October 2017 – Wrap Up

Good morning dear Readers!

As I write this post it is the morning of Halloween, a very frosty one at that.

I hope you have all had a great month!  Here it has been one of my best Octobers; one that will be hard to beat in the future! I have lots of news to tell you, so I recommend grabbing your favorite ‘Cup A…’ and sitting down with me for a few minutes or so.

If you are a somewhat regular reader of my blog, you probably know a little bit about the things that I have been doing this month.

I started off this month with a birthday bang! A lovely little tea party for one of my best friends, who came down from Soloturn to celebrate an old tradition of ours: she bakes my birthday cake, I bake hers. It’s always a new recipe, and always tries to beat the last one in some shape or form.

The homemade, three-tiered, completely iced, vanilla buttercream frosted cake was a first for me.

Thanks to Sallys Baking Addiction blog for this recipe.

The next occasion was my highlight of this month, a 9-day solo tour of Germany. I say tour, because of the means of transport which got me there, and the long distance I had to travel. My destination was Berlin, Germany. From there I went a little South of the city to the lakes region of Brandenburg, and the little town of Töpchin, about an hour out of Berlin.

There I visited Millers Quilting quilt shop, owned and operated by the lovely Esther Miller, an American hand quilter who has amassed quite the reputation here in Europe.

Her shop was the perfect location for this little retreat and workshop. The name of the workshop was “Grundkurs Handquilten + Extended”; in English, simply Basics to Hand Quilting + Extended.

The course was amazing, focusing on the Amish method of hand quilting: at a wooden standing frame, with other women, quilting in different directions.

I met Esther Miller at the European Patchwork Meeting’s Quilt Show in Alsace, which I have been reporting on since September.

So I arranged with my friend (who conveniently lives in Berlin and with whom I have been trying to arrange a visit ); and before you knew it, I had a train ticket booked, the hotel arranged and plans to see my friend at the end of the course.

Berlin here I come!

Following my German tour, things got back to normal; though what is normal, these days, when you are expecting.

My next big thing this month was the start of a new sewing course at Migros Klubschule.

The topic, “Sewing for Young Mothers: Babies and Small Children”.

Now I have never made a garment, let alone, used any of the stitches or feet that you would need to make one. This was completely new territory for me. Seeing the list of supplies I needed, I headed to my quilt shop, hoping to buy the necessary Jersey fabrics I would need to make my first Onesie.

But of course, as it goes when you are out shopping, something lands in your hands, that you don’t really intend on:  a kit, for the cutest little, lined pants for a 6-12-month-old. It contained everything I would need to make the pants, including the pattern, fabric, and other supplies.

So far, I have only had one class, and I made something from my flannel scrap basket: burp cloths. I didn’t have a pattern, but the real thing; which I could use to make my own.

My lovely aunty Moira gave me these at my Bermuda shower.

Burp Cloth Picture

So I made this one.

It was just something small, easy and very necessary.

 So after all those exciting adventures and quilt and sewing courses, what have I been up to?

Well if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you will know I’ve been cooking and baking up a storm, and even getting some quilty stuff done. Not much quilting or quilt making, but quilt finishing and planning.

This only needs to be finished: cleaned up, squared up, bound and labeled.

This quilt needs to be sandwiched, quilted, bound and labeled.

This quilt is only in the English Paper Piecing basting stage.

This quilt is in the planning stage.

It is supposed to go with my Delft Quilt, seen above: Windmill & Clogs quilt fabric, backing in blue, and Delft Quilt.

 So I hope you enjoyed your visit with me, today, here on my blog.

There are a lot of changes to come (to the blog that is) as you probably have already noticed.

My main concern is the speed of viewing photos, so if you have noticed any changes, please let me know.  And if you are still having trouble viewing the photos, even more reason to send me a quick message.

If you enjoyed this post, I would love to hear so, either here on the blog or otherwise.

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So that is it from me, have a great week and start of November!