Back To The Castle

The castle's pretty much fleshed out now.

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch

Just stitching along on the bottom.  It's getting there, I think.

Roate Vremii Village Museum Part 2

The lighting wasn't too great in the museum, so I apologize for the darkness of the photos.  These first few are of some more textiles, especially crochet, on display.  The rest are of the bece (pronounced bech-uh), the canned goods storing area.  Moldovans are stellar canners.  They have to be.  Since they grow all their own vegetables, they need a way to preserve their bumper crops for the winter.  A lot of the time, that's -all- they have to live on.  In many villages, the women grind their own flour.  That doesn't mean they don't have fun with it -several of the jars have carved veggies in them!  It is rather disconcerting, though, to think of whole watermelons being pickled.

I've been doing some canning myself.  So far, I've made apricot jam and brandied cherries from the bounty of the trees in my yard.  I've also made some red pepper relish and raspberry jam.  Next up, more plum jam, blackberry jam, and red pepper relish.

Final Flower

I've got some real progress on the final flower now, and the white on top is over halfway across.... but it still doesn't feel like much progress.

Hand Tatted Earrings

A couple of weeks ago we were in the art square looking for knick knacks for my son to take back to the States as presents.  We met the woman who sold me my mom's Christmas present - a hand tatted bracelet.  I saw these earrings and purchased them because I think they're neat.  She does all the tatting herself.  I'm impressed!

Roata Vremii Village Museum

 On our way out of the restaurant, the waiter noticed us taking pictures.  He offered to show us the Moldovan museum housed in the building.  We had no idea one even existed.  We agreed, of course!  These pictures are of the museum, which represents an upper class house in a village.  Lots of textiles to admire!  The larger pictures won't be as detailed as usual on my stitching pics because they were taken with a point and shoot instead of the usual Nikon.  It was all we had with us.

Third Ornament Start

This is my third ornament start for the Winter in July Challenge.  The pattern is called Dickens' Christmas, and is by Keslyn's.  It's huge for an ornament - approximately 125x125.  I've changed the colors - the floss I'm using is Boggy Marsh by Hand Dyed Fibers.  I didn't get it done by the end of July, though.