April Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello everyone! April is here and so is Gifted Gorgeousness, or GG for short. 

GG is the brainchild of Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. We are here to present things we were gifted or we gifted. This wasn't a very good month stitch wise. But first I would like to show you this.

I made a felted tealight stone candle holder to take part in a competition by Flying Tiger that ends on April 19th. You still have time to go on Instagram and vote for me by liking my photo, and tagging a friend of yours. Here is the link to it.

The only other thing I made was this freebie card from an old magazine.

 And of course as usually I gifted the pattern.

 This month I gifted to me my last craftpod kit. How fast time flew and already my annual subscription is over. I am really thinking of renewing it as I have enjoyed all four kits very much.

I have almost finished the blackbird embroidery hoop and will be showing it on the 19th at the Easter Blog Hop!

This month I received my giveaway win from Rosey of  ishkabibble. You can see her blog here. Thank you very much Rosey.

I also received this lovely picture with the little houses from my friend Georgia. You can see her blog in Greek here. Thank you Georgia.

 I also received a packet of vintage craft materials some of which I have already gifted myself. Thank you Stella.

As usually I'd like to show you more things I have done and seen this month that are connected to stitching art.Here are some photos from a recent visit to the local Folklife and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia-Thrace. They have so many beautiful things to see.

Embroidered pieces.

Traditional Costumes.

Traditional jewelry

There is more to see in the museum that is totally amazing like these porcelain stoves.

And an exceptional stained glass window.

There was a temporary exhibition of naif painters and I chose to show you one embroidered piece by Irini Koumandraki

 and a painting by  Giannis Theofilis. I have uploaded many more photos of this exhibition on my Instagram account.

The last thing to show you is a recent find from the Goethe vintage bazaar. It is a very well made embroidery of the famous painting by Rembrandt The man with the Golden helmet. I couldn't pass it as it was just a couple of euros. So much work and a great frame.

 Finally just wanted to let you know that the magazine I was giving away in my previous post was won by Mia of Craftartista. Congrats Maria. Please let me know your full name and address.

Hope you enjoyed this blogpost! Till next time enjoy the Easter holidays.

Holidays at last....

After a whirlwind of things to be done in December and all the latest very sad tragedies around us schools closed their doors for 15 days so now it's ...holiday time! Hurray!!!!
It is so sad that other people I know will not celebrate this Christmas but as my dear friend Cathy just told me ....

"...Please don't be sad at this festive time. We cannot heal the world, and so we should do our best to make our part of it as beautiful, as peaceful and as filled with love as we can...." ....I decided to follow her advice! Since yesterday afternoon I am off school and all I want to do is have the best of time. That means no obligations, no chores, no bad feelings and bad mood, no more terrible news affecting my family, friends and the world!Can that happen? Maybe if we are all lucky. This week was such a loooong tiring but fulfilling week. Sunday morning we started early with rehearsal and then the actual performance of our play at the State Theatre for the Lampsi.org (the association of parents with children with cancer). The performance went great and we had more than 300 people in the audience which was very good. We also got the congratulations of the technicians of the theatre who considered our Drama club one of the best amateurs they have seen!That was quite an honour. A great meal followed the performance.If you want to see photos of the performance you can visit the Drama Club page on facebook. The chandelier of the main performance of the theatre.  The State Theatre of Thessaloniki.  Red and orange hen! I tried to relax a bit on Monday evening and made some wire rings to give as gifts.Unfortunately there are no photos of them as I forgot to take some! On Tuesday afternoon my friend Frieda came from Skiathos. It was so great to meet her again. We went together to the Ethnological Museum and attended the scarf folding technique workshop and the bazaar.  My friend Yioula's creations. Then we walked to the Vafopouleion Institute where we wanted to visit the Melissa orphanage bazaar and the exhibition of comic strips by Kostas Voutsas whom I have known for years. We loved his exhibition and sketches. We also loved the great buffet that was there and we enjoyed the coffee and food and sweets they served. On Wednesday hubby and I took part in the Lawyers' Union children's party. I was at the card making workshop and hubby was taking pictures.Then we watched Annie acted out by the Lawyer's Association Drama club.It was quite good. It is great helping out our friend who had undertaken the organization of this party and have fun too. On Thursday just after school I met with my Practice students for coffee and I gave each one of them a ring that I made myself. The colours remind me a bit of the English flag, so that they can remember our time together and their first experience as teachers. In the afternoon Frieda came home for coffee and then we went together to my jewelry course. I admit Frieda's jewelry piece was better than mine but we both enjoyed the fun of making something together again. Friday morning was the last day of school and we had our Christmas songs presentation again. My pupils did very well and we enjoyed this so much. The music teacher was very good with the tube orchestra.  But my little ones were also very good with Father Christmas and The lights on the tree.  The kindergarten pupils waiting to perform the Nativity. Then Frieda and I went to the Open Day Christmas party of the nearby 1st High School of Thessaloniki. That was fun because I met so many old students of mine and their parents helping out.My 15-year-old neighbour upstairs was the DJ of the big party they had!Thank God he didn't practice his musical talent over my flat! We said our goodbyes after that with Frieda and we hope we will meet again soon. In the evening we had a rehearsal with the Drama Club again and afterwards we had a party for dear hubby's nameday! Pheeeeeeew!What a week!Sorry this is so long but I really want to tell you all the things that have happened in December before the month and the year is out!