I'm baaaack (said in my best Sheldon imitation) and a Sunday Stash Report!

Wow, and are my arms ever tired!  Okay, that was a bad joke but after the flights (yes, more than one) from Italy I am bagged.  It started Thursday morning when we got to the airport in Rome, only to discover that for some unknown reason our flight had been changed without telling us, and it had left 2 hours earlier.  After much discussion and reasoning, Lufthansa got us rebooked so at least we were still able to get home on the same day (the initial discussion was to stay one more night and go home the next day - which might have worked if we hadn't already checked out of our hotel and paid 50 Euro to get to the airport).  It did mean flying to Munich four hours later, a 2 hour layover, then an 8 hour flight to Montreal for another 2 hour layover and then the 5 hour trip to Vancouver.  All in all, my travel day was well over 24 hours, so most of Friday was spent sleeping or being in a daze, but I did manage to work on Zoey's birthday dress.  Saturday was groceries, then I had my grandson overnight.  At 3 1/2, he missed me so much and I missed him too, so we had fun together!

It was an amazing trip.  I got to see so many places, but left so many untouched so I plan to go back someday.  Not knowing the language, it was hard to spot fabric stores but on one of my last days in Rome, we spotted one and then another right around the corner.  Cottons were pretty much limited to sheeting and baby designs, but I did pick up a piece of white and red toile that was 108" wide.

Used this Week:  0 metres
Used year to Date: 45 metres

Added this Week: 2 metres

Added Year to Date: 45.9 metres
Net Used for 2012: -0.9 metres

They were both massive, room after room of fabrics on shelves that went 15 feet high or more. They had a huge selection of Liberty of London, but at 43 Euro a metre, I passed!

One of the highlights of the trip was a semi-private tour of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, where we got to go in 1 hour before the crowds and had the whole place practically to ourselves (only about 50 people in a place where there are normally 3,000 every 1/2 hour. I was even able to take a few pictures, which normally aren't allowed. The Last Judgement by Michelangelo is everything I expected and more - it was stunning!

My pictures aren't as good as the postcards, but there is just something about having taken them yourself that says "I was there". 

The floor in the Sistine was covered in marble mosaics - everywhere I looked was more and more quilt inspirations (in fact, I found so much inspiration in Italy I'm going to have to have a separate post of just those) This is when I was really grateful for the lack of crowds.

All in all, a fabulous trip and I hope to do it again in the future, as I feel I just barely scraped the surface.