Crazed Quilter

Come Visit Us at Our New Home!!

2007-05-26T00:07:00.000+01:00

I've made the switch to Wordpress.com. I like it better for layout and for the fact that it lets you add other pages to the blog besides your journal entries... I am so glad I started this blog. I've made so many friends through this and felt a part of the quilting community. Will you come visit me again in my new home? I hope you'll save me onto Bloglines and continue to come visit!

I Swear They Breed in There!!

2007-05-17T00:21:00.000+01:00

See that basket? That is my basket of smaller Dear Jane scraps and muslin scraps... See those blocks? I got 37 8 inch blocks from that basket and it is still FULL!! I did manage to clear it of anything that could be turned into a 3 inch square, so I have a crumb pieced quilt in the works (in my head in design stage, lol) for the small pieces.

Barbara and her husband Hakan arrive tomorrow for a visit. I am looking forward to a crafty week, Dave is looking forward to a golf filled week. I hope to show them around a bit as well, and take them out to hear great traditional music. Should be fun... if my poor kids ever get rid of the germs that keep coming around... There are more head colds and ick going around and everyone's kids seem reinfected around here... Keep your fingers crossed that my girls are happy tomorrow morning, I have 5 hours round trip in the car with them while I pick up our visitors at the airport in Dublin. I really hope I don't have to tell Barbara and her DH to find their way by train, but will have to if the kids are not on the mend!! Ugh...what bad timing.

See, bet you guys thought I forgot how to quilt!!! I do find however that I go into withdrawals if I am not knitting something as well... At the moment, all it is is a swatch for my next pair of socks...have never swatched before to get gauge, trying to learn the science behind it all...

Our Meeting with Pat Sloan...and an Official Finish

2007-05-08T22:11:00.000+01:00

I still am quilting these days...but not a lot of interesting things to show... Cutting sewing and trimming a gazillion HSTs for my Ocean Waves blocks... Couching gold thread onto a celtic knot design... I grab my time while I can with small kids, things get done in small doses.
So here are some photos of our meeting with Pat Sloan in Killarney! My friend Kathleen and I headed out to stay with her parents in Tralee, Co. Kerry, and then while she minded all the kids for us (bless her!) we headed to Killarney for the talk. She showed us some wonderful quilts, then we saw a show and tell from all her tour group members, some great quilts! We sat at a great table full of ladies from Georgia (Dave and I lived in Atlanta for a few years...).

So here is one more finished knitting project. I started this in February. It is a Debbie Bliss pattern for her new Pure Cotton yarn... I just love all the cables and the celtic knot designs.
My addiction is definitely quilting and knitting these days have to get started on a new project soon.

Moebius Madness

2007-05-07T10:35:00.000+01:00

This is the wildest knitting I’ve ever done! You used a long cable needle (about 4 feet long!) twist it around itself and make a moebius strip, some sort of mathematical thing with only one edge…when you knit you knit from the center outwards, it is wild to see it grow that way! I got the pattern and technique from books by Cat Bordhi. This is the book I used. I plan to make a moebius felted bowl from it next!

Inspirations

2007-05-01T14:46:00.000+01:00

Dave's brother John is a vintage car collector, and this is his new baby a 1913 Ford Model T. He was down for a rally in Limerick and stayed with us during pox season this weekend.

I've seen several photos lately of washing lines and bleeding heart flowers...so here is my homage...our little fairy garden with bluebells, pincushion flowers (appropriate for quilters, no?) and some tiny bleeding hearts peeping out...

The washing line is new with me. When we first moved here I didn't own a dryer, it is a luxury here in Ireland still...most houses will have the washer most definitely...but while we were renting for our first few years in Ireland, I had to dry clothes on very weak radiators in winter as it was always rainy! I promised I'd never use a washing line again, lol! Since 1999 I've had a house and a dryer, and never had a washing line... but while I'll never go back to hanging socks for weeks to dry in a damp house during rainy weather and winter, I am loving using a washing line in our gorgeous sunny weather we've had lately. Something very zen like hanging out those clothes, just being in the moment of the day, hearing the birds singing, feeling the breeze... I've been really inspired by other bloggers and by my fellow Irish friends who always hang out their wash to get the line and get out there!

