Paisley Parrot pattern and holidays!

Hi all, I have just got home from 9 days away in the sunshine in Crete. I had a wonderful time and it was a bit depressing to come home to a gray city where I have to have the lights on in my flat..in July!! Anyway to brighten things up here's the other parrot pattern I was working on, I like it, and guess what? the suns come out a bit :-)

When I was away I took lots of photos that will definitely inspire artwork and patterns. Its always nice to travel to new places even if they aren't as far away as Crete. I wanted to share some photographs that I took whilst on a trek we did through the Samaria Gorge.The gorge walk begins at 1227m above sea level and is 16km long it took us roughly 5 hours to complete. We were a bit competitive though and didn't take many rest breaks! Half way down into the gorge I began to really suffer. I wasn't suitably dressed at all...wearing canvas daps and a dress!!! My shoes went into the bin at the end as the soles had worn through and cracked! I had the most painful feet for the rest of the hol..you live you learn right?! at the end of the walk you come to an amazing beach at the shores of the Libyan sea. The south of Crete had the best beaches...The water was just so so clear.

At the start of our walk, 1227m above sea level;

Unreal right? These images look like they came right out of a book, then further down the gorge we started to come across abandoned villages. These really were in the middle of nowhere, and in winter the people who lived there wouldn't be able to get out at all due to the river which apparently rises so high that it's impossible to cross.

There were lots of churches along the route, tiny little places, this one was my favorite. I love how  it's nestled against the cliff and the church bell was strung from the tree in front. It really was a beautiful place.

And here I am, inappropriate trekking clothing and all I really enjoyed it! At least I remembered the drinking water! So some Crete inspired patterns coming soon, I have a huge list to add to my other huge list of pattern ideas, which is always a good thing, bye for now :-)