Munich, a touch of Spring and a happy end

After the weekend in small towns and at the fly fishing event, on Monday morning we took the train to Munich. The weather was warming up and the sky was blue. Here is the Cathedral, Frauenkirche, built in 1468-1488.

 

 

 

We were walking in the city centre, Marienplatz, originally a market place. I zoomed my camera to look at  one of the many gargoyles on the New Town Hall building. New is a relative word, it was built between 1867 and 1907.

 

 

Here is a picture of the building, and you can see how many people have taken their coats off as the day was getting warm.

 

The Glockenspiel was playing, life size figures of people and horses. You can read about the plays in the link.

 

We were not just tourists looking at attractions we had seen already, but we were on a mission: I needed some red (304) DMC embroidery floss. We looked for it in the big department stores, some of which actually had a fabric and hobby department. But all they had was Anchor floss, and no conversion chart like this link I later got from Melanie: http://www.willowfabrics.com/shadeconverter.shtm. We looked into shopping arcades in hope to find a quilt shop, embroidery shop, anything. No luck. Such a big, big, city, and they don't have a quilt shop where one could find it and have some fun, and they don't even sell red floss. And that was almost all I really wanted!

 

 

Then we walked past the Fishing and Hunting Museum, another familiar place we already visited twice.  

 

This time I didn't dare go in, the exhibition was about life with Wolpertinger! You can see how awful they can look. (Yes, they are all different.) They may have a hare's body with antlers, feet like a waterbird and maybe even wings.

 

I have learnt at the museum that they specialised in eating "North German soft sculls", and one can't be sure how well they know their geography. Finland is even more in the North than North Germany! You can imagine how I was scared when I saw this creature through my kitchen window just after arrival:

 

Brown and white hair falling out, and the ears look a little like antlers when you are scared, don't you think? Originally the Wolpertinger were made in the 19th century by taxidermists from parts of actual animals, as a joke to fool tourists in restaurants and inns.

 

After coming back home I went to Hyvinkää just 15 minutes away by car, and bought the floss I needed. For those who should need Anchor floss, the nice lady at the shop had colour charts and conversion tables both ways! I packed my new floss in my new kit Melanie made for my birthday, and it was packed full with a matching project bag, scissors, ribbons, pins and needles.

 

 

Pincushion, needles book and scissor holder.

All holders with stitched names.

Some of the books she brought - I have read one and I'm reading two at the moment. The most gorgeous mug for my tea. I feel all girly!

 

Now I'm prepared for the next row of Kaaren's Happy Scrappy Spring next week. Happy End!

 

 

The snowdrops were in bloom when we came home, and now most of the snow is gone too.

 

 

Vintage Thingies 46 - Sewing Notions

The weeks seem to miss a day or two, because Thursday aways comes sooner than I expect. I had no pictures prepared for this week, so I remembered the tatting shuttle I told you about last week.



No luck finding the shuttle in the places I looked for it. I found some other old tools instead:

The little embroidery scissors are made in Germany. My mother gave them to me when I was supposed to read for my final exams and was cross-stitching instead. The thimble is just an old thimble, my size but not my favourite shape. The knife is made by Fiskars in Finland. It has been my mother's, and she gave it to me to be used as a ripper. I love the smooth wooden handle.

The next two pictures are of the same items; I just wanted you to see both sides of the pincushion. My sister Maija gave me that pincushion together with a calender printed on fabric. She lived in Germany already, the year was 1970 or a little later.

The folklore clothes are so special! When we visited DH's sister in Munich earlier this year, I bought a Trachten vest for me. What I really would like to try on is a complete outfit with a wide skirt, white blouse and tight vest.

The scissors here remind me of the numerous times I was shopping for fabrics with my mother for her sewing. The fabric shop ladies always had such curved scissors with rounded points in their pocket, and when they cut the fabric on the big table, I heard that lovely sound. It took me years to understand that the scissors must touch the table to make the sound; and if you only have paper to cut and your scissors are made of plastic, you just are not big enough to make such sounds. What did you love most in fabric shops when you were little?

Suzanne is hosting this week's Vintage Thingies Thursday with memories of her childhood. Go back there and see the list with links to other vintage lovers.