In this eleventh hour

I may be speaking to Radio New Zealand National on Saturday night 11.40pm Greek time (Sunday morning 8.40am New Zealand time) about the political crisis Greek is facing with the announcement of the referendum, and how it is affecting people. 

Greece is continuing to make headline news at the moment because of the upcoming referendum taking place on Sunday. Greece is not blameless for her problems. But Greek people cannot forever be vindicated for the often secretive under-the-table agreements of corrupt politicians from all sides; this includes both Greek and European politicians. At the moment, a lot of the media portrayal of Greece outside the country is rather judgmental against Greece, making Greece sound like she created her own problems. This is true in part - even as a Greek, I cannot deny this - but there is also another side to the story: it seems that Greece's problems will soon become more global issues, and the whole world will then have to ask itself who created these problems. Greece is basically being told what to do by politicians of other countries, and people are being forced to look into their pockets for the answer to the upcoming referendum. No one really knows where this situation is going to take us; in Greece, we don't even know what tomorrow will bring. Things keep changing all the time. 

In fact, things are changing so fast that it's almost impossible to write a blog post about what is happening in Greece at the moment because by the time I have written and posted it, it will have been superseded by new news that may counter anything I wrote in the blog. We're living at the fastest pace that we have ever lived in Greece. While this is tiring for many of us, it will also stand us in good stead for the very difficult times ahead of us, which are coming right after the referendum results are announced. We will need that experience desperately as there will be no time to waste.

There is a lot of news flying about at the moment concerning the Greek crisis, but it is being disseminated in an overly subjective way. It pains me immensely to see this happening. Never before in my years in Greece have I seen such a well-organised attempt by one sector of society to sabotage another sector's views. But then again, there is a lot at stake. Realism has never been part of any previous election - this one is based on the reality of the day after, vs. the slight possibility that things could actually truly get better for once. It's the choice between the wrong yes and the right no, as described in a poem by Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933), a great Greek poet who lived both in Egypt and Greece:

Che fece...il gran rifiuto

For some people the day comes when they have to declare the great Yes or the great No. It’s clear at once who has the Yes ready within him; and saying it, he goes forward in honor and self-assurance. He who refuses does not repent. Asked again, he would still say no. Yet that no—the right no— undermines him all his life.

Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard

(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992)

Greece has always been a highly divided country. But in the past, we had more options to choose from among the different political factions. Now with the referendum, we have only two choices: a NO/YES vote (in that order!), on an incomprehensible and invalid question (as the Council of Europe recently decided). 

"Should the proposal that was submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund at the Eurogroup of 25 June 2015, which consists of two parts that together constitute their comprehensive proposal, be accepted? The first document is titled 'Reforms for the completion of the Current Programme and beyond' and the second 'Preliminary Debt Sustainability Analysis'," the ballot reads on the left-hand side.



On the right are the two possible answers: "Not agreed/No" on top, and "Agreed/Yes" underneath.

The No is the answer Alexis Tsipras' government and Syriza party are campaigning for. "No, for democracy and dignity," reads the referendum poster issued by Syriza. But the question asked to Greek voters itself raises two questions. Firstly, what documents does it refer to? Secondly, how can voters take an informed decision on the content?

The two documents mentioned on the ballot are the agreement proposal put forward by Greece's creditors last week, and an analysis of Greek debt by the creditors’ institutions... The problem, however, is that these documents, even if considered still valid by the institutions, are not yet public, apart from the "List of prior actions" published by the commission, and therefore not available to the Greek voters who have to decide on them. Atop this, they were produced in English - the language used in the technical talks between Greece and its creditors. Even if they are made public they would remain unfathomable to a large part of the Greek electorate.

https://euobserver.com/economic/129369

The global mass media shows many images from Greece as a way to portray what is happening to the country. In my opinion, I find that nearly all the photos shown in the media are accompanied by biased opinions. They often emphasise a situation to provide evidence of the view that is presented in the article. Even an article that extends compassion towards Greece shows biased photos. For example, when there is a lot of solidarity being expressed towards Greece, the article will be accompanied by the very wrinkled face of an elderly person, which is interpreted as a very poor/desperate person. When an article writes about the poverty levels of Greece, it may be accompanied by a photo of people gathered around a truck from which a person is throwing bags of food at them. The media portrays the human pain of the crisis in a distorted manner, leaving people misinformed about the real problems that Greek people are facing. Pictures tell a thousand words - but you have to see beyond the picture to understand a situation fully; you need to read between the images. 

The divisions of Greek people will now come to a head as society clashes, wearing either one or another banner. People have equated the referendum question with EU/€ membership: so if they vote NO to the referendum question, it means YES to EU/€ membership, but if they vote YES to the question, it means NO to EU/€ membership. It's a curly way of seeing the whole issue of what the EU/€ means to Greeks. I think these divisions stem back from the divides of our society. If people wanted to know what was really going on in Greek people's lives, they should consider the various divisions in society which will affect the way each one of us sees things. These divisions, in combination, hold the key to understanding how people will vote:

- do they live in an urban setting or a rural setting? (NO -YES)

- are they in paid employment, public sector, business owners or pensioners? (YES - NO - YES - YES)
- are they unemployed? (NO)

- do they live in a family home or a rented property? (YES - NO)

- are they in debt in some way or do they have savings? (NO - YES)
- are they young or old people? (NO - YES)

My answers aren't definitive: they are an indication of the people's personal interests. I imagine that if you asked people whether they prefer to listen to the radio rather than watch television, you'll probably get a NO voe out of them. What few people are willing to admit at this stage is that:

"There's no good choice, just a frying pan and a fire. On Sunday you'll get to choose exactly how you'd like to burn." 

Despite the immense divisions that seem apparent in Greek society, I firmly believe that people are actually searching to find the same kind of stability. They are simply trying to achieve the same goals in life in a different way. I recently came across a prominent Greek's reasons for voting YES:
1. I will vote yes because Greece is European
2. I will vote yes because Europe is Greek
3. I will vote yes because Greece needs to become a proud modern society, producing things and ideas valued by the world
4. I will vote yes because I am sick and tired of government inefficiency
5. I will vote yes because I loathe corruption and a system based on favours
6. I will vote yes because Greece needs to attract Greek treasure - money and talent - back to Greece
7. I will vote yes because Greece should not lose its brightest and smartest and most talented young people
8. I will vote yes because we need courageous, creative thinking inside Greece
9. I will vote yes because I prefer that we have a constructive rather than a destructive role in contributing to a better Europe
10. I will vote yes because children are afraid of the dark
https://www.facebook.com/economidespeter/photos/a.258615077559789.63649.258563417564955/847002698721021/?type=1&theater

I would say that I could vote NO for all these reasons too, except the first two - by voting NO, I believe that Greece will eventually become more European, and Europe will also become a bit more Greek. Greeks are very far behind Europe in understanding what it means to be European.

