October Recap

Man, October was BUSY. That's why it took me so long to post about September!

Ethan and I went to the Stuttgart Oktoberfest, which is actually called Volksfest here in Stuttgart. 

 Ethan is on that swing!

 Then Ethan and I took a weekend trip to Belgium to see a friend of mine.

We didn't do much sight-seeing because we were only there for the weekend. Ethan said when people ask him what he did in Belgium he will say "went to the grocery store. and then went to the grocery store again. and then went to another grocery store."

 The city of Mons has this little monkey statue on the city hall building. No one really knows why it's there, but they say if you rub its head with your left hand and make a wish it will come true.

 The NATO base is located there in Belgium, and this is me in front of all the flags of the NATO countries. They rotate them so that one country is never always in the center.

 And this really cool quilt was inside the building and has a quilt block for each country in NATO.

 At worked I taught another bag class. Not everyone finished in class, but Pam brought hers back in to show off!

I taught the Kaleidoscope quilt block, which makes a very pretty quilt. See mine here. 

 

I taught the Wilton level 3 course, fondant. Here's the girls with their graduation cakes.

 Felicia made a peacock out of her fondant flowers!

 I baked and decorated a whole bunch of cakes for a quinceanera. Read about it here.

 Our Canvas and Corkscrews instructor is moving. *sad face* This sugar skull was the last one I got to paint with Marta. We're looking for a new instructor, but it will take a little while before we can continue the program.

 Here's my painting! So bright and fun!

 And lastly we had a lot of fun on Halloween! Read all about the costumes here.

August Recap

August was insanely busy, but I don't have many pictures to prove it. It was a month where work was so intense there wasn't much room for anything else. Ethan was still in America, and Rob and Haven had gone to the Philippines. So it was just me and the cats. 

Yes, I talked to them. Yes, they answered back. Unfortunately we don't speak the same language... but I'm sure we understand each other. 

So anyway - my HUMAN friends and I worked hard in August. 

This is me and Kitty (OMG I just realized how funny that is... that IS her name!!!) at the CARE Fair promoting Arts and Crafts. 

 For one week we hosted all the Arts and Crafts Directors in Europe for a training. We all shared about our programs and talked about ways to improve. It was an amazing week that I could talk your ear off about. But I won't. One of my contributions was showing them all how Canvas and Corkscrews works by having them be attendees. This is us!

 We clearly had fun...

And this is my painting.

I taught Cake Decorating, and these are the Wilton 2 "graduates" with their cakes.

 And my cake from teaching them the basket weave technique. Those are cake balls on top shaped to look like apples.

 These three cakes (all from class) were entered into a baking contest and got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for the "Presentation" category! I was so proud of our group!!

 Melissa, who got first with her sunflower cake, couldn't stay long enough for the awards, but here's Anne and I proudly wearing our little ribbons!

 I finished this quilt in time for it to be given to the recipient. I blogged about it here if you missed it.

The whole family came home at the end of the month, but I only got a photo of Ethan. Mostly to prove to my parents he made it home - since he flew alone. So proud of him! It was nerve racking for all of us, but he did great!

So grown up - even got his own ID card! He no longer needs me .... until he gets hungry... 

It's been ridiculously cold here this month. Cold and rainy. So cold. Did I mention it's cold? But hey, here's a double rainbow. So life is good!

July Recap

Yep, it's the last day of August and I'm just now posting photos from July. It's been that kind of summer! So here's a quick run down. 

This is actually from June, but I didn't post this quilt. The pattern is You Zig, I'll Zag. I used Road 15 fabric from Moda. 

That is Rob's mom holding the quilt. It started as a quilt for Bob while he was going through chemo, but then he ended up not having to do chemo!! So it became their 50th wedding anniversary quilt. They have been on many journeys and lived in many places, so that's why I chose the zig zag quilt pattern and the road fabric.

I taught a bunch of classes, as usual. 

 I taught this young lady and her mother how to quilt. (Her mom didn't want to be photographed, but her quilt turned out great too!)

 Then we had a BLAST the next day making pillows all day! That's FOUR different pillows that we made in one day!

I taught the Washi Tunic to a group of girls.

 And I taught the Wilton Method 1 - Buttercream class. These are the girls with their graduation cakes. We started with 7, but some of the ladies couldn't make the last night of class.

 I made this Mendhi inspired cake one week of the class. Next time I attempt a design like this I will use a smaller piping tip!

And then this cake was my "graduation" cake. Rob was in the Philippines for his birthday, so we (me and the church friends) ate the ocean cake in his honor. : ) 

 

(The sand is brown sugar, but you should use raw sugar for a better color)

Before Rob left we went to the Stuttgart Jazz Open. We went for Jamie Cullum. It was our third time seeing him, and by far his best concert that we've been to. He was so amazing that night! 

That's a palace behind the stage. One of the neat things about living in Europe!

Through a crazy turn of events I bought a VESPA!!!! Yes I did! To make a very long story short - I got an amazing deal on this and paid way less than the retail price. I couldn't pass it up. It is SO.MUCH.FUN!!! 

 When we went to the States in June we left Ethan behind. (It was planned. Don't worry - we didn't forget a whole kid at the airport.) He stayed with my parents and spent the summer running around Texas! Here he is learning to water ski - something I never did manage to learn!

So that was July. Just one more month in our crazy life!