Here is a basket I made back in the days ( I really need to get back to making willow baskets, I loved it!!) it is full of seeds I should have planted out...still not up to it today, but maybe tomorrow!!??

I am sorry that I am not the best blogger. I see less and less comments on my blog and I know it is because I don't leave many myself. I read a lot, but am not great at commenting. But I've been lucky to make some wonderful new friends through this blog and I've been asked by my fellow expat Tracy at Pink Purl (wonderful crafty blog, go visit!) to name my five inspirational blogs. I met Tracy because I was looking up a Norwegian craft designer who does a craft line called Tilda. I'm glad that I left a comment...and found her blog.

So my five international inspirational blogs are:

Pink Purl (Norway): US Expat Tracy has a wonderful way with words. Her cooking, crafting and gardening are lovely to look at and her posts make you slow down and appreciate your days.

Spools and Thimbles (Sweden): Dutch expat Barbara makes beautiful quilts, bags and is into lots more crafty things. She and I have become friends and real life and she inspires me everyday to do new projects and get others done. Looking forward to having her and her husband visiting in a few weeks!

Tazzie Quilts (Australia): Tazzie how do you get so much done with two children!! A published designer, she makes me amazed with each post how much she can get done in a day, lol, and still manage to coach a netball team and keep up with housework. You are my mommy hero, and I love all your projects!!

Yarn Harlot (Canada): I love this blog...she is very funny, check her out. Obsessed crafters will relate, she may even get you knitting! I think she has something like 8000 subscribers on Bloglines, and she uses her power, lol, for good, raising money for Medicins sans Frontieres. She is also an author and has some really funny books out there.

Quilting with the Past (Netherlands): I love antique quilts and love Lucy's quilts inspired by them! Lots of eye candy here.

There really are so many more that I love to read, but check out some of these, lots of good stuff!

A Pox Upon This House...

2007-05-01T12:59:00.000+01:00

Ugh...since last Thursday night there has been much sniffling, aching, moaning, and whining in this house, and some of it was even the kids, lol. My oldest, poor Aine (onya), got a nasty sore throat and a bit of a flu, which morphed into a bad head cold which I had Sunday (while DH was away all day on a vintage car rally with his brother...can we say TIRED!). Aine is still not 100 percent now on Tuesday, but she is so much better than she has been... I just wish for longer than 1 hour increments for my sleep soon, before I go demented. Sleep deprivation is cruel.

But on the flip side, not leaving the house to go farther than the wheelie bin to dump our trash has led to lots of progress on various projects...

My Amelie Cardigan by Debbie Bliss (in her new book based on her Pure Cotton line) is done...just need to buy some buttons! This is a beautiful cardigan with some unusual construction...probably a bit challenging for my first big sweater in a long while, but well worth the work.
Aisling's I Spy a Double 4 patch quilt is done.

I have made good progress on the girls knitted fairy dolls, just wings and some sewn dresses and they are done!

Many many HSTs have been sewn and pressed (have to get my rotary cutter back from Kathleen, who I taught a 9 patch to last Monday, and has now nearly finished her first quilt!!)

I had some lovely photos of my garden, washing line, and the said vintage Model T Ford car of my brother in law...before the pox came upon me...was planning a lovely montage, but that is too much work right now...

Office Productivity

2007-04-25T23:55:00.000+01:00

I was able to finish the free-motion quilting on Aisling's quilt during the day today while the kids played nearby...in my new spiffy cool office! I did the hearts freehand and then just did a meander...one of these days I want to try those peacock feathers Tazzie described!

I have also gotten to the construction of the cable cardigan...button band, collar and buttons left!!

I got a commission for two more children's name pillows...people keep telling me I should sell them...might just try to do that with a few other kid related fabric items...there is a local Sunday market here that I've been wanting to do something at...just trying to find the right items...

I've been tagged twice for the 5 inspirational blogs meme, gonna have to have a good think about that and do them on my next post!!