If someone were to ask me how the crisis has affected not just my life, but the life of the people I am surrounded by, I don't want them to ask me questions about how much food we have to eat or whether we have enough clothes to wear. These, in my opinion, are ridiculous questions. Even the poor will have food to eat in Greece: we are not a starving race. We don't have to spend so much on food for many reasons. Second hand clothes shops, while considered an oddity only five years ago, now abound in many Greek towns, even in my town which is considered a richer area than other places in Greece. As for work, some of us are in paid employment while others don't. But if you live in a rural region, work is not necessarily conceived in the same way as work in a city. Again, we are misleading people when we talk about work opportunities if we do not specify the environment that we live in. 

There are also some questions that deserve more merit than those being answered by the global media at the moment, which focus mainly on figures and numbers expressed in US currency. I would personally prefer to answer questions of this sort:

1. Greece did not make a scheduled payment to the IMF which caused the country to default. How have people reacted to this default? What does default mean to the Greek people? What were the immediate effects of the announcement of default on society?

2. The Greek banks have been closed in the past week. Has this situation affected you personally? How do people feel about the banks being closed? 

3. Hania is a summer tourist town. How has the referendum affected this? Have you been able to speak with tourists about what they think of the situation? 

4. Greek people seem to be equally divided about which way they will vote in the referendum. What is the greatest division in Greek society that will sway their vote? 

5. What help has been provided to people in these past few days to overcome potential difficulties? How have you been able to help others? 

6. What is the Greek media portrayal of the referendum? 

7. How have your children been affected by the change in the political situation? What kind of questions do they ask you? Are you able to provide suitable answers for them? How has the crisis affected you psychologically?

8. You have dual citizenship in Greece and New Zealand. While we are hearing of Greeks fleeing their country to escape the crisis, what has made you decide to stay in Greece at this time? Would you ever consider coming to live in New Zealand?  

9. Most analysts present a return to the drachma as the worst possible scenario, pointing out that the currency would have a worthless market value and people's euro-savings would be greatly eroded. What do you think may be a danger of staying in a euro world? 

10. If there was one thing that you could change in your life now, what would it be? 

11. How do you feel about Europe? What do the concepts of a European Union and the eurozone mean to you?

12. Your parents did not live to see the crisis. How do you think they would have voted if they were still alive?

13. Do you see a positive outcome to the crisis? What is your greatest fear? 

Greece is facing turbulent times, with only a glimmer of hope, no matter what the outcome of this war of economics will be. As I listen to Farewell, a composition by the late Greek musician Manos Hadjidakis from the soundtrack of America, America (1963), I hear the silences of uncertainty interrupted by the cacophony of sirens and twangs. Turbulence is broken by the peals of those glimmers of hope.  

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Travel advice for Greece

On opening my 'regular' news websites today, I cannot believe the CRAP I am coming across about Greece. This post is intended to inform travellers to Greece about what is happening right this minute as I write: this 'advice' comes from a real Greek who lives and work here, and not an automated western-world governmental response to an unknown situation.

In Hania, I saw three things over the last two days - a bank run on the ATMs (that;s now over becos capital controls have been put in place - 60 euro per card), a petrol run (people are topping up out of panic) and a supermarket run, because people are topping up on staples. By staples, I mean real food that you can cook with - flour, rice, beans, sugar, pasta: stuff like that, not junk and ready to eats. (Greeks still know how to cook real food. Not all people do).

I only use credit cards at the supermarket and when I buy petrol. I never ever use cash for these purposes. Today I went to two supermarkets: they both accepted my credit cards (a different one was used for each supermarket) without any problem. 

I only use two petrol stations in my town: the ECO on the road out of Hania going onto the motorway, and the big BP (Kapetanakis) in Souda, as you leave Souda to get onto the motorway. I never use any other places - I know that these two places reputable. (Because I always get the petrol I expect to get.) On Saturday night, I was able to top up the car at the ECO station with my credit card. But  I heard that Kapetanakis is not accepting a debit card. A debit card is seen as withdrawing money from the bank straight from the account, but if banks aren't open, they will not be able to process the transaction. A credit card is like making a purchase, which will be paid later. Interest will not be charged on overdue payments while the banks are closed, ie while you will not be able to make a payment; this applies to Greek bank holders, not foreign bank accounts. (i read this in a report this morning - i need to find the link and will post it here once i find it - some information can be found here in Greek: http://www.tovima.gr/finance/article/?aid=717627 , and there is a bit about it in the Guardian live updates here http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jun/29/greek-crisis-stock-markets-slide-capital-controls-banks-closed-live#block-5590e9cfe4b024248ae9a664 ). 

Tourists with cards linked to foreign banks do not have capital controls forced on them while they are visiting the country. This advice comes from the news reports I am reading this morning: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_29/06/2015_551651 The capital controls on ATMs are only for Greek banks. 

I think that the problems for tourists are mainly in the places they choose to spend money on - small tavernas in small places may not do credit cards. I think this is their problem and not the tourists'. If in doubt, just ask, and if they say they don't accept credit cards, go elsewhere. Anyone who allows you to use a credit card is not ripping off the tax department (cash-only businesses are definitely not showing all their income).

I think that small out-of-town petrol stations are asking for cash only, so that they can force your cash out of you, so that they can hoard it. There is no other real explanation not to accept a credit card. You really need to look for places that will always allow you to use a credit card - they are most likely to be found in the urban areas rather than the rural areas. Reputable businesses do not hoard cash.

When I travel out of Greece, I always use my credit cards to make transactions. I do not actually use much cash at all. This is very unlike most of my compatriots who are cash hoarders. I don't like carrying a heap of cash on me. If you feel comfortable with that, then do it. I wouldn't. If you absolutely need to pay in cash, then have some cash on you. But that's the difference between a reputable business and a fly-by-nighter. I rarely need to pay by cash, but then again, I rarely go out for a meal. 

By the way, public transport is free up until the day after the referendum (ie July 6). See http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_29/06/2015_551653

On the issue of Grexit: Greece will never ever ask to leave the euro (€) or the EU. I can guarantee that. The only way for Greece to not be part of the euro (€) or the EU is for someone to deny her access to it. In other words, someone else will make her leave. If you ask Greece to leave, she won't. You will have to force her out. (So what Cameron is saying here http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_29/06/2015_551663 is effectively BS.) If you wake up to hear that Greece is out of the euro (€) or the EU, then you can guarantee that someone threw her out - she didn't leave of her own accord.

