Log cabin quilt

I’m just about to finish a lap quilt in beige and brown colours. It’s made in a pattern called “log cabin”. The pattern is built like a square with one light corner and one dark corner. In the middle there is a piece in a contrast colour. The two blocks are slightly different and I made twelve of each.

Now started the fun part, I laid them on the floor in different patterns. I was surprised to see that some looked like a cemetery with big black crosses! After asking some friends for advice I decided which one I should take. And then I started to sew the twenty-four pieces together.I had a lot of help from my quilt group. They showed me how to make the quilt and I learned new words like batting, backing and binding (with bias!). And now the quilt is almost finished and I have had a great time making it!

So which pattern did I choose? What do you think?

Elin and grandfather

I am playing with a different frames and choose this lovely picture to try on.

Cattle

When I looked out from my kitchen window yesterday and looked down at the empty green area, it was not empty! It was filled with sheep, goats and shepherds. Some of the animal was gathered in a very special formation and some of them waited calmly in a corner of the field.
Suddenly it came to my mind that they maybe waited to get slaughtered so I went quickly away from the window.
One hour later when I looked out from the window again, there were no sign of the animals. And no sign of blood on the ground either!

Salt

We lost our connection with the internet for a couple of days. It’s funny how strange it feels not to be able to check your mails, read news and post some blogs!
Well, we went to Salt on Saturday. Salt is situated only thirty kilometres from Amman. As usual we couldn't find the way at once, but after some mistakes we succeeded and entered the city.
Salt is a very old town, actually the regional capital under the Ottomans, and lots of the architecture from that time has survived. The guidebook also said that the old town was quiet and perfect for aimless exploration.
I don’t know if something special was happening in Salt that day, but it was so crowded, that the whole city seemed to be a big traffic jam.
We couldn't find the museums, the craft centres,the famous old buildings or any parking spot.

But suddenly a parking place turned up. And there was a very narrow street with no traffic, more like an alley filled with shops and, of course, crowded with people shopping or just spending some time together.


We had a nice time in Salt walking up and down that narrow street looking at people and what they were selling.
Someday we will go back and look for all the other tings that we missed!

PB&J sandwich.

I always have been wondering how it would taste. In cartons, books and movies I have heard about people eating it for breakfast, lunch or between meals.
Now I was invited to Melissa for a PB&J lunch!

Cut a slice of white bread.

Put peanut butter on half of the slice.

Put jam on the other half.

Just fold it together and eat!
Yummy!

Jordan River Foundation

I visited Jordan River Foundation again; I went there with Lise a couple of month ago. It’s a “souvenir shop” with very high quality of the products. I think you can say they are very contemporary and artistic made. There are three different buildings with different ranges. There are baskets, candles and Dead Sea products in one house and interior design and Children stuff in the other. In the third house you can find, among other things, carpets from the Bani Hamada project. The products are not cheap, but I think that if I’m buying something special from Jordan to remind me of this lovely country, I will buy it here … or a mosaic table to the balcony, in the Mosaic shop….!

Traffic

We are not many in Amman that likes to walk the streets. Maybe it’s because there are so many hills. It’s really hard! But also for the heavy traffic I guess.Sometimes there are sidewalks and sometimes there are not any sidewalks to walk in. Or there are trees planted in the middle of the sidewalk, so you have to walk in the street, or someone has decided to park their cars there. But why complain, nothing will change anyway!
Most citizens choose to use their car for transportation. As all over the world, it is almost always only one person in every car. The stops at the traffic lights seem to be longer than everywhere else. During the time young men are trying to sell stuff, mostly flowers. After these photos I felt obligated to by some. When I came home I realized that they not were special fresh!

Flowers

Some flowers from last weekend's trip to the Dead Sea.

I have some computer problem ...... can't upload any pics. Will try again tomorrow!
Have a nice evening!

What is this?

What is this and how can I use it? Well I know what it is. A sign in the shop told me. But how can I use them? A nice price to the person who sends me the right answer. And an even nicer price to the one who sends me a recipe!

I think I soon have to change the title of this blog. It’s more about eating than travelling right now!

Lunch

Today we gathered to finish the back and the binding of our quilt.

We all met in Hilda’s house. Hilda’s family owns a restaurant and we had more or less invited our selfs to lunch! That was very clever of us! For the “middle east” food couldn’t taste better than this. I’m not sure of the names on all the dishes, but you can see vine dolmens, hummus, falafel and much more! And at last a home made cheese cake with strawberries!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday, by the way, was a lousy day with terrible headache. Spent the day on the couch, feeling sorry for myself, watching a DVD box with “I, Claudius”. An old favourite! After a while I was happy I was living right now and here and not in caesarean family in the ancient Rome!

The Black Iris Quilt

The work with the quilt to the bazaar in May is in progress. After choosing patterns and fabrics, some of us made two pieces each with an appliqué iris.Some of the other ladies put everything together. Now you can get an idea of how it will look like when it’s finished. We will make it as a wall hanging or you can use it as a lap quilt in the sofa a chilly night.