Norway Part 2

Hello!  I'm back to share another post of our Norway trip.  It is hard to describe how beautiful and natural the scenery is.  

It is so pristine.  Did it look like this 1000 years ago?  The next photo was taken at 10:15 pm.

There are few signs of mankind.

It really filled me with wonder.  It also reminded me of Alaska another beautiful place.

Many of the Holland ships have a Tamarind Asian Restaurant.  We typically go at least once.  Here is a statue outside the restaurant.

We enjoyed sampling a few special cocktails.  It is vacation, after all.

The restaurant is pretty and very different than the main dining room.

Display of vases outside the interior entrance.

Hello Alesund Norway!

I climbed over 800 steps for  that view!

Whew!  I need to work on my cardio.

Worth it!  Hey -there's our boat.

We took a hop on hop off bus tour of the town and also had a bit of a walk about.  Even the buses are fun!

They had headphones and we learned a lot about the town.  I highly recommend it!

Like Trolls?  they got them!

We hopped off at the Aquarium and had a nice visit.   There were school children there so we felt very local.  I really do like to support local businesses.

cute playground

Back on board the Rotterdam there was an interesting sea life wire sculpture.

Andrew is totally photo bombing me!  

A vinyl record sculpture.  Looks like the ornaments you can make with Greeting Cards.

An interesting architectural painting display.  I love those colors.

Once again this is running long! 

I'll share a gardening post I did on Instagram.

Here is a new garden I created this year.  I love impatiens and I hope they fill in.  All those rocks on the border were in this little plot.

Wendy Reed shared some Ghastlie fabric squares with me - what fun.  I combined them with a print that I had.

So far I've just framed some of them.   We'll see what happens.

Finally, here is a link to the most clever airline safety video I have every seen.  It was created with over 1000 hand painted delft tiles.  the video I took wasn't super so....

See you again soon!  

xo

Quilting and Norway Part 1

Come for  the Quilting - Stay for the Norway photos.

I machine outline quilted my Vedderstone quilt top.  Now I'm adding details with big stitch quilting. 

I missed the deadline in Cecile's sew along for the prizes, but I will enjoy this quilt.  I also think it would make a great baby quilt.

Norway Ho!   

We planned a post wedding European trip and it was fabulous.  We flew overnight out of Kennedy airport.   Our car is somewhere out there.  I'm astonished by the sheer volume of travelers through New York City.

First Stop:  Amsterdam!

What a vibrant, busy and charming city. 

Cheese is very prominent in Holland.  How cute is this shop!

We took a self guided walking tour to a Pancake House that Hanna and David recommended.  Can you tell this guy didn't sleep much?

This is how they serve pancakes - with whipped cream AND ice cream.

A quick walk by the Ann Frank House and Museum. 

 I would love to have gotten tickets for a tour, but we had a boat to catch!  

We cruised aboard the new ship:  Rotterdam of Holland America.  Me and my boys.

Cocktail hour was a great time to talk about our day and getting ready for a nice evening on the ship.

The artwork on this ship was incredible.  I will be sharing it a little at a time. 

 Yay - a crocheted piece.

I was so happy to see crafty art.  I loved these paper cutting sculptures.

First Port:  Ulvik, Norway

So small, so charming.....  We visited this beautifully painted church.

We just took a walk about.   We like to do our own thing when we can.

I picked this charming little house on the water as my favorite place to live in Ulvik.

We like to help the local businesses when in port when we have time.  The coffee here was wonderful and the view was fabulous.  (check out that cloud reflection on the table).

We had a beautiful cruise through the Hardanger Fjord which is how Hardanger Lace got its name.

So many waterfalls in the Fjords.

We passed under this bridge, with 2 feet to spare.  It allows residents to visit locations that used to take hours, days or a boat to reach.

So gorgeous.  

If you're still with me here is one of my favorite Far Side cartoons.

I'm so grateful that we we had the opportunity to take such a special trip.

Happy Friday!

xo

Genesee Valley Quilt Club! Part 1

Thank you Genesee Valley Quilt Club!

Cheers Christine!  My quilt friend, hostess and an amazing quilter.

I had the distinct pleasure of visiting The Genesee Valley Quilt Club in Rochester, NY.   What an active, enthusiastic and friendly group.

They had a great promotional display for visiting teachers.

One lovely member brought me daffodils from her garden!  

How clever is this water bottle turned travel vase??  Brilliant!

What a treat to have them in my hotel room.   I brought this quilt that I made for  Hanna.

We had a group potluck dinner with many board and club members. Thank you, Peggy!

After my prestation with the club I visited Christine in her home and I was treated to a backstage tour of her quilt workrooms.  Here is a miniature of a full size quilt design created in her signature material; silk.

She is an incredible quilt maker and I hope you will have an opportunity to see her quilts in person.  

In her lower level she had this sweet display of dolls.  I love dolls so I asked her about them.

Each doll was made by her sister and are just beautiful.  Each doll has her own  unique personality and cross-stitched apron.   I was smitten by them!  I picked the "Q"doll to share.  I wish I could have admired each and every doll......but there were quilts to see.

Isn't this one magnificent?  okay, they all magnificent.  Christine has won numerous awards from every Major quilt show across the US.

You can also see some underneath.  I will admit I did not do a good job taking photos because we were chatting about them.  Christine is so generous in sharing her quilting making knowledge and techniques.

The labels are all mini-quilts themselves.  She also uses many interesting edge techniques.

I intriqued to hear about this earlier cotton quilt.

A very traditional basket quilt.  Christine explained that since the hand  quilting wasn't really showing up, she decided to do stuff work.

This the view on the back.   Her hand quilting is the best  I've ever seen, and I've seen some beautiful hand quilting.

Do I sound like a super fan groupie?  I am.

In her dining area she has a potholder quilt (yoohoo Wendy Reed).

She won the blocks on a quilting cruise.  How fun!

Oh my gosh, we had such a great three days together. 

Thank you Christine for everything!

Follow this link to see more of her quilts and some video interviews.

She is so humble and her passion for  silk is undeniable.

back soon with some workshop photos.

xo