Back In Brown

All browns this time, with tiny bits of yellow.  Slowly, I'm getting this done.  There's a -lot- of stitching on this piece, but I think it'll be worth it.

Work, Work, Work

I'm back at a point of a lot of filling in, so at least I complete a few rows each time I do this.  It's to the point where I'm getting close to starting the last, short page.

Dinner In The Countryside

 In late April, we stayed overnight at Hanul lui Hanganu, a small resort in the north of Moldova fronting the Nistru (Dniester) River.  It's beautiful, even if getting there is an adventure.  We needed a break and to rest, and this place was perfect for it.  Here is what we had for dinner: zeama - a sour chicken soup, mamaligia - kind of like polenta, pork chunks - not a fan of pork, placinte with dill and cheese and not too salty, and bread.  We had kompot to drink.  Kompot is made by boiling fresh fruit in water and adding a slight amount of sugar, then chilling it.


The tables are on a covered terrace that has a beautiful view of the river.

Disappointed

 I received my Midnight Fantasy Garden block back a week and a half ago.  It was stitched on by four ladies.  Two of them did a wonderful, lovely, great job.  Their work is pretty much all on the right side of the block.  They did some great embroidery and an applique butterfly and crocheted pieces on it.  I love the right side of the block. 


The right was mainly done by the other two ladies.  I cried when I saw it.  I hadn't specifically said "no apple faces" and "no pastels"  an "no toy butterflies" on my block, but I had hoped that, you know, people would stick to the theme and the color scheme, overall.  It's courteous to do so.  I will be completely reworking the left side soon.  The current configuration brings me pain.


This, along with some other issues in the group, is why I am not signing up for more round robins with Crazy Quilting International.  I do my best work, looking at the block and the preferences of the block owner, and don't throw whatever is in my "to be tossed" pile of accessories to put on a block.  I'd like others to do the same.  Unfortunately, these two ladies (and I keep getting into round robins with them for some reason), don't follow the golden rule in that regard.  


Should I be as upset as I am in this regard?

Dinner For Six

 Early in the spring, Chisinau was blessed with the opening of a new pizza place.  Like most cities, Chisinau has a lot of pizza joints, including a few local chains that deliver.  None of them, however, compare to Pizza Caruso.  For one thing, Caruso uses -real- cheese.  For another, it's owned and run by an Italian/Moldovan couple who keep their quality high.


While their salads could use a little love (Moldova's not known for salads.  Lettuce is a garnish.), the pizzas are excellent.  They're thin, hand made crust with tomato sauce, cheese, and various toppings of choice.  You can see from the table shots that the pizzas are big, too.  A small costs about $5 and is 30 cm or so in diameter.  A large is huge.  The bottom picture is of some lasagne that one of our table ordered.  He said it was very good!

Shutters And Leaves

It doesn't look like I've done much, does it?  The left sides of the shutters are done, but for the bottom one, and leaves are sprouting all over.

Challenge Supplies

I have been in charge of challenges for the CQI yahoo group this year.  It's been somewhat tough going, as people have not been doing them.  This quarter, the challenge is to embellish a crazy quilt block with at least six of the materials I sent to the participants.  They're all in this picture.  I'll be making one too.  I just hope the seven participants -do- their blocks.  All these materials, by the way, were bought at a store locally.  They were cheap!  The overall price, for everyone, was about $50.