2007-04-17T22:23:00.000+01:00

I received a lovely package this week from Elizabeth at Forgetmenot Quilting! I had sent her out a Pay it Forward swap goodie and she very kindly sent these along! I had admired the chicken pincushion she'd done before, and she filled this lovely one with lavender, it smells heavenly!

She knows me well as she included two gorgeous CW fabrics and some crazy quilting fabrics, as well as some nasturtium seeds!

I have a bit of a fun adventure tomorrow. I will be meeting Pat Sloan in Killarney, Co. Kerry! I emailed her last year after following a link about an Irish quilting trip she was leading last year. They were going through a town where I knew there was one of the maybe 3 quilt shops in the whole country, lol, and wanted to tell them about it. She kept my email and sent me a note to ask if I wanted to meet up with the local quilt guild at her hotel this year, and to bring my Dear Jane, lol!! I don't know her stuff well, but what an honor to meet such a talented quilter! Guess I better learn how to applique more now!!

My friend Kathleen's parents live in Tralee, nearby Killarney so her mom, bless her, will watch the kids for us while we go for a quilty excursion...we may even leave early for a movie (Becoming Jane...we are both Austen fans!) A bit of a mommy break and quilting at the end of it, cool!

Sorry I don't have much crafting to show...we've been in London since last Thursday. My friend Katy and I are Bob Dylan fans from a long way back (well as long as you can go back if you discovered him in 1988, lol!!) We've probably seen a half dozen of his concerts together now in the DC area, Ireland and now the UK... Funny how we met due to a few guys at college in Maryland and because of liking Dylan, and now we are both quilters living in Europe...

How wonderful it is to have real and cyber friends to meet with this week!

I've finished all the parts of my cardigan now, jus thave to construct it and knit up collars and button bands...cool. Dave is heading to Germany next week, so sense some more sock wool coming to my stash soon!

More crafting next week I hope!

Group Projects!

2007-04-01T15:12:00.000+01:00

I did this Irish landscape with needle turn applique (except for that tree, I'm not that crazy... a little fusible web for that!). It will be part of a banner for a Brian Boru festival held here in Killaloe/Ballina (one side of our town, Killaloe, is in Clare, where I live, Ballina, is across on the other side of the Shannon River in Tipperary). Brian Boru, a great ancient warrior was supposed to have ruled over this area, so there is a festival every year. I started it at my patchwork group on Wednesday and got so into working on it that I finished it that night... My applique is slowly getting better!

The other project is my next crazy quilt round robin block. The quilt is beautiful in creams, whites, and pastels... I had fun putting some lace and my little spider on it.

My ocean waves are growing slowly...have finished 25/80 now, and have decided to make this bed quilt a duvet cover...possibly using some thin flannel for quilting it and then using muslin or another sheet for the duvet back... we have duvet covers here, not layers of blankets, and my bed is a sleigh type one that a quilt doesn't look right overhanging, its edges really need to be tucked in... has anyone ever made a duvet cover/quilt?

Moving Ahead

2007-03-25T19:12:00.000+01:00

I can't believe that I've finally started quilting on my Dear Jane... I've also got the small DJ wallhanging to work on in the living room if I feel like it. I will be a slow learner with the rocking stitch, but find I'm very fast with the stab stitch...with all the seams in the DJ, stab stitch is a good thing to use!

Here are two blocks the first from my DJ and the second from the wallhanging.

Barbara has also been obsessed lately with the ripple crochet blanket making its rounds in the blogosphere. She pulled me in and I dug out grandma's crochet hook and some of my dishcloth cotton to make a ripple crochet dishcloth, lol!!

I'm still knitting away on my cable cardigan...working on a sleeve now...also doing some ocean wave blocks...

Now I've got to get to work on a tight deadline for my next crazy quilt round robin!!!

Gone...but not forgotten

2007-03-20T15:29:00.000Z

I've been away, but haven't forgotten my blog!! I am a bad blogger...been taking photos of things to blog about since the day after my last blog, lol, but too lazy or something...to actually sit down and write.

