Back from vacation

Hey there! I'm back from a wonderful vacation including family reunion and special birthday celebrations. Hope you have been well. Unfortunately, I had a little accident which is preventing me from sitting at my new sewing desk right now. Hopefully I'll get to it sometime next week. Meanwhile I have other things to share.

While vacationing at Lido Adriano, Italy

at the beach before sunrise

we also visited the Basilica San Vitale in Ravenna. The basilica is enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

It's been 15 years since my last visit there. At that time patchwork and quilting was completely unknown to me! I remember that I was totally enthusiastic about the incredibly masterpieces of mosaic art. This time though the flooring captured my most attention and amazed me to no end. No need for many words of explanation here, quilters will understand immediately. Others may just marvel at this incredible craftsmanship.

Lots of inspiration for some quilt patterns, especially some epp, right?

Of course there can't be any trip to Italy without a proper Gelato!!

So this concludes the very short and selective summary of my vacation. No wait! I also finally had the opportunity to gift two quilts I made earlier this year and that I kept secret here. Which brings me back to the topic of quilting. So while pain in my wrist is preventing me from sewing, I can at least share what I made earlier. Stay tuned if you care to see them.

Panama 7 and last !

Bye bye Panama City...

... maybe another time.

If you feel like more pictures you can read about our 2009 trip to Panama here, here, here, here, and here.

Panama 6

At the Biomuseo (The Biodiversity Museum: The Panama Bridge of Life)
designed by Frank Gehry

I really learned a thing or two about how Panama changed the world as the land masses emerged from the sea three million years ago.

Panama City as time goes by

Panama 4

Wonders of mankind at the canal...

...and wonders of nature.

birds nest     -     Vogelnester     -     nidi d'ucello

I love mangos !

Ficus elastica     -     rubber tree     -     Gummibaum

Navajo Bridge, Arizona

The Navajo Bridge 1st and 2nd and what we saw while looking down the bridge. Another tourist called the bird an eagle but to me it looks more like a condor. I was lucky to see it fly from one bridge to the other.

Die erste und zweite Navajo Brücke und was wir sahen, als wir runter schauten. Ein anderer Tourist nannte den Vogel einen Adler aber mir scheint es ein Kondor zu sein. Jedenfalls hatte ich das Glück, es von einem Brückengerüst zum anderen fliegen zu sehen.

Il vecchio e nuovo Ponte Navajo (link purtroppo solo in inglese) e cosa vedemmo guardando di giù. Un'altro turista disse che l'uccello fosse un'aquila ma a me mi parse un condor.  Fui fortunata di vederlo volare da un ponte all'altro.

Las Vegas

The first stop on our recent trip was Las Vegas.

Unsere kürzlich stattgefundene Reise begann in Las Vegas.

La prima tappa del nostro recente viaggio fu Las Vegas.

Feldschlösschen Rheinfelden

Recently I visited the Brewery Feldschlösschen in Rheinfelden, Switzerland. It's the largest brewery of the country and number four in the world. I loved the castle feeling of its architecture, the attention that has been given to details, the wonderful tiling, the pot in which the first batch of beer has been brewed exhibited in the facade and the horses that for nostalgic reasons are still part of the brewery. And yes, I loved the beer as well.

Kürzlich habe ich die Brauerei Feldschlösschen in Rheinfelden, Schweiz besucht. Sie ist die grösste der Schweiz und Nummer vier der Welt. Die schlossartige Architektur hat mir sehr gefallen, sowie die an vielen Stellen spürbare Liebe zum Detail oder die wunderschöne Fliesenarbeit. Aber auch die Idee, die Pfanne, in welche das erste Bier gebraut wurde in der Fassade zu verewigen. Und ja, das Bier hat mir auch geschmeckt.

Recentemente ho visitato il birrificio Feldschlösschen in Rheinfelden, Svizzera. E il più grande del paese e il numero quattro del mondo. Mi sono molto piaciuti l'architettura che ricorda un castello, l'attenzione posta nei dettagli, la pentola nella quale fu fabbricata la prima birra esposta nella facciata e i cavalli che per motivi nostalgici fanno ancora parte della fabbrica. E si, mi è anche piaciuta la birra.