Good Morning, Jetlag….

I am singing this to the old tune of “good morning, heartbreak!” I’ve got a version around here that Lori Morgan sang on a CD of oldies….but my heart is the complete opposite of heartbroken, it is completely full!

I left Stuttgart bright and early….or make that dark and early! International airports can be an experience! Here they shuttle everyone OUT to the plane from the gate…way out on to the tarmack, and you load UP the plane stairs into the plane. I’ve done this for small commuter planes, before, but it’s quite the tall starcase to get onto a big plane! As the sun was coming up and we were driving by all sorts of different planes with interesting paint jobs from exotic countries, look what I spied! It’s the HARIBO GUMMY BEAR PLANE!

This made me smile from ear to ear….And you can bet for sure that I had Haribo packages in my luggage---Jeff is a Gummy Bear and Licorice fan, just like his mom

The flight to Heathrow was a short one, and my eyes were wide open with interest as we landed…SO GREEN there!! And I could see the cars driving on the left side of the road instead of the right as I am used to, and I wanted so BADLY to get out of that airport and go explore…just one day? Couldn’t I just have ONE DAY to see London? Nope. I only had 1.5 hours before my connection from London to Chicago….but there is plenty to see walking around Heathrow. I wanted fish and chips. It was 8am. Wasn’t going to happen!

The flight from London to Chicago was 9.5 hours!! I know it seems like Chicago is over-shooting North Carolina by just a bit, but doing it this way beat the 4+ hour layover I would have had in Washington/Dulles, and I actually got home sooner. I landed in Greensboro a bit past 5pm.

I knew it was early, but after dinner and talking to family and unloading gifts etc…I headed up to the guestroom for some SLEEP. I was told this morning that my snoring could be heard through the floor, I was THAT tired! Turns out that I thought I would just prop myself up and read a bit, and then drift off, but….I awoke near 3am with the light beside me STILL ON ((I had been dreaming the sun was coming through the window!!)) my GLASSES STILL ON, and the book open in my lap. Lights out, glasses off, back to sleep!

I didn’t sleep in much, but at least I didn’t wake to an alarm, and I had the pleasure of purry furries on either side of me. Let the day begin! Besides suitcase unpacking and laundry washing, I’ve got stacks of mail to go through, book orders to mail, website to update, post office run, bank run, and a phone interview with Mark Lipinski today! I just emailed Taryn, I don’t have a clue whether it’s a live show, or if it is being pre-recorded! I just hope I don’t fall asleep in the middle of it and snore…lol!

One of the pleasures of traveling to teach IS getting to know people better. Names are so interesting when you travel outside of the states too. I think at one point I had 3 Birgits and 1 Brigitte and I was struggling to remember everyone’s names, but by the end I felt like I knew everyone!

One of the Birgits was just SO adorable! You know how I love to travel table to table and see what everyone is working on? I spied THIS in Birgits work station!

This is her applique block book!! But look how cute this is with the basket, the spools, the buttons! And Birgit loves to work MINI!! I had shown my hexagons in progress, and I feel like mine were the size of DINNER PLATES after seeing HERS! LOOK!

This picture probably doesn’t show you the scale……but look at that little lady bug fussy cut in the center of the red one! Any guess how small they are? How about THIS for a close up:

Here they are in the palm of Birgit’s HAND! Some of them show the top side, some the bottom side, so you can see the seam allowance in there…I put my little camera on “close up” but it is still not so clear. I’m thinking I need a better camera for better pictures….it’s on my wish list! It just can’t be a huge camera that won’t fit into my luggage as well, has to stay small….but that’s another tangent for another day!

This little fabric cupcake is also a sweet gift from Birgit! ((And also in her hand!)) It is so adorable, it plans to live near my machine for pins and needles. Thank you, Birgit for thinking of me!

These pics were were taken on Monday, the day of the Love Shack Workshop, but because it was my last day, Birgit also brought the blocks from Saturday’s Virginia Bound workshop to show me her progress:

This is a girl who is not afraid of color!! She had a STACK of fabrics…and was happily cutting away, just sorting piles into yellow/orange as her background and reds/pinks/purples as her main star colors. FABO!!!

Here is a pic of Birgit standing next to Johannes, both admiring their quilts-in-progress! YES! We even had a gentleman quilter with us….and his work? TERRIFIC! When I asked him what he did for a living, his response? “Engineer”! Somehow I could have guessed that!

And here are the rest of the pics from the Virginia Bound Workshop: ((Yeah, I know we are skipping around, but I can show the Love Shack pics another day!))

		Virginia Bound Workshop! Stuttgart_2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I think it’s time for my second cup of tea, and to get started on this paperwork day! It’s good to be home….well, til Friday at least! Then I’m headed off to Tennessee!

And Oh oh oh! All the floral border sections for my hexi quilt are DONE! I’ve just got those two sections to attach. Maybe with my feet up in the recliner tonight? And then, I’ll start filling in the background!