What a rough week last week was....

First, I went shopping in Trier with a neighbor. We had a good time until the last shop we went into. I paid for my items and put my wallet in my purse and left. Only to get to the next place to get a pastry and found my wallet was gone. Yes, I got pick pocketed! I've been to many places in Europe and the States with no problem. We went back to the shop and asked them and they remember me putting it into my purse, as do I. When we started leaving the shop, which is a narrow home decor shop, there was a couple that split up around me. The Husband was walking ever so slowly in front of my and the wife was behind me. I had bought some long leaves, which were wrapped in plastic for a vase, and had them in my hands trying to make sure to not break anything or hit anyone. It was only about 5-10 minutes later that my wallet was gone. So now, I'm having the fun of waiting for new cards, id, licence, etc.

Next thing was Kindergarten started on Tuesday for my youngest, Thomas. Got him on the bus and came in to get to work. Tried to vacuum the den and pulled my back. So for the past week, I've been laying on a heating pad to get my back better. I had so many plans for the week to get done while being home by myself. Nada got done.

Needless to say, nothing quilting, knitting, or fun to post pics of. I will hopefully get to things this week. Let's hope it's a better week.

What I have been spending my time on..

This summer has been spent with kids outside mostly AND we added 2 new members to our family. Meet Dante (Golden Retriever) and Sam (Cat). This is when we first got them and believe me, they both have grown so much already. Dante is pretty much house trained now. He was pretty easy, so far. They both play together and keep each other on their toes.

Now that school has started back (Yea!), I'm planning on getting back to my projects. My little guy (Thomas) start Kindergarten next week. So for the first time in a long time, I will be by myself during the day. What will I do? Well, I have alot of decluttering to do in the house, plus I want to get back to my many projects.

I haven't quilted in awhile, and I have quite a few things kitted up to do. So I want to get to those and get those done. Then I want to work on my stash a bit and use some of it up. This is so that I can not feel guilty when I see all of the new fabrics coming out and want them. I also have some cross stitch projects to get to, as well as a hooked rug that I started the beginning of this year. Not to mention the sweaters that I bought yarn for. I figure I might get half of the things done this school year. (fingers crossed)

I'm going to start my list of things to work on soon and can't wait to jump back in to my projects.

Internet Woes

It's been a long time since my last post. I've been having lots of trouble with my internet connection and couldn't even get into my google mail or yahoo mail. Each time, it said due to my slow connection that it wouldn't open. Occasionally, it would open, but when you clicked on an email to open and read, it would just spin and give an error message regarding our connection. I got so frustrated and felt really cut off from the world. Isn't it amazing how you feel that way when you have no internet? Our tv has also been on the fritz, but we would rather do without tv than internet. I called our internet provider over here, TKS, for support. I think the guy didn't want to work or something that day, cause he didn't even try to help me. He told me that I would need to send them an email asking to upgrade our internet service to a faster speed. We have no faster speed where we are, I've checked. We pay for 1000 speed, but only get about 300+. They have 2000 and 6000 speed, but not in our village. This is one thing I won't miss when we leave here.

Another thing that I have had problems with is posting comments to others blogs. I would type in a comment and then it would just sit there and spin. Also, for awhile, it wouldn't let me choose which profile I had for telling who I am. I finally got it once to let me do that. So I hope that's worked itself out.

Sorry, no pics this time, just wanted let you know why I've not been blogging lately. Oh, on another note, DH put in asking for an extension here and it got approved, so we will be here for an extra year now. Just hope my internet gets better during the next 2 years.

I will get some pics out and tell you some more of my recent adventures for my next post.

A Little Decorating

I, finally, got the chance to play around with my Dining Room Cabinet. I put up one of Jo's Little Women Club quilts that I made. It's Jo's Calicoes Surprise and is now in her book 'Yesterday's Charm'. I just got in this book and also her latest book, 'Vintage Journey'. Both books have some of her earlier Little Women club patterns in them. Found quite a few that I would like to do when I get back to my sewing room.

