August Gifted Gorgeousness 2018

Hello there! In Greece we say "...from August comes winter..." and I am back in the city.
It was a difficult and tiring summer but I managed some swimming too.
Anyway this is a GG post again. But first I would like to thank everyone who read my previous GG post and left a comment too. Sorry I haven't answered, I yet have to find out how to do it.
So what's GG?Jo of Serendipitous Stitching organizes a link-up party where we blog about what we have stitched in the month that is related to the word "gift". Something we were gifted or we will gift that is.
You can see more about this in Jo's blog.

This month (from July 16th to August 15th) I was at the beach house. As I had to fully take care of my mum myself I didn't have too much free time to stitch as I used most of my free time to go to the sea! Indeed how can one resist such a sea! That is near Potidea in Chalkidiki and as we say in Northern Greece "San ti Chalkidiki den ehi" which means " There is no other place like Chalkidiki".

 So the few things I managed. Just two.
I finished all the Halloween Happiness except for the glow-in-dark white. This pattern was a giveaway win from Jo's blog and the fabric was a giveaway win from Brigitte's ( no blog anymore).

 I tried to stitch as much as I could but I also wanted to read a bit! What a dilemma!

 Finally it looked like that! I have changed some colours as I tried to use thread from my stash!

 And the second piece I managed  to start and continue is Karaghiozis, the Greek Shadow Puppet theatre protagonist. I am stitching this for a collaborative work where lots of stitchers from Greece will work on to produce a huge piece that commemorates the Greek civilization.

Finally I want to show you a corner in my beach house.

There are three framed stitched pieces there. The first which I call "Underwater" was a Round Robin I took part in ages ago, pre computer time, and after I got it back (each stitcher had stitched one fish) I added the background and the details all made free with no pattern. This is dedicated to my dear dad who loved the sea and fish so much.
The second framed piece is half cross stitch on a printed fabric, it is a lighthouse in the U.S.A. my friend Marabeth gifted the print to me and I stitched it. Finally the frame with the three lighthouses are made by me a long time ago when I bought the beach house. I matced them with the lighthouse candles on hubby's bedside table.
That was all for GG this month! Thanks for following. Hope you enjoyed your summer!

Saint Mamas' open market.

Every year at the end of August and beginning of September for a week a big open air market takes place at Saint Mamas' village near my beach house in Chalkidiki.
We usually go for the food (souvlaki) and some good cheap clothing to buy but this year I was too tired to walk around the many stalls of goods that roving sellers have to offer.So we only stayed for an hour.
When we arrived it was still light and the big open plain next to the market was impressive.

 Saint Mamas church at the back.

We were welcomed by colourful carpets,

 then some belts,

 clocks (!!!!!),

 socks,

 bra and

 underwear,

 pyjamas,

 dolls,

 towels,

 bells,

and crock pots (our target).

 There was food to buy,

 and food to eat but I couldn't eat!

So we visited the church

and bought the two things we needed.

We left when the moon was hanging on the telephone lines

and the sun was burning the horizon and lots and lots of people were arriving.

 If you want to learn more about this bazaar have a look at my friend Anna's blog In my closet, there is a whole report there from her visit in Greek.

Life is colourful

Life is beautiful.
Life is colourful.
Life is never dull.
Life is like a fountain with dancing water in all the colours of the rainbow.

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