Home again, home again

Hello again, good folks.  I'm back home again.  I took a trip to France with my friend and while it was enjoyable I am SO glad to be back home in my own little world.

We spent three days in Paris before our river cruise playing tourist.  I'd been to Paris before but my friend had not, otherwise I would have skipped it this trip.  Anyway, there were a couple of snafus but all in all was a good trip.  

Notre Dame rising from the ruins

Obviously, one cannot get close to Notre Dame now.  It is blocked off with armed guards.

The yellow vest protesters were active on the Saturday we were there and, in fact, moved down the street in front of our hotel but we were at the Eiffel Tower at the time so did not see them.  Have you ever thought of the subway system in any larger city?  It boggles my mind how they are designed, built and operate so well.  All the time underground and out of sight.  Mostly it was good, but due to a breakdown on the line we were on, we did miss a tour for which we had tickets already.  Let's hope I can get a refund, but I'm not holding my breath. 

It's always an adventure in European hotels to see how things work.  Bathroom fixtures don't always look like we expect.  Took us a while to figure out the faucet but we got there.  Didn't like it though.

However, I did like the tiramisu.  An Italian restaurant just a few doors down from our hotel had really good food, including the tiramisu which was scooped from the dish and served onto your plate.  We ate there only once but I did stop in again just to pick up tiramisu to take back to the hotel.  Good stuff. 

I'll be back soon with more adventures.  Meanwhile, y'all take care. 

Bits and Bobs

Today was Mama's birthday.  She was born 108 years ago on May 8, 1911.  We lost her on July 1, 2007 at the age of 96.    I don't know where the years have gone. 

95th Birthday celebration

At the moment, I'm not doing much sewing.  But I did get two quilts finished earlier.  One is made from Australian fabrics and is way out of my comfort zone with all the patterns and colors used together. 

Its simply a variation of a log cabin block and very easy to sew.  There are eight sets of 3 fabrics used for the blocks.  There is a total of 26 different fabrics in the quilt.  I bought the kit in Oregon where I attended the Sisters Quilt Show last July.  They provided fabric and the pattern but I had to choose the fabric combinations. 

This next quilt is all hand applique, except for piecing the blocks together and the actual quilting.  I saw this quilt at a show in Springfield, Missouri a number of years ago.  I had decided I wanted to learn how to do needle turn applique and figured that by the time I finished this quilt I'd be pretty good at it.  It has taken me at least three years to do this quilt, working on a block at a time.  I did not work exclusively on this quilt but wove it in among my other projects. 

The quilt is called Across the Wide Missouri.  It was lots of work but I really enjoyed making it.  I learned a lot and still have a lot more to learn to be more than what I think is just adequate doing applique.  

It has been busy around here.  We had company for two weeks and the "kids" were kept busy with honey-do projects.  Before they came, they all requested a list of chores they could do for us.    I got a garage door opener at last, along with a lot of other chores that hubby and I just could not tackle for various reasons.  I don't think they'd know how to act if there was not a chore list for them upon arrival.  

Y'all take care