On the day of the referendum (July 5), there will be no hint of panic or chaos. I can guarantee that. Most people will go about their normal Sunday duties (sleep in, have lunch with family/friends, go to the beach if they live on the coast). There will be a hieghtened sense of security, so don't be surprised to see more police in the area - see http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_28/06/2015_551641 This is to be expected.

I can guarantee that if you are planning to come to Greece soon on holiday, you will probably have a really good time. As a Greek, I wouldn't travel out of the country now. I haven't made any travel plans at all. Why miss out on a Greek summer? 

UPDATE 30-6-2015: just popped into the INKA supermarket for my MiL's food needs - the supermarket accepts both debit and credit cards - it's a heap of shite what we are being told, that some companies can only operate on a cash basis: quite simply, they are evading taxes and hoarding cash.

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Referendum (Δημοψήφισμα)

It looks like we are going to get a referendum next Sunday after all, as it was just voted on in the Βουλή. I don't think my fellow compatriots are in a position to make this kind of decision, which is of a political-economic nature, but since we have been given the chance to vote, we can either take it up and be part of the action, or deny the chance to take a pro-active approach to deciding our future. So here is my reasoning about how I will vote:

I think the whole Greek issue is one of misunderstanding. The Greek side are passionate, the non-Greek side are astute. The Greek side accuse the other side of blackmail, but any person with an Anglo-Saxon education (like myself) should be able to clearly see that the non-Greek side is simply using literal meanings and facts and figures to get their point across. One side is playing with a WORD file while the other side prefers EXCEL. (Not my metaphorical phrasing - I heard it a while back.) This is why a political level agreement was needed on the Greek problem. But who will sacrifice their politics to find a compromise that will make everyone unhappy to some extent? No one. Both sides have something to lose in this issue: one side is worried about a lack of funding, while the other side is worried about setting a precedent. I guess this is part of the compromise. We're all going to be unhappy to a certain extent.

Apparently we are going to be asked something like:

Should Greece accept the loan/bailout package as outlined by the creditors?

I think I know what a YES vote would mean to that: not much will change in my life as I know it up to now. Greece has been a bailout addict for a number of decades now. But I don't know what a NO vote will really mean, because we haven't had it explained to us. There is no Plan B (except for wait and see). We are all hypothesising about what might happen in the event of a NO vote - we don't actually have any real idea what it will mean. But I don't even want to hear of Greece taking out a new loan that will not be repayable. I don't believe in loans. I've never taken one out, and I hope the same goes for my kids, that they will never ask for a loan. More importantly, I don't want any potential grandchildren to still be paying this loan off when/if they are parents themselves. That's why I'm voting όχι.

I'm not voting NO to Europe or the eurozone - I'm just voting NO to a new loan, or bailout, package, program, memorandum, and any other way it is also known. I hope NO means that Greece gets no more money from strangers, and she can learn to live within her means, and she learns to use her resources wisely in order to ensure this. If the referendum question was:

Should Greece remain in the European Union?

I'd immediately know what I'd answer to that: ναι!

If the question was:

Should Greece remain in the eurozone?

I know the answer to that one too: ναι!

I will leave it up to Europe and the eurozone to decide if they want non-Anglo-Saxon Greece in their Anglo-Saxon club. Let's face it: while Greece is a lovely country, she can look like she is veering right off course concerning many aspects of western-world life as we know it.

The issue of filling up your petrol tank, emptying supermarket shelves and flocking to ATMs to withdraw money reeks of an urban crisis. People who live in apartment blocks in Crete don't have gardens and may not have access to their fields. If you come up to my house, you would not even suspect what was happening. 

I live on the island of Crete, where things are really "not that bad". For those that have been following my blog over the years, they will understand what that means. For those who haven't, if I were to explain this in one sentence, I'd say that we will never go hungry on this island. I don't want to kick the can don the road with a NO vote which will eventually catch up with us again: better to go bankrupt now in the summer, before the cold weather sets in - we can start to clean up our act under more favorable conditions. As I write, the ATMs are empty, people began hoarding basic items by clearing shelves in the supermarket, and petrol stations are drying up. This is the knee-jerk reaction to any major event that could cause turmoil: people panic. I watched people last night trying to withdraw money from empty ATMs: what made them decide that they needed to withdraw 800€ (I watched them as discreetly as possible as they pushed the buttons on the machine) on a Saturday night? It is sheer panic and nothing else. I have to hand it to the 10-year-old that I overheard in my loud noisy boisterous Greek neighbourhood last night:

Daddy says that if we go to an ATM now, it'll give us drachmas.

Panic brings out the worst in us.

Even if the YES vote wins, I will still be happy with that because it's all I've ever known of Greece - that she is an indebted country. Whatever happens, I think Greece is still going to be a great country, and people will always be guaranteed of having the time of their life when they visit Greece.

The Greek Collection - work in progress: "All eyes on Greece".

The outcome of the Greek referendum will have far-reaching consequences; it is not just about Greeks continuing to fool the rest of the world about their virtuousness in implementing sound fiscal policies (my opinion, of course); it is also about the rest of the greedy world who may eventually have to deal with the real possibility of other countries following suit: saying NO when they usually said ALRIGHT. Tsipras was brave to make this move; it's something that Papandreou mentioned he would do back in 2010 but decided against it after being pressurised by the EU, which in turn was worried about the stability of the euro at the time. The EU feared that the euro would fall and the EU would break apart if one of its members were 'allowed' to be bold enough to escape its noose. The EU now says that they have a stability mechanism in place so that an GREXIT will not have serious consequences on the global economy. (Yeah, right.)

I feel sorry for the Greek people because they have been aided and abetted all their lives into making bad voting choices, and now they are being forced to make a crucial political decision themselves, after having elected a government only five months ago to make important decisions like these ones. The average Greek citizen is neither knowledgeable or experienced enough to make such a decision. That's why we choose politicians to represent us in parliament. So even our politicians are useless. And who do politicians come from? The people themselves.

I think there is only ONE way out of the crisis - Greece needs to go cold turkey: stop accepting other countries' money, see where your country stands financially on its own, and then find ways to make money in your country for your country. I can only deem this solution to be the right one. It's from that 80s era that did Greece in. Before that, Greece was poor. Then Greece became a member of the EU in 1981, and suddenly, unprecedented personal wealth became the norm. Now we are seeing what this wealth entailed: bad choices that looked good only on the surface.

As a final word, I am reminded of the words of Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957), the greatest Greek writer of modern times (writer of the classic Zorba the Greek), who was born in Crete, died in Germany, and was laid to rest in the old city walls of Iraklion on the island of his birth:

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.

