Moving from Hungary

*note:  this post is almost entirely self-serving.  It has nothing to do with quilts or decorating, and everything to do with me leaving Europe.  As I've closed comments, this is more about me saying goodbye than it is anything else.  Though, you might enjoy the sights anyway!

I'm kinda nervous about leaving, we've been here going on 3 years and it seems odd to think we won't be here any longer.  I'm not one of those that made great Hungarian friends (heck, I didn't make good American friends here!) and I didn't see every inch of the country, and yet it still seems like this is home.  Sorta.  It's been home long enough to feel safe and comfortable.  Regardless of the language barrier it was still a barrier I understood and became equipped to deal with.  We are headed to a place almost as equally strange to me: Florida.  I'm a Cali girl, with family in Utah.  I'm use to that world, and the idea of being so far from them and in a new state is nerve wracking.  Though, for all of that, I'm so excited to be heading home.  To a country where I can go into have a vehicle inspection done and not need to spend 10 minutes waiting for them to find someone who speaks english, and spend another 10 minutes with them on the phone with my interpreter trying to figure out that, yes, I do have an appointment, and yes, it's just for a routine inspection.  Sheesh, that I won't miss.  I'm also looking forward to being in a place with gymnastics, t-ball, football, ballet, and scouts for my kids.  I'm looking forward to being able to tell the cashier that I forgot something, and that I'll be right back.  I'm looking forward to being able to go to a movie, or to a mall and find clothes made for women that aren't way short and skinny (I'm neither:)  I'm also looking forward to going into a store in October and seeing decorations.  I'm looking forward to having all the stores closed on the 4th Thursday in November.  I'm looking forward to Christmas specials on TV, and stores bustling with activity.  I'm looking forward to not having to stay up till 2 in the morning trying to watch a football game.  I'm looking forward to home.  The sights, the sounds, the ideas, the attitudes.  Culture is very important, and for me, I've been gone from my culture for long enough.  This is our 2nd time overseas, and I would go overseas again, but we need to be home for a while.  With that, I'll leave a few pics of the places we went while we were here.  Well, as I only have the last few months on my hard-drive, I'll just put photos from this summer.  Pics here don't include: Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, Holland, Lake Bled in Slovenia, etc, or the local area.  However, here is what we did over our summer vacation (er...  NOT in order)

 Croatia: the view from our apartment in Zadar.

 Germany: The alps, seen in from the steps of our rustic cabin.  Been here summer and winter, both magical.

 Italy: the hillside in Verona.  In there is the Roman era theatre.

 Italy: Castello Scaligero, on the coast of Lake Garda

 France: Sandcastles on the French Rivera, on one of the beaches taken by the allies during WWII

 France: Carcasonne, full medieval fortress.  You can still go in and shop modern shops in ancient stalls.

 France: the sunflower fields stretched for miles and miles.

 France: Normandy beaches (this is Utah beach, but we also went to Omaha)

 France: American Cemetery at Normandy.

 France: Paris.  Second time.  This time we were 10 years older, married, and with our children.

Belgium and Luxembourg: we had little time, but we got the chance to see them both.

Croatia: Plitvice lakes.  Top 10 waterfalls in the world, and for very good reasons.

 Slovenia: Castle Predjama.  Built into the cave system behind it, perched on the hillside.  AMAZING.

 Italy: Venice.  Second time, first time I hated it, this time rocked.

 Greece: Corfu water is an amazing color.

Greece: Santorini.  Didn't meet any French archeologist, but did enjoy the fabulous black sand beach.

 Greece: Athens, the Parthenon.  I'm a history major, and I was stoked to be there, to put it mildly.

Montenegro: Kotor.  Medieval city, amazing architecture.  The fortifications climb the entire hill side.

 Croatia: Split, Diocletian's Palace.  Late Roman Emperor, this was his retirement house.

Slovenia: country side on the way to Castle Predjama and Postojna caves.

We had an amazing three years here.  I guess this is my way of saying goodbye.

For Mom and Grandma

I'm not so much starting this back up as I'm just adding stuff to make it easier for my Mom and Grandma to see it! I've closed comments, so don't feel like you need to comment. No one every did, but now I feel like you can't and that's better for my ego then won't. Heh, anyway. Here's pictures of the house. Enjoy!

So, this is the first way I did the canvases over the table. Didn't like the one on the right so I redid it. And you can see the quilt top that I haven't finished laying over the back of the couch.
This was my fix to the canvases. Now I really like 'em! And the one on the right has a bit of yellow in it like my walls do. Like I planned it or something:)
Curtains! They make so much of a difference! Though I never got the ones done for over the patio door, and as I'm leaving in about 3 months it ain't gonna happen for this house.
Couch flat against the back wall, love seat pulled out at an angle. Works so much better then it did before. I had intended to put all the family photos up over the couch with a clock, but it didn't happen. Now all the photos are packed up and ready to move!
I ended up just using the charm pack for the middle since I loved the toile so much and since it still worked so well. I haven't actually finished the middle one yet, I will admit, but it still works. One of these days I'll actually add a border and nail it down.

