Day Trip

We decided to take a short day trip to the Alsace yesterday.  It was lovely, even if we did not get to do all that was planned.

We managed to stop off at a artisan's shop that is the last of its kind produce the area's traditional linen called Kelsch.  It is a lovely shop with lots of tempting linen.  They also produce linen for stitching, and it is wonderful!

On the top is their traditional linen line, on the bottom its ALL linen for cross stitch.  If you interested in exploring their site it can be found here :  Tissage Gander

They have some very nice colors and their linen count is approximately as follows :  25, ~27, 30, 35, 37.5, 47.5 and 55 count.   At the current Euro price their linen is very reasonably priced - about $43.00 for a piece measuring a little over 1 x 2 yards.  

Here is what I managed to escape with :

The top two will me made into table runners.  The rest... well, big plans people, big plans....

Our next stop was a bust, unfortunately.  We wanted to see the massive underground WWI fort but we missed the tour, and that is the only way you can view the fort.  It is situated high up on a hill and is so large that with the 2.5 hour tour you only get to see about 1/20th of the entire thing.  Pretty impressive. 

Well, since that was a no go, we headed for Strassbourg for some dinner.  Here we are at the restaurant:

You can see that my friend Margit came along - which was quite nice.  

Strassbourg has a wonderful cathedral which I tried to photograph, but the church is so large the and surrounding square was not large enough for me to get the building into one photo so here are some just so you can get an idea of its beauty.

In this square was a house that really captured my fancy.

Here is a close-up.

It is difficult to see, but every panel has some sort of pattern on it.  It was a stunning house.

After dinner we found a cheese shop - you can't go to France and not buy cheese.

All the goat cheese you could want.

This was the cow milk section - lots of it made with raw milk.  This is what I bought:

A lovely local raw milk camenbert which won a gold medal at some cheese show in Paris ( so the lady in the shop told me - and boy, was she proud)  some really fantastic fresh goat cheese  and some older goat cheese with a lavender blossom accent.  Qn the edge you can see my crusty french bread that I ate these cheeses on today for lunch.  It was quite delicious!

I leave you with some pics of our wonderdog Mia who soon will be auditioning for the circus if Olivia has her way...

Cloudy with a Chance....

Its cloudy  - and I am not referring to my view out the window, although its cloudy there too.

No, no I am referring to this:

The never-ending cloud - most Sundays I take out this bad boy and stitch away - cloud, cloud, cloud... since I do not possess any of those smoking needles that Siobahn, Margaret or Robert have this  might take a while -  a looooong while.  It will be great though when it is done, until I get to the dreaded grass portion at the end.  My super optimistic  PIC( partner in crime) on the ATSSS ( And They Sinned Sunday SAL) -  can you tell Army life is getting to me ; they have abbreviations for EVERYTHING - pointed out to me that the grass was probably worse than the cloud - yay, something to look forward to.   I personally think that I will be so excited to get be nearing the end that I will just whip right through the grass ( yeah, right..)

On to other finishes.  I stitched these little SB kits while in bed with the worst of the Pleurisy.

Don't know how I will finish them yet.

I also managed to finish Jenny Bean.... finally!!

I stitched the some of the verse during the Pleurisy crisis - it seemed appropriate.

On the quilting end of business here is what I have been working on:

I finished my first quilt top called Ashley's Journey using Charisma fabric - I still need to applique some chunky flowers onto it. , but I love it.  Most of the seams meet exactly - although I did cut the squares a 1/2 inch too small.... that is what I get for not going back and reading the pattern before I whizzed along with my rotary cutter.  

I also did a table runner with Varna fabric, which was fun.

It is not perfect, as you can see, but it is my first quilted project done completely on my own.  The next one will be better.  You can actually make three table runners out of one charm pack.  Pretty neat. 

That is it for today - we are getting ready to enjoy a 4 day weekend here, on Monday we are going on a outing to the Alsace ( France).  I am looking forward to it.  

Although I have steered clear of any political comments on this blog, I do want to mention that President Obama's decision as the Commander-in-Chief not to attend the Memorial Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetary in favor of R&R in Chicago greatly pains and saddens me.  I hope everyone enjoys Memorial Day, and thanks a soldier for their incredible sacrifice and service to our country.

