Long weekend - IHSW Nov Report

Hello, it's me again with my cross stitch and travelling stories :)

Last weekend was a long weekend in Jordan because we were observing 1st of Muharram (Islamic New Year) on Thursday and as usual the normal weekend in Jordan is Friday and Saturday.
However I couldn't do much stitching. I took Dilara to a friend house for a regular-once a week religion studies. We have decided its time for her to learn some about our religion and last Thursday was her first day. In Indonesia usually the children learn earlier, they go to an Islamic school, Islamic kindergarten, or go to Qur'an school in the afternoon after normal school, or invite a teacher for private lesson at home. Me an another Indonesian arranged for a teacher to come once a week in one of our houses (one day in my house and next week would be in her house, and so forth). Her daughter is attending the same school with Dilara, the same class and in fact Rania is Dilara's BFF so its perfect (except because they are so close so they easily distracted during lesson and couldn't wait for the lesson to finish so they can play). The teacher is the wife of an Indonesian student undertaking his master degree in Amman, we want the lesson to be in Indonesian language to encourage our children to understand and speak more of Indonesian.

On Friday we went to a housewarming party of Indian friends (YUM YUM and SUPER YUMMY food!) and on Saturday we went to Madaba and Mt. Nebo.

About stitching, I finally finished my Baby Kitty project. I hate this project a lot because so many white and white, and the stitch didnt show until I made the backstitch (and LOTS of tiny BACKSTİTCHES!)

Last July IHSW I made them up to this:

now completed:

so cute! my favourite part is the bottle :) I am thinking to make it as a cushion cover but I am not sure if I can sew it. I am planning to buy a sewing machine. I like brother but they are not available in Jordan. I read so many bad reviews about Singer (and many sweing machine sellers in Amman said so even though they are selling them), so I was interested when I see Janome L393. There isn't any particular review about it but in general Janome has a good reputation. I only unsure whether I could operate it or not because I never operate any seweing machine in my life. For singer there are many instruction videos on youtube and some of them come with DVD. What do you think? please help... I really want to turn it int something so Dilara could learn her alphabets from it.

And I also completed the whole part of Margaret Sherry's Furry Friends from Themealicious Jumanji June:

now only backstitch left, finger crossed I could do it before this month ended :)

Some my pics from visiting Madaba and Mount Nebo: (information taken from http://www.visitjordan.com)

Just 30km from Amman, along the 5,000-year-old Kings´ Highway, is one of the most memorable places in the Holy Land. After passing through a string of ancient sites, the first city you reach is Madaba, known as the “City of Mosaics."


Best known for its spectacular Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, Madaba is home to the famous 6th century Mosaic Map of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. With two million pieces of vividly coloured local stone, it depicts hills and valleys, villages and towns as far as the Nile Delta.

The Madaba Mosaic Map covers the floor of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, which is located northwest of the city centre. The church was built in 1896 AD, over the remains of a much earlier 6th century Byzantine church. The mosaic panel enclosing the Map was originally around 15.6 X 6m, 94 sq.m., only about a quarter of which is preserved.

The Shrine of the Beheading of St John the Baptist

We also visited Mount Nebo:

on a clear day you can see Jerusalem from the highest point of the mountain, Syagha. Unfornately the monastery and basilica were closed (under renovation)

According to the final chapter of Deuteronomy, Mount Nebo is where the Hebrew prophet Moses was given a view of the Promised Land that God was giving to the Hebrews. "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho." (Deuteronomy 34:1).

According to Jewish and Christian tradition, Moses was buried on this mountain by God himself, and his final resting place is unknown. Scholars continue to dispute whether the mountain currently known as Nebo is the same as the mountain referred to in the Torah.

Islamic belief holds that Musa (Moses) was buried not on the mountain but a few kilometres to the west, somewhere beyond the River Jordan.

The Serpentine Cross sculpture (the Brazen Serpent Monument) atop Mount Nebo was created by Italian artist, Giovanni Fantoni. It is symbolic of the bronze serpent created by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9) and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified (John 3:14).

***** many thanks, terima kasih, sağol, شُكْرًا