A story of 8 out of the Million Pillowcases

www.etsy.com - the place to buy and sell handmade worldwide
Etsy is not just a website, it is a worldwide community of very creative people. Etsy orginizers do a lot for their members - there is help with promoting shops and handmade items, but also with making new friends and staying together for lots of good reasons.
One of the recent occasions for Etsians to get together was "One Million Pillowcases Challenge". Main idea of which - is to meet with your local crafty fellows, chat, make pillowcases and donate them to charity. See details here.

And this how our Bulgarian meet up went on:

Etsy – it’s about people and things that are unique and different. I bet our meet up for Million Pillowcases Challenge was one of the most unique and different of all times. Don’t you believe me?

First of all – it was first ever Etsy Meet Up in Bulgaria.

Second – the organizer was Belorussian nationality – nothing to do with Bulgaria – and hardly spoke any Bulgarian.

Third – the chat held on three languages in great mixture – Bulgarian, Russian and English – we all knew a bit of all three.

Fourth – the meeting happen on a Black Sea beach – one of the beautiful things Bulgaria has to offer. (Must note here that in America, where it's all started, etsians would get together at some kind of workshop or somebody's home where they have tools and supplies to make things at the meeting)

Fifth – we don’t have a workshop or anything like this here just yet, so we made all the pillowcases at home and took them with us for a walk and posing on the beach.

Domoshar: “One Million Pillowcases Challenge” – Wow! Sounds so big and serious! Well, our contribution was not really numerous but quite colourful! It was fun, people were really nice, the weather was almost perfect - as you can see it was such a windy day that the pillowcases are about to leave the rope…

I believe the pillowcases number will reach 8 when everything is finalized, as we have six documented here, one like the second one that did not make it to the rope and one waiting at the post office.”

Sixth – it probably was the smallest ever group of people – three members attended! We must know our heroes: Domoshar, Plad and BukiBuki.

Seventh – people who could not come have sent the pillowcases by post to donate to a good cause: annasavenko, KetiNKD, knittingFashion, marialozeva, MilenaCh.

Eighth – we didn’t have any craft shop to supply us with fabric, so we used our leftovers.

Ninth – all the pillowcases appeared to be so different! Not just designs – the sizes! Please take a moment and look at the photos – there is a creative hand and a kind heart behind each.

If you travelled a lot or, even better, lived in another country you’ll know how much the style of life differs from the one you use to in your home country. You’ll be surprised for example if I say that in Bulgaria and other Eastern Europe countries to shop online is still not the most common use of Internet. And to give something to charity – also is something unusual.

We’ve decided to donate our pillowcases to St. Nicolas Orphanage in the St. Trinity Monastery in Bulgaria  where homeless children and adults can find shelter, warm food and clothing. We hope our pillowcases and cushion covers will make their temporary home even warmer.

Plad: “Our meeting continued with a walk in the Sea Garden in a pleasant chat. We’ve exchanged a lot of information and ideas on how to improve our stores and sales on Etsy, shared our knowledge and experience.
I was very comfortable in this company, I felt that straight from the start! We all are very similar with similar interests and with the same passion to create beautiful things. And each of us was looking for a place to show our creations - and here comes the turn to thank Etsy for that place and for uniting us and for the reason of the meeting which gave me that wonderful feeling - I have new friends.”

Here in BG are so many original artists and crafters! But the world doesn’t know about them just because not all here can speak English and use Internet. So to be on Etsy and support an event like this for the people of Bulgaria must mean to think quite wide and open. Bulgarian Etsians supported the idea of meeting and donating with great enthusiasm, and if half of them wasn’t on holidays and the other half didn’t live so far away, we could have a much bigger Event. And next time we will! We are now starting an Etsy Street Team for Bulgaria and a group on Facebook. There was so much positive feedback and interest about it all that we might become quite a strong Etsy community here. Except other reasons to stay together for crafters in BG being in a team will give help, support and Etsy education, because many of them still have limited Internet and language skills.

So, we did it and it was great! And this Meet Up was as different and unique as everything and everyone on Etsy.

Reported by BukiBuki

Fishing in Bulgaria

This is a fantastic photo of a huge fish from the Black Sea in Bulgaria.

Anyone who loves fishing can expect a superb fishing holiday here in Bulgaria..especially in Varna Mall shopping centre....

