The Joy of Quilting

My husband and I spend the morning of September 11 on a beautiful scenic ride on his Vespa, a classic motor scooter. We quickly left the big city of Chania behind us as we headed out on the National Highway, which is Crete’s version of a freeway. Our first venture was through the little beach town of Kalyves. I would like to explore it further, but this morning we were just passing through on our way to another little beach town, Almerida.

I had planned to spend the day making quilts as I do on any commemorative day such as this. Since I have been embracing quilt embroidery, I planned to work on several small projects to try out some ideas. Instead, I put on sensible shoes and strapped on my pretty pink and white motorcycle helmet!

Almerida reminded me a lot of our home and its quaint little beach towns with houses all along a main street and the beach to one side. Laguna Beach comes to mind with its artsy feel where one can find everything from driftwood carvings to exquisite embroidery patterns on projects of all sorts. We stopped and sat down for breakfast at the François Taverna with a surprising tiki-hut décor! Our cappuccino was hot and strong, and the pizza-sized omelet was fabulous. The view, with the Mediterranean Sea lapping just inches from our table, was the icing on top! We sat there for quite a while nursing our coffees and then indulged in a huge glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice … a fabulous treat that I love here! I believe we would have stayed there much longer had we not realized that people were waiting for tables.

Since this was the longest ride I had yet made on the back of the Vespa, my husband decided we would head back in the direction of home. But, we weren’t on the scooter for very long at all as he pulled over just on the outskirts of Almerida. Why? Because of a wonderful bit of ruins! One thing about living here is that ancient ruins are always just around the bend awaiting a surprise discovery by unknowing passer-by. This old Christian Basilica has the distinction of having a lot of the original mosaic floor intact. This is very rare, especially because none of the building remains!

One thing about the ruins here that reminds me of making quilts is my reaction to both. I am so enthralled by the splendor of the view that I rarely ever remember to take pictures. As a result, I have very few pictures of my quilts! Luckily, my man insisted that I bring my camera with me! Unfortunately, I forgot to make sure it had a fully charged battery! Missteps like these are another reason I have very few pictures of my quilts, although I have to admit that digital photography options do make things easier.

While the pictures of the mosaics are not spectacular because we could not get close enough, I love how wonderful they look! The designs that look like hearts are probably meant to depict vines or grape leaves, while the stars and borders have meanings that are lost in time.

While being fully enthralled by the magnificence of the view, my quilting and embroidery making mind was busy thinking about making quilts and embroidery designs! Each tiny mosaic piece would lend itself spectacularly to thread art of any kind.

The remainder of the ride home was full of beautiful colors of the region as well as the lovely scents of roses, orange groves and ripe olives. Ancient beauty in sight, sound and color was a wonderful inspiration for me!

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Author (embroideryquilter). Submitted on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 Time: 11:05 AM

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