Done a lot of different projects since my last blog... Did my first few cotton knit dishcloths... I wanted to try lace knitting, but it really isn't my style to do a lace sweater or shawl, so tried a bit of lace knitting with my dishcloths, with the apparently extra advantage of lace dishcloths drying a bit faster than others??!! I hear good things about them, and they are good for the environment, they seem to work great so far!

I'm also moving along on my cable cardigan, only sleeves and finishing touches now!

Dave went to Germany for work (will be going there fairly often over the next few month...she says greedily!) and he found a yarn shop near the hotel he usually stays at near the factory he visits! Woo hoo Trekking XXL, Opal and Lana Grossa sock yarns...guess I'm gonna keep him! I'll get a ball or two each visit, he says, so I imagine many pairs of hand knit socks are in my future!!

I haven't stopped quilting either!! I have finished the top for Aisling's double 4 patch quilt (my final one made from a block swap ages ago!)

I've also made 4 name pillows for the girls cousins and for them...

I've basted my Dear Jane wallhanging to hand quilt without a hoop, and also put my big DJ on the frame...

In between it all, Aine has marched in her first St. Patrick's day parade, and I got a lovely breakfast in bed this Mothers Day (different in UK/Ireland from US)...got a few hours alone on mother's day so what did I do? QUILT of course!!

Airy Fairy

2007-03-02T21:34:00.000Z

After Aine's pinkwork stitchery for the girls room, I thought I'd take one of her pictures and turn it into another stitchery. I was hoping to make another pretty one, but she wanted to decorate the fairy with some of my beads, all colors of the rainbow, sequins and glitz, not my style but hey... she is my girl, so gotta do it! Here is the original drawing and the start of our sequin and bead dress. I plan to outline it with colors in the original drawing.

I have started piecing Aisling's I Spy quilt. It is the 3rd quilt I've done with these novelty double 4 patches from a swap years ago. I made 5 more to complete the amount I need. I'll do a scrappy border then another plain one to finish it and I will try to quilt some motifs in the center of the plain areas, I'll probably hand quilt the motifs and then stitch in the ditch for the rest on machine... I also made free pieced names for future pillows for Aine and Hannah her friend. Daniel and Aisling are next...

The sweater is coming along great. I'm nearing completion on the back. Then will have a short interlude to knit a cotton dishcloth! Got myself some Peaches and Cream yarn back in the States to try out these dishcloths I've seen around the blogosphere...

I've started back swimming and even did aqua aerobics today...was more strenous a workout than I expected! Here's hoping I can get in the right place to start losing weight again!!

The Post(wo)man Cometh

2007-02-21T09:10:00.000Z

Oh my goodness, look at what deliciousness landed on my doorstep yesterday! It is my swap with Ruth in South Africa! We did a swap: Irish yarn for South African shwe shwe fabric. It was postmarked December 1, and we'd given it up for missing, so I was over the moon to see it arrive. It is so beautiful, thank you so much!!

I also had this beautiful artwork arrive from another exotic locale, from Jo in New Zealand. I wish I had half your talent for embroidery. It is beautiful!!

My socks are done...I still have lots to learn about them...have found a nicer cast on to use, have learned how to graft after my failed attempts here, and I've realized that worsted weight socks are great to learn with, but I think lighter sock yarn is on the cards for future pairs...something I can wear with shoes!! All in all I am still happy with my fraternal twin pair of socks, my first ones of many I am sure... I can feel the addiction growing...

Here is another pillow I started and finished today, I love how fast these go together... This is for... Holly how did you guess? Sister of the infamous Conor, Aine's best buddy from Waterford, who we are off to visit tomorrow. Better pack up some knitting for the trip...and maybe my apple core quilt hand piecing...

A New Convert

2007-02-13T15:38:00.000Z

She is not a convert to knitting, she has been doing that for a while, and her mom is a wonderful knitter too... But I showed her my blog a while back and she has been bitten by the desire to show her knitters life online. This is Kathleen...a new friend here in Ballina...she lives across the street and our kids get on great, so it is a wonderful excuse for an afternoon here and there of knitting. (okay...many afternoons, lol! and sometimes we even look up to see what the kids are doing!)

