Sweden Wrote Back!!!

Recently, I noticed a place called Göteborg, Vastra Gotaland was beginning to visit my blog on a regular basis. Curious, I googled this place and learned that it was located in southern Sweden, near the west coastline of Sweden just north of Denmark. One day noticed that I had had about a dozen hits within one afternoon from Sweden. I realized that my blog had been circulated through a Swedish yahoo group! That was pretty exciting!!!! Intrigued, I did a blog post asking Sweden to write me. I thought it would not be likely that I would recieve a response. But ever hopeful, I decided it was worth a try. I waited 3 to 4 days. One day as I checked my inbox, I found an email entitled "Hej from Sweden." Gudrun, a fellow quilter, who lives on the small Swedish Island of Hono, wrote me back! Eagerly I opened her email. She said she had circulated my blog through the yahoo group and that she really enjoys reading it. Hah! A Swedish quilter halfway around the world just told me she enjoys following my blog!? I was thrilled. Here's part of her first email to me:

"Hello Bethany! Nice to read your blog today:-)). I read your blog as often as I can. It is not so many blogs that is about quilting and I think I discovered your wonderful blog quite early among the swedish quilters and yes, I tipped some about it. I live on the westcoast on an island that is called Hönö. This rural district includes 10 islands and we have to go with the ferry, when we want to reach the mainland. Have you heard about the swedish town Gothenburg, Göteborg in swedish? I can see that town from our island.
I hope you can understand my "swinglish":-)))
Hälsningar från Gudrun"

For a few weeks now she and I have been emailing and getting to know eachother. She is a retired teacher of Swedish literature and German. Not only does she speak German and Swedish, but also what she calls, "Swinglish"...I call it very good English ( : She enjoys spending time with her family and grandkids. Some of her hobbies include gardening and quilting (of course). She has shown me many lovely photos of the various quilting projects she has made. Above is one of her quilts called: "Sol, Vind och Vatten." It is the result of a challenge she participated in with one of her online quilting groups. She said she will give it to her daughter and her family to put in their sailboat.

With every email she sends I learn something new about her and what life is like on the Island of Hono. Today I got to see a picture of a place near her home where she likes to swim in the summertime. One of the funny things about our emails is that I thought her name was: Hälsningar från Gudrun. I wrote her an email saying: "Hello Hälsningar!" After I wrote that I thought that it truly did sound like an odd sort of name. I googled it, and my suspicions were confirmed. "Hälsningar från Gudrun" means: Greetings from Gudrun! Hahaha...oh how I laughed at myself. It was too late at that point to catch my error, I had already sent the email. I did write her a second email, laughingly explained my silly mistake. The incident proved to be highly amusing to Gudrun. The first line of her reply email said: "Are you still laughing? hihi"

It has been a delight to meet and get to know Gudrun. I look forward to emailing with you more in the future! (I know she's reading this!) And until the next email: Lycka till (Good luck) with your quilts and Kram (hug) from Bethany! (Kram and Lycka till are some of the new Swedish lingo I've picked up from Gudrun).

Gudrun out for a stroll...

Hono Harbour, love that blue sky...

I think, though I could be mistaken, that this is the area where she likes to swim in the summer.