Saturday, November 30, 2013

Working In The Salt Mine....

 There are two different tours of the famous salt mines of Krakow.  One tour goes through all the beautiful, lit galleries and past the hospital.  The other is the "miner's tour."  In this tour, you are put to work as an apprentice miner.  This includes dressing you up in miner's gear, including an oxygen generator, headlamp, and coveralls.  Most of the tour is lit only by headlamps.  It's small groups, too.  Andreas and I were the only ones in our group!  This contrasts with the couple hundred per group of the tourist route. We mined the salt above and were allowed to take it home.  The photo below is the only one I was able to take of the tour because my camera wasn't charged.

If you like a bit of adventure and a bit of climbing and work, I recommend the miners' tour to you.  It was a great experience and taught us a lot about mining!

On The Square

While waiting for our appointment time to get in the Krakow archaeological museum, we enjoyed people watching and drinking warm on the square.  Andreas had a hot chocolate and I had my usual cappucino.

Down To The Borders

The whole middle design is done, and it's time to work on the borders.  This is going to be done soon.  Yay!

Friday, November 29, 2013

Ferrari Flurry

 Krakow's local Ferrari dealer wanted to show off its inventory, so they brought it to a side street right off the main square.  The local police were not impressed; they told them to move the cars, as they were parked illegally - including in a handicapped spot.  The whole scene caused quite a buzz.




Getting The Old Done

Animals rule is on my 2011 Crazy January list, and I am truly trying to clear off that backlog.  This is the last that I haven't worked on lately, so it's been restarted.  Shouldn't take too long.  The wolf is at about the three inch mark.

It's All Mexican At The Zoo...

Andreas got out of training early on his last day, so we went to the Frankfurt zoo.  We did -not- expect to find a Mexican restaurant at the back.  The food definitely wasn't authentic, but they tried and it didn't taste bad.



Thursday, November 28, 2013

Second Section Backstitching

I'm working on getting a second corner backstitched as the last corner's cross stitching starts down the side.

Gettnig Crowded

The sheep are all crowding in on each other now.

Three Burghers

No idea why they're in front of the church, but they must have been important to Frankfurt at some point.

Great Linen Find

I found a bargain at the Frankfurt Karstadt!  These linen table toppers and tablecloths were half price.  They're completely evenweave and beautifully finished.  Now to figure out what I want to put on them.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Temari for Little Extra

 I made this beginner temari for the Little Extras project of CyberStitchers.  As a serendipitous twofer, I managed to use it as a teaching temari in Bacioi!

Wobbly Houses

Hand painted shot glasses we found in Krakow.

Ros Markt

I came across this small fair in the Ros Markt in the last week of September.  Frankfurt is full of toddlers!  This place was a maze of munchkins and wagons.  It looked like they were all having a good time.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Just About

Just about done with the second pumpkin.  

At The Romer

This square was originally the heart of Frankfurt.  It's about a block from the Main.  It's also practically new, having been rebuilt after the second world war.  The day I took this set of photos there was a large number of Chinese tourists, all with cameras.  I ended up taking these because I was knocked over at the entrance to the Frankfurt Historical Museum by a large number of middle school aged children bowling me over.  Not fun.






Lots Of Turquoise

I am almost done with the turquoise cross sttiches.  The piece is almost the size it's destined to be, too.

Monday, November 25, 2013

New Cuppa

Lots of handmade pottery in Krakow.  I broke down and bought this beautiful cup while I was there.

L'ed

The only thing left on the L is the beading.  Time to move on to the O, which is the most work of all.

Over Halfway

I've gotten most of the outlining done and I'm not really sure I like the piece at all.  It may be because I changed the color of the fabric.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Richelieu Embroidery

I found this kit in a small shop in Krakow.  This is going to be one of my January starts.  I'm excited about it.

Put Together

I put the kind friend piece onto its bag.  It's all done now!  I need to put something into it to give it away.

Autumn Market

 The Hauptwache was surrounded by vendors and small children on a weekday when I wandered through.  there was one in the Rosemarkt too.  Because of the number of toddlers in wagons and lines, I am assuming it was autumn festival time.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

Stashy Napkins

I found these napkins in Krakow while we were there in early October.  They will be great for decoupaging things over the winter.  I love how cheerful they are.

Another Project Done

I seem to be on a finishing up roll lately - finally.  This is Intermezzo Sampler from Periwinkle Promises.  I skipped the last band because it's the initials one and I don't know that I'm going to keep it.  The piece was fairly easy and quick to do.

Downtown Frankfurt

 Playing with the new camera again, I took some photos downtown.  This tower is above a giant two story market.  The other building is the Hauptwache; it's used as a gathering place and tourist information spot these days.




Forgiving

This pattern came in a grab bag from Traditional Stitches last month.  We saw it and agreed that it needed to be made.  The saying on it is "Forgive Quickly Kiss Slowly".  It called for red, but neither of us liked the color, so I found a couple of skeins from Jodyri Designs and am using it.  I hope to get it done fairly quickly, possibly while we're on home leave.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Chinese In Romania

 The new, big mall in Iasi has three Chinese restaurants.  We were there over Labor Day weekend.  This was our last meal in Iasi before heading home.  It was good!  It was great to be able to have the food and the portions were huge.  Each of these trays cost about seven dollars.  Great way to finish off a short trip.