I decided to knit myself something! After our visit in Limerick to meet Debbie Bliss, who spent a generous amount of time actually putting on us many of the sweaters from her latest books, I fell in love with this sweater from her newest line of dreamy soft "pure cotton" yarn. She was sooooooo nice and spent a lot of time talking to us, very cool!! Of course, I bought two books and 18 balls of Pure Cotton, lol, to make this sweater.

Barbara generously sent me a lovely Tilda stitchery this week, and I have dived into the world of redwork, well....pinkwork... How do you stitchers out there do the small curves for lettering and such...outline and stem stitch don't seem to be easy around tight corners. I used backstitch, but is there another good stitch out there???

My next quilt is definitely a quilt for Aisling as she is nearing 3 and need her own quilt from momma!! I also plan to make more name pillows in the next few weeks...

More soon, but go over and say hi to Kathleen, she is a knitter, but I can feel her weakening towards fabric...might get her quilting soon, she already has a start on a pillow for her son Daniel...

"Bliss"ful Day Planned for Tomorrow

2007-02-05T23:20:00.000Z

Debbie Bliss, knitting guru and author, will be in our little old tiny yarn shop in Limerick tomorrow, so my other knitting obsessed friend Kathleen and I will be making a little trek with our Debbie Bliss books to be signed (and no doubt buying at least one more... she does some nice stuff!) we are hoping for freebies, lol, but any excuse to buy some more Aran tweed or baby cashmerino...or maybe that Noro...or...too bad they have NO sock yarn...have to tell them it is a new trend to watch out for!!

Kathleen's wonderful mom is going to watch the kids so we have a chance to get into town and back out again without major time pressure. Aine is going to a friend's house to play after school as well, and she is really looking forward to that as well.
I finished the wallhanging top tonight, it is about 26 inches square...have to decide whether to hand or machine quilt it.

Last Wednesday at my Patchwork group, I had the ladies help me pin baste my flannel quilt I finally pulled out of storage... Over the weekend I finished quilting it with an allover large meander...it has 10 inch flannel blocks on the back and will go to my aunt in Oregon... I am happy with the way it turned out! Just need to sew down that binding now...

Next on the agenda: the other sock!! a baby quilt...quilting the Valentines quilt...etc etc etc..

People sometimes ask me how I get so much done with 2 small girls, and I guess it is probably because I let other things slide...not important things, like looking after the girls...but I am not the most amazing housekeeper... the house usually looks tidy, but the bathrooms might not have been done as often as they should and the dust bunnies take over from time to time. I am still trying to learn balance. My eating has been very bad in the last 2 years, and I have gained a lot of weight back...maybe when I step back and make a real effort to get more balance with crafting, housework and with exercise and health, I might be able to get to a more healthy place again! I hope so. I am making small steps in the last weeks, getting more routines in place that are working for housekeeping, and that has helped my productivity with quilting and knitting in the evenings.

Getting Stuff Done...

2007-02-01T23:08:00.000Z

Working on a few things here and there over the last week... I finally finished the crazy quilt block for our round robin. I decided that I wanted to do a celtic motif in each person's block but the original one I did was so time consuming that I decided to do a spiral symbol found on the Newgrange passage tombs here in Ireland... This is what I found about its meaning:
The Triskele is used to symbolize the cycles of life with in the three fold, or three spheres of influnce in the material world. The three spheres (Land, Sea and Sky)represents the three aspects of the material world that are contained in every object. Each aspect ever flowing outward and always returning to the point from which it started. This symbol is also used to symbolize the Druidic Threefold Sister Goddess: Fotla/Eiru/ Banba. Ireland, or Erin, is named after Eriu. It also symbolizes the Wiccan Threefold Mother Goddess: Maiden/Mother/ Crone.The Triskele was a representation of the importance of the number three.

I also got to work on an update for the girl's room. I took an old single bed duvet and split it in half and sewed them shut again...then used some sheets to make some duvet covers with Dora for little Aisling (ashling) and Tinkerbell for Aine (onya).

