July Gifted Gorgeousness and the Super storm in Chalkidiki.

Hello everyone!
GG or Gifted Gorgeousness is Jo's of Serendipitous Stitching brainchild.
Jo asks us to show in the blog post something we were gifted cross stitch wise, or something we made and gifted.

Unfortunately I haven't managed to stitch at all this month. We were supposed to be at the beach house and I would stitch but things evolved differently.
Anyway let me first of all show you the new summer craftpod I gifted myself. It is dedicated to bees which are getting extinct and we should do something to protect them.

This summer again I am taking part in the summer craft challenge organised by Anna of In my closet. This time Anna is collaborating with other blogs to challenge us to be more creative. The first collaboration was with Katerina of Mindspinfabrica and Katerina asked us to make something stamped. So I used my sea themed stamps ( a gift from Karen some years ago, hence it belongs to GG) to stamp on self drying clay and make some ring dishes and key rings. The end result isn't very good but I loved making them.

Finally I'd like to share here with you some photos from the aftermath of a cyclone or Supercell or superstorm or waterspout that happened on the evening of July 10th at Chalkidiki where my beach house is. The phenomenon was awful and very very strong. It had continuous lightning, typhoon winds, rain and hail at the same time.  Unfortunately seven people were killed in the area, six of them tourists among them two children. One tourist, a Russian father with his two-year-old child was killed at the hotel next to our house.
The photos are all mine and they are in our neighbourhood.

Half of the tree missing.

 Huge wooden deck flew and dropped at our beach.

 Only trunks from the hundreds-year-old pine trees.

 I just hope this supercell won't happen again. It was something I have never seen before and my family and I were very lucky not to have any injuries or damages.Thank God!

June Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello everyone! Hope you are already in a summery mood!

GG or else Gifted Gorgeousness, Jo's of Serendipitous Stitching brainchild continues.

This month I didn't stitch at all! Oh yes, unfortunately!

But I received a gift which I'd like to show you.

It was a thank you gift from Mia Craftartista! Thank you so much Maria, this is so sweet of you!

 And here's a recent find at a flea market which I couldn't possibly pass. A whole cross stitched runner with beautiful colours, lots of silver in it too, and dark velvet all around. It is in excellent condition and bought it very very cheap. So this will adorn my big dining table in winter!

(the photo contains the rest of my flea market finds. A book, a Mdina Glass vase from Malta and a new handmade hair ribbon made by my friend Katerina of Mindspinfabrica)
Nothing else to show you! Hope you enjoy summer!

May Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello again. It is GG (Gifted Gorgeousness) time. You can read more about it in Jo's of 

Serendipitous stitching blog post where you can find all the linked-up blogs too.

Unfortunately this month I haven't stitched much. I finished my craftpod hoop.

And I hang it on my craftpod hoop wall.

I also stitched very little on the April bookmark on the Bucilla Flowers of the month bookmark kit my friend Marabeth gifted me with.

This is another gift I received although not cross stitch related. I hope I will stitch a Santoro girl one day. This notebook and bookmark was a gift by my best friend Gia.

But I can't possibly leave you with so little. So here you can see my Easter candle handmade by my friend Dimitris Mangoulidis.

And these are some vintage stitched finds from the open flea market that I couldn't pass.

By the way this is my balcony. I have prepared it for my spring and summer time out and hope I will manage to stitch a bit here.

That's all for this GG. Hope you enjoy all the links! Hugs.

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.