UPDATE: "In the interest of transparency and for the information of the Greek people, the European Commission is publishing the latest proposals agreed among the three institutions (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund), which take into account the proposals of the Greek authorities of 8, 14, 22 and 25 June 2015 as well as the talks at political and technical level throughout the week." (click on the PDF at the bottom of the page)

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On being European

It might just be the case that Greece and not Britain will be the first country to hold a referendum about staying in or leaving the EU, if Grexit became a reality. If Greece were to leave not just the eurozone, but also the EU, this would have repercussions on identity. Greeks have a very ambivalent relationship with the EU, not helped by their constant reference to Europe which does not include Greece. "Europe wants this," 'that's what Europeans do/say", etc.

Judging by the recent photos being spewed across the internet, the Greek people seem to have overwhelmingly supported staying in the Eurozone, and judging by the recent pro-Europe demonstrations, the message these gave was that this is where they want to stay.

Pro-Europe demonstration outside the Greek Parliament, at Syntagma Square, with the Grande Bretagne Hotel in the top right hand corner.

I came across an interesting discussion on the page of a Greek facebook friend, who ridiculed those who took part in the pro-Europe demonstrations because, as he argues, Greeks do not understand what being a European means:

"Europe is all those things that are hated by those who want her just for her money." (Vasilis Sotiropoulos)

He goes on to explain:

"... we never wanted to help shape Europe. We only wanted to participate and to 'benefit', that's all. When did we ever make a serious proposal about an issue that concerned the whole of Europe? When I was an intern in Brussels [the author is a lawyer], all the countries, even the new ones at the time, drew up proposals on issues that concerned Europe as a whole. All we were doing at the same time that this was happening was appointing senior officials to various positions. And we were also asking for solutions to issues that did not concern them as well. We are one of the most isolated and 'umbilically-tied' countries of all the 28 EU countries. And that's diachronically. Europe for us was just a little holiday, somewhere to have a cappuccino. We never ever took the reform process that was going on over there seriously. Yet other countries much smaller than us with smaller geopolitical strength put forward proposals and followed directives. And now we want to support Europe, to save ourselves, and for no other purpose." (Vasilis Sotiropoulos)

It's a rather damning indictment of the way Greeks view Europe. From my own experiences, I tend to agree with the author. I also liked my pensioner uncle's analysis of how Greeks think, as he explained to me yesterday:

"Rules are only for some people. When we take out loans, we are told we have to pay them back. But we see people not paying them back all the time. So what if the government took out a loan? It can't repay it, so it shouldn't bother repaying it. We Greeks don't care for rules. We care only about having lots of money. We don't like ANY rules. Look at the smoking ban: who really abides by it? Go into the kafeneion at the plateia and tell me if no one smokes in it."

But we do know that in other countries of Europe, the smoking ban is kept! So what does that tell us about Greeks? We seem to be a very unruly bunch. So to be European kind of means that we are more law-abiding. But is it truly possible for the average Greek to not support Europe? Are we the cultural outsiders of a concept that we (in the form of Ancient Greeks) invented?

I think Greeks need to get a grip of themselves. They overwhelmingly support staying in Europe, but they don't realise what exactly that entails, apart from monetary benefits. That will only help them in the very short-term. Being a part of the EU is not just about the money. Again, Vasilis Sotiropoulos has a good analysis of what it means to be part of the EU:

"Those that do not want Europe, let alone to stay in it [ie the EU], are those who say that the Lisbon Treaty is the "Protocol for the Zion elders" [ie they are racists], who declared to the UN Commission for Discrimination in 2009 that in Greece there are no Nazi organizations who were opposed to integrating the decision on combating racism through criminal law [Golden Dawn is a member of the opposition in the Greek Parliament], the politicians who revile other states and citizens for their family life [see what MP Nikos Nikolopoulos said about the PM of Luxembourg], those who are in favor of discrimination in family law rights, those who deny the right of ethnic self-identification [Greece has a bad track record concerning immigrants and minority groups], those who were in favor of the confiscation of the former royal property without compensation [the ruling to compensate the former royal family of Greece for property confiscation was sanctified by the European Parliament], those who have adopted the slot machine laws, those who led Greece to fines on landfills and other environmental violations (my own home town is a classic case], those seeking arrests and imprisonments for satirical or fictional reasons that aim at religion [eg theatrical performances being cancelled in just the last 3 years due to fanaticism by those opposed tot he ideas that the performance represented], those who are opposed to electronic voting [many Greeks are still against electronic transactions], those who disagree with the protection of personal data, those who are opposed to generic medications [ditto as for electronic voting], those who are in favor of imprisonment of people without their having been indicted. Such kinds of people want something else." (Vasilis Sotiropoulos)

It's farcical to think that a member of the European Union would not espouse the above values. If they don't, there must be something wrong with them.

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Book quilt

Dear ______,

How are you? We hope you and You-know-who are both well and happy. At the moment, we are in the middle of our school exams. We know that this is a poor excuse to talk to you less often and we feel terrible about this, but we hope this letter makes up for the lost time(s). So far, we have been tested on Maths, Physics, Biology, Modern Greek, Composition, Ancient Greek, Religion, the Odyssey, the Iliad, English (we didn't have to study for that) and German. (Mum helped us to study for that, but she thinks it's not the most useful foreign language to learn. She wants us to learn Chinese during the summer.)

We also think it's time we presented you with a gift. You've given us so many, and all we say is 'Thank you.' It's time we gave you something more tangible, as a keepsake. Actually, Mum made this gift for you, and not for You-know-who, because she says that if she gave it to You-know-who, then You-know-who would probably flog it on e-Bay. That's why Mum made this quilt just for you, to settle the ownership issue. (If she made a bigger quilt for both of you, You-know-who might divide it into two, take one piece and flog that on e-Bay).



We watched Mum making this quilt over the last three weeks. She was working in the living room, while Dad was watching TV and we were studying. (We like studying in the living room, each of us taking up one sofa. Mum says she now wished she had bought us a desk for our rooms from a second hand shop, like her parents did, because it would have been cheaper, since we don't use our desks. But she remembers that when the bedrooms were being renovated, Hania didn't have second-hand shops. There are lots now.) The noise from the sewing machine drove Dad nuts, so she'd take her sewing machine into the kitchen and do her sewing there. We really didn't know what she was sewing at first. It simply looked to us as if she was cutting up fabric and sewing it back together, with totally unmatched colours. We didn't worry so much because we'd seen her doing this before. She's made quilts for all of us. When she started making them, it looked like she was going crazy, cutting up large pieces of material into smaller pieces and then putting them back together again. We could never really see the patterns in the fabric which she could see.


