This and That

These are my Valentine flowers from my best friend; my husband. They were bundled like a sweet nose gay. The housekeepers here at the flat in Romania tell me that they are the traditional flower that is given on Valentine's Day. I am blessed to be married to my best friend.

We did some sightseeing this past weekend. We went down to the railroad station and were lucky enough to see a train pull in. Wow, you have to be fast to get on or off as the train only stays in the station for a minute or two. There is a platform but you have to cross some of the tracks to get to it. This is me outside of the train station. Cernavoda is the town we are staying in while we are in Romania. It is about a two hour drive from Bucharest and thirty minutes from the Black Sea . It was very cold but we still had fun poking around town. The town has a bunch of stores, but no department stores or mega markets as we know them in the States. The stores are small but carry everything you need. I found a lovely store that sells fabric (a necessity for me as a quilter), thread, yarn and laces. I had to buy a few meters so I can make a quilt with Romanian fabric. The fabric is a very nice weight cotton. It is fun to poke around in each store to see what they have.

February already

Here we are again in Romania. It felt a bit like coming home as we drove from the airport to our flat. We will be here for 90 days this time.

I brought the small sewing machine that Bruce gave me for Christmas so I plan on finishing several projects that I brought with me. This little machine (Janome Sew Mini) has straight and zigzag stitches and weighs less that 5 lbs. I also brought my little 10.5 inch lap top which is great for traveling. I took a picture of my lap top and sewing machine with Bruce's red 15 inch lap top to show you how small the machine is. Don't be fooled by the size as it sews like a dream. I know it won't quilt through many layers, but for piecing it truely is great. I had no difficulty getting it through airport security at home or in Europe. I had to take the lap top out of the case, but not the sewing machine. I just love technology, don't you?

Square Dance Quilt

I belong to the Learning Fiber Arts Yahoo Group. This group holds on-line classes and this quilt top is the result of one of the classes. There are many different classes held through out the year and all of them are free. I highly recommend the group if you like to learn new skills.

I do hope 2009 is a great year for everyone.

It is Saturday

We will be going home next Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. I love to travel but it is always good to get home. I am very glad that I was able to come back to Romania and see some of the wonderful people that I met the first time. I am looking forward to visiting my Mom in January.

Thanksgiving makes me feel like I should name all of my blessings. Of course there are too many to name all of them but the few that come to mind are named below. One of them is my loving Mom who helped to make me what I am today. There is also my husband who stands beside me no matter what. I am very lucky to be married to my best friend. My children are also a blessing. Each one is a unique and wonderful adult. I have a beautiful grandson who comes to spend some time with me each year or I go to him.

No matter how bad things get in my country, I know I am blessed to be an American. I live in the land of the free because of the brave men and women that keep it that way. I have the freedom to attend the church of my choice without fear. I don't have my rose colored glasses on and I am aware of the economic issues facing our country as well as the rest of the world, but I have faith in us to carry on and overcome the issues. It won't be easy, but we have pulled out before and will this time.

Romania

We have been here for a week. This past weekend we explored Adamclisi and it's museum and also Capidava. It was a real thrill to walk along the ruins from the ancient Roman fort and city. I noticed that they had done some more digging since we were here last spring. Romania is a country that has done well in preserving ancient history.

When I go to the store it feels like a treasure hunt. I can't read most of the labels but the pictures are pretty self explanatory. Some of the brands in the market are the same as we have in the States (Hellmann's, Nestles, Knorr). All of the eggs that I have found so far are brown, which I think is pretty funny since I used to pay a preium for them in the States.

Going back to Romania

I'm so excited that we are going back to Romania for the month of November. We booked our airline seats. Last night we had a co-worker of my husband's for dinner. He will be going to Romania also, but had never been there before. My husband showed him our pictures and now he is excited to go. I am working on a cross stitch wall hanging for my husband that I will take with me. I won't have house work to do so I hope to finish it and have it framed when we get back home.

Tomorrow we leave Ohio for home. It has been a good trip. I have more information about my Dad's family now but I know there is lots more to learn. I do wish I had been able to meet a relative or two, but I did not know how to go about finding anyone. I will continue to seek and I hope to find someone soon. Maybe our next trip to Ohio will be the time we meet some relatives.

On Monday I fly out to California to meet with my daughters for a week of play (Disney Land, Universal Studios, Medieval Times) so that should be fun. I will be home of a week before leaving for Romania.

Ohio is beautiful, but I miss my sewing machine!

I'm in Ohio for 2 weeks and my sewing machine is home in Wisconsin. I have been working on some angel blocks for an internet swap and have to hand stitch them. I will post pictures as soon as I have finished the blocks.

Below are some really neat internet sites that I like to use. Sindy is the lady that is hosting the angel swap.

If you like to applique you should check out http://www.fatcatpatterns.com/ (one of my favorite sites.) Sindy has some wonderful designs and is very gracious in giving them away!

I have a very large stash on fabric as many others do also. I belong to Stash Busters (a yahoo group) that also hosts a web site (http://www.stashbuster.com/). Come along and have some fun while shopping you stash before visiting your local quilt shop.

If you are like me and have a rather large collection of scraps please check out Bonnie's site at http://quiltville.com/index.html. Bonnie has some great ideas on stash busting and usinge all of the bits and pieces left over from quilt making. She has a great 'scrap using' storage system and many quilt patterns that she gives away.