Free At Last

The Bernina outfit was finished with four hours to spare!!!!! Now its on its way after shelling out over $40 for postage because I was down to the wire as usual. Oh well. So now I have no excuse for not cleaning the house or trimming the shrubs.



But, of course, I am back to working on the next few trips. The next scheduled one is to India and Nepal with three friends in September. We will be staying in Thamel, a section of hotels, restaurants and shops in central Kathmandu. Of course we will have to visit Boudha, a wonderful town on the outskirts where I spent many months over the years volunteering in the local schools. There are hundreds of tibetans there who fled Tibet after China invaded it and at least 28 monastaries the last time I counted. There are many shops with Tibetan antiques, most of which now are reproductions.

These women are wearing typical outfits.
A view of Thamel. You can just see the hills not the ring of mountains in this shot.
The famous Stupa in Boudha.
It is considered a blessing to give alms to the monks.

On the Home Stretch

Don't I look prosperous with this camper? It's not mine thank goodness. It's my daughters and son'in law's who are parking it in my yard while they have some concrete poured in theirs. They claim they go camping with this huge tow along but Its not my idea of roughing it.

My japanese maple always looks pretty this time of year. Its almost time for the peonies on the side of the house.
The previous owners arranged the yard so that there was always something in bloom. Right now its this beautiful rododendron bush in front of the house and a bridal wreath bush on the other side. The curved shutters were purchased years ago from an even older house on another street. It looks like they could use a bit of repair this year. I am on the last lap of finishing my Bernina outfit which has to be in the mail tomorrow. Then I may be able to find time to trim some of the straggly bushes.

I'm Running Way Behind

Okay, I'm running way behind in my blogging. I have been semi-crazy (as usual at this time of year) getting my Bernina Fashion Show garment ready to put in the box and send off to Houston. I will be SO happy when its out of my life for the next 2 1/2 years. Today I made an accessory for it which I didn't think I was going to have time for. Tomorrow its finishing the skirt, a bit of fine tuning the dress...and maybe even taking the basting stitches out of the coat. Fortunately they don't show in the finished piece. My daughter came and tried it on yesterday so I could see how it worked when she walked. I didn't want it falling apart on the stage.

Then today the UPS man arrived with 8 boxes of felt purchases from Nepal. I have 100 of the first bag in various colors, 25 of the second in a couple of color ways, small phone neck bags, beaded balls, plain balls, and beaded hearts. I hope they will be a hit next month at QSDS.

More Istanbul Photos

On Saturday night the Quilt Association hosted a lovely dinner and dance for all the local group and all the quilters from around the world. There was a reception followed by a lovely dinner and dancing with a Cuban band. Wendy was taking photos which accounts for the empty chair.
The Cuban band. Great music. The location of the party was the Roberts College Alumni facility...a beautiful building high in the hills overlooking Istanbul.
Another of the beautiful tile pieces. A classic Turkish design

There were two restaurants just a couple of blocks from our hotel with Twirling Dervishes which Turkey is famous for. This is a very touristy version I am sure but fun to watch.

More Istanbul Photos

A CD with hundreds of photos arrived from Wendy today and I am going slightly crazy figuring out how to transfer them to my computer. Here are some shots of our wonderful hotel. Ok, the room wasn't huge but the staff, rooftop, comfy beds, and really hot water and location more than made up for that. Here are our comfy beds.
Our bags before we began shopping.
Ok, the water was hot but you had to be a certain size to even get in. We wondered how many yummy breakfasts we could eat on the top terrace before we would no longer fit in here.

Spring Painting

Old houses always need a lot of maintenance. Mine was built in 1875 so there is always something. Three years ago it was a new roof on the front and new brick steps, two years ago fireplace chimney repair, and last year it was major repair of the garage footings and a new roof on the garage and fireplace room. This year I am taking a break from major repairs and just concentrating on a bit of this and that. The front windows desperately needed a lick of paint here and there and I hired my granddaughter who loves to paint for the job. She's tring to make a bit of money for college.

Procrastinating

Ok, I am supposed to be working on the Bernina outfit. But somehow it isn't happening. I did a bit of tweaking here and there then went out and spent some time cleaning the garage and cutting out weed trees from some bushes. What comes next? I hope its not cleaning out the oven or under the kitchen sink. And I'm doing some planning on the upcoming trip to India and Nepal even though its months away. I need to get back to business.

Our trip will include a visit to the Taj Mahal. And the Tibetan man is typical of the ones I saw in Boudha, where I spent many months over the past years. I bought a pair of Tibetan boots similar to those hanging on the back wall.

Back to Reality...More or Less

Now its back to reality...more or less. I am back working on the Bernina outfit. I had spent quite a bit of time composing two different versions of a beaded centerpiece for the dress and neither one of them worked so now I am working on a third version. And I am also working with an interesting silver lame pleated fabric which I bought in New York in January. I just hope it works out the way I had in mind. Its getting very late for corrections as the outfit is due June 1st in Houston.

A Goodby Dinner and the Last Day in Istanbul

On our last evening in Istanbul our hostesses from the Quilt Association treated us to a fish dinner at a lovely restaurant right on the Bosphorus. Talk about a fantastic view. We got to choose our very own fish. Or rather fishes. There were also interesting appetizers. One of them looked and tasted like pine needles. I hope it wasn't

The next morning it was time to say goodby to our wonderful hotel and all our new and old friends. This is just a ruin of something on our corner.

The manager of the hotel treated us to a wonderful dinner at this hotel earlier in the week. I highly recommend it. One last look around the neighborhood. Maybe some rug salesman will ask us in for apple tea?

Istanbul seems to be full of cats all over the streets. Some people make little houses for them for overnight and feed them.
Newlyweds.
Beautiful composition of pots outside the "ruin". We had a late morning flight which is a direct flight to JFK in New York. Unfortunately my next flight was cancelled...the only flight to Rochester on that airline. I ended up buying a ticket to Syracuse on Jet Blue in order to get home that night. Other than that it was a fantastic trip.

The Quilt Show

The Quilt Show was held at the famous Military Museum north of Taksim Square on the European side. This was the banner on the fence advertising the show.
Many of the quilts had a local theme. Photos were not allowed during the show but I managed to sneak a few.


The Association publishes a beautiful glossy book after the show which includes all the quilts.

A copy is given to every participant.


This was not really a "quilt" as it wasn't quilted. A group of women from outside of Istanbul are just beginning fabric arts and are doing some very interesting work.

Another quilt with a very Turkish theme.