But as the quilts all grew, we began to see what she was making, and we all really liked them. Even the cat liked them. Since there isn't enough space anywhere to lay out a quilt, as she was making each one, she would spread it out on the floor in the living room. The cat would walk around the room slowly and then take a last step on one of the corners of the quilt and sit there. Then we'd go and pick it up off the quilt and put it on the rug, but the cat would go back to the same spot on the quilt. Eventually, it would get the message and leave the quilt alone. But it really did prefer the quilt. (Don't worry about the cat sitting on your quilt: Mum put the quilt in the washing machine when she finished it - it's fully washable. It won't smell of Mum's cooking, either, when she was working in the kitchen on it. Mum always laughs when she reads crafts sites selling 'pet-free, smoke-free' products. "The Western world thinks it can be so sterile," she says.)

We would really like to present you with the quilt ourselves, but travelling is getting a little difficult for us now. We don't want to leave yiayia alone at home. She's in her nineties now, and looks like she's on course to celebrate her 100th birthday. Now that it's not cold, she goes out into the garden and does some weeding, or she looks after her rose bushes. She always cooks for herself, and she washes and irons her own clothes too (by hand). She doesn't take any medications. She says that if she has to take medicines to keep her alive, she'd rather die. But even though she feels so strong for such an old person, we don't feel we can leave her alone on her own while we go away on holiday to see you. So that's why you'll have to come and pick up the quilt yourself. It's time you took a Cretan holiday yourself, come to think of it.

We told Mum that she can go on holiday by herself and take the quilt to you, but she said that the political and economic instability that Greece is going through right now doesn't give us the luxury of making holiday plans. We told her that if she books flights early, she will get a better price, but she said: "Booking flight tickets for a future date just might mean that our holiday plans may coincide with national elections, or the closing down of banks, or even the airports, if things get that bad." We know what an election is, and we heard about the banks in Cyprus not letting you take money out, but we don't know what she means by the airports closing down. She says it has happened before in Greece, in 1974, while she was holidaying in Greece with her parents (and Cyprus was involved in that episode too):

"After three and a half months, our holiday had finally come to an end: our return tickets to New Zealand stated 21 July 1974 as the departure date. On the eve of our departure, we woke up on a hot summer's day in Pireas. It was a local holiday in the neighbourhood, as the district church was celebrating its patron saint, the Prophet Elias. Our bags were packed and ready for our departure the next day. Peace and quiet is expected on holidays, and the neighbourhood was silent. My father's sister told us to get ready to go to church. She was about to prepare a picnic to eat near a park in the churchyard's garden. We turned on the radio to listen to some music. Every single radio station we tuned in to was playing the same pre-recorded message: "... state of war..., ... emergency... γενική επιστράτευση (mobilisation of military forces into combat)..." Now my aunt was worried. Turkey had invaded Northern Cyprus and the Greek airports closed down to all international flights. Overnight, from holidaymakers, we had officially become overstayers." (http://haniadailyphoto.blogspot.gr/2008/07/bad-timing.html)

It's difficult to believe that things like this have happened in our country. We don't feel this fear at all, but our parents tell us these stories about our country's past, and we try to relate these details to the present, but it doesn't always seem to fit in well. We think we have a lot of freedom here, and we can live pretty much how we want, just like you. Mum agrees with that. She says Greece is one of the most democratic countries in the world, and it is little wonder that democracy was invented in Greece. But she also says that too much democracy is not good. Even Dad agrees with her on that one.

Mum says that you should not think of this quilt as a big present, because she made it entirely from scrap material (even the batting) that would have ended up in the wood-fired heater (ready to be used next winter) if she didn't look up the internet for ideas on how to use fabric scraps. "I could make a hundred book quilts if I wanted to, it won't cost me much at all," she said. She says the same things about the food she cooks, too.

We hope you enjoy the book quilt. Till you come to visit us, we will enjoy looking at it.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Austerity cuisine: Life of Pie

My proofreading and translation work often takes me through culinary journeys - here is what I've been working on for a little while now.

The culinary concept of πίτα (PI-ta = 'pie') is an ancient one, and there is no culture in the world that does not have some kind of pie in its culinary repertoire: some kind of filling stuck together or enclosed in a flour-and-water mixture which can be as dry as pastry, or as sludgy as batter. Pie fascinates us because an uncut pie is mysterious, as it does not reveal its contents, so that we have only its aroma to estimate its inner secrets. Like bread, pie is a portable meal, with the added luxury - unlike that of bread - of being a complete meal that does not need assembly. Pie is also one of the most creative culinary offerings of the primitive kitchen. The basic rule in making pie is that there are no rules, hence the pie each person creates can be as original as s/he wants it to be. It is this basic rule that makes the Greek pita so versatile, and so important in culinary history: pie can be as rich - or as poor - as you can afford to make it. And for this reason, pie embodies all the facets of austerity, as it makes use of anything and everything: unlike soup which is an equally austere meal, pie can be carried anywhere and everywhere, so that it can be eaten by the very poorest people working far away from their homes.

The oldest forms of Greek pita may contain just flour and water, with some honey and nuts sprinkled over them, as in saragli from Northern Greece, and xerotigana from Crete:

"The ancient history of the pie in Thrace starts from the sludge created by the mixing of water and flour, i.e. the milled grain. This trophic symbol is to this day in Thrace still called ‘genima’ (birth). This sludge, which was baked in the shields of the warriors of antiquity and in Thrace still continues to be baked on a heated stone or iron surface, to be offered as a ritualistic dish, then became a round dough that is flattened and baked on flat stones. The various ‘palakountia’ and the ‘koptoplakountio’ of the Byzantines, with a pastry sheet on the top and bottom, and a filling of hazelnuts, almonds and honey in between, or the ‘tetyromenoi plakountes', are the first forms of pie, and they are the memories that keep the taste of the spiral-shaped or ‘curly’ pies of Thrace." (cf. Angeliki Giannakidou, Thracian pita)

Most pita ingredients originate from small-scale cultivations of garden vegetables, eggs and milk. Meat pies (kreatopita) have always been considered an extravagance - even today, a meat pita in Greece is usually made for Easter or a special occasion:

"The animals needed to produce the dairy products, usually chicken, sheep and goats, were reared in the household for the purposes of consumption, and it was almost unthinkable that a household would not produce whatever was required in order to feed its members." (cf Maria Fakiola, Corfiot pita)

But producing so much food for the daily needs of the - often large, in past times - family household was very hard work and on a very regular basis, the food supply would be supplemented by nature's offerings, hence the abundance of wild greens in the Greek pita which are used to make hortopita:

"The greens used vary depending on what thrives in every area, and it mainly constituted sorrel, kafkalithres, fennel, sowthistle, chard, galatsides, poppies, myronia, and nettles. These pies are primarily called ‘hortopites’ (Imvros, Molyvos in Lesvos, Chania in Crete, Mykonos and Evia), or ‘lachanopites’ (cabbage pies), ‘marathopites’ (fennel pies) and ‘tsouknidopites’ (nettle pies) according to the filling, while they are referred to as ‘gemostopites’ in Karkinagri of Ikaria." (cf Ourania Rapti, Aegean pita)

