The last few days have gone by in a whirl. I’m trying to get everything organized ready for starting work next week. House cleaned, tick, washing under control, tick, ironing up to date, tick, find all the documents I need to take with me, tick, ponder which of my clothes are respectable enough to wear to the office, tick, buy a new washer for the bath plug, tick, recycle a million tons of junk so I can get into the cellar, tick…..it goes on and on…

I can’t remember the last time our house looked this tidy…I know it won’t last, but it makes me feel like I’m under control and that I’m going to be able to stay organized and hold this whole shabang together. It’s been a long time…too many years to admit to…since I went out to the office and I’ve never juggled kids and office. But other people seem to manage just fine and I’m sure I will too.

I’m anticipating being completely wiped out at the end of the day for the next few weeks. It’s always like that with a new job, isn’t it. The transition is going to be a bit of a shock to the system, but a good shock I hope. Time will tell. The good thing is, I’m really looking forward to it!

In between all this hustle and bustle I finally managed to make the prizes for Julie and Paige for their box ideas last week. Mug rugs from teeny tiny pinwheels in Rouenneries Deux. I love how they have turned out and I hope they will too.

Now the only thing I’m feeling bad about are the strips I’m lagging behind on for the Stitch Tease Bee…..and as hubby is away next weekend I’m planning a stitching and teasing marathon to get myself all caught up.

Phew…I think I need a cup of tea and a lie down.

Have a good weekend!

Helen

Last week my friend Charla and I set off on a quest to visit a couple of quilt shops within an hour’s drive of where we live. Quilt shops are pretty few and far between here, but we’d heard about these two for a while and decided to have a self-indulgent afternoon. Well you have to sometimes, don’t you!

I’d actually only visited fabric shops round here in Zürich and in Uster, a small town 20 minutes drive away. In Zürich in particular, most of the fabric shops have closed in the 20+ years I’ve lived here. There is one quilting shop though, where the owner and staff are delightful, but it’s tiny and so the choice of fabric is always going to be limited. The rental prices in Zürich itself are so astronomical that it’s impossible to pay for as much space as you would really like in a fabric shop – a great shame, but what can you do?

So Charla and I headed out of town and north towards the German border to see what was available in the countryside.

The first stop was at Patchideal in Diessenhofen – a shop upstairs in a new complex over a supermarket, that I would never have found if Charla hadn’t known the way. They had the biggest selection of fabric I’ve seen here – quite a lot of which was ON SALE ! – and the staff were really friendly. It was a good hour’s drive and I wish the shop was nearer as it’s a friendly place and the selection was good. They even do courses – and there were some lovely bags on display, so I might well head out that way again!

The second place we stopped by was on the way home – probably only 25 minutes away  – and is relatively new. The Quilt Place in Nürensdorf just blew us away. It’s situated in a small, pretty apartment block in the middle of a beautiful old village – charm everywhere you looked! (At this point I took photos with my phone which were too bad to post – next time I go I’ll show you just how pretty it was!).

The stairway to the shop was lined with beautiful old quilts and when we walked in the door we had to take a moment to catch our breath…..you know how it is when you see the most beautiful shop you’ve ever been in? The sort of light, airy, spacious and downright drop dead gorgeous shop where you might just stay for ever and never go home? The sort of shop where I would even take a class on sewing tight curves (not that they offer one), just for the sheer pleasure of sitting in the room all day…..oh my goodness. We were speechless…we were in awe….FAB-U-LOUS….that’s all I can say. As well as ‘how come it took me so long to get there?’ And I don’t have one darned photo to show you – so you’d better just check it out here, but the photos don’t do credit to how nice it really is.

One of the things that I really, really liked was that the Quilt Place is not just full of American fabrics. Now you know I online shop from the US with the best of you, and I’m certainly in no way criticizing American quilt fabrics – it’s just it was so refreshing to see gorgeous French and German fabrics that I’d never come across before. The style is different, softer and more muted, and I loved it!

I bought these little beauties….German…from Westfalenstoffe.….mmmm…yum….looking forward to working with them, when I have an idea of what to make with them!

It’s a good job I’m going back to work…otherwise I think I’d be trundling off to Nürensdorf every other week! Sometimes it’s amazing what you come across in a small out of the way Swiss village!

Helen

Do you ever have the feeling that sometimes things happen, unplanned things usually, but they are just meant to be?

