Asterisks

Enough of the cruise blogging, its time to get back to the quilting!! Now the summer has gone I don't feel guilty about spending the day in my workroom instead of working in the garden!. I spent some of Saturday doing a cruise of the various blogs that I haven't visited for a while and came across this rather nice (and so simple) pattern on Kathy's blog. You can see her asterisk quilt at http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.com/. Kathy in turn got her inspiration from http://www.selvageblog.blogspot.com/. Both are well worth a look!
I started to play around with the black spotty fabric first, but realised I wouldn't have enough of the black to do more than a handful of squares. I do however have about a metre of the pink ballet shoes fabric left over from a quilt I made for my god daughters, daughter (complicated I know). So I did four and I might turn it into a little cushion for her for Christmas.

Its a fun pattern to do and so simple. It would be great for using up scraps also. I keep meaning to do a stash buster quilt one day, but other projects keep getting the better of me!!


















I also had time to visit hobby craft (not my favourite shop) but I needed some cotton so I could start Isabelle's garden quilt - but more of that later.

and here are my purchases.

I didn't realise until I looked at the photo how well the new cottons look against the fabric!

Gibraltar

Our last port of call was The Rock of Gibraltar, on the southern side of Spain. It has of course been British for the last 300 hundred years, although the Spanish keep asking for it back the Brits keep saying its not up for negotiation and apparently the Gibraltarians wish to remain British!
We took the cable car to the top of the rock. The views of the town and the harbour are superb, but it is so windy at the summit it was a relief to walk down slightly! I would like to say that I liked the Barbary apes, which is what Gibraltar is famous for, but although they look playful and cute, they are a bit scary and I know they bite!! (Not me by the way.) They were introduced by the British soldiers who kept them as pets and there are about 250 on the Rock itself, although they are thriving and there numbers will eventually have to be controlled.

We also visited the Botanical Gardens and wondered around the town. Nice relaxing day.

Barcelona

DH and I have visited Barcelona a couple of times and love everything about it! So stopping there on the cruise despite visiting before was no hardship. We always go the the Segrada Familia and nearly decided not to this time. Every time before the place has been filled with scaffolding (still fantastic, but still a bit of a building site). So when we went back this time we had no different expectations other than we love it. What a surprise to find that the inside is all but complete and it is absolutely beautiful. The light from the stained glass windows gave the structure a citrus glow and we couldn't help wondering what Gaudi would have made of it?

The outside is still under construction, but it just makes me want to come back in a few years time to see how it's getting on.

The light in this photograph is incredible (the real thing is even better!)

We also had time to visit another of Gaudi's building the wonderful Casa Batllo. I have been here before but it was DHs first time. Again his use of light and reflection make it an amazing building and well worth the visit.

Gaudi designed this landing to give optimum light. The windows at the top get smaller to protect from the Mediterranean sun and the tiles change from light blue at the bottom to dark blue at the top.

The roof of the Casa Batllo is supposed to represent George and the Dragon, and the front balconies are masks.


Inside he uses alot of wood in his designs and like the Segrada Familia, Gaudi took his inspiration from nature

In case you hadn't realised by now I am a huge Gaudi fan!!!!!

Monte Carlo

We docked at Cannes and as my DH is a huge Formula 1 motor racing fan we just had to visit Monte Carlo - and what a treat it was. The principality of Monarco is lovely, its clean, friendly and felt very safe. After kissing the tarmac (OK not literally!) we wondered around and visited the famous casino, the beautiful harbour area and a rather nice japanese garden, where we could sit quietly and take on board the wonderful sun! BLISS!

Florence

Florence is a place (along with Rome) that I have wanted to visit for a long time. and it didn't disappoint!! On board the ship you can go and listen to port lectures and in the lecture the guide recommended that in the limited time we would have in Florence we had to make sure to visit a Cathedral, a Church, a square and a bridge - so we did!! This magnificent building is the Duomo, or cathedral. A truly fantastic sight. We then went on to the Ponte Vecchio, they say you can't leave Florence without strolling across the bridge and browsing in the jewellery shops!

We saw Michelangelos statue of David (not the real thing unfortunately) in Piazza della Signoria and the Gothic Church Santa Croce.

And we did some shopping as well!!! There is so much to see in Florence that one day just doesn't do it justice, but we managed to see the four places recommended to us even if we didn't get to go inside. Still that leaves us with a good excuse to come back!

Pisa

You can't help but wonder how the leaning tower of Pisa manages to be safe to be around, when you see how far over it leans!!! The photo doesn't really do it justice because I took the picture and corrected the lean (not consciously I have to add), but if you look at the building next to it you realise how far over it goes. We arrived really early in the morning and it was beautifully deserted, by the time we left it was heaving with tourists.

Off to Florence!!!!

Rome

On our cruise last year we flew into Rome to pick up our ship, but that doesn't really count! I absolutely loved Rome - my favourite stop of the holiday! We had two tour guides, one to keep us together and stop anyone getting lost (apparently easy to do in Rome) and the other to guide us. She had studied Christian Archaeology at the Vatican and still did work there, so her knowledge was fantastic and I'm sure it helped me to fall completely in love with the City! Our first view of Vatican City. I hadn't expected to feel so over whelmed by the Vatican and its great works of art.

I found St Peters Basilica awe inspiring. It was erected on the tomb of St Peter in the 2nd Century. The dome (pictured above) is by Michelangelo and very beautiful! There are no paintings inside just mosaics, so the colour intensity is amazing!

The Vatican Museum is made of miles and miles of masterpieces and we only scratched the surface. The photo above is one of the galleries. We did of course visit Michelangelo's Sistine chapel. We had been told that you were not allowed to speak inside the Chapel but it is impossible to keep hundreds of visitors quiet! That for me took away some of its excitement. I would have loved to sit for a period of time in silence and just take in the enormity of Michelangelo spending 4 years of his life locked in the Chapel (he didn't allow anyone to see its progress) painting, flat on his back, inches away from the subject.
AND he didn't get paid at the end of it because it was only supposed to take 3 weeks!!!! It was still the highlight of the cruise!

We also had a tour of the Colosseum (AD 80). Despite it being a ruin you can still get a feel for how magnificent it must have been and visualise some of the brutal 'games' that took place there!

My best day!!

Sardinia

Our next port of call was the port of Alghero on Sardinia. We took a trip along the coast, and saw Griffin (or Eagles as we know them) and stopped at a lovely fishing village called Bosa. The houses are painted in bright colours to match the owners fishing boats. The local women make lace, which is very delicate and beautifully made, but too expensive for me to buy unfortunatley!

Seville

Our first port of call was Cadiz in Spain (no problem with the Bay of Biscay!) From Cadiz we visited Seville

The highlight was Real Alcazar (the Royal Palaces) completed in 1366. It had beautifully landscaped gardens with patios, fountains and terraces where you could loose the other visitors to the Palace and wander around out of the sun! Inside the Palace were some beautiful tapestries and fabulous mosaic walls and ornate archways exquisitely carved!

Mediterranean Cruise

My DH and I have just returned from a 15 day cruise around the Mediterranean. We had an amazing time, saw some brilliant sights and ate for England! I will post some photographs of our ports of call over the next few days.