It was Halloween

Although we don't celebrate Halloween in Greece I always do the custom at school in a lesson for the children to get to know the British and American customs.
With some of the children we did this colouring page and I made muffins for them in a special Trick or Treat muffin paper that Marabeth had sent me last year.

I also showed them these things I recently bought.

And gave them some stickers I had brought from the States.

And then in the afternoon I went to Peirama for a Halloween workshop with a needle felted pumpkin (of course I was the one to make it in fuchsia!) taught by the talented Christina of Celdeconail

 And we also made a little ghost out of felt taught by Aggeliki of Pocolocini.

It was fun!

An egst photography session and a rowing race.

This week I went to a Photography session with the Etsy Greek Street Team at Peirama.
The event was organized by The wandering deer Vivika and was presented by Marietta of
 Double Crochets.
Unfortunately I was too eager to pay attention and didn't take many photos.
Marietta on the presentation.

 Items to be photographed! That amzing crochet bag is by Niata Crochet.

How to photograph a little penguin by the Wandering Deer.

 My sea glass felted stone photographed in various ways.

Of course we ate sweets too like auts-pins Eleanna's chocolate candy. I made some red pepper and cheese savoury muffins.

There was a Bingo game too and I won this lovely crochet cross by NiataCrochet.

This week also there was a World Rowing Coastal Championship in my city.

Lots of boats and athletes from around the world took part.

 The weather wasn't helping much as it was too windy and the sea was rough.

 We were there of course!

 An athlete who fell overboard being taken out.

 The French win!

 This athlete was supporting his friend to win running and shouting!A great sport!

Etsy Greek Street Team meeting

On Thursday afternoon the Thessaloniki branch of Etsy Greek Street Team met at Peirama, a beautiful space where I learnt how to crochet a couple of months ago.
Sweet Vivika of The Wandering Deer organized the whole thing.
First we were shown how to make some scrapbooking card holders by Olga.

 This is Lia's of Meandmamacreations

 This is mine!

Then we had a break to munch sweet and savoury delights some members made. I made some cheese, red pepper and dill mini muffins and they were a huge success.

Then I was asked to introduce the second handicraft which was embroidery on old photographs.

Some members really made great things out of this.But unfortunately I didn't have time to take pictures.

This is what I made. Always on my favourite sea theme.

(pin booklet by Tinyhappy)
In the end there was a Bingo game and I was the first winner!Wow! This is what I won made by pocolocini. I know who is going to receive this lovely owl in a couple of months!Someone who really adores owls!

And here's a photo taken by Anna of inmyc.We really had fun!

Learning how to crochet!

In the beginning of January I had blogged about my New Year's Resolutions.

No 2 was to learn how to crochet!

I didn't know how I was going to do that but it has been some years now that I wanted to learn how to crochet. I think ever since finding Lucy at Attic24 and following her and some other crochet blogs!

I had made various efforts to learn from the Internet and I had made a couple of things but I really didn't know what I was doing. Crochet language and symbols were a mystery code to me!

Finally the chance came when one of my new Etsy Greek Street Team friends Vivika of 

The Wandering Deer was teaching amigurumi/crochet at Peirama, a great place to learn various skills.

So I joined in to a five week course every Wednesday. It was fun! We were only three beginners in crochet and that gave Vivika the time to help us learn well.

Here's what we learnt to make.

First and after learning how to choose yarn we learnt the basic stitches. 

  Vivika reassured us that we would be able to make those little animals by the end of the course. I didn't believe her!

 And this is the first thing we made, a bow.

I made the pink one during the lesson!

 And then made another one at home and then turned them into brooches.

Second lesson! How to make a little fish!!!! No way!

 We started!

 Slowly!

 I made it!

I made one at home too!

Third lesson! Make an owl! Really?

Mine is the pink one! It became rather bigger than the model!

 All owls together!

Fourth lesson! Learn to make hearts and try a bigger project! I chose a cute elephant!

The hearts.

The elephant! As it didn't finish in that one lesson hubby said it looked more like Morfonios, a Greek shadow puppet figure! He was right!

 What a funny creature!

Anyway you looked at it!

Even Barca found it strange!

I then made more hearts which I stitched with beads and attached them to pairs of stork scissors.

 And gave them to Vivika and my companions in crochet at a meeting after the final lesson!

At that meeting Elephantine made her first appearance!

Elephantine met Snowy at that meeting too!

I am really happy that I learnt the basics of crochet! Hoping to find more time to crochet I am eager to make more things!Thank you Vivika!