As a gift for our son, we went to a nearby amusement park. This one was very much oriented towards locals; there were no signs or information in english, or any language other than german, for that matter. Imagine everything typically German, clean it up even more, add plenty of bathrooms and strategically located food opportunities (not just junk, but sit-down meals and local specialties as well) and voilá, Tripsdrill. And how cool is it to place a park in the middle of vineyards? Gorgeous scenery everywhere you look. You did notice that giant Fliegenpilz mushroom on the right side of the pic, didn’t you?

It’s the Wirbelpilz, one of those big spinning, swing things:

Speaking of spinning, here’s TS&WGH (and the kids) in the Wäschekorb-Rundflug, or “Flying Laundry Baskets.” All the rides had oldy-worldy german themes: spinning coffee cups and gugelhupf (cake moulds), Waschzuber-Rafting in wash tubs, G’senkte sau a rollercoaster that’s Dr Zivago style sleighs, a clawfooted Badewanne Fahrt roller coaster with lots of splashing water, and much more. All in an idyllic setting of medieaval fachwerk (half-timbered) buildings.

And here’s the kids and I in the Flotten Schlappen-Tour leather-look sandals:

And Zavi on the Weinkübelfahrt in a wine barrel, spinning through a little vineyard:

Lest you think all they had was spinning rides, there were a few others too. In honor of Memorial Day, Zavi salutes the Indy 500!

And I don’t know who these girls are, but we loved these boats that had coffee pots, watering cans, and wine bottles that you could squirt water with. TS&WGH and Zavi got into a serious squirt-volley with a pair of parents in another boat. Who says fun is just for the kids?

They had a small petting zoo with cute goats. Instead of just feeding the goats, you could brush them as well. Good, clean family fun…

Until this one stole my map!

And here’s one to file under “could never happen in the States.” They had a figure eight track with bikes just sitting there for anyone to use. Not just any bikes, but big, heavy clown bikes that wobbled up and down as you rode them, and this one with a swiveling front AND back wheels. Law suit waiting to happen if it were the US.

Thank you all so much for your kind comments regarding my last post. Yup, that nasty self doubt knocks on my door all the time. I try not to let him stay long though. You guys definitely help chase him out!

So, being Friday in Germany, there has to be a fest somewhere. Lucky for us, it was around the corner at the firehouse. They are celebrating their 100 year anniversary (although our town dates to 791).

There was a disco in the truck bays, face painting, food, and the kids got to go for a ride around town in one of the fire trucks:

We had burgers, bratwurst, gyros, fries and beer, of course. What a great excuse not to cook dinner.

Some cultural notes: Like most all small town events, food is served on real plates, not plastic or paper (it’s better for the environment). We wondered about the blue and white decor — could be because blue and white are the Bavarian colors and the Bayrisch know how to party; could be that our town’s colors are blue and white; could be that that’s what coordinated with the awning fabric which was on sale in Poland. There was no coffee and cake. Our Germerican neighbor suggested that there would certainly be coffee and cake tomorrow

Lastly, look at what TS&WGH picked up today while out shopping. A fliegenpilz for our garden:

Great news! Two of my quilts have been accepted into the Zonta Club of Cincinati “Quilts for Change“ show! I’ve procrastinated literally for years about sharing my quilts with a larger (and judgemental) audience. However, at AQT last year, a wise classmate offered that if you like your quilts, you should enter them; judges and trends be damned. So, I jumped off the precipice and did it. While I am making a good number of quilts this year for my possible show, I decided that some of them should be entered as well , since acceptance could add, or prove, worth to the quilts. The two accepted into Quilts for Change will not be in my show, but I like them each for very personal reasons.

“Shades of CR Mackintosh” was made as a Christmas present for my mom and step-dad. They are enthusiasts of the Craftsman style and I wanted to see if I could make a quilt that would reflect that. I was also part of a bee with several appliqué-ers and was ready to try my hand at that. I had appliquéd before, but over the 8 or so months with this particular group, had gleaned lots of new tips and tricks. This hand quilted piece was a labor of love for me and a cherished gift for my mom and step-dad, and for that I want to share it.

The other quilt, “Seaweed?” is one I made after hand-marbling fabric. This particular piece spoke to me to be embellished in an organic way. I had never approached a piece of art like this without a clear goal and I still don’t really know what it “is,” but I think that’s the beauty of it. I entered it because I think it’s rather unique, and if I like it for no good reason, maybe someone else will too.