Given the nature of the Greek pita - a frugal meal that can be made from virtually anything - pita epitomises austerity:

"... as the economic and cultural activity of a society is heavily influenced by the natural environment, it is only natural that primary ingredients for food meet the circumstances which they define." (cf Eleni Bintsi, Vlach pita)

Yet, despite its economical basis, pita can be dressed up for any occasion. It can take on religious significance and be prepared ritualistically, as in the fanouropita, made in honour of St Fanourios, finder of lost things:

"Fanouropita ... is made with seven ingredients: oil, flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, water. ... From oral accounts we also know that fanouropita can be made with seven or nine ingredients (oil, flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, water, dried fruit, and orange)." (cf Rodoula Stathakis-Koumaris and Chrysafa Tsonou, Gaslaxidi pita) 

Where a paucity of basic ingredients was experienced, both the sweet and savoury could be combined; with the addition of rice and using an intricate manner of rolling the pastry, a 'richer' offering could be produced, as in the case of bubari:

"... bubari is a sweet Lenten pie with a spinach base ... Bubari is a very oily pie, since, in Megara, there has always been an abundant production of olive oil (an ancient variety from Central Greece, local subspecies of ‘Megaritiki’ of Olea europaea  var. Media oblonga, both an oil and table olive). The spinach was grown in local orchards and home vegetable gardens, and the (seeded) raisins used came from a local grape variety with small berries that locals dried in their homes. Traditionally, they did not purchase any of the basic materials, since every family produced its own products, even the flour. In order to both provide a main meal (for lunch) and also prepare enough pie in an economical way for the needs of the family, sometimes rice was added. The most common form of the pie is ‘bubari’, ie rolls in the shape of candy." (cf Maria Kalozoumi, Megara pita)

In line with the concept of austerity, nothing was wasted. Even an ingredient regarded as 'useless', like the unused squash that was left over from the previous autumn and had made it through to the spring, would be treated like royalty, and a special feastday would be assigned to use it all up, as in the kolokithopita (pumpkin pie):

"Kolokithopita in the Messinian town of Thouria is prepared by housewives and consumed only during the first Saturday of Lent, on the feast of Sts. Theodore... The main basis for the preparation is dry yellow squash (pumpkin)." (cf Elli Prasinou-Favvata, Messinia pita)

These days, I myself rarely make a galaktoboureko without adding pumpkin: pumpkin bougatsa and pumpkin galaktoboureko are now standard dishes in our house when I have pumpkin.

When we think of the Greek pita, we usually think of pastry, thick or thin, wrapped round a tasty filling. But making filo pastry is not an easy task, and certainly not an everyday one, so that, and in many cases, there was not enough time to make the filo pastry for a pita, which, in contrast to the pastry, had to be made with some urgency, in order to feed the family and guests. Thus, in many cases, we see recipes for self-crusting pita:

"The Peloponnesian mountainous hinterland is a place with a long tradition in sheep and goat breeding, both transitional and permanent. In the mountainous area of Olympia, namely in a small village just outside Andritsena, the Alifeira (Rogkozio), I tried two milk-based pies. Both summarize the most characteristic element of the food traditions of Morea - and in general, of Greece: austerity. This was manifested in the korkofigki, made during the period when lambs and goats are born, at the beginning of winter; and galopita, prepared with special care, mainly on Holy Saturday, to be eaten as a dessert at the festive table on Easter Sunday. Its flavor reminds one of galaktoboureko (Greek custard pie), but without containing pastry or syrup. (cf Yiannis N. Drinis, Peloponnesian pita)

"The types of pie are many and various: pies with home-made pastry, the leading role played by the hortopita (with wild greens collected from the region and spinach), as well as cheese pie, spiral pie known as ‘strifti’ (with cheese and sugar), milk pie and porridge pies such as mamaligka and bambanetsa. The name mamaligka is known in the Balkans and refers to a sludgy porridge mixture made with cornmeal. Mamaligka is a custom of Fthiotida, made with a kind of porridge originating from wheat flour to which cheese and zucchini or pumpkin are added. It is not covered with pastry, but egg is brushed over it, mixed with oil and sugar. It is thin, so as to cook quickly, and it is always cooked till the top is crusty." (cf Fotini Tsonou, Lamia pita)

The pies described above remind me of zimaropita, which a friend taught me how to make.

Often, pita is made with the poorest of ingredients - wild greens, foraged from the countryside, a sign in older times that one did not have enough food of one's own for the nutritional needs of one's family.  Identifying greens in the countryside is almost a dying art, but now with the crisis, it has had a revival. Wild greens make the most aromatic, the most redolent, and the most highly prized pita:

"Most pies in the Cyclades are made in the spring, since the nature of the area in the spring generously offers a wide variety of wild and domesticated leafy greens. (cf Nikoleta Delatola Foskolou, Cycladic pita)

Where wood is scarce, as in the Cycladic islands, pita is not baked, but fried in individual portion-size pieces, which requires less cooking time:

"The ‘seskoulopita’ or ‘seskoulopitaki’, a sweet pie, is made in Tinos at Christmas. Seskoulopitaki is based on chard, but also contains walnuts and raisins. It is flavored with ground cinnamon and cloves, and chopped mandarin, and is sweetened with molasses and a little sugar. The filling is wrapped in handmade pastry kneaded with orange juice, egg and oil. If the recipe is made as a larger pie, it is usually baked in the oven, whereas when individual serving-sized seskoulopitakia are made, they are fried, and then sprinkled with powdered sugar." (cf Nikoleta Delatola Foskolou, Cycladic pita)

These smaller pies require a lot of work, which is often done collectively:

"Such a task becomes monumental because the preparation of these desserts is time-consuming; since most women on the island have to prepare several dishes for the festive Easter table, they tend to make them in groups to help each other. Hence, they go together in groups of 2-3, maybe more, depending on the number of pies they have to make. Every woman assumes a role, depending on her skills. Some deal with the rolling out of the pastry, others with the preparation of the filling, another with the "pinching" of the pastry into a thin pleat." (cf Nikoleta Delatola Foskolou, Cycladic pita)

Small pita, and self-crusting pita, are the traditional pita offerings from the island of Crete, and they are all fried in olive oil which is found in abundance all over the island:

