My Godmother's Danish Cross-Stitch and American Quilts Collections (and TUSAL Update....)

So, I haven't been real productive with my stitching lately.  The trip to Sweden was full of adventures until late in the nights and I managed to catch a cold towards the end.  I am still trying to recover and had to stay home sick from work today - too tired to stitch!
Anyway, I will probably post a couple of additional "Sweden Trip" posts, but I have too many photos to share, so it is pretty much necessary to divide the different days and activities up a bit.

Anyway, since I know that many of you are as much into stitching as I am, I just have to share some photos that I took while we visited my mother's cousin, my godmother, and her family for lunch last Saturday.  We had a lovely time and it was a lot of fun to see her and her husband and their two sons, the daughter-in-law, and the brand new grandson.  We were treated to sea food followed by tiramisu and coffee.  Well to be honest, my godmother, mom and I almost missed dessert since we were busy looking around in all my godmothers stash collection rooms.  It was a real familiar feel; the packed rooms, the clever "hiding places", the sorting systems that are completely undecipherable to anyone but the mastermind behind it...  all of this was pretty much like looking at my own stash through someone else's eyes.  And a real treat!
My godmother has been stitching for about 30 years now.  She mentioned that she started to practice embroidery when she was very young, I forget exactly how young, but I seem to recall that she was 5.  She explained that her mother needed to find something to occupy her with so that she would sit still for a few minutes, since she was a really high energy child.  My godmother started to stitch Danish designs, Clara Waever/Eva Rosenstand and Fremme (both fantastic companies of which I am a huge fan) thanks to my late grandmother, who ordered a lot of their kits through the woman's journals back in the 70:s.
We talked a lot about stitching and it was pretty funny to hear my father tell me that he was so impressed that I knew which company had designed what design.   I guess that maybe my family has never quite realized the depth of my obsession with stitching...  ;-)

Well, we had a great time.  We looked at my godmother's kit and pattern collection, admired a lot of her finished work, and even looked through some old Clara Waever catalogs to compare notes on what we like and what we are not real excited about.  I took a bunch of photos for you, so that you can have a look!  Here you can see both Fremme and Waever design finished as wall pictures and as table cloths.  Some have yet to be finished, which I believe is something that is often a bit of a challenge to many of us stitchers.  What to do with the finished design?  A table cloth, a wall picture, a pillow case, a gift to someone, or what?

 

 

 

 

My godmother is also a quilter and teaches classes in quilting.  She has taken trips to the US concentrating specifically on quilting and stash enhancement!  The US flag quilt below was stitched form fabric picked up in the US at a couple of different occasions.

 

 

 And finally, an adorable table-cloth from a Swedish design company made using traditional embroidery.  Too cute!  I just love geraniums, so this design really speaks to me!

What do you think about that!?  Pretty fabulous, right!?

Before I stop, I just have to share something sweet with you.  My mother proudly displays the things I stitch for her around the house in the most unexpected ways.  The pocket I stitched for her is now hanging around a floor lamp in the living room, which is also the permanent home of a couple of Christmas ornaments and a book-mark that I stitched for her years ago.  This is how you know that your gifts are appreciated!  :-)

 

Well, time to hop to bed.  I should get an early start on the sleep, so that I can get myself and my cold into work tomorrow.  I am already feeling better tonight than I did most of today, so I'd better ride this wave...

Real quick, before I go - this is the April TUSAL update.  A terrible photo, I know, but it is fun to see how the orts are beginning to fill the jar:

Good Night and Happy Dreams about Stitching,