried a couple of photos. The sun was blinding of course and I wasn't really looking at what I was photographing. Imagine my surprise to see afterwards that the eclipse is shown somewhere in the building opposite the school. Can you see it?

This week we attended a shadow puppet performance at Vafopoulion Cultural Centre. It was presented by Yiannis Chatzis and it was dedicated to the Thessaloniki writer George Ioannou, a great local writer. Thomas Korovinis and his band sang great songs. And Yiannis Chatzis presented stories of George Ioannou in shadow puppetry.

This week I also had the chance to go to the local Etsy Greek Street Team meeting and we made a lovely craft calendar.

 The meeting took place at Koumbi craft cafe.I love looking around at all the beautiful things there.

 We enjoyed our coffee and made our craft calendar using all the supplies.

 I started by writing with crayons, and used stamps and cut-outs.

 We also used the various appliances availiable at the cafe and made embossed designs on the calendar covers.

Here's the front of my craft calendar.

And here's the back of my calendar.

 And here's our group. (Photo by Popi Balouri of Poppysstuff)

Many thanks also to Vivika of The Wandering Deer for the organization and Olga for showing us how to use the appliances.
Also this week there was a meeting with my Book reading club
So little sleeping and so much reading!
It was fun having coffee with fellow readers at Zogia cafe and meeting old and new friends!

 We also exchanged books and here's what I got.

And what I gave.

Funny I got the book of the girl who got mine all by chance!
We also had a presentation of Captain Michalis at Malliaris bookstore with the International Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis Society.
Unfortunately due to lack of time we only presented a small part of the book as the talks of the speakers (among them Kostas Zouraris, European Parliament Member and writer) took longer than expected. I hate it when things like that happen. I feel as if people do not acknowledge what we do as a team to make a good presentation or that they don't realise how much effort it takes to prepare a presentation! I loved Kostas Zouraris speech though, it was great, short and to the point).Anyway that unfortunate event was followed by dinner out and that was good!

 This week we also enjoyed an impromptu Saturday dinner with my son, his friend from college, his brother and my brother and also coffee out with the family!

That was all about this week! I am sorry I don't manage to blog more often and put all these news in one blogpost but unfortunately I am lacking time!

Up to 2009 cross stitch finishes.

Hello everyone! Here is a blogpost that I am sharing with Madame Samm of Sew we Stitch.

I have been doing cross stitch all my life, ever since I was a kid. My Grandmother Ariadne showed me how and we had a teacher at Primary School who showed us some too. I haven't stopped stitching since then. I am a slow stitcher but I tried to make a few things over the years. As I had photos taken with an old type film camera lots of my work is on paper still that I haven't yet managed to make digital. So I started taking photos inside my home of all the framed pieces I have made over the years. So here are some of my cross stitched pieces from childhood till 2009. I am working on making another file and blogpost with the more recent ones.

Enjoy!

To my cousin Maria July 2008

 My Round Robin with the blue and white theme finished in 1996-97, Blue and White pictures 1995

White and beige crockery 1997

 When my son was born I made this sampler for him. I was making it while I was pregnant with him 1994-95

My friend Gaby from Scotland made this for my son when he was born.

 Round Robin I made for my son before he went to school 2000

 A very old sampler that we don't know how it was found in my family. Made in 1871

Round Robin Lloyd Loom Furniture I started it in 1997.When it was returned to me it was only half finished and I had to finish all of it so it took me  a long time to finish. Up till 2007.

Wedding sampler for Marabeth's son's wedding.When I started it.

 Wedding sampler for Marabeth's son's wedding.May 2009 That's how it would look when finished.

 The lighthouses May 2009

  Wedding sampler for Marabeth's son's wedding.Finished May 2009
Photos of June 2009

A Christmas card I made and a bookmark.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.

Vintage handmade finds from the flea market.Detail.

I made this for my Brazilian pen friend Roberto Gilson's wife.2009

I had made this all by myself when I was a kid.Counted cross stitch.

I had made this all by myself when I was a kid.Counted cross stitch.

I had made this all by myself when I was a kid.Counted cross stitch.

A cross stitched bookmark made by my friend Cathy in England.

I had made this all by myself when I was a kid.Cross stitch on printed canvas.

I had made this all by myself when I was a kid.Half cross stitch on printed canvas.

I started this a long time ago.

I had made this all by myself when I was a kid.Counted cross stitch. I always loved the Orient. The faces were finished by a friend of my mum's.

A series of cross stitch Christmas cards from freebies of Cross stitcher and other magazines. Most were sent to my pen friends.All finished in 2009.

Ribbon embroidery Christmas napkin holders.

More cross stitch Cristmas cards. Most sent to pen friends.

Cross stitch kits found by my friend Marabeth at thrift stores.

I have stitched this one with the cats for Nancy in the States.

And this one for my best friend Gia for her new house.

I really want to stitch this one as so many houses I saw in the States looked like these.

I stitched this for my son's room.2009

I made this bookmark for my son's violin teacher in 2009.

I made this kitchen jotter in 2009.

These are all thrift store finds Marabeth had sent me to stitch.

Some of my cross stitch cards finished in 2009 and sent to friends.

This one was the first freebie I stitched and I have kept it.

I know I have sent the blue birds to Marabeth!

Look at the blue birds in her garden this winter.

This was a Round Robin I had started many years ago. I dedicated it to my father who loved fish and the sea and decided to finish it my own way.I stitched the black and yellow angel fish and the yellow fish at the bottom in the middle. Photo from July 2009

I stitched these boats for this lovely lighthouse frame in July 2009.

And added some little sea scenes in this lovely frame which unfortunately has broken.

This is I think my first printed half cross stitch picture from Primary School.

A printed cross stitch picture one of my former pupils made.

The two on top are mine from my Primary School years.

These were freebies from Cross stitcher magazines and I gave them to my Primary School pupils in Platy to stitch for me. When they returned them I turned them into this frame.I had made the rose in the middle myself, probably some more, I am not sure any more.

Details.

Finished lighthouses framed. July 2009.

A runner in blue and white for the beach house. July 2009.

My printed poppies from my childhood made into a cushion.

My Japanese scene from my childhood made into a cushion.

I stitched the majority of Marabeth's cross stitch ornament thrift store finds in November 2009

I also painted the wooden frames.

Two more of Marabeth's ornaments.

An old Irish religious design stitched and sent to a friend.

Two more of Marabeth's ornaments.

A winter scene stitched and finished in time for Christmas 2009.

The Christmas stocking I made for my son.

Some more Cross stitcher Christmas card freebies put into a free stand frame.

My 1995-1996 kitchen frames

My 1995-1996 Round Robin.

Finished winter scene. Christmas 2009.

Continuing my father's sea scene. Adding background all by myself.Adapting another picture behind the fish already stitched.

One more card.Freebie from a magazine.

Winter scene framed just in time for Christmas 2009.

A birthday sampler I had made for my niece in 1994.

I am sorry some of the photos are blurry and that they are not in the right order. I have been clearing my photo files and have been trying to add all of the photos in one blogpost.