“Not another mystery”, you say. “We haven’t seen the final results of the last ones.”
And you are correct. But the Muscat Quilt group, of which I was a member for too short a time, is running one, and I’m joining in with the friends I left there. It helps to know someone on the planning committee. I’ve really missed the social aspect of quilting since I moved to Norway, and this is one way to solve the problem.
The mandate was to pick two fabrics, small even prints or mottled tones, that display a good sharp contrast. The suggested amount – four meters of each. Sounds pretty easy. Or maybe not. Fabric is pretty expensive here, so I didn’t envision going out and buying eight meters of fabric any time soon. Good thing we hadn’t packed up yet, and my trusty stash was still fully shelved (and boxed). Even so, four meters wasn’t easy to come by. With the possibility of not seeing my quilting machine and frame for a long time due to our imminent move, Jo’s idea of a table cloth made sense. So I could look at shorter pieces of fabric as well.
When I was first getting my sewing room in order for moving, I chose a green/red print that I’ve had a very long time and a pale yellow that had very slight variations in the colour…. but somehow, I wasn’t satisfied. 
You see, there was something about the green print that I didn’t like, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. So, as time drew closer to the unveiling of the first clue, I scoured the shelves again in search of something else. I came up with several that I liked –
But there were problems – two large a pattern, not enough contrast, lines instead of an all-over print. 
After taking dozens of photos, trying to get the colours to show true, I polled my friends, not to have them make the choice for me, but just give me feedback. It sure is good to have friends you can trust to tell it straight in a clinch situation like this.
When I took a good hard look at that green print, I discovered that the tiny dots were sort of lime green, not yellow. I found a perfect match, and one that had some life to it. 
Still – the red, or the green.
I washed the green fabric (I don’t wash it as it comes into the house), and then I discovered WHY I wasn’t so keen on it before. With the sizing washed out, that stiff-as-a-board yardage turned into the most beautiful, soft fabric – a pleasure to touch and to look at. I chose the green.
Finally today, after promising myself to sew instead of sort and tidy and then sorting through all the kitchen cupboards anyway, I did my calculations to see how many blocks a table cloth would require and went up to clean. off the cutting table. I cut out the pieces for fifteen blocks of the green…. and then I cut one block’s worth of pieces of the red.
and I sewed them both up…….. just to see what they would look like.
I guess it’s not hard to see where the contrast and life are, although the red would make a very pretty table cloth. I think I may do a whole table cloth in the greens, and just one block in the red, maybe for a table topper.
The real mystery, I’m thinking, is not what fabric to use, or what the quilt will look like when it is completed. The REAL mystery is why I spend so much time thinking about sewing and so little time actually doing it when I love doing it so very, very much.
I’m going to work on that one, but if anyone has a few hints as to my problems with photographing colour in fabrics, I’d sure love to hear from you.
Just check out December 13, “Another Kind of Cruise”, and then look at these shots.
Preikestolen from the bottom – something we didn’t see in the snow. It looks so tiny ‘way up there.
Closer view – not so small, but oh, so high!
Craggy cliffs –
The Hanging Falls – 
The ice is melting today in the sunshine-
A few clouds in the sky –
23:50 December 31 – the sound began. We threw on our jackets and headed out into the street. Bright flares erupted right in front of us – actually right over our heads. To our left and right – all around us blazes of colour lightened the darkness. 
We laughed. Neither of us had ever been right in the middle of a fireworks display before, and that’s what it felt like. 
Jone sent some bright ones up from the lower garden; more flew up from across the park. 
The spectacle lasted for over half an hour – totally unplanned and unofficial. Just a bunch of crazy Norwegians taking advantage of a chance to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Jone came over to us with glasses of champagne. We went over and wished hims wife and visitors a Happy New Years, and watched their son send off his first firecrackers. At age 12, he was finally deemed old enough to have a few tiny ones of his own.
Christmas is almost here – I lit the fourth Advent candle this morning when I had my breakfast. And I just realized that I have never before in my entire life had to prepare for Christmas all alone. But I also realized that I had instinctively taken care to incorporate all the rituals of Christmases past as I prepared. Funny how we take care of ourselves without realizing it. This Advent has been one of joy and thanksgiving for me, where it could have been a pitiful celebration of loneliness.
or date pinwheels, my Grandmother’s recipe. 
My cousin was just commenting about how they remind her of her Mother, recently passed away.
They are mainly along the harbour – very handy for the thousands of tourists that pour into Bergen on cruise ships during the summer. Needles to say, we were glad they weren’t there now.
We found an incredible silver shop that sold knives and silver work done by the Saami – the Laplanders,
but we were able to go into Haakon’s Hall – also dating back to the 13th century. 
Except for the stone walls, it has been completely restored, as a German munition ship exploded in the harbour during WWII, and the hall caught fire. It is used for ceremonial occasion, just as it was in the 1200″s.
We had an Irish coffee in Scruffy Murphy’s, and then wandered into the narrow street behind it. 
There we discovered a wonderful fish-shaped door handle. 
Just as we were about to take a photo of it, out walked two gentlemen. They directed our attention to the corner post on the step, and said that it was the centre of the old town and dated back several centuries. Of course, after they left we took photos of both the post and the door handle.
Later we met up with Robert, and had dinner at the unicorn restaurant, 
which is in one of the oldest lanes in the Hansiatic area –
the buildings are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The palm house in the middle is a large circle with many paths through it. The upper-level walkway is accessed by spiral staircases, and gives you a birds eye view of the trees from the air. Attached to this building on either side are long houses with smaller circular ones on the other end. Five different growing climates are represented.
We climbed the cast iron staircase, and entered a world of tree tops. Branches reached out as so many angles – so many different shapes of leaves and flowers. 
Until my lens defogged, I just used my phone to capture what caught my attention. 
different flowers and leaves. Why put a simple flower with five rounded petals on your quilt when you could use one like this
or this?
We wandered down each path, looking down
and up
By the time we had finished in the Palm House, our camera batteries were already showing half dead!
Still, the specimens were quite amazing. I’ve never really been a cactus person, due probably to stepping in too many of them as a child on the Prairies, but these flowers….. wow!
One last look at the great glass houses of the University of Copenhagen botanical Gardens
And then off to see Rosenborg Castle – too late! We had spent too much time in the gardens. I guess we will just have to visit Copenhagen again.
wanderingquilter 