They love them and it is so much nicer than the stacks of blankets we had been using!
My final show and tell are the Aran hat and booties I made for a friends son who arrived in November. Sorry those are so late coming...

I have layered up an old UFO from last year, a flannel quilt, and have another hat on the needles, plus the heart appliques prepped for my wallhanging, so no shortage of projects to keep me going... like two kids don't wear me out enough, lol, but I need my quilting and knitting for relaxation, it is my therapy after long hectic days!!

2007-01-26T14:19:00.000Z

Looky what I got this week! My Grace handquilting frame for quilting my Dear Jane, my Christmas present to myself. It was supposed to arrive while we were in the States so I could bring it home as part of my baggage allowance, but arrived the day after I left, and dad had to post it...but it was still worth the cost, very reasonable for such a "nicely engineered, well made" (DH quote!) frame! I can't actually load up my quilt at the moment, as I have apparently caused a stir in the Irish quilting community by showing my quilt in November at the Limerick Patchwork Quilt Guild! A few ladies have been asking to talk to me about displaying the unfinished quilt, what a nice compliment!!! I will probably take it to a couple of classes to show students what anyone can do...I am not an amazing quilter, my precision leaves something to be desired when doing rotary cutting and machine piecing, but block by block with freezer paper templates, anyone could make a Dear Jane quilt...really!!
I have never decorated for holidays, except Christmas, and will never be an over the top decorator, but this year I am going to try to have a few themed wallhangings...this is the start of a small Valentines day hanging. I will applique some hearts in the 4 plain squares and put a border on, and maybe practice some more hand quilting.
My mom also sent a smaller package this week also left behind at their house...some more yarn for socks and some Sugar and Cream cotton yarn for making some dishclothes I've been reading about...will try to use them instead of sponges for dishwashing...

We're off to Dublin for the weekend where I hope to finish my latest round robin crazy quilt block, and continue working on a baby aran hat for a friends little boy before the weather gets too warm!

Finished...

2007-01-18T14:03:00.000Z

...and it fits!!! Woo hoo!!

Fun Finds and Sock Update

2007-01-16T23:25:00.000Z

I got this fun gingerbread wallhanging at a Sisters, Oregon antique shop.

The wonky houses I got at a Goodwill for $2, couldn't pass that one up!

I am moving along with the sock! I had to rip back a few times during the heel turning, but in the end I made it! Will try that long tail cast on with sock 2, sounds highly recommended.

My next crazy quilt round robin is due on January 31, I better get a move on! I also have a valentines wallhanging in progress, so hopefully some quilting news soon!

A Thrift Store Score and A Sock

2007-01-12T11:23:00.000Z

Here is a cool thrift store find...the push pins are actually spools, very cute...and there is room behind for storage of papers or something. Cost: $10 a bit pricey for thrift store but it is heavy and cute.
I finally started a sock and got somewhere with it! This yarn is called Lorna's Laces and is very yummy!! I'm not very happy with my casting on. Anyone have a favorite way of casting on for a nice finish?

Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig

2007-01-10T00:06:00.000Z

Can you believe this view from my parent's deck (brought a bit closer by my new camera's telephoto lens!) They can see 5 mountain peaks from there. We had a great time visiting Nana and Pappa in Bend, Oregon. I shopped every quilt shop and one excellent knitting shop there, tons of thrift stores and ate way too much and drank just a few, lol, margaritas, a drink I cannot get here in the Emerald Isle without importing (and with liquid restrictions these days, ugh...not worth it!).

We played dominoes, the current family game craze for our extended family in Maryland and Oregon, every night, the kids loved days of playing pretend with nana while mommy had a few shopping excursions and Daddy got to ski a few times. Dave and I went to Sisters for the day, check out this cool quilt mural on the side of the public bathrooms, lol!! Can't wait to make it to Sisters for the Outdoor Quilt Festival one year. We had a great time!

Look at this beautiful waterfall, Multnomah Falls, just outside of Portland, beautiful!!

