Bon, après les mésaventures informatiques de ces derniers jours et la dernière qui m'est arrivée aujourd'hui (on était à la piscine en famille - en Allemagne - on y a passé presque toute la journée - on a pris un goûter à 4 heures et en mangeant mon petit pain je croque tout à coup dans quelque chose d'énorme et de dur... ma couronne ! Drôle de surprise... je me sens "estropiée des dents" et je peux retourner chez le dentiste... gros soupir) je peux enfin m'occuper des photos et du compte-rendu de mon séjour en Allemagne...
Well, after all my computer mishaps, and the latest that happened to me today (we went to the swimming pool in Germany and we spend a great part of the day there - we had a snack at 4 and while I was chewing a piece of my roll I suddenly bite in something big and hard... my crown ! Weird surprise... I feel like I've been "amputed" from a tooth... and now I have to go back to the dentist... sigh), I can at last upload the pics and tell about my trip to Germany...

I had heard that driving around Stuttgart was so long and difficult that I left way early... and arrived way early as well ! So I had time to get settled, have a hot tea and chat with the charming and welcoming ladies who were already there ; then little by little people started to arrive, the room got crowded and animated, and Bonnie arrived !

Il y avait également Karol Ann qui était venue de Grande Bretagne quelques jours auparavant. C'est dingue comme Bonnie attire les foules ! Il faut dire que comme me l'a dit une quilteuse allemande du groupe Black Forest Quilters "elle vaut vraiment le déplacement". Et c'est bien vrai !
There were two French ladies, one of them Valérie who thought she knew me... my name sounded familiar to her... we happened to have been in touch a few years back for some sewing supplies (what a memory she has - I had totally forgotten... I wonder if the girls were born yet...) Talk about a small world !!
There was also Karol Ann who had flown from Great Britain a few days earlier. It's crazy how people are ready to travel a long way to see Bonnie ! But as a lovely German lady from the Black Forest Quilters put it "she is really worth it". And it's so true !
There was also Karol Ann who had flown from Great Britain a few days earlier. It's crazy how people are ready to travel a long way to see Bonnie ! But as a lovely German lady from the Black Forest Quilters put it "she is really worth it". And it's so true !

It's thanks to Bonnie that I put some organisation into my scraps and I started feeling confident about making scrap quilts. I read with a lot of enthusiasm all the pages on her site, I marvelled at all the pictures and I started to put in practice what she had done with her scraps and fabrics. If I know her site almost by heart, why drive a little more than 300 km to see her ? Well, that's the point, to see her in flesh and blood, to hear her talk passionately about her story, about her quilts, and encourage people to step out in faith and go for it ! What's more there is something that struck me and I hadn't realised : not only had she organised her scraps in strips, squares and bricks, but she had also cut them sizes that allow to combine them without cutting back or do the maths all over again !

And here are some examples of the wonderful quilts you can sew with all sorts of mismatched odds and ends of fabric, once they have been pressed and cut to the appropriate dimensions :

The larger sized pieces of fabric that have been sitting on a shelf for ages can find their place at the back of the quilt ( and free some shelf space for new fabric and justify a trip to the quilt shop !)


I have many more pictures, but they are mostly quilts that you can see on her site, so I really hope you will browse it and admire a lot of what she does !

Have you seen all these quilts ? It will be a special memory for some parents and a little bundle of joy out there who are going through a rough time and really need some comfort - and it is comforting to know that there are people who care.

Then the part that motivated me as well : the ufos. Among the quilts presented by the members of the guild, a lot of them said with a lot of satisfaction "this top had been sitting for (X) years on a shelf, but I took it up again and worked on it little by little and now it's DONE !" I want to say this too very soon !!
Voici quelques uns parmi mes préférés :
Here are some among my favorites :
Voici quelques uns parmi mes préférés :
Here are some among my favorites :




After that beautiful evening, I hit the road again for a little less than 100 km to go to Cécile's place. The next day, we went to the thermal baths where we spent about 4 hours in various pools with all sorts of massages (water shooting out of the side of the pool, at different heights to massage your thighs, backs and neck) and whirlpools, in steam rooms with aromas... heavenly and so relaxing !
Je n'avais pas vu ses garçons depuis un bon moment... ils sont rigolos, un peu comme mes filles : vivants, bruyants, attachants, et je crois qu'ils s'entendraient bien ensemble.
I hadn't seen her boys for a long time... they are fun, a little like my daughters : very lively, noisy, and lovely, I think they would all get on really well.

So here is Cécile - we hadn't seen each other for years, but each time we meet it just feels like we had left the day before.

She took good care of me, cooked delicious things and used the nice china, and put the soup in the nice tureen (it looks great doesn't it ?)


(ça me rappelle une discussion que j'ai eue avec Laure qui me disait un jour : "t'as pas beaucoup d'amis" - un peu choquée je lui demande ce qu'elle entend par là et elle me dit "ben non tu peux pas avoir d'amis, puisque t'es une maman !" J'espère bien que maintenant qu'elles grandissent, j'aurai justement plus de temps à consacrer à mes amis de par le monde...)
It's great to have a friend like her, in spite of the years going by and all the obligations we are tied to, I know she's there. Thank you Cécile !
(it reminds me of a remark that Laure had made one day : "you don't have a lot of friends" - a little taken aback, I ask her what she means and she says "no you can't have many friends, you're a mom !" Well I hope that now that they are growing up, I will get to spend more time with my friends throughout the world...)
(it reminds me of a remark that Laure had made one day : "you don't have a lot of friends" - a little taken aback, I ask her what she means and she says "no you can't have many friends, you're a mom !" Well I hope that now that they are growing up, I will get to spend more time with my friends throughout the world...)
1 commentaire:
Il semble que tu as eu un voyage formidable. Le bonheur jaillit de la page.
On peut lire tout, c'est vrai, mais on trouve beaucoup plus d'inspiration en écoutant, en bavardant avec des personnes qui ont le même intérêt.
Quel dommage de son dent!
(C'est correct de dire "quel dommage de...?) Je n'en suis pas certaine.
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