I love the bubble fabric over the TV! This looks different now, though, because I got an actual tv stand and moved the green cabinet elsewhere. I'll have to take a new picture and put it up later.

Well, that's how I got the house looking. I'm loving the blue and brown. I'm really happy with how it all came together!

Endings

I'm sorry this post has been so long in the writing. I think many of the readers of this little space have gotten the idea that I'm not really, er, posting and all. And as it's a blog a lack of posting seems silly. It had gotten to the point that I really only update with Mom's quilts as I've only finished one quilt in the last year. I've done some tops, but that's not quite the same thing. At this point I don't really have anything to tell anyone anymore. I can only show you so many of Mom's before even that runs out. At first I thought blogging would keep me motivated to sew but I've not been quilting much and I feel bad that there isn't anything to post. Because I feel like I should be updating I start to feel guilty that I'm not and that isn't what this is suppose to be about.

So, with all that said, I'm gonna end this blog. It was a tough choice and I dreaded actually making it fact, but the truth is that I'm just not going to be updating any time soon and it's better to actually say good bye then to just let it fade away.

Thank you all, so very much, that have stuck around and read this little piece of my world. It has meant a great deal to me that you all care enough to stop by. I just wish I had more to give!

Jenn

Momma's Valentines quilt

Mom bought these cute Valentine prints a few years ago now and this is the second incarnation of blocks for her! The first time round they just didn't speak to her, so into the closet they went! This time when she pulled them out she knew exactly what she wanted to do with them. And it's so cute!! Dad says that Little J is going to claim this when we go home next time and I think he's right. Mom said that was fine, it could be her quilt while at Mom's house! Hah! I think Mom likes it too:) I think it's fab, can't wait to see it in person!

And I seriously love that stripe for the binding, too cute.

Some of Momma's stuff

Well, I'm working on some stuff (amazingly) but haven't finished anything (not amazingly) so I thought that I'd show the 4 of you that aren't family a few quilts Mom has done. I'm a bad daughter, I didn't even ask or anything! Shame on me. But I'm still gonna share cause they are too cute not too!

So, this is my kids room at my parent's secondary home. The ceiling has an orange in the pattern (circa 1960's ceiling tiles!), my Aunt made a joke about doing the room orange, and well, here you go! Mom ran with the idea and they are sooooo cute! It's totally not Mom, but they are a fun combo and are darling together.

More white for The Girl, more orange for The Boy:) She made the shams to go with it, and matching note boards above the beds. I'm pretty sure she is envisioning a place to store all the artwork the kids create and right now they have a picture of their respective child on them.

I have to admit that I wasn't huge on borders till these quilts. I think they ended up being my favorite part!

This next one was made to live at the house of Mom and Dad's good friend that is gonna be a Grandma soon.

This is Amy Schimler from the Animal Party line.

At first she wasn't going to use a dog print cause Alice works Animal Control and is seriously a dog and animal lover; she thought it might be cliche! But, seriously, who can resist Amy Schimler?? And she added more cute borders. Seriously, she is winning me over the this border thing!

So, yeah, Mom has talent! Like me she has very few of her quilts that live at her house. Most live with someone else. She's always willing to give the gift of a quilt!

I haven't died or left the planet...

I just haven't had much to show lately. I only had one quilt related finish last year, and I'm shocked to admit that I already have a finish for this year! I figured that since there are a few of you that still amazingly check this little lost space I'd show you. Get ready for a lot of orange... Swirly quilting, still straight line. That's what you get when you quilt with no walking foot, especially with flannel!

The back isn't what I would have picked, but being in Hungary I haven't found a shop that has what we quilt with (read polyester as far as the eye can see), so I dug deep in the stash and found something that mostly worked. And then I pieced the heck out of the orange and bears fabric I had left over to tie it in.

My first pinwheels (which is sad as I adore pinwheels) and I'm happy with about 75% of them. And the rest? Eh, this was made for a very good friend of the family and he a) won't notice seams not matching and b) will be in love with a quilt of his beloved Bears, made just for him by me. He's been asking for one since I did the Dolphins quilt 2 years ago so I'm happy to get this to him. Back then he asked if one had to get cancer to get a quilt (I made the Dolphins quilt for a friend going through Chemo) and I told him that if he ever married his girlfriend I'd make him a quilt. Well, guess what? The wedding is on Saturday, so I made sure to get this done:) I'll admit that I'm happy to be quilting again. I've been away so long!