I did a little shopping, lol! I got some great knitting project goodies (socks and moebius baskets!) at a great knitting shop. I got Lorna's Laces for some nice socks, Manos de Uruguay for a felted basket. And some silk Noro for a shawl, yummy yarny goodness! I also got a set of Denise interchangeable needles, which are very cool!

Since I am a scrappy quilter, I didn't go crazy on fabric, but picked up a lot of scraps and FQs (lots of pink ones for Aine, lol!) I got some cool retro Amy Butler prints, but those will be for bags. I still love my repros for quilts, and check out the left part of the photo, all those were part of a 1 dollar scrap bag of repros and some osnaburg, very nice!

I've got lots of tales of thrift store scores, are you interested in hearing some? I'll save my next post for some photos of cool quilts I got while thrifting! I wish I had been more organized to blog while on holidays, but the days just flew by!!

This is my year of family quilting, and I feel my aunt needs to be added to this list after the beautiful gift she gave me and Dave for Christmas. She is from Pendleton, Oregon and gifted us with this beautiful native american wool blanket from the Pendleton Woolen Mills. This is my aunt whose daughter, my cousin Chrissy, is still slowly recovering from her accident where she received a severe brain stem injury in May. We were told that Chrissy smiled at her little baby over Christmas, what a great sign!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2006-12-15T00:22:00.000Z

I do know when I'll be back again...January 6!! Here are some of my little ornaments. I found the perfect wired trim to make life easier rather than beading them all! People seemed happy with them... I've got my pay it forward swap blocks mostly done, so look in your mailbox soon!

I have a feeling that I will be posting a few purchases from the States, so you might be hearing from me soon enough!

Have a Merry Christmas! (just in case I actually don't make it back to post by then!)

Moving Along...

2006-12-12T08:09:00.000Z

I've been working on some Christmas project lately...scrappy strippy Christmas tree ornaments (I plan to add some bead garland to them to make them a bit more interesting) and my Dear Jane block ornaments for the pay it forward swap!
If you are on my pay it forward swap list and would prefer a tree ornament instead, let me know...

I managed to finish one of each ornament... my hand applique and quilting aren't perfect, but that just makes them have more character, right?? I hope my swappers and friends like them !

I also got some more blocks done on the ocean waves in my "spare time", lol.
And a hat for my dad for Christmas, got to love that knitting ring being able to do a hat in a few hours!!

We bought a "new" used car this week, a Citroen Xsara Picasso mini van...yup a proper momma shuttling car, lol! No more foggy window fiascos, cars that stop running in the rain (which we seem to get a lot here in Ireland, hehe). Might help with all the suitcases and boxes that I plan to return with from the States (we have4 full fares = 8 suitcases allowance, lol, not that we'll use all of that!)

Can't wait to get to Oregon, not looking forward to the long trip with 2 and 4 year olds and the 8 hour time difference adjustment, but can't wait for the visiting, shopping, food, lol!!

Productive Day!

2006-12-05T08:54:00.000Z

When I woke up yesterday morning, I was thinking about Christmas presents. I hadn't thought about what to do for new friends I've made here... I decided I wanted to a little gift for the ladies in the patchwork and knitting groups, they've really helped me feel part of the community here so quickly! I will do some patchwork Christmas ornaments for them. I also decided to do a knitting needle roll for one friend who really helped include me in things here to get to know people. She just started knitting this year and loves knitting!!

I started this roll yesterday morning and got it done fairly quickly... It was based on one I saw in Stitch-n-Bitch book by Debbie Stoller, and I just used my knitting needles as a guide, very much done on the fly. I was happy to finish a Christmas project so quickly. I think I'll leave a few knitting needles in the roll as well!

I also got 8 ocean waves blocks done now. I will stop working on these till next year, as I want to focus on the Dear Jane blocks for the swap, and the patchwork ornaments, I think I'll focus on those today in between looking after a little sick girl and playing hide and seek with her crazy younger sister.