I’ve been browsing the internet looking at some other the other quilts and artists which were also accepted and wow, I can’t believe that my quilts were even considered! I am in good company: Susan Schrott, Pamela Allen, Carol Taylor, Ellen Zak Danforth, Sue Reno, Sandra Woock, Kathy Munkelwitz, B. J. Reed, Susan Shie. These are just a few randomly chosen quilters/artists on the list. Pretty much everyone on the list makes award-winning quilts. I am amazed and depressed at the same time — amazed at the wonderful work these people are making and amazed that mine were chosen as well, and of course, depressed because of the self doubt that comes along with wondering how I could ever consider myself to be in the same league as these other women.

Meet Madison. Years ago, we rescued him and a lovely grey cat from the pound. She bonded with TS&WGH and he, Madison, bonded with me. He sleeps on my head at night (it only took me 9 years to realize that if I scooted down in the bed and put an extra pillow above my head and scrunched mine all to myself that he would sleep on the extra pillow and not directly on my head). He purrs REALLY loud. He thinks it’s very important that someone get up at about 5:30 in the morning, but he won’t get out of bed himself. He headbutts you when he wants to wake you up or just give him attention. He thinks he MUST be near me at ALL times. He doesn’t eat people food normally, but he’s got this thing for marshmallows and chips.

I present to you, my next forest quilt. The last one was in the snow, so this one has warmed up quite a bit. In real life, it’s a rectangle, but my happy snappy digital camera has a wide angle lens that’s great for pics of vacation stuff, but exagerates any tilt I have trying to photograph my quilts. Anyways, the quilt is called “Fliegenpilz 1” for the red and white mushrooms found in european forests and used as a good luck symbol here in Germany. I hope to make a few more variations, hence the numerical nomination. This is smaller than my two previous works (34 3/4″ x 54″). I had grand plans for a border of hexagons representing stacked logs, which then changed to a grand plan of tie dyed logs, which ultimately was just too much for this poor little quilt. Finally, after much throwing about of fabric, it put it’s foot down and told me that it wanted to be simple and finished. I relented, but saved all the other bits to see if maybe they want to become another quilt on their own; maybe with some arty overdyed fabric?

Here’s a couple of details. It’s a mix between the forest in “Traumwald“ and the quilting and hand stitching in “Am Rand von Omas Weizenfeld.“ Could this be a series?

Here are the finished ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). The first row are the ones I did from start to finish. The second row Susanne started, then they went to Elke and then I finished them. The last row Elke started, Susanne added on and I finished. I love them all, especially the last ones. Those colors are yummy, and though I would never have chosen to fuse circles and wedges, I was so inspired when I saw them that I knew immediately how I would finish the cards off. I think that’s the coolest part about this exchange. I love that potential of someone else doing something you’d never do, and then you get to get your hands in it too. I will consider wedges and simple geometrics more now. The last step of the exchange is for me to keep one card from each row and then send one of each to both Elke and Susanne. I’ll get one each of the one’s they are finishing off. I’ll post my nine when the others arrive, of course. BTW, you can check out more work from the group we belong to on the Texies’ blog.

Remember the round robin style ATC swap I’m doing? Here’s my backgrounds:

Here’s Elke’s:

And here’s Susanne’s:

So, now we each keep a third for ourselves and then send the other two thirds to the other two players. We work on the backgrounds from each other and on our own, then send the ones from the other players to the opposite players.

Here’s what I did on Elke’s background (hand dyed band and painted Lutradur sent to me by Joanna van Rittbergen, sewed on with decorative stitches and Sulky Glowy thread):

Here’s what I did on Susanne’s background (colored pencil, machine thread drawing and couched silver ribbon):

Here’s what Susanne did on Elke’s background (free motion machine meandering, fused fabric and Spinnvlies circles and wedges):

Here’s what Elke did on Susanne’s background (silky fringy stuff, organza, tulle):

Now, we each cut these pieces into three cards each, finish them off, keep one for ourselves, and then send the other two to the other players. We will each end up with 9 cards, worked on to various extents and in various orders, by the other players (with the exceptioon of one which I have worked on myself start to finish).

On another note, today was Craft Day. TS&WGH took the kids away and my girlfriends came over to share lunch and then work on craft projects as long as we want. Here’s Sidney and Tanya sorting blocks from a UFO and preparing a quilt border, respectively:

And Silke’s going to hate me for posting the picture with her in it, but check out the pillow cover she just made with a 3-D fabric hydrangea. This is only her fourth or fifth quilty project. We’ve hooked her!

