Making a Motif

The central area got a lot of work this week as I added in most of the color that was supposed to be a solid DMC. I substituted a Vikki Clayton variegated. I think it looks pretty good in there. Anyway, there's a -lot- to part one, and the group ends in a week, so I'd better get working more.

Romantic Block Done

Yay, another finish this month! This is Vera-Ellen's block and it's smaller than the rest of the group's. As you can see, there wasn't much space to work with, so I did what I could.

I added blue flowers on the diagonal to balance each other out, outlined the ribbon with beads, added a spray of irises, and did the top seam treatment. It's a pretty full block now and will be sent back to the owner today.

Started the Second Egg

Yes, the second of four of these eggs is started, and I've begun the outlines between the eggs, too. Maybe I'll concentrate a bit more on this when I'm caught up on the crazy quilting and my stitchalongs.

See the Stars Part Four Complete

Yay, I finished part four. Now I just need to get part five done before the end of the month and I'm all caught up. I adore how the colors are coming together on this. It's something I'll definitely keep and treasure when done.

Almost Measled Out

After this week, I have all of two or three more measles, or rather cherries, to go! It's getting much closer to being done every week, but I thought I'd have it completed much sooner.

Creamy Building

This week, I made quite a bit of progress on one of the buildings on the left. I added the red above the roof of the stable and a variegated pearl around that. It is mixed with a variegated caramel color, but the part that ended up used there was very light, so there's not much contrast. Maybe the house on the other side will get more. That's one of the things about working with variegateds - no two stitchers will have the same look. I like that.

Dinner in Plovdiv

This restaurant is a two minute walk from the hotel, across a park. We went there the first night we got in - after our twelve hour harrowing drive from Varna. We were exhausted and hungry, and this place welcomed us even though it was late in the evening. These pictures were taken on our second visit, on our last night in Bulgaria. Yes, it was that good.

By the way, if you go to the Balkans - the Cyrillic parts - memorize that top word. It's pronounced "restaurant".

Here's a picture of the building itself, past the sign. There are fountains and pools and tables all over the front are, and a very pretty garden. It was a bit chilly when we went, so the area wasn't open to sit outside.

And this is a picture of the menu. It's all in Bulgarian, but there are somewhat cryptic English translations below. Most restaurants in large cities in the Balkans have English translations on their menus. They may or may not be correct.

This was our main course, and it was wonderful! It's grilled chicken and vegetables with lemon, served in a wok-like dish. They called it chicken in a pot in English (I told you their translations are a bit off!). Everything had a hint of paprika that went wonderfully with the lemon.

My first course was chicken soup. It was served in its own tureen, complete with ladle. Lots of actual chunks of chicken in a mildly spiced broth. When we took a picture of it, the owner saw what we were doing and gave us free shortbread cookies because we liked the food so much! They were good, too. The check, by the way, was about 25 lev for both of us, translating to about 12.50 euro or less than $20. Overall, don't fear the food in Bulgaria. Most of it's very good. There's only on restaurant we went to where the service and food were subpar. It was a pizza place in Varna.