Time to Finish

My apologies to all, but I have not felt the inspiration to blog lately, although much has transpired.  It could have something to do with the fact that I have been pretty busy of late, that in the evenings I have to do homework with Olivia due to her lack of useable hands.  The other night we were working on her biography of Johnny Depp and after filling out reams of paper on him I thought I was done when she said that I still had to draw 4 pictures...REALLY?? I drew Johnny and his band at a concert, I drew Johnny when he was a little child swinging on a swing with a little neighbor girl while the moon landing was taking place, I drew a sad Johnny standing in front of his "broken" home after his parents divorce, and I drew Johnny holding his baby girl....  I think we have another 4 weeks in casts.  I do hope they come off in time for our trip to Italy.  Speaking of which, I intend to finish with my trip to the Sampler Museum today, but before that I have to show you the most precious little stitched cushion I got from my friend Margit.

It is filled with lavender and smells just wonderful.  She stitched this for me because she is a very sweet person and also because she feels guilty since she thinks she gave me the hideous cold that turned into Pleurisy ( which is still not gone).  In case you do not recognized it, its a freebie from Paulette Stewart's blog.  I love it!

On to the museum.  We left off in the room that had mostly Northern German samplers.  I love it when I discover an UFO like this one - like me, this person was full of big plans that just... well you know.

This was started on a fairly large piece of linen, because, well, like I said, she had big plans.

The other thing I saw there, and I have never seen before, were practice samplers for button holes and neck collars.  I am very enamored with these because, close up, they are so interesting visually.

On to the next room which housed a number of samplers from all over Europe.  This one is from Denmark, where they loved to stitch dense beautiful samplers - often over one.

Here are some detail shots.

What a work of art that sampler is.  I especially love the peacock and that little critter that is about to take a bit out of the cherubs heel.  I wonder what it is - looks like a porcupine but it has got that tail...hmmm??

Here is an English sampler that reminds me of a bit of Charlotte Clayton ( which was reproduced by the Northwest Sampler Guild) because of the cat.

As you can see, it was stitched by Rebecca Watson at the tender age of 12 in 1836.

I am not sure where this sampler comes from but I just love the people in it.

Don't mess with her or she might club you with her anchor.  Judging from the many motifs & that flower right below the anchor lady it might be another Danish sampler.  I have got to say that these really appeal to me. 

On the far side of the room were some beautiful examples of the Biedermeier period

And this display of a tapestry creation in wool.  What made me take pictures of this was the mouth area which looked like everyone had been eating berries.

Also see the picture used in my Mother's Day post.

The next picture is of a Decoration Towel ( we would call them Show Towels, although I was told that was incorrect - they were used to decorate during special occasions and holidays).

Here is another little Adam & Even I liked, probably because of the bright colors.

Finally at the end here is a picture of poor Olivia who had to spend 2.5 hours in that museum with me... she looks thrilled, doesn't she?

Now that I have bombarded you with fabulous sampler pictures, I will conclude this post with some pictures of Erika's prom.  

Erika & her date Joe.

Erika & her friends Colleen & Maggie - from the front,

and from the back

Where was prom, might you ask - at the fabulous  Heidelberg Castle - here is only a small portion of it.

So, I will try and do better, and not let so much accumulate.  I have a number of pics of my finishes, ( ok, there are not THAT many) and my wips to show.  Hugs to all.

Happy Mother's Day

A few interesting quotes for  Mother's Day:

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone


It kills you to see them grow up.  But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't.  ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams


Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.  ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul


"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness." - Honore' de Balzac

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are Mothers - I wish you a day filled with love from you children, may they be near or far.

Olivia- Now & Then

Well, its never boring here!  My youngest child - Olivia (11) is quite the tomboy, she live life with great zest and enjoyment.  Here is a picture of her in her current state.

Yes,  the grimace is due to pain, and yes, the splints are due to two broken wrists.  She had a good time on the playground though.  We are currently working our way through the very convoluted system of military healthcare to get her an appointment for her casts.

Here is a pic of her about one year ago.

Yes, its a hospital room.  Last year,  she got an acute, spontaneous bone infection deep in her hip bone (cause unknown) which was quite resistant to antibiotics.  We were in & out of the hospital and she missed an entire semester of school.

She is in good spirits but still in a great deal of pain.  She did mention proudly that she has almost gone 12 years without breaking a bone.  That's my girl!