I have had a strong feeling for a few months that I was at a turning point in my life. I couldn’t put my finger on anything specific, but I was a little restless and beginning to think that a change was in the air. Those of you who pop in here regularly know that I haven’t had the easiest time teenager-wise in the last few months and for a short while I was struggling and my life felt like it was stuck under a big, black cloud.

With a little bit of professional help things have started to turn around and I’ve been feeling much better. But still there has been this antsy feeling. I’ll turn 50 this year, my oldest daughter will leave school, my son will hopefully find an apprenticeship and there’s a feeling of flux and change in the air.

Job-wise I’ve kept myself busy for the last decade with freelancing as an editor, translator and corrector for academics – all done from home and fitting around the children. I like it, but it’s sporadic and somehow I have been feeling ready for more.

Last weekend I was contacted by an old friend about a job in finance (pre-children I was an accountant, well technically I still am, but just a resting one!). I hadn’t considered going back to my old profession – I thought I was too old and had been away too long and nobody would consider me – and on top of that I didn’t think I’d find a job that I would get excited about….and let’s face it, at 50 you aren’t going to get up and go to work to do a job that you hate or that bores you if you can help it…

So I never thought about accounting.

Until last week. When rather unexpectedly what appears to be the perfect job fell into my lap. A job that was interesting and challenging, where nobody cared that I’d been away so long, but rather looked at what I could do, where the chemistry was just right from the off, the part-time hours flexible and just what I would have chosen. A job that comes with an adorable Scottie dog who sleeps in a cupboard and begs for pieces of apple… It really couldn’t be better.

So that’s it. I’m putting on my accountant’s hat and pulling out the smart clothes and joining the big kids again.

Miracles do happen.

It feels like it was meant to be.

I will still be blogging and running and quilting and knitting…just maybe not quite as much!

Wish me luck. I feel like I’m starting a whole new phase of my life – and it feels pretty cool!

Helen

Every year at about this time I have the same feeling.

The fresh airiness of the house after I’ve cleared all the Christmas decorations makes me realize just how cluttered everywhere else is. The rest of my family are an untidy bunch and inveterately hoard everything imaginable, so it’s always a real battle to keep it all under control. I love simplicity. I love tidiness and space. Inevitably over the years I’ve had to compromise massively, but once in a while it just gets to be too much and the inner cleaning fairy just has to get into action.

This morning I’d had enough and braved the cellar and my son’s bedroom. The cellar houses a lot of things that are on their way to being recycled or donated, so I trundled off and got rid of a whole load of bags of unwanted things. I also have a collossal amount of cardboard ready for collection day on Friday – that has all been bundled and put in the shed until later in the week. Now at least I can walk into the cellar to start tackling the shelves – or at least those that I haven’t been explicitly forbidden to touch (which of course, as you can imagine, are the worst of the lot!). I’ve trained myself to be happy with very little on the decluttering front – anything gone is an improvement, even if it isn’t anywhere near as much as I’d like!

My son’s bedroom is looking much better. I don’t normally clean and tidy for the teenagers, but it’s such a battle to get them to do it and they never ever do a really thorough clean. (You know how a mother’s idea of clean bears no resemblance whatsoever to a 14 year old’s idea of clean!). Well now it’s done! Spiderwebs removed, all rubbish out from under the bed, dusted….it looks wonderful and I actually feel like a good little housewife!

In between the cleaning I’ve been periodically rewarding myself with some more Fireworks sewing. Folks, this quilt is not going to be done in a hurry, but it is going to be lovely…one day…… 3 blocks down and 11 to go.

Here’s hoping your week has started well. I’ll be back tomorrow, when I may just have some exciting news!

Helen

Today when I should have been working on my fireworks blocks, or going to church or engaging in a little light housework, I was doing something infinitely more exciting. Something I hadn’t really anticipated ever doing. Or having fun doing at least. But as I’m determined to do new things and going outside my comfort zone is good for me, instead I was with a bunch of teenagers and two gentlemen of a certain age doing this…

Needless to say I was rubbish at it and won’t be challenging for a spot on a Formula 1 team, but it was a laugh and a half…..

…and I have decided that I will never, ever loan my children my car. they all turn into complete maniacs once they have a steering wheel in their hands!

Now back to the fabric..phew!

Helen