My adventure.....

I have had such an exciting adventure this past few days and it has been a lot of fun.  This may be a long post so, feel free to make yourself a hot drink to sip!!  

First a little background.... For many years when I lived in Switzerland I used to order my fabric online from a shop call Cotton & Color.  It was however, a fair distance from where I was situated in Switzerland and I had never had the opportunity to visit the actual shop. Also some years ago, I started following the blog of designers Me and My Sister and used to leave comments to which I always had a nice reply.  So, when I recently learned that Me and My Sister Designs were coming to teach at Cotton & Color, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to both visit the shop and meet Barb and Mary the designers behind Me and My Sister Designs, so I signed up to take part in the classes.

I flew to Basel airport and took a taxi to my hotel which was just across the border from Switzerland in Germany.  

The first evening there was a trunk show with Barb and Mary who delighted us by showing many of their beautiful quilts.  It was lovely to meet them both in person and, I also had the bonus of meeting Martina and Katharina who I have got to 'know' through my blog. Sadly, I neglected to take a photograph of my meeting with Martina but, hopefully it won't be the last time I get to meet her in person.  I did get to spend some more time getting to know Katharina as she also attended the second of the two classes taught by Barb and Mary. 

Each morning I had a pretty walk from the hotel to the quilt shop.  It was a lovely way to start the day and I was lucky with the weather which was warm and sunny.

In the first of the two classes we were following the pattern called 'Wild Jelly Rolls (3&4)'. The pattern gives instructions for two different quilts and we were following the pattern for quilt (3). By the end of both classes I had managed to get the top half of the quilt finished.

In the second class we were following the pattern called 'Slice of Cake (1&2)'.  This pattern also gives instructions for two different quilts and we were following the pattern for quilt (2).

I only managed to get one block from this quilt made. 

You may be thinking that I didn't seem to get a lot of sewing done but, we had such a lot of fun chatting and laughing that the sewing wasn't quite as quick as if I'd have been at home! 

There were also lots of fun giveaways and prizes as well as some extra projects to make. We were shown a super quick method for making a pillowcase called 'The Dilly Dally Pillowcase' which is a free pattern on the Me and My Sister website.

We also had fun making some cute mitten decorations using some of the Me and My Sister 'Smitten for Mittens Making it Cute' templates as well as a cute scissor case which is a free pattern from the Moda Bakeshop website.

I met some wonderful people including Barb and Mary of course.  

I have been corresponding with Barb through their blog for some years, so it was like meeting a good friend.

Then there was Martina (sadly no photograph), Katharina, a lovely lady called Ellen and another called Ariadna who also writes a nice blog which you can find here as well as many other nice ladies. It was a really fabulous time and, to top it all off, Martina and Katharina both gave me lovely gifts to bring home with me.

Martina some Swiss chocolates (no photograph.... I couldn't resist them!!) a cute little fabric basket (which held the chocolate) and some traditional biscuits from Basel (they are delicious!)..... thank you very much Martina!

And from Katharina a beautiful thread folder with a Gail Pan embroidery stitched on the front and some beautiful threads inside.

Such a generous gift... thank you Katharina.... It was so nice to meet you and I had such a lovely time... it certainly made my heart happy!

All in all it was a wonderful adventure and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who made it such a lovely trip.  Including everyone I have mentioned above and not forgetting Astrid, the owner at Cotton & Color and her team, who all worked so hard to make everyone feel welcome.