"With a focus on the local ingredients and cooking methods, the most widespread pies in the countryside and the urban centres of Crete are the pies cooked in a pan, like the ‘hortopites’ (wild greens), marathopites (dominated by fennel), cheese pies (sour, sweet or savoury with mint), ‘nerates mizithropites’ (the dough is fried while still wet), ‘sarikopites’, ‘agn(i)opites’,  ‘kreatotourtes’ (meat pies), the pies of Sfakia, etc. A second category is the baked pies, like ‘tzoulamas’ (dominated by rice), ‘mizithrompoureko’, the light pies that remind one of cake, with the most popular one being raisin pie, etc." (cf Angeliki Baltatzi, Cretan pita)

My favorite kind of pastry pita is one that uses filo pastry in between the filling. It is a favorite all over mainland Greece:

"In Zagori, pies with pastry contain 5-6 thin sheets. Two-three are laid on the baking sheet and brushed with a little oil, one is tucked between the ‘anademi’ (filling), baked dry in the oven to hold the excess liquids, and another two to cover the pie." (cf Calliope Stara, Zagori pita)

This is the kind of pita that I make the most often for my household. These days, we rarely cook pita in the electric oven - the austerity lifestyle forced on us bought back the wood-fired heater into our home and our one comes with an oven compartment. I also make pita in the cooler seasons - heating up the home in summer is unthinkable!

We often think of pita as mainly a gender-oriented task, a woman's job. The solitary life of the Aegean fishermen proves this not to be the case. Their fish pie was probably fresher than the pita their wives served them when they came back home:

"The ‘atherinopita’ (smelt pie) of Kimolos is a dish that is found in several islands of the Cyclades... It started as a recipe made by fishermen who, when they got a good catch, held onto a part of it to make this ‘instant’ pie. The fish mainly used for the preparation of the pie is mostly the thin grey-blue 'sea spray’, called ‘atherina’ (Atherina hepsetus). Its length varies between 8 and 15 cm. They also prepared the same pie to take with them when they went out fishing. They would often make it in their boat. It's a pie that is very simple, easy and quick to make, with small fish, flour and onion, which, as they are mixed together and fried over a hot fire with plenty of olive oil, form a kind of pie." (cf Nikoleta Delatola Foskolou, Cycladic pita)

The importance of having the appropriate pie-making skills is also exemplified in the many proverbs and sayings that abound in the regional dialects of Greece:

- «πίτα έχεις; έννοια έχεις» "You got pie? You have passion" meaning the daily care and constant attention needed for the preparation of a meal,

- «πότε πίτα και φλασκί, πότε πίτα μοναχή» "Sometimes pie and flask, sometimes pie alone" concerning the adequacy or otherwise of provisions (sometimes, we have wine to drink with our pie, but other times, we will have just the pie),

- «πίτα ’κεί που μέλλεσαι και όχι εκεί που ψένεσαι» "Pie for where you will go, and not where you want to go" when something ends up at another recipient other than the one it was intended for,

- «όπου πεινά, πίτες θωρεί, κι όπου διψά, πηγάδια» "Whenever hungry, he sees pies, and whenever thirsty, wells", 

- «από πίτα που δεν τρως, τι σε μέλλει κι αν καεί;»"Of the pie that you will not eat, why do you care if it burns?", 

- «πόσες βουκιές είν’ η πίτα; κατά το δαγκανιάρη» "How many mouthfuls is that pie? It depends on the biter" in reference to the truth or the result of a project),

- «ο καθείς την πίτα του για αφεντιά την έχει» "Each one to his own pie", with the a similar meaning to the 'an Englishman's home is his castle', 

- «η πίτα που θα μ’ ευφράνει αφ’ το φούρνο φαίνεται» "The pie that I will indulge in can be seen from the oven", meaning that we usually know how something will turn out,

- «ζεστή είναι η πίτα νόστιμη» "The pie is delicious when it’s warm" for the importance of timely action. (cf Ourania Rapti, Aegean pita)

Indeed, where would be without pita? 

I have not included any photos in this post, but if you would like to look up some of the recipes mentioned, many are given in my blog. Choose the underlined words in the above text, paste them in the search box on the top left-hand side, and you will find photos and recipes of similar pies as those being discussed here. Click here for a set of photos showing the many different kinds of pita I make. 

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Lovely view

Last Sunday saw me driving to Rethimno where I took a walk through the old town, before picking up my daughter from her basketball meet. There were a lot of tourists walking in the same places where I went. Here are some of my photos.

The tourist: Beautiful view! 

Me: Where's that sewer smell coming from? 

The tourist: A lovely quiet taverna overlooking the sea!

Me: How legal is the location of that restaurant?

The tourist: Graffiti! Ugh!

Me: Hm. I do indeed smell a rat. 

The tourist: This is so romantic!

Me: This is bound to be over-priced.

The tourist: So close to the water's edge! 

Me: Too close to the water's edge.

The tourist: Looks so fresh!

Me: How long has it been sitting there?

The tourist: The perfect spot!

Me: Paying for the view.

The tourist: Souvenirs!

Me: Kitsch.

The tourist: Nice vintage stuff!

Me: No price tags, ie I probably can't afford it.

The tourist: That sounds cheap!

Me: The dolmadakia are probably canned.

The tourist: Coffee in the shade...

Me: ... right next to the roar of the roadside.

The tourist: Oh... can't they replace it?

Me: The most perfectly designed flag ever. It will never need replacing.   

Greece can be lovely to look at, but these days, it is very challenging living here.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Quilting

About mid-March, I decided that it really was about time I started using my fabric stashes, mainly made up of cheap remnants and used clothing whose fabric I liked. A number of items could not be used for The Greek Collection, as they did not feel very Greek to me, even though most of my fabric stash has been collected here. This past winter, I started making things out of my fabric collection, with the internet as my guide, and I still can't believe how fast I am - in just 8 weeks' time, I have made 3 large quilts, and completed a number of smaller patchwork projects in between, recycling and upcycling various items lying around the house.

The arts of quilting and patchwork are not at all well known in modern-day Crete, although there are now quilting groups all over the country (mostly headed by non-Greeks!). Since I've never quilted before, I didn't expect my fabric projects to go so well and get finished so quickly. We usually procrastinate over such tasks. In the past, all I did was small patchwork projects, without any quilting. I've now discovered that quilting using a simple made-for-home-use sewing machine is not at all easy because it involves pushing very thick (and often wide) fabric through a limited amount of space between the machine motor and the needle. This made my arms and back ache. But it was worth it!

My first project was a small mat, as a way to get back into patchwork, after a long break from it. I had made a patchwork armchair cover many years ago, using cheap fabric remnants bought in Athens back in the drachma days from a store that sold sheet and curtain fabric. (Such stores are long gone now.) The cover was all hand-stitched. It had gotten rather tired looking, and was eventually replaced by a store-bought cover. But I didn't want to discard my old patchwork given the amount of time I had put into making it. So I cut a piece and used it as backing material for a quick patchwork denim mat, made from my kids' old jeans. The light padding all came from remnants I had picked up from a mattress maker in Hania when we bought new mattresses for our kids' beds. This whole project took me just one afternoon, thanks to the sewing machine stitching.
Cost: just the electricity I needed to machine-sew it.

