Hi Guys, OOOOO -- I am dead tired and totally exhausted but *must* tell you all about meeting Jessamy and the Old Mill LQS and her lovely little boy and everything else. But first let me say that there are really only three things I don't like about traveling in Europe -- almost no free public rest rooms (except when traveling on the major highways), rough toilet paper and -- MOST awful of all -- NO ICE for drinks:-))). I never realize how dependent I am on having ice for my cold drinks until I go to Europe :-). The trip over wasn't bad at all until we got to Venlo and tried to find our hotel. DH had gotten directions from the hotel and from -- BOTH were wrong so we got the official "lost tourist" city tour -- LOLOL! I had DH stop in one of the shopping areas and I went in to a shop that sells flooring and asked for directions. Well, first I asked if anyone spoke English :-). Anyway, with proper directions, we finally found the hotel and got ourselves settled. Jessamy phoned the next morning about 9:30AM to say she was on her way and would be there in about 40 mins. I had breakfast and settled myself in the lobby with my needlework -- MagEyes and all. Jess showed up less than 10 minutes later and we proceeded to have the official "meet & greet". She told you about the "special surprise" which I knew she wanted but couldn't purchase. I had a coupon for Joann's so I got her the ruler as a thank you for schlepping me around :-). It was FUN watching her take it out of the bag -- I do love to be able to surprise someone with a gift that I am positive they will like :-)))))) She told you about the Kitty Fabrics (what else would I bring AND they were in HER fav colours) and the Jelly Bellies I brought for her. Even though she knew she was going to get the candy, you'da thunk I had brought her the most awesome culinary delight ever made -- LOLOL. I told her I would be happy to trade jelly beans for stash any time and I think she almost went into a fugue state thinking about a relatively unlimited supply of the little yummy things :-). Anyway, what she DIDN'T tell you about was the PURPLE fabrics I brought her -- LOLOLOL! Not just one purple fabric either -- I brought several. Besides the absolutely wonderful chocolates and cookies (AKA Biscuits) that she brought for me, she also brought some truly lovely fabrics for me. As she said, they were made in her hometown and I am jealous that she has access to "fresh" fabric!!!!! She brought three different fabrics -- a lovely red with a sort of star burst background print and a large hibiscus floral stripe done in beige & a sort of khaki with gold outlining -- truly unusual and lovely. The other two fabrics look to be from the same line -- they coordinate beautifully. They both have a beige ground with a black and med. brown all over geometric background print. One has a sort of square in a square background with paisley looking pheasants that have some dark navy accent areas. There are also largish paisley floral "medallions" in a style whose name I can't remember!! The other print also has some navy blue and it too is a paisley looking floral "stripe" that is really an "S" curve. They are all three quite lovely and almost all of the chocolates and cookies have magically disappeared!!! On to the LQ&NS. First tho', I could NOT believe how nervous Jess was about making that 3 point turn (actually only needed 2 turns) on the hill. I didn't think it was that big a hill but Jess was almost sweating bullets by the time she got turned around :-). So, I had thought I might ask Jess if she knew where there were any LNS but remembered that almost all of the shops I had been in while in Europe sold both quilting and embroidery stuff. This shop was no different and had a lovely supply of needlework fabrics that just aren't available this side of the pond. I bought a 2/3 m. piece of a sort of table topper fabric. It has a lovely geometric design woven into it that forms eight squares that are suitable for Hardanger -- exactly what I was hoping to find :-). Now, the fabrics I saw were wonderful -- truly lovely stuff. There were the standard American fabrics that I would loved to have bought but didn't see the sense in spending my money on stuff I could get at home. I bought a half meter of three different fabrics. First is a wonderful little purple floral with tiny little yellow centers and small green leaves and a very dark navy ground. Next is a bright red, yellow & orange plaid that is probably about 52" wide! Then I got a wonderful red, white & green plaid -- perfect for use in all sorts of Christmas stuff and I plan on putting some into my Christmas Kitty quilt. Finally I bought a FQ of some KITTY Christmas fabric :-). It's from this side of the pond but that's OK -- I didn't have it in my stash AND I bought it in The Netherlands :-)). It's got kitties and puppies all over it playing and doing silly things with candy canes and holly in the background. The shop was wonderful with most of the fabric upstairs and the needlework stuff and notions downstairs. You could look up to the roof and see all of the gears and wheels, etc. of the original mill. You could almost feel all of the people who used to walk through the mill -- it was truly wonderful! Add to that the fact that this was the first time Jessamy had been to the shop and it was a WONDERFUL experience. We went to the town center and walked around a bit looking for a restaurant. Jess picked a "cafeteria" in one of the department stores. Not a regular walk through the line cafeteria but one of those that has salads in one section, soups and sandwiches in another, desserts in another, etc. I had a lovely salad and a wonderful carbonated blackberry soda and did my best to scrounge up some ice but it was not to be :-(. After eating I got to see all of Jessamy's wonderful small quilts and pictures of her larger one in the quilt magazines. OOOOO they were ALL beautiful . And yes, I got to see all of the horrid, tiny little hexagons she is cutting out and sewing together. She is sick, wrong in the head, will need special counseling once she has THAT project completed -- LOL! She is grouping the different colors into different shapes (large "flowers", diamonds, squares, etc.) and it will be quite interesting to see what the final quilt will look like! As Jessamy said, after lunch we had to head home. Poor little Alexander -- who had been absolutely wonderful the whole time -- fell asleep in his car seat in the back seat. We got rain and then hail on the way home but made it back to my hotel OK. I was tired when I got back to my room but had a wonderful time going through all of my chocolate AND fabric stash! I'm going to have to try and scan the fabric Jess gave me and the ones I bought. DH has loaded a new scanner program so I'm not sure when that will happen. Fool that I am , I totally forgot to bring my camera along when I met Jessamy so I have no photos of us :-(. I also don't have any photos of Venlo since I never had time to do any sightseeing!. Same for Dusseldorf and Prague. They were just airports we were in and where we got the rental car. I DO have some great photos of the historic district of Olomouc in the Czech Republic. That is the only place I actually had a bit of time to go sightseeing while DH was working. Again, I'll have to get DH to help we with loading them into the 'puter. Once I do and I have stuff up at Webshots, I will post to let you know. We were gone from Sunday to Sunday and were in FIVE countries -- two of those just airport stops (Paris & Zurich). But I was there and even got to see it snow at Charles deGaulle during our 3 hour layover! OK -- finally getting tired and think I will actually be able to sleep. It's nearing 10:00PM (or 2200 hrs in European time :-) ) so it's off to have a nice hot soak in the tub. I'll post when I get photos up at Webshots. CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at