Vaasan Tilkkupatteristo

That's the name of the local Finnish-speaking quilting group. I went to their meeting on Tuesday night and enjoyed myself. Even if I understood little of what was said (I'm still learning my numbers and foods), we all speak quilt (and many of the women speak English, too).

After chocolate cake and coffee, there was some business to discuss. Fortunately people bring books and magazines to share, so I just looked through those at this point! One member demonstrated how she makes baskets and bags from woven and stitched plastic coffee bags. A good choice since I've recently learned that Finns drink more coffee per capita than anyone else in the world! There was some discussion of what to do with a collection of redwork squares on tea-dyed linen that will eventually become a raffle quilt, as well as when and where to hold the Christmas party. (Is it that time already?!) It's being held here.

A highlight was a visiting suitcase exhibition from the European Quilt Association. The page hasn't been updated forever, but the links to the individual organizations are good, as is the description of the suitcase gallery project (link on the left side of the page). The theme was something like Fire & Ice and the quilts (wall hangings of about 20 inches) were very diverse and very cool!

I brought along The Color Purple and Love Beads to introduce myself.

I didn't have a camera with me, but here is one more photo of the leaves here in Vaasa (this one is outside the university library).