It's been warmer here, so I've been out more than in. I've also done a little more shopping with neighbors, so I am behind on housework. Oops, the dreaded H word. Next week is the last week of school, so the house will be even worse then. I figure while we have sun out, I'll be out with the kids and worry about major cleaning when school starts back. My little guy goes to Kindergarten in the coming school year, so I'll have more time to myself to clean and quilt! Yippee! Just a few months away.

Show n Tell

I promised that I would show some of my quilts soon. I've been trying to do a little on my blog, but blogger has just sat and spinned for me the past few days. I think it has more to do with our location than blogger though, as our internet does that quite often.

Here are a couple of quilts that old to me, but new to you. The first one I made when we were stationed in Germany the first time. I used a fabric line by Robyn Pandolph and the pattern was in an old issue of Australian Patchwork & Quilting. Sorry, I can't remember the names as it's been a few years. While at Ramstein, we had a lady to join our guild who was a long arm quilter. So I had her to quilt this one for me. I've since sent it to my Mom and Dad to have.

This next one is a Thimbleberrie pattern. It was a fun quilt to make. While we were stationed in California, I joined a guild there. I met a wonderful lady, Diane, who had started the guild and she and I became friends. She had a long arm and told me to bring a quilt up to play on the machine. She helped me to quilt this one and it was fun playing on that long arm. She kept telling me to relax my arm. *LOL* I kept raising it up higher and higher, so she would remind me. Think I should have had a glass of wine before starting to loosen up. *S*

Here is a close up of the quilting.

I will share more another day. Enjoy!

Shopping in Trier

I spent the day shopping with a neighbor friend on Saturday. We spent the day in Trier and had a fun time. I bought some goodies for the house. I've been hung up on birds lately and was on the lookout for an iron bird. I didn't find one, but found some made of stone. I also found this wonderful bird bath for sitting on a shelf or window ledge. I haven't decided on which yet. It was on sale for 5 Euro's!


Next I found this wonderful jar with an iron top on it. I can't figure out what to put in it, so any ideas would be appreciated. I just loved it and had to bring it home with me. Not sure if you can see the iron ring of keys in the lower left corner, but had to have those too. Now the iron basket in back is one that I have had for awhile. I just haven't figured out what to put in it or how to use it. So again, I would love some ideas.


Here is a gorgeous Iron Water Feature in the Walkplatz of Trier. I would love to have something like this in my future dream home.


I will get to my quilting pics soon, so be sure to check back.

I've been MIA again...

A funny thing happened earlier. I was thinking, Gee, I haven't posted to my blog in awhile. So I run downstairs to take a pic of my fabric stash and a backing that I have been working on. DH calls to tell me that gas will be going up .18 tomorrow and I should go fill the car up. So out the door the little guy and I go. Get back home and check Google Blog and there I see a quilt of mine. *S* My friend Mary at Quilt Hollow has posted to introduce my blog to her blogging friends. *S* Mary is the one that got me to start blogging a short while ago. She and I must have been sending vibes to each other, over the pond, to remind me to post. *S* Below is my fabric stash, although it's not all of it. This is just my favorites. I still have 1 or 2 totes full of fabrics that I bought over the years and aren't really what I want to use.


Just last weekend, I sent a couple of quilt tops to Mary to do her magic on. I still have 2 more that I am piecing backings for. While working on these backs, I've pulled out of my stash of older fabrics and some from the same lines that are in the tops. I noticed that some of my pieces of fabrics now have fold lines in them that are a bit lighter. So now, I'm determined to use up some of my stash and not let this happen again. Let this be a warning to you, either use it up, or re-fold from time to time. I went on and used a piece with those fold lines and figure that will be my humble part of this quilt and, also, a reminder to use up the stash. See the fabric in the lower right hand side. That's the lighter fold lines.

After I get these 2 backings done, I'm going to start cutting strips from my stash for a Lady of the Lake Quilt. I found the perfect border fabric in my stash and I used EQ software to design it out to see if I have enough. The blocks will be set on point and the border fabric will be the corner and side triangles. The fabric below is the border fabric that I chose. This from the Harvest Home by Brannock/Patek for Moda. I'm a big Moda fan!

Until next time......I have other quilts that I don't think I've even taken pics of yet. I'll get to that for my next post.