Summer snowball quilt

Of all the times and places to complete my first snowball quilt, I pick Cyprus at the end of June... Oh the irony!

This is my seventh completed quilt this year, a baby quilt for a friend, I love making quilts this size, despite the fact I procrastinated a little in the heat, it was still very quick to make.

The fabric is mostly from Fabric Rehab, with a little of my off cuts from Amy Butler's Coriander, the colours look a little more mellow in real life.

I have a batch of yellow and green snowball squares just waiting to be made up into a second quilt of this size, but I'm waiting for an excuse to make one... Baby boy anyone?

In the meantime, I'm beginning to think I  might need to embark on a big project making a Cyprus quilt, like my Canada quilt that kept me busy during the long Albertan winter. Strangely summer in the Med is turning out to be almost as restrictive as winter in North America, once the novelty of sunbathing in 40c has worn off!

Red hot

Over the last few days temperatures in Cyprus have been 5c higher than average for this time of year. Good news if you are a sun-starved Brit on holiday, but less fun if you have to live and work without air-conditioning in temperatures of 38c.

We've seen some pretty interesting weather in our travels over the last few years, from the wet windy South Atlantic, to the endless snow in Alberta, but I think the Cypriot summer is the most challenging so far. 

But don't worry, I'll try my best not to moan about the heat for the next 3 months! By the way, the local watermelons are enormous and very cheap. I'll have to do a whole other post on our local roadside fruit stall... lots and lots of fabulous fruit and just metres from the beach.

Loukoumades

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you's be forgiven for thinking I'm a little food obsessed, and I confess I am! I love trying new dishes...

Today we had a special lunch at work, and George our Cypriot engineer cooked up some Loukoumades - sweet deep-fried balls of dough. I was tasked to be his helper, dipping the freshly cooked balls in a mixture of syrup and spices and testing them to make sure they were just right (this part was particularly difficult) I could only manage about five in a sitting, but they were pretty awesome.

We ate them in the shade at the back of the office as part of a traditional souvla lunch, then went to the beach for a photo shoot for work (results of which you may see in a few days) It is the kind of life everyone back in the UK believes we lead all the time, and it's nice when very occasionally we do!

Sunshine and food

Fresh octopus carpacio for lunch in Limassol. I think nothing beats fresh seafood, but the husband is not a fan, he preferred his burger. (You can take the man out of Alberta...)

An afternoon in our small patio pool escaping the heat and reading my new book, it's a good one too.

Bella cooling off. We put the dog's toys in their paddling pool to coax them into the water. Bella takes it on as her special mission to remove them all, a bit like apple bobbing.

Work in progress

Another of our friends is due to have a baby in a few weeks, so it's time to get cracking on another quilt.

Although I'm personally not much of a fan of this much pink together, the expectant mum cannot get enough of the colour, so I've been raiding my stash for all things pink.

I have to say I am loving making baby sized quilts at the moment, it provides an excellent excuse to try out new patterns on a small scale, and mini quilts require a few less evenings patiently hand-stitching the binding, which is definitely a winner.

This one should be completed by the end of the weekend and then I'll have to stop dragging my heels and finish my McCalls tunic top, which is currently lying in pieces on the dining room table (that of course being the dining room table that never gets used for dining!)