Barrister's Block

I'm not yet sure of its age but it definitely is a 66.  To change the stitch length, there's a large silver button on the right!  I have learned that the 66 was the precursor to the 201, which I love (and own two!)

I'm sure many of you know much more about this little beauty. I'll learn. For the time being, I'm going to play around with her until I learn the proper foot mechanics to run it!!

I think the one machine I still need to find is a hand-crank. My friend Claire remembered in a comment on my blog that I owned one in the early 1970s when I was in the Peace Corps in Liberia and lived 600 miles from the capital city and had no electricity nor running water. That was a great machine and I still regret not sending it home at the end of my tour. 

I'm happy with my find. I bought it from a man who restores old machines so I am confident it's in good working order!

So what a great birthday it has been!

I was tickled when I opened up my computer and was greeted with a birthday greeting from Google!!

Amazing!

I'm actually alone up in Sunriver, trying to finish some house things up and hoping to get everything done before the kids come next week for 10 days!! I'm having dinner with a friend tonight and getting myself a massage tomorrow! Might even get some sewing done!! Have other friends to meet during the next week so it'll actually be wonderful to have some time to myself without running around!

Life's great!! I go to sleep every night grateful for having lived another day as wonderful as they are!! 

End of soap box speech!

This one is quercitron. 

This one is block ground chintz. The background of the chintz is dark. 

This one is white ground chintz. I didn't have enough so did actually piece some on the pieces together. Oh well!

This is fancy machine grounds. The background of the chintz has dots!

Easiest fabric to find: neat stripe. 

I am struggling to find a pillar print, a wood block print and I can't find my indigo fabrics. Other than that, I'm caught up! Yeah!!

I'm heading up to Sunriver tomorrow to finish up a few things on the house and hope to get some  sewing done before the kids arrive next week!

I didn't show many wedding photos but now I can!  They were beautiful events!!

The judge is a friend of mine who flew up for the wedding!

One of Julia's friends made this painted sheet with a heart made of a German flag and American flag. They were given scissors to cut out the heart and my son carried Julia through the heart, as though over the threshold. It was very sweet. 

These are my 3 kids and Julia. Not the best picture but still nice to have one of the 3 kids together. 

Hope to get some sewing done this next week!

The iron and scissors might be a bit cumbersome!

One store I love had a perfect sewing table. Lucky for me it had already been sold or I would've wanted to figure out how to get it home!

I also took a picture of the dessert treats fairly typical in Paris:

Last night we went to the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower for Bastille Day. It was without a doubt the most amazing display! Even had an orchestra playing music to accompany the fireworks! 

We are off to Germany this afternoon for the Friday wedding. We always hate leaving Paris but are looking forward to seeing Dresden, formerly part of East Germany. 

I love how the center square's tiles are on the diagonal as opposed to the rest that's mostly squared.  I don't know the  age since much of Dresden was rebuilt after the end of WWII. 

We also visited a castle and I saw this on the stairwell to the roof. 

We snuck a look inside another castle (well, I did since I professed ignorance of understanding the German sign telling people to stay out)!  This was the ceiling in the one room I was able to see. 

Love these stars!

There is a porcelain wall that depicts all the Dukes of Saxony. It really reminded me of toile!

These are in Germany. 

This was in Oregon. 

I'll be back Monday and am looking forward to my stash and machines and I getting to know each other again. It's been a long few weeks. 

But that wasn't the end. Julia is from Dresden, Germany, and her extended family wasn't able to come to the U.S. So they planned a wedding in Germany as well. That's going to take place on Friday. My husband and I decided to take a few days before and enjoy some time in Paris, so that's where I am now. The weather has been perfect and we are excited to experience the French Independence Day tomorrow. 

We've been wandering the streets, as we love to do and came across this display in a clothing store. I love the fact that you can see the Paris architecture in the glass reflection. There are a ton of hand crank sewing machines just sitting in these windows. Such a waste!!

And for just a little tourism, here is a shot of Notre Dame, a most beautiful church in Paris!

From the side it's equally breathtaking!

Here we are, enjoying a snack at a little cafe:

We had our grandkids the past week as well while my daughter moved, so it was great fun as always! I'm not posting lots of pictures but I finally got one of all 3 darlings, playing in a dirt pile!! It's my low-tech entertainment!!

I'll post pictures of the bride and groom  after Friday. She wanted to wait until then so that everyone would have seen her dress already. I won't be back home until the 20th. My machine is patiently awaiting my return!!