What a wonderful day

I’ve washed and ironed all my fabric from Thursday’s class and TS&WGH says I must post the obligatory stacks of finished fabric

So, here’s the ones I like:

Here’s the ones I think I will overdye another day:

Here’s a closer look at a few of my favorites:

This one, TS&WGH think looks like a retinal scan. We both think that it needs to be cut in half, and then both pieces need a bunch of hand stitching and a border of some sort, then it’s done. I used to wonder how people would come up with the ideas of what to dye or alter in some way, but now I see that a lot of it is probably experimenting with the processes and then letting the fabrics tell you what they want to be.

This one wants to be a forest with a clearing through through the trees and the witch’s house from Hansel and Gretel. Just in case you can’t see the house, I’ve lightened the area around it. Again, hand stitching and buttons will clear up any confusion.

And, finally, the money shot, Katja in her hand dyed velour dress:

I spent the last few days making a trek across Germany into The Netherlands to take a fabric dyeing class with Dijanne Cevaal. I’m not really sure how I got there, as I thought I had to drive across The Netherlands, but when I followed the directions the computer gave me, only the last 45 minutes or so were not in Germany. By the way, when driving around Germany, I am always suprised by how many people seem to be compelled to stop on overpasses and watch the traffic. On one holiday weekend, TS&WGH made a game of counting the overpasses without “watchers.”

Once in Borger, I was not confident I had actually found the correct town until I took a walk and found the quilt shop where the class would be held the next day. I saw some ladies working in the classroom and was tempted to stop in and say hi, but thought better of it as it was after 9 pm. Here’s the shop/proprietress’ home, with the classroom/gallery to the left. This picture does not do the shop justice — the other side has a lovely yard and quilts hanging around. If you are ever in or near Borger, NL I recommend visiting De Stofmeid!

The town itself is quite charming. Check out the neat thatch and shutters (?) on this barn.

Here’s some more conventional houses in the area. It’s quite a bit different than the row houses crammed together in the cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht which I have visited previously. I love the mix of old and new and how the Dutch seem to effortlessly mix these old thatch and brick homes with modern glass doors and huge windows. Looking in those windows everything seems elegantly spare, but still warm.

And what a beautiful gate! My dad would love it.

The town closed down early, so I was lucky to duck into an Italian/Greek restaurant for a salad and a glass of wine. Sorry, no pics as it seemed rather desperate to photograph my food when I was the only one in the restaurant besides a pair at the bar. Seems everyone was at home watching Arsenal play Barcelona. I’m not a big follower of Fußball, but it’s World Cup time and you just can’t avoid it. Arsenal is to the UK as Bayern München is to Germany, and I think Barcelona is the favorite of Spain as well, so the match was a big deal (Barcelona won, BTW). For World Cup, the whole town of Borger was decked out in Holland’s national color, orange. There were banners everywhere and window displays with T-shirts, balls, personal fans, ties, everything! (And yes, I’m a lousy German for not being more knowledgeable on the national sport, but I do root for Bayern München.)

The next morning I had breakfast at the hotel. Don’t you just love this Frieda-Green dining room.

Breakfast was the usual european fare of boiled eggs, bread with cold cuts, yogurt and müsli, coffee and juices. The Dutch add a little treat though. They like buttered white bread with Hagelslag (chocolate jimmies). The Hagelslag even come in a variety of flavors, to include fruit!

Naturally, I had to buy Hagelslag and Stroopwafeln (crispy waffle sandwiches with caramel in the middle) for my friends at home. I couldn’t pass up the sprinkles with gnomes and toadstools on the packaging for myself.

Bad, bad me, I had so much fun in class that I didn’t bother to take any pictures. The class was 11 Dutch ladies and me. They were very nice to accomodate me and my limited language skills. Annemeike, who owns the shop, is friendly and has a beautiful space for classes and shows. Dijanne is a lovely lady and was nice enough to translate for me when needed. Silly me assumed that since she was from Australia, the class would be in English (we all know what happens when you assume). Ends up that Dijanne was born in The Netherlands, as so is fluent in Dutch. Luckily, her hand-outs were in English, and Dutch has enough similarities to German that I could devine the big ideas just listening for familiar words. We dyed a lot of fabric and played with mixing colors and mooshing around the fabric to make interesting patterns. While we waited for one batch to “cure,” Dijanne inspired us with some of her fabrics. Annemeike prepared a delicious lunch of bread, salad, and to-die-for salmon tart. At another break we were treated to a “suitcase show” of Dijanne’s quilts. I was overwhelmed with the possibilities and lost site of actual projects I might be working on in the future. I combined colors on the fly, so I’m not sure I will be using much of this stuff soon. I WILL use it eventually though, you can be assured of that! The whole reason for attending though, was to be able to come home and dye fabrics myself in a more contemplative atmosphere. So, here’s what I brought home. I’m drying my fabrics outside rather than in the dryer because Tommy says it’s easier on the ironing, which I look forward to doing tonight.