Fire

Everybody Loves a fire.....

It was a cooler day than the the past few weeks and only 27 degrees, phew still a hot summer in Bulgaria.
Pliska is a beautifull place to visit for a holiday, its relaxed culture, amazing Bulgarian history and the Bulgarian tourist sites close by.
Though this day was spent tidying our garden a weekly job that is needed.
My day was enjoyable making fires and burning our garden waste.

Although I did manage to send smoke signals to most of the village it was most enjoyable watching the fires burn away, albeit for a short time.

Cant wait for next weeks bonfire.

Traditional Bulgarian home for sale with large plot. 6000 Euro's.

Traditional Bulgarian house for sale.

It is situated in Harsovo 25k from Novi Pazar, 30k away from Pliska and 45k away from Shumen.

House has beautifull mountain views 4 rooms and one smaller in main building. Each room is aprox 10-14 sq mtr each and the smaller would make a good wetroom/ shower room.

Entry is made from a wooden terrace into a kitchen area.

There is a cellar aprox 40 sq mtr and would make an excellent games room for the person with good imagination or an very large sitting area with stone walls.

There are 3 outbuildings sitting on the plot which are currently used for storage.

The property has water and electricity and is liveable, with little work it would make a lovely home.

Harsovo has a doctor, school, chemists, shop and all local ammenities found in a town.

We are advertising this property for a friend who has no internet and we are not estate agents.

More photos can be mailed upon request please mail us at info @ the-rocking-chair-ltd.com for more details or any questions.

Diving Black Sea

Good weather, very warm water and good visibility made for a good day today.
We kitted up on the beach 2 yards from the water, this was Anatoli's first dive in the sea after finishing his Open Water course with us at Reefers and Wreckers in Lancashire, England, last year.

We only had a 7ltr cylinder each and wasn't intending spending so long underwater. But.

The temperature was around 36 surface and 28 underwater.
I was in 3mm Aqua Lung shortie and Anatoli in 3mm Typhoon full suit.

Anatoli used my OMS wing and I had to use my Cave diving sidemount harness as I only have 1 BCD here in Bulgaria. No worries I just needed to remove some weight from the belt and all was good.

We spent 1hr 20 min at majority 5mtrs underwater and saw many "Hermit crabs" about 1" homes and there was millions of them, Some larger crabs with strange hair cuts, like mine also.

There was this crab with a Mohican and one with with hair on either side of his shell, these were funny to see.

We then stumbled upon a mussell bed to which I instantly thought "mmm supper" so I started placing the larger of them under my shortie legs and when I had no more room upon looking like I had a muscle problem on my legs I placed a few into Anatoli's BCD pocket. I collected 2 plastic bags and Anatoli a 2ltr coke bottle, these were taken to shore in the name of  "Project Aware" we need to look after our oceans.
We exited the water at 20.30 and it was still warm water, super dive.

Anatoli loved his first diving in the Black Sea and I am sure while he is here we will be doing more dives with him. He is good on air and loves being underwater.      


A good day Diving the Black Sea ( Cherno More)

A day on the Black Sea

We started from Pliska around 11am. It usually takes fifty minutes or so to reach Varna. We decided on finding a beach a little further north than Varna so the drive took another 15 minutes. We parked at St. Constantine & Helena a very nice and calm tourist area, excellent for sightseeing in Bulgaria.
The weather was superb and not too hot for this time of year, the beach not overcrowded and there was space to place our umbrella & our bums.

This is Katya's father Anatoli who is here from Belarus and will stay with us for a month or so.

Natalia, Katya's mother is also here for a month and will travel back by train on the 20th to Minsk, Belarus. This journey is on a sleeper train and takes 3 days.

We made this photo of Milana and Natalia taking it easy on the beach loungers further up the beach.

We will go back here again as it was a good spot for swimming and next time I will be taking my Scuba Diving equipment as the Black Sea visibility this day was fantastic.

Hopefully I may even get chance to see a few seahorses that frequent the Black Sea areas.
I am allready a Scuba Diving Instructor and will be helping out a dive centre here in Bulgaria called "Deep Blue", they have numerous dive centres here in Bulgaria. Good and friendly staff and I am looking forward to Instructing with them.

Black Sea coast has many oppotunities for all sorts of watersports and fun for all ages...