Our trip to the U.S.A (9)- At the thrift store and the dump.

What I really loved about the States is that there are thrift stores everywhere.
"What's a thrift store" my local readers might wonder as we don't have them in Greece.
It's a shop where people go and donate things they don't want any more and then the people at the store, many volunteers themselves, sell them cheaply usually for charity. There are of course thrift stores operated by private owners who buy your things cheaply and sell them back with a small increase on the price. So still you buy things very cheap.They are second-hand of course.
My friend Marabeth many a time had talked about the thrift stores in her area and how she found beautiful little things cheaply there and I so much wanted to go to one of them.
So the next day July 3rd just before embarking for our daily adventure of sightseeing we went to the local thrift store.

 The moment we arrived this couple were donating this lovely armchair!

 Inside everything was arranged in aisles and shelves.
There were lots of porcelain sets.

 Shelves filled with lovely little home decor.

 Even Christmas ornaments in July!

 I loved this little wooden chest.

 And that framed art! But they were too big and heavy for my suitcase!

 There were lots of things for the crafter, old patterns and embroidery thread and wool.

 There were lots of clothes and they were very cheap!

 And pieces of furniture I adored.

 I was almost ready to buy this silk set of jacket and skirt!

 There were even wedding gowns.

 This thrift store was next to a senior citizens' Recreation Centre and all the earnings go to them and the volunteers were people who go to that place too. So we went upstairs and visited a little craft exhibition they had!

 I so loved this quilt they had on the wall with buildings of the area.

 I bought a couple of things from the thrift store.
Some round frames and some oval ones Marabeth had found for me,too.

 This Christmas ornament just for 30 cents. I found similar ones at the casino for more that 10 dollars!

 This lovely little porcelain thing that said Davenport for just 20 cents!

 Which after washing ended up like this but I still love it.

This little Norman Rockwell miniature dish for 50 cents.

 These tiny wooden boxes I am planning to alter.

Can you believe that all those cost me just about 4 dollars? Yes these are the prices in a thrift store.
And then we went to the dump. This is a place where people go to leave their garbage. But not the usual garbage that is collected from the bins outside your house by a special truck. No, these places are for you to take other garbage like the cuttings from your lawn, or the ashes from your fireplace, or the oil from the frying, or old clothes, old furniture, recycling items etc. So it does not look like a landfill really.

 But the best part in the dump was the "One man's trash is another man's treasure" table. There you could find lots of things and take for free. You can't really believe what people throw away. Unfortunately in Greece things like that are thrown in the garbage bins and get wasted. Whereas in this place you leave them and others take them.

 Of course I took all the books I found.

Isn't that armchair beautiful?

And those glass lamp replacements too?

I found those there. They are lovely for school, I couldn't just leave them there!

The moment I was there a lady brought about ten big cookbooks! I was amazed! Those books would cost a fortune to buy them and they were in excellent condition! I took them all but none reached Greece.They were too heavy anyway. I gave them away to people who wanted them in the States and the rest I donated to the thrift store. I am glad I took them though because the next day it rained and they would get spoiled. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo!

(to be continued)

Around the World Blog Hop

It's been some time now that Around the World Blog Hop is taking place.
I was asked by sweet Sarah of Sarah in Stitches to take part so here I am. I am supposed to answer four simple questions.
So here goes:
1. What are you working on?
Currently I am not working on cross stitch. I have so many other things happening. I have been taking part in various workshops and have been learning new techniques.
First I was taught needle weaving by Natassa Fokianidou aka Faraona.
Here is my finished pendant.

Then needle felting by Christina of Celdeconail. Here is my finished Halloween pumpkin.

And then weaving by Anna of inmycloset. Here is my "Sunset at Chalkidiki" handwoven art.

I am hopefully going to continue cross stitching and making my sea glass felted stones and my felt ornaments but I also want to continue with the new techniques I have learnt and get better in them. Of course I have got lots of UFOs (Unfinished Objects) which I wil hopefully continue,too. But Christmas is coming soon and I have to prepare for that.
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I don't think my work differs. If we are talking about the felted stones then they are different from other people's because I have added sea glass and other beach finds on them. But the rest of my work is usually something I saw somewhere and got inspired and made my own.
Pink and blue stone, gift to my friend Dora.

3. Why do I create what I do?
I love creating. I love keeping busy. If it is not something handmade, it will be something at interior decoration at home. Or else something on my blog. I love meeting people and learning creative things and making things with them. That's why I take part in so many workshops.
But cross stitch has always been my love. My very first. My grandmother Ariadne taught me how to do cross stitch and we also did it as a lesson at Primary school and I was always good at it. I always come back to it in the end. It relaxes me.
A Michael Powell cross stitch picture I stitched twice, one for my friend Marabeth in the States and one for myself.

My sea glass felted stones were isnpired by the talented Lisa Jordan of lilfishstudios. Her stones I fell in love at once and wanted to try something like that but with a touch of my own so I added beads and sea glass and other finds from the beach. They give me so much satisfaction to make them and each one is so different form the other.

I also do lots of felt ornaments every time I have the chance or if I want to make a gift for some occasion. Recently I made this little closet ornament for my friend Anna of in my closet.

4.How does my creative process work?
With cross stitch I just choose what I like to stitch usually from a pattern in a magazine or maybe a kit if I have one. I always do counted cross stitch and I mainly make things to be framed and I give them as gifts.
With my sea glass felted stones I take a stone and decide by its shape what colour I want to cover it with. Then I take my beads and sea glass and try combinations till I find something I am excited about. I stitch each bead and each item on the stone separately. And the design evolves little by little by itself. No two stones are the same ever.
Well, phewww I managed to answer all questions. Now I am supposed to enroll three people to continue with Around The World Blog Hop. I only managed to find one person so hopefully the rest of you who are interested can enroll yourselves.
So I am enrolling Anna of inmycloset to continue on the Around The World Blog Hop.Anna is the creative organising mind behind all the amazing workshops I have been attending for a couple of years now. I met her through Etsy Greek Street Team as she also has an etsy shop.
Thanks Sarah this was fun!

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!