After class, I walked down the street to see the local megaliths. Yup, you read right, prehistoric megaliths. The region, Drenthe, is dotted with these large stone formations, and the largest of them all happens to be in Borger, just down the road from De Stofmeid. If I interpreted the Dutch signage correctly, these constructions were grotto-type dwellings of the local hunter-gatherer tribes. According to the picture on the brochure, the space “inside” would have been dug out to achieve a proper ceiling height, and then the spaces in between the upright stones would have been filled in with stacked, smaller stones. Not easy to build, but obviously sturdy, and probably well insulated. Cozy, eh?

No one is sure exactly how these were built (perhaps by giants?), but it is theorized that the stones were moved along rolling “roads” of logs. Perhaps the side, upright, stones were placed first, then a ramp was built of smaller stones topped with logs, and the top stones were rolled up into place. Another possibility is that the top stones were hoisted up into place temporarily with logs, and then the uprights placed underneath. I think the literature said that both methods had been tried out and were equally plausible.

I drove back home this morning, and actually spotted another megalith formation along the side of the road in the next town. Cool. The weather wasn’t as nice for the drive home, but at least the rain cleaned most of the bugs off the car. I didn’t have to rush either, as TS&WGH was able to take two days off of work to stay at home with the kids. When I signed up for the course, I worked it around the kids being able to stay with friends and neighbors after school, but Katja got sick last weekend and couldn’t go to Kindergarten. I offered to cancel my plans, but my man, World’s Greatest Husband that he is, said no. I needed this “professional development,” and he was willing to adjust his schedule for it. Yippee! Had I known my schedule wasn’t going to be so tight, I probably would have opted not to drive (5 hours each way and 2 tanks of gas, one at US prices, the other at the european price of $100 to fill my 18 gallon tank). I envy the people on the express trains that zipped by me along the way.

I had to snap some pics of the fields of Raps as well. I think Raps is called Rape in english. It is used to make canola oil and it’s intense lemon yellow color brightens the days at both the begining and end of the growing season. The other day, I saw a red regional train just past a yellow raps field, under a blue sky. Too bad I didn’t have my camera that day.

And finally: I’ve lived to the notheast of Frankfurt Airport, to the west of it, and now, to the south of it. I could practically drive to it blindfolded. So, I felt like I was almost home when I zipped past this friendly face. Even the airport is decked out for World Cup (finals will be held in Germany, I believe).

I am close to having my next foresty quilt done and blog-worthy, but in the meantime, have a cookie!

I’m a sucker for a cute cookie cutter and have been collecting them for a while. I haven’t made any cookies in a longer while though, so I’d kinda forgotten what I have. Katja bought a kitty cookie cutter last week, so today we dug out the rest and made sugar cookies. I won’t get into the Christmas-themed cutters because that’s a whole other obsession (not mine), but I do have a nice collection of other “german” cutters. Not shown are the variety of hearts, stars, and crescents, or the dachshund. But here’s Schumi’s Ferrari (I do have a boy child!), and my newest obsession, the fliegenpilz. Next to the mushrooms are Ampelmänner, which I think are just too cute (pictures of the real thing here, I’m too lazy to dig mine out and scan them). I’m such a tourist that last time we were in Berlin, I bought a T-shirt with the GO guy on the front and the STOP guy on the back. Unfortunately, it shrunk, but I’m saving it for Katja (Zavi has one too).

Speaking of Fliegenpilze, I’m thinking about a few other themed objects. I have little ones to wire to our Christmas tree, and next time I see one for the garden, I’ll probably get it, though I’m not sure I’m ready to go whole hog and get a gnome too (if you click here, please take the time to scroll down to see, not only the gnome driving Schumi’s car, but the garden gnome soccer team in Germany’s uniform!). I would like a strickpilz though (perhaps known to english speakers as a knitting nancy).

(www.plowandhearth.com)

(www.kinder-online-shop.ch)