This is the whole thing, toes included. It's very orange but Steve will love it. This is actually quilt one of two. The other is a baby blanket for a another Steve that's, er, 3 months old now! Gah, well... I'm sure I'll get it done before his first birthday anyway:)

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, a month and a half since I last made time to stop by and write! It's been busy here, lots of trips and Christmas stuff; sewing time has been limited to pajama pants and uniform patches!

Since last time I wrote we've done Thanksgiving here at the house for 7, decorated the house, went on a Grownup trip to Rome, and took family trip. We headed through Austria to Munich for one night, up to the north of Germany to an Air Force Base, and finished the trip with a night in Prague. Quite the adventure! The new banner photo is from Munich; it was a beautiful city all dressed up in Christmas lights!

Munich:

(This was on the top of a food vendor, it's an entire second story! You can't really tell but it's probably 10-12 feet tall!)

Prague:

The big cities in this part of the world do Christmas markets, generally starting in mid Novemeber. They are filled with vendors selling ornaments, candies, pottery, you name it they probably have a vendor with it! Hubby was in heaven for the week; he really takes after his Germany heritage and loves nothing more then good sausage! The markets were full of folks with fresh sausage, I had to talk hard to get him to leave:)

The kids are fantasticaly great travelers (generally) and we had a great trip. They were happy, fun and sweet the whole week. Couldn't have asked for a better way to kick of the Christmas season!

Costumes this year!

I finally got the make the kids costumes! Years previous one thing or another has kept us from making costumes, but this year they were done at home!

Er... Some took more work then others:)

This is Jaina's Dorothy costume "Before". I HATED it and so I tore the straps off, made them smaller and placed in a different spot, and then sewed it all back up.

And actually that was a pain since the straps are sewn into the waist band and top stiched on. But it was much better the second time 'round.

For Brendan I made the hat (I made a hat!!), topstiched on a muslin collar, and added yarn "hay" at the hands and feet. I figured that would be tons more comfortable then actual straw.

Finally the fun part, the patches. Loved that bit!

We used corduroy pants and a fleece pullover as the base and added the elements. It was effective and meant I didn't have to do his from scratch. Whew!

My Mom always made my costumes and I always felt more special for it. It was something that was important to me, even at a young age; so important, in fact, that I've wanted to do it for my own kids. Even though the seam ripper sat at my side, I had a ton of fun.

I have to admit,

I loved the outcome.

And you know what? I think they approved:)

Grosgrain and the Queen of Hearts

There are those in the world with talent they never discover. And then there are those lucky enough to know exactly what their talent is.

Kathleen is one of those lucky enough to know where her talent lies.

And it lies here:

A-fricken-mazing. Truely. I'm not going to enter beacuse Jaina is set on being Dorothy for Halloween, and it takes 3 weeks for anything to get here by mail! But, still, even if you don't have a little girl think about taking the time to go see her work. It's fantastic!!

Quilt Festival

I planned on posting this yesterday, but with a sick 3 year old my time was spent cuddling on the couch! I did want to still play along, though, as I have such fun going through all the blogs and seeing all the quilts.


This is one of my favorite quilts, mostly because I figured out the pattern all on my own. I was new to quilting (this was all of a year ago:) and I was so amazed that I was actually able to figure out sizing, cutting, and I got the whole thing together!I did have issues with the binding, and this is actually the second binding to go on this quilt, but I sure learned a lot! It's amazing what you learn with a seam ripper in your hand. It may have taken me forever, but I finally managed to get it into the hands of a good family friend at a time when he needed the reminder of friendship. For me that is what quilting is all about, being able to wrap someone you care about in a physical reminder of love.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ah, the kids are back in school for about 3 hours a day. They are much better friends now then they were a week ago!

But since we are not keeping them in for lunch the school doesn't provide a morning snack (it's all or none), so we take a bagged snack. And, of course, I had to make a cute bag for each kid! I found a tutorial here, mostly for the dimensions. I didn't really feel like having to figure them out on my own! I'll admit to fussing with the size, and though it worked well, if I make any more I'll make them slightly deeper. What I did works well for a snack but would be too small for a lunch.

I really do love them!

Jaina's is made out of Sandi Hendersons Farmer's Market Vintage Cherries via her rocking Aunt Angie (Thanks Angie!!). Angie sent me several pieces of the line since she knows how much I love it. And look how amazing it looks for this lunch pack!

Brendan's was a stash pull; his only requirement was that it had to have green. He loves green, just ask him, he'll tell ya:)

As for other quilting news, I have to admit that I finally did it, I finally spent a 50% coupon at Joanns.com for batting. I can't really get any here that are what I normally use, and I can't buy one at a time and make it worthwile, so I bought a 45x40 yard bolt of warm and natural. Can't wait till it gets here! I can get back to actually making quilts again once I have batting. What a concept:)