Translating German

I fell in love with Bernadette Mayr's quilts when I ran across her book Modern Nature Inspired Quilts. 

This is her only book that is in English translation.   At the exact time of the flood I was working on a white batik and taupe solid quilt with snow and intricate trees.  I had one whole tree completed.  No idea where that is now.

The Swimming Pool is her design as well.  I will finish that up after I get back from North Carolina. 

Then I saw the Goldfish.  I emailed her to see if that book was translated into English.  It was an amazing book.  But alas, it was not.

She graciously sent me a copy of the pages of instructions, in German!  She also sent me a handmade card and some post cards with images of her quilts.  Including the one I was working on, Winter Wonderland, and

So I talked to my friend who is a PhD in Language Studies and speaks fluent German.  She is at a dog show this weekend in Houston, but I am having a go at it with a translator app.

German is an interesting language.  After I got the cadence going, I could figure out some words.  Like wasser, is water.  So I guess people who are named Wasserman might have been fisherman or boatmen at one time. 

After a while wasser sort of looks like water.  Now it was seerosenblatter that threw me.  Turns out it is waterlily.  Blatter is leaf, so if you know that it makes sense.  Then there were some really great words.....like quiltgarn for thread.  Don't you just love that?  Even better....mitteldickes means batting.  Gotta use that one in the quilt guild.

Of course the name of the quilt is Goldfischteich.  You can work that one out yourself.