I decided to get craftier and tried a more advanced patchwork pattern, again using fabric remnants. I made another small mat for the bathroom based on a design called 'fake cathedral windows', as it is known among patchwork circles. More old denim was recycled, and the 'windows' were made using fabric scraps that were very small and practically useless and would otherwise have been thrown out. Again, the cost was virtually zilch.

My children had been watching me working on my patchwork projects throughout the winter, and they liked the idea of a quilt of their own, made by their mother. They have never had a quilt, mainly because my own mother left me a lot of blankets (we use what we have!). Quilts feel almost like a luxury to us. Having never quilted before, I decided to do a sample quilt using plain fabric which was not patchworked. The first quilt I made was for my son. The whole family loved it!

The designer fabric is called Tournament by Jane Churchill, acquired at a garage sale in Brockley, London, on a balmy September day as I walked through the area last year. My son is a fencer, so I immediately imagined these knights gracing his bedroom in some way. The red fabric has a medieval look to it - it was bought at a fabric store in Athens (more drachma days) and I used to use it as a sofa cover while I lived in Athens. The blue-white floral fabric used for the binding came from an upholstery remnants store in Hania.
Cost: designer fabric - £5; red fabric 1000 drachma; binding €1.50; €20 euro for the batting, from a local mattress maker. 

Before moving to Greece, I had bought a cheap king size quilt made of Indian cotton at a Wellington shop called Narnia. (I don't know if it's still trading - it was one of my favorite stores.) I have been using this quilt since I bought it, but it's now feeling rather old and needs repairing/replacing. During our New Zealand holiday 11 years ago, I bought some NZ-based fabric designs which were found in the remnants stash at the well-known Nancy's Embroidery store. I remember Nancy from her time in James Smiths (mention of this name does age me - James Smiths closed just before I left NZ). I embarked on a rather ambitious project using the 'disappearing nine-patch' patchwork technique. I needed 25 square blocks for the finished quilt top.

 Close ups of the main fabric used in the NZ based quilt. I didn't let any material go wasted by making squares from off cuts. 

Since the NZ designs were not enough to make a king size quilt, I bought some more fabric which had a NZ look to it from ebay sellers, eg shells, pebbles, (green coloured) sea, among others. I also cut up a NZ tea towel with a map of NZ on it. The sashing and binding were made using remnants from the local upholstery store, some cheap fabric bought in Athens during the drachma days, a used clothing item from the street market in Hania, and a batik design gifted to me by an Indonesian student while I was studying in NZ. The mattress maker sold me some more ready-lined padding, which meant that I didn't have to do most of the quilting myself. This was a very big project, so that was quite helpful. Most quilters leave the quilting part to professionals who use long-arm sewing machines, while others have computerised machines which are programmed to create intricate designs. (Maybe my next model!)

Cost: 3 metres of ready to use wadding - €35; NZ fabric designs from NZ - approx. NZ$22; ebay fabrics - £20; remnants/used clothing - approx. €10, plus a thousand (or so) drachma; the batik was bought in Indonesian rupiah. This really was quite an international project. 

The reverse side of the quilts did not need any fabric, thanks to the mattress maker. I took my quilt tops to him so that he could measure them and advise me on what I can use to pad them. In Hania, we have quite a few mattress makers, thanks to the tourist industry. A quick check on ebay confirmed that I would have paid roughly the same price for this wadding. (I'm not sure about how the quality compares - what I bought seems quite good).

The reverse side of the two quilts looks like this - the white cotton fabric was already sewn onto the wadding and I simply quilted the top side onto the ready-lined fabric.

My latest quilt project was for my daughter. It was made using fabrics I had bought on a whim while visiting Brighton on New Year's Day, walking through the Lanes (a bit like Hania's old town), where my eye caught a glimpse of some nifty floral fabric made into pyjamas which were displayed on clothes hangers. I decided to check out the store just because I liked the fabric, which turned out to be none other than a Cath Kidston fabric designer outlet. Rather overpriced of course (8 fat quarters for 25 pounds/30 euro), but I couldn't help myself.

On returning home, I decided that the fabrics looked a little too kitsch for my tastes. but my daughter loved them. I've used some of the CKs in my daughter's quilt - she chose the 'raggedy quilt' design. The CK fabrics were not enough for the quilt, so I had to add fabric obtained from all sorts of places: some skirts my daughter had grown out of, clothes bought from local second hand stores, 'old ladies' dresses (we call them 'robes') bought at the laiki, some fabric remnants that I had since my NZ days (off cuts from a dollmaker), as well as some cheap fabrics from my local suppliers. Some of the fabric that went into this quilt is over forty years old. With the use of so many different fabrics which can be traced to the very beginnings of my interest in patchwork, this quilt quite unexpectedly became a memory quilt.

Although the raggedy quilt design looked rather easy, it proved quite a challenge. It requires a lot of cutting and sewing, and trimming of threads. It becomes quite a heavy quilt to work with piece by piece, and gives you sore arms and backache. But I guess the end result was well worth it. I bound the quilt with fabric from a pink linen skirt in my wardrobe, last worn a decade ago.

When I buy clothes for patchwork, I always buy XL sizes and never pay more than 1-3 euro per item, at the street market and second hand stores (sometimes, the clothes are new, from previous seasons or store clearances). Upholstery remnants sell for all sorts of prices, but again, I go for the larger pieces, selling at 1.50-3.50 euros a piece. The bonus of the raggedy quilt design is that the padding for it could all be made from off-cuts from the mattress maker, so I didn't need to buy any. When I bought the padding for the other quilts, I was allowed to take all the off cuts that I could carry which were strewn around the workshop. Everything on the floor in the photo below went into the boot of my car.

Cost: second-hand clothes - 10 euro; upholstery remnants - 10 euro; Cath Kidston fabrics - 20 pounds; padding - free. 

During a recent window-shopping experience, I checked out the prices of  store-bought quilts. At the supermarket, you can get a simple king size quilt for 35-40€; similar prices can be found in the home stores. These quilts are padded, with one fabric on one side, another on the other side, simple binding and an elaborate machine-sewn design.  I can quite easily keep my quilt costs very low, but the real cost of home quilting is not based on the cost of the fabrics alone. Thank goodness for the invention of the sewing machine, which means that I can sew as fast as I can collect fabric that I like to work with. There are more quilt projects scheduled for the summer when I can work outdoors. These quilts will all be specially designed with certain people in mind. Watch this space.

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