Back to the real world

So sorry it has been so long since I posted.

We went on vacation and I was ill when we got back to our flat in Romania. I am feeling a bit better, but still not fully recovered. I haven't felt like doing anything so I have no quilting to show.

Our vacation was great. We flew into Brussels. From there we took the train to London and to Paris then back to Brussels. I found some great fabric shops in Brussels and Paris and of course had to bring some of the fabric home with me. I had not visited any of these cities so each one was a new experience. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, to the Tower of London, the Atomium, Notre Dame, St Paul's and many more landmarks. I'm adding some eye candy for you:

Hopefully I will have some quilting or sewing to report soon, until then

May God Bless you and keep you safe

Back to life

We had our week at home! It went by so fast that it didn't feel like a week, but just a few days. I didn't get to visit with everyone that I wanted to so I am feeling sorry for myself. On a brighter note, I did visit with my quilting friend. She has been very busy creating quilts and purses. I always get inspired by her creations.

We have been back in Romania for almost a week and I am just now starting to feel free from jet lag. There is an eight hour difference between home and here. My favorite airport in Europe (so far) is Amsterdam. This is just one of the control towers. The airport is very large and it takes a long time just to taxi from the runway to the boarding area. There is also great shopping in the airport. Bucharest airport is becoming a favorite also. They have just enlarged it and the architecture is really lovely in the extension. They also added a lovely place to eat when they extended the building.

This stack of fabric will become a quilt for our youngest daughter. She picked the fabric a long time ago and I hope she will be very surprised to receive a finished quilt. It has been so long that I doubt she will remember picking the fabric. As my blog says, I am a very slow quilter. I love the process and I don't like rushing just to finish a quilt. Each quilt that I make is filled with love and prayers for the person who will receive it. Well, I better get cutting if I am going to finish this one.

until next time
May God Bless You and Keep You Safe

Getting ready to fly

We will be flying home on Friday! We will be flying back to Romania the following Saturday so next week will be very busy for us. I love going home, but I don't like the fact that it takes 20 to 24 hours to get there. I don't like waiting in airport lounges, but that is better than having to run though the airport to catch a connection. We usually fly through Amsterdam and then Detroit or Minneapolis so there are waits in each of the airports before we get home to Green Bay.

I will pick up several UFOs from home and bring them back with me to Romania. We purchased a new sewing machine last weekend. It has 16 different stitches and is bigger than the one that I brought with me. I have had to use a transformer with the one I had because of the power in Europe is different than that at home in the States. The manual for this machine is in Romanian so I sent a little prayer of thanksgiving for pictures which allowed me to thread it. It sews very nice and is quieter than the one I was using. I still need to experiment with the other options because I can not read the manual and a search on-line did not provide any help. As you can see from the pictures my space for sewing is very limited, but I am thankful that I have any space at all. I can't imagine not being able to sew while we are here. We have 2 lap tops and a printer/scanner on the table that seats 4 so it is pretty crowded. Yes, that is the quilt top that I have been working on and should have completed already. I must be the worlds slowest quilter! I am also posting a close up picture of my machine so you can see the color. It's purple, my favorite color!

until next time
God Bless you and keep you safe

Technology...

I have a love/hate relationship with technology. Showing my age I can say, I remember when the computers filled a room, but didn't have any disk space or very much memory. I remember life without Microsoft! I remember when sewing machines had just straight stitches. I barely remember life without television and definitely remember when t.v. was black and white only. Wow, have we come a long way in a short time. Or have we....

Sometimes I miss writing a letter and waiting weeks for a response from a pen pal. I loved receiving a handwritten letter, but I do like the quick response that I get from e-mail. I also love Skype and the way I can see the person who I am talking to no matter where in the world each of us are at the time. And now with the new cell phones, I-pad or I-pod touch we have face time.

I learned to sew on a Singer Featherweight sewing machine when I was twelve. My Mom taught me and I must say, she had the patience of a saint. I continued sewing on that machine and when I married and moved out my Mom gave me the machine. I don't use it often, but I do keep it serviced. I prefer to use my Juki for patchwork and my Pfaff for embroidery. Come to think of it, I also used to embroider by hand and not machine. Those were the days! Well, I still do embroidery by hand but not as much as I used to.

I created all of my own clothes while attending high school and made most of my daughters clothes when they were young. Now I quilt because it is more fun. I love being part of the quilting world. Quilters are the best. Talking about quilting, I guess I better get back to my quilt top because it isn't going sew itself.

Until next time,
may God Bless you and keep you safe

Where did the time go?

It is Tuesday already and I haven't sewn since last Wednesday. I have no excuse, I wish I could say we were gone, but we weren't.

I did make my goal of getting all of the blocks completed for the quilt that I am working on, but I only got one column sewn together. I am working on getting the rest of the columns and rows sewn so I can finish the boarders and take the top home with me to be quilted. I really want to finish it this year so I can send it to my son by Christmas.

I have been reading and watching the horrible news from Japan. It seems with technology the world gets smaller and foreign lands seem so much closer than they did before social networks, u-tube and other types of media. The horror of the earthquake is so real because of technology. I have friends on Face Book that I have never met, but feel as though I know them because we have like interest and converse the same way I used to with pen-pals in my youth. My prayers are with everyone that has been effected by the tragedy.

Until next time
may God Bless you and keep you safe

A visit from the breakfast club and International Women's Day

I had a visit from the breakfast club this morning when I opened my door at 6AM. These 3 cats belong to the neighborhood and many of us feed them when they show up at our doors. You can see that none of the cats are under fed. As you can see from the date stamp my camera is still on central time which is my home time. It really was this morning and not yesterday that the picture was taken. I always forget to change it until I see the wrong date on a photo but by then it is too late.

In case you didn't know, yesterday was International Women's Day and here in Romania it is well celebrated. The women in my town of Cernavoda take over the restaurants and party together and the men know better than to interfere. It does marks the contributions of women to the world. If you want to know more about this day follow this link http://www.internationalwomensday.com/ it has a bunch of information. I am a firm believer in sisterhood and the power of women to make a difference when we band together. It makes no difference where you were born or how you were raised if you are a woman you have a shared commonality with other women of the world.

Today I start to sew the rows and columns together for the quilt that I am working on. I have a good idea for the borders but will have to see what the quilt tells me when I am finished sewing the blocks together. I am thrilled to have all of the blocks completed as the mock friendship star had many pieces, but I am satisfied with the way they came together. I only hope no one looks real close because not all of the corners match. I love each step to making a quilt and get more excited as each step is completed. As I see it I am starting step 4 sewing the rows and columns together.

until next time
God bless you and keep you safe

SCORE!

Sorry if I seem too excited but I just got back from the market with some bacon! Well, it isn't really the same as the bacon we get it the States, but it is close. It isn't as cured or salty and it is extremely thin cut. I love bacon and egg sandwiches or BLT's when I can get lettuce, but getting lettuce is very difficult also. I am so spoiled and I didn't even know it. I found out how spoiled I am by living in Romania for the last 3 years. I plan my menu for the week but I may not be able to get all of the ingredients so I have learned to be flexible. There are so good things here that we don't have or command a higher price in the States. Brown eggs are the only eggs you can buy here and at home, if you can get them, are a much higher price than the white ones. Virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar are very inexpensive here but command a higher price at home.

Well, I'm off to cook my bacon. There wasn't any lettuce so I guess it will be bacon and egg sandwich for lunch.

until next time
God Bless you