Fiestas

We had business in Javea yesterday, a large town about 45 minutes away from us.

We finished the first part of the meeting and were asked to return in half an hour, so we wandered along tiny streets only for pedestrians stopping for a coffee and toastada (half a toasted bagette with olive oil, grated tomato and serrano ham)

As we sat there we heard a piper and drummer approaching with people of all ages following.

Now is the time for fiestas and they were starting with San Juan

June, July and August are the main months for the celebrations

Businesses close, deliveries grind to a halt and everything is on a go slow, manana, manana

We finished our business and walked back for the car.

There was a habadashery shop tucked away and I couldn´t resist a little peek

I´m so glad I did, look what I found

5 metres each of the ribbon and one each of the sequins all for 10 euros, brilliant and spot on wedding colours.

The tradition for the fiestas in towns is to decorate the entrance of the home of festeras and those involved in that years activities.  We spotted this one, beautiful

and this

some of the side streets were decorated too

They know how to party

take care

xcx

 

Bead spinner in action

Nose to the grind stone again today, in the nicest possible way of course

Finished the gardinia and started another rose.

Fiona asked for a peek at the bead spinner in action so here it is

The main thing is to have plenty of beads in the spinner

and play with the angle of the hook, but it´s amazing how quickly they travel up the wire

I´m using 28 guage which is a little soft but ok for my hands with the fibro

There are many items on Youtube and google that show you how to make your own from a plastic container and dowl, I did make one of these until I was given my turned one. However if you just want to have a play it´s a cheap way of experimenting.

There is a difference between French beaded flowers and Victorian beaded flowers. For the first, all the beads are strung upon a continous wire and wrapped around a base line, where as for the second the beads are stranded across in individual rows, increasing or decreasing as you go. You cannot use the spinner for this

The complicated bit comes when you want to add interest beads i.e. for the centres or edges.

Years ago I found an interesting article on its history

but do you think I can find it.....No, never mind I´m sure it was some ingenius person looking for a quick way to embellish some Tudor´s costume and to incorporate flowers in unseasonal times

Something I find facinating exploring the techniques of yester year with no lighting, and limited resources yet such wonderful and beautiful garments, wall hangings and accessories etc

Still learning and playing and enjoying

but that´s what crafting is all about

take care

xcx

French beaded flowers

I mentioned that I was making French beaded flowers for Rebecca´s wedding.  They are rather time consuming and I have already got through 7 reels of wire, so have had to order more. I found some on ebay for a really good price and shipping wasn´t too much either.  I think I shall have to see just how many I can make before deciding on whether they will be just for the bouquet or some of the table decorations. They will be a nice keepsake where ever they get used.

A rose

The flowers are extremely difficult to photograph, hence the videos, these ones have another round to go yet

I will not put leaves on them just yet as it may not be necessary, need to talk to the florist

Small roses

 

The collection is growing, slowly! but now it seems achieveable rather than daunting

I am lucky enough to have a bead spinner that was turned for me by a friends husband. You make a small hook in the end of the wire put it into the beads and spin and as if by magic the beads travel up the wire. Clever huh!

I´m so glad that I don´t have to individually thread the beads on, that would take soooo long to do. Although when I want to put a different colour around the edges that is what I do.

Right, back to it, in the middle of making a gardinia flower

take care

xcx

Mixed bunch

Temps moving up to the high 20´s, time for the pool.  We just had this months delivery of water, 8000L for the house and the other 2000L goes in the pool.  We have quite a small deposito which is a bit of a pain and means we can only last between 3-4 weeks. Luckily Jose usually comes up quite quickly to refill

I try to be quite frugal, putting reasonably clean washing up water on the garden and collecting the 6L of water it takes before we get any hot for the shower, shutting taps off between rinses etc.

It was the same at the farm, we had a well which used to get quite low in the summer, so I put a bore hole in and it was much easier, especially with the visiting guests.

Chris has been drawing up plans and making another miniature house, although I´m not sure about the miniature bit as it looks more like a mansion

 Pelmets, wainscoting and sliding floors

 Sorry the photos are out of sequence and it wouldn´t let me move them!

I spotted this on the courtyard wall this morning. Now I´m not particularly fond of spiders, but this was so unusual I just had to capture it. Obviously I have seen the mother and babies but never a group of adults.

Google tells me a group of spiders is called a cluster or clutter.  As long as they stay outside I don´t care what we call them lol

Have a great weekend

Take care

xcx