Time flies

From the beginning of September to the first half of November, I went on four trips to different places, in different directions. A couple of extended trips were for work with a little bit of play thrown in, and the rest was short holiday break.... I never dreamt of buying a carpet in India or thought that I would make it back to San Francisco ever again, and I did (both!!). On one free morning, I even visited a fabric shop, Britex Fabrics, in San Francisco, and bought a few things, of course. :-) The experience was great, especially for the fact that I had little expectation (if any at all). Now that I have settled back into the routine at home, my wonderful Gammill Statler is having a good workout.... 

Floriade

Surfer Paradise QLD

 

My Indian breakfast

 

 

My purchase from Britex Fabrics

 

 My American breakfast (but probably not again)

 

 

A Few Train Trips with Grandma's Squares

I always like to make use of time while travelling on an extended journey by train. Crocheting Grandma's square is one of my favourite things  to do because there is sufficient lighting and I can still see what I'm doing without having to wear a pair of glasses (not yet, anyway!), and it's easily undone if I make a mistake.

Recently, I bought some colourful yarns in Fussen, Germany, and made a table runner while on the train, making my way back to Switzerland. I finished sewing in all those 'countless' tails at home. It took some amount of patience to work my way through them before it's done.

I bought some discounted yarns in Maastricht, The Netherlands while visiting my dear friend, Marijke, and made this scarf on the train, on my way back to France.... I could see from the corner of my eye that there was a pair of curious dark brown eyes observing me, and when I looked up, he asked 'why are you so furiously making a scarf when the weather is so hot?'.... I had a good laugh, and we chatted along about different things during our train journey. :-)

Back at home, I made this poncho on a few train trips to and from work. There are
eight Grandma's squares in total. Each square has 15 rows.

And, there are a few more projects on Grandma's squares for me to look forward to finishing them off. Fortunately, there are also many more train trips for me to look forward to travelling to and from places. :-)

I made it to 'Ultramod'

Last year while in Paris, I went to Ultramod, 14 Rue Monsigny, 75002 Paris, on Saturday and it was closed. The shop is only open from Monday to Friday, I found out right there and then. This year, I made a time to visit the shop on Friday. It is quite close to where I was staying in Paris. The shop is full of beautiful and colourful ribbons, trims and buttons, and scattered with those antique hat moulds, sewing machines, cash registers, etc. It would be 'a must visit' for those who are keen on hat making. I did come away with a small amount of decorative trims for small projects as it was hard to resist.

 

My 'purchase' !

'Fabulous'

A picture is worth a thousand words. And, for me, those many thousand words could be summed up in one word; fabulous. :-)

Despite the 40++C heat on the day, there was so much fun learning to make macarons with a French chef. I did get my hands dirty from the beginning to the end.

It was 'FAB'. ;-)

FRANCE: JUNE-JULY 2015