Turkish delights

view from our bedroom window

view from Palmiye resort of Taurus mountain range
for a week I was mainly 'a body' very little thought (I particularly enjoyed the non-thinking aspect), very little reading, some stitching.
I started the morning with my daily exercise routine, followed by a powerwalk, every other day a steps-session, each afternoon aqua gym and dancing by the pool; I learnt the fine art of archery and was introduced to pilates, a very pleasant, relaxing way to end the day and prepare for the dancing in the evenings; the weather was suberb, as was the food, healthy and fresh; the resort offered all kinds of sports, I stuck to the land activities, apart from the aqua gym and never realised how much I actually enjoy physical activity! Apart from my own routine all the activities were 'en groupe' another thing I discovered I enjoy; before we left I thought I'ld stick to reading and sunbathing with the occasional swim, but I couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the Club Med team and as soon as we had arrived early Saturday evening I was hooked and dove right into 'everything'. 

modern patchwork in hotel lobby;
my parents invited my sister's, my brother's and my family for a week in the Turkish sun, 14 in total, three generations; I can honestly say it was one of the best holidays ever!

back home the garden has exploded into greens, luckily for us the sun is shining here as well, a gentle resettling.....

tulips originally come from Turkey, this is the last red one in our front garden, will have to plant more for next year!

I took two pieces with me, but only worked on this one 'Grace does(n't ) do white'. This is the 'back' as you can see the light is falling on it, so there's not much happening. On the left you might be able to see a shadow of a dog.

on the left is the 'front' with the light shining through, now the dog-figure can be seen, it is sewn with rows of running stitch (single thread for lightness) in between two layers, the white background and the light grey linen; on the right is the 'back' with the light shining through and now you can see the blue/green dog and lace, shadows. I was thinking about sewing another figure in between the two layers with a white fabric, the shadow effect doesn't necessarily need colour.

Looking at it on the photo's I'm tempted to cut away some of the black that just seems too heavy for the rest.