....and I'm back

After being in Switzerland for almost three month now, we are starting to find our feet again. It was rather strange at the beginning and somehow I couldn't quite believe that we were here to stay. We unpacked two containers and most boxes are empty, although not everything has found its place yet. It was truly a mammoth job!  At the moment I'm in the process of "fine tuning"  my sewing room and once again I'm overwhelmed with all the fabrics I have collected over the years. I have almost sleepless nights wondering what to do with my stash, especially those fabrics I've fallen "out of love" with. Luckily I just heard that a group at church get together to make quilts for charity and I have now sorted out two big basket to give to them. I'm so happy to have made room in my cupboards but also in my head, if you know what I mean.

I miss Singapore and ''my old life" but what I miss most are my friends and my quilting groups.  Of course we miss our lovely view from our old home too, although our new view isn't to be sniffed at either, especially on a beautiful Spring day like this: 

So many things to readjust to. After many years of having helpers in the house I struggle to keep on top of my chores. I don't mind cooking, but cleaning floors and bathroom, not to mention ironing!! Blimey, how do people do it??  I find it a real challenge, so getting a cleaning lady was of the highest priority. Otherwise how would I ever find time to quilt???

Talking about quilting, I have hardly touched any sewing since we arrived as frankly, I neither had the time nor was I in the mood for it.  But I jumped  at the chance to do a two day workshop with Sue Spargo a few weeks ago. The class had been booked out a year in advance but somehow there was suddenly a space available. 

We learned how to appliqué with wool and how to embellish with different embroidery stitches and I really enjoyed Sue's class but also the company of local quilters. This is the sewing kit we worked on; the finished one is Sue's and on the right is the beginning of mine.

 And some close ups of my first embroidery attempts:

 Now I just have to remember all the different stitches so I can finish it. In any case, I bought Sue's great little book "Creative Stitching" with lots of diagrams and photos of 50 different stitches.

Of course I also had to buy a few pieces of wool and some wool thread so I can practice some more. Aren't these colours just glowing? The wool fabrics are hand dyed by Sue and her family. 

I'll be back soon with hopefully some news of actual sewing.

Enjoy the rest of this week.

Vreni xx