Crochet at Easter

Easter has passed here in Competa with lots of processions, bands playing at 6 0'clock in the morning, and mercifully not too many showers...
I have been passing the time completing the darkest border on my patchwork top.. waiting until the next patchwork club meeting to check I have not made a grave mistake... and also to make sure I cut out the next bit properly too!! and join the strips correctly.
I also need a trip to the shop in Torre del mar to buy some wadding and backing material too!
I meanwhile have begun a crochet project that I can sit and do whilst in the sitting room.
here it is so far

This is the crochet next to a photo of the completed project.. as you can see there is a way to go yet...

and here is the progress I made this afternoon.. It is quite big so I am thinking it will go on my dining room table.
Just need to keep a lookout in our local charity shop for the ornaments to go with the 'look'..

Patchwork and technology

I have begun to sew the patchwork sample blocks together with the help of Dolores.
She showed me how to cut out the strips of material to sew in between the blocks, starting off with the darkest colour, it is beginning to look ok...

Also thanks to e bay spain, for the grand sum of €7.99, we now have a cable that connects our phones to the television, via HDMI, keeping the phone powered via a USB port, so we can view photos, videos....

Ha ha how technical are we getting????

Birthday

Today is my birthday, I have managed to reach the grand old age of 58!!
Where did the time go???
(I still think I'm 18...)
Anyway, I have so far..
Had a lovely long lie in
A bit of a pamper...
Had breakfast made by the gorgeous hubby...
opened a few birthday cards :D
Received a long phone call from my daughter..
and had lots of birthday wishes on facebook
and am looking forward to a bit of steak and a bottle of wine tonight too..
How lucky am I ???

Sunshine and rain

I finished this watercolour of the church tower.
I particularly like the way the brickwork on this one has turned out.

We had a mixture of weather here last week in Competa,
Tuesday, we had torrential rain, and only three of us made ot to the patchwork class. We decided to call it a day after an hour...

These are made with silver plated findings,
adventurine nuggets and glass beads.

These are genuine shells, with turquoise glass beads .On Thursday a friend called in to see me who I used to work with. The day was really sunny, so we sat in the plaza and had tapas for lunch. Despite asking for a parasol, I still managed to catch too much sun, just on one side of my face... Thank goodness for make up ha ha...

These earrings are gold plated, wire wrapped Swarovski
neon pearls 

 On Friday morning, I went and changed the display of jewellery in the Tetaria here in Competa, where I bumped into a friend. She asked me if I had any photos of my jewellery on the blog....
So many many thanks for the suggestion. Playing with the camera settings on my new phone, I managed eventually to get some shots of earrings...

And these earrings include shell and glass pearls

Knitting, sewing, painting and a merienda...

Friday was international ladies day.
To celebrate here in Competa, the ladies of the village decided to display all of their old wedding dresses, dating from over forty years ago. Previous to this date, we were told that the ladies usually could not afford special dresses to be married in, and usually just wore their 'Sunday best'.
I think that over 30 dresses were modelled by the younger ladies in the village, and the hall was packed for the event.
It was wonderful to see all the different styles of dresses, all introduced by the 'Alcalde' (local Mayor).
This was followed by a merienda, where we were all offered chocolate and freshly made churros mmm...
It was a wonderful photo opportunity, but unfortunately I was at the back of the hall, and my photographic skills with the new phone were sadly lacking...
So I have been practising...
I have begun to knit a lacy cowl for a friend, it has a pattern of a fan and is knitted on a circular needle.
Once I eventually read the pattern correctly, it is knitting up very quickly, using a chart is so much easier than reading instructions.

Here is an example of the lacy pattern

A different view of the church tower

I also started another view of the church tower, but as it has been raining here, I have had to delay if a bit until the light is better

and here is another dog I have made for my friend's new grandson.

Tunisian crochet

Yesterday I went to the knitting and crochet club. Most of the ladies who were there already have projects under way, so I decided to get my trusty readers digest book out and refreshed my memory on Tunisian crochet stitches.
This turns out to be a much thicker material than either knitting or crochet, and I enjoyed figuring out the patterns as it has been a few years since I did any.
Anyway, here is the result of my efforts...

This example shows Tunisian stocking stitch at both ends,
purl  on the  right,  crossed, rib and finally moss stitch

and here are the dogs.. nearly finished Only the green one needs a mouth.. ha ha..