The missing Aminals :-)

'Animals'.... hmm... that's quite a challenge. 'Animals' is the theme for our monthly blog hop in the 'Unique Women In Business' (UWIB) group. Looked at my shop SewDanish - Scandinavian Textile Art to see if I could find anything remotely resembling animals or animal prints.

I knew that I wouldn't find any. I don't think that I have ever used animals neither as a design source nor as inspiration for a piece of work. Some years ago I made a quilt, and on the finished quilt (which I didn't like particular) I stamped cat paws, as if a cat just had strolled over the quilt 'I was here and left my mark.....' It was actually rather cute and made the quilt slightly more interesting. Unfortunately that quilt is in storage in the US, so I'm not able to show it to you. I like animals and love watching nature programs on the television, but in real life I have little experience with them. Mind you, we have our lovely old, ginger Maine coon cat who just turned 18 years old last month, so that's gotta count for something :-)

On a recent vacation we stopped at the Greek island of Mykonos. Quite a busy and touristic place, but it definitely still had a lot of Greek island charm.

I spend a lovely afternoon by myself wandering the back streets and ally ways of the main town. Took loads of lovely photos of white painted houses with their colorful trims.

In the lazy heat of the afternoon I came across this family of two adult cats and their 4 tiny kittens. They were semi feral and lived in an abandoned shed. They quietly accepted me hanging out with them and I had a lovely time watching them.

The Arches and Lights of The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey

I have to say I would LOVE to go back to Istanbul. What a fantastic city! So much to see, so much to do.....and we had so little time. Istanbul has definitely made it on my list of places to revisit.

The following photos are all taken in the Grand Bazaar. A wonderful maze of intense color, sounds, patterns, lights etc. It took a while for us to accept that we would probably get lost in the this maze and just 'let go' and be absorbed. We did get sort of lost, but that actually didn't matter. Eventually we found our way out with our heads buzzing with impressions. I could have spend so much more time there.
Eventually :-)

I absolutely loved the architecture of this covered bazaar. Maybe we were lucky, because it wasn't particular crowded and it wasn't sizzling hot day. I can imagine that both these factors could make it a bit claustrophobic. The vaulted ceilings with bands of decorations were absolutely wonderful. In other parts of the bazaar it almost felt as if you were in a cellar even though still on the ground floor.
     

A truely amazing place.

Copenhagen, Rosenborg Castle and IPhone

Over the summer one of my trips went to Denmark to visit relatives. Had a lovely time catching up with family. I love living here in England, but one of the downsides are that one just cannot pop in for a short visit. I do miss that, but hey ho life is still pretty good :-)

While staying in Copenhagen we spend a lovely morning playing tourists. Despite all the years I've been living and visiting Copenhagen, I had actually never visited Rosenborg Castle. The castle is in the middle of Copenhagen in one of the lovely parks Kongens Have/The Kings Garden and I have walked passed it hundreds of times, but I never made it inside.

So we spend an absolutely lovely morning visiting the castle before heading back to England. What was a lot of fun was that 1600th century culture mixed with 2000th century technology. While I was paying for the entrance tickets, my husband picked up a little slip with info about downloading the app 'neoreader' for Iphone/Itouch. Relatively new to these gadgets we just had to try. And it was totally amazing. Had our own private tours on our devices, scanning the square pixilated (bar) codes that were on lots of the 400-500 year old artifacts. It was so cool! Anyway before I get carried away, as I do love my Iphone :-) I better show you some of the photos that I took. More design inspiration. I absolutely love the ones from the mirror room!

BTW If you want to read a good novel then I can recommend  'Music and Silence' by Rose Tremain . It's a  historical fiction set at Rosenborg Castle during the reign of King Christian 4th. Excellent book!