I also finished my mom's scarf for Christmas. Yesterday afternoon I pulled out a knitting ring I got in Sweden (Barbara has made a hat for her DH with one on her blog). I started late afternoon, and by the evening I had done this hat, so now mom has a hat and scarf and some slippers for Christmas this year. She is hard to buy for, and appreciates handmade gifts, so she is one of the few recipients of handmade gifts this year. My friends in Waterford, my old area, love my chocolate chip cookies, but we plan a January visit to bring those (life just flew by at the speed of light, no time for a road trip now!)

I've started reading a lot lately, finishing Round Robin and Cross Country Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini, will have to get some more in the States! I read the first one already, and find them quick fun reads, filled with interesting relationships... I also started on our January book club book, House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. It isn't as light but is absorbing reading as well. I finished this month's book a while back: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, a book told from the view of a high functioning autistic teenage boy, very interesting to understand how an autistic person sees the world.

As well as crafting and reading I managed to get the house clean, play with kids and cook dinner, a rare day for me, non-stressful, productive day!!

Inch by Inch...

2006-11-29T13:07:00.000Z

I've been making slow progress these days, but I have finished Barbara's Crazy Quilt round robin block I had been working on...it has been posted off to the next recipient a day before the deadline, yeah!

I also started working on the Dear Jane blocks I want to hand quilt for my pay it forward swap. If they aren't done in time to be Christmas decorations, I figure they will make cute valentine ones, lol. The blue block is for Barbara's Dear Jane, I promised one a while back as a thank you for all the help she's given me since we met!

I've also started on a few ocean waves blocks for my scrappy ocean waves bed quilt. I will make this for our bed I think! I have a feeling my Dear Jane won't be on the bed for a while, lol, as hand quilting won't be speedy here with this newbie! I am using all my reproduction scraps and like the look so far.

We are really looking forward to our trip out to Oregon in a few weeks. Anyone in the Portland or Bend areas want to meet up? I am hoping to see Patti and Cher while I'm there (How is Saturday the 16th for you guys? I will be jetlagged, but that won't keep me from some quilt shops!). My parents have retired to a new house in Bend, out in the mountains, so we plan to stay in Portland at the start and end of the trip to keep mountain pass driving to a minimum...

I am starting to think about 2007 goals... I think 2 bed quilts for my own house, many wall hangings, and a focus on quilting for our family again. I still only have one of my own quilts in the house and it is in bits, fallen apart from abuse (my first quilt). I love giving quilts to friends, but they appreciate any thoughtful gift, and I want to quilt for my girls this year as well...and sew some clothes for them...make some dolls maybe... So maybe 2007 will be year of the family for sewing and knitting projects...hmmmm

Crazy Quilting Round Robin

2006-11-22T08:18:00.000Z

This lovely patch is done by Barbara as part of a round robin we are doing. I am learning as I go about beading and silk ribbon embroidery. Spider webs and spiders are good luck images in crazy quilts, so lots of good luck for Barbara!! It is my first time beading and doing the silk flowers, but I am fairly happy with how they turned out. I will be putting a celtic knot motif in the white patch and doing a few more seam treatments before I call this one done. It is funny, I couldn't get into my crazy quilt class online, I just couldn't find the time, but since I can go crazy on this and not have to do things in a certain order, it was more "fun" to work on!! I plan to try to keep the spider and celtic knot motifs in each round robin I do, as a signature, if someone else hasn't done it before me.

Today is my patchwork group meeting. I will probably work on cutting out more reproduction fabrics for an apple core charm quilt I want to do, and a scrappy ocean waves quilt. Or I might bring my CQ work...hmmmm...

There is no Thanksgiving here tomorrow, but some of my American friends are hosting a Thanksgiving on Sunday. I am making American biscuits (biscuits here are cookies!) and we got together to make a few pies earlier (pecan, yummm!!! and pumpkin!!).

Hope everyone in the States has a great Thanksgiving!

Doing a Little Research

2006-11-15T14:52:00.000Z

I found this manual with my "new" treadle. Singer Sewing Machine No. 99...booklet dated 1931. But when I looked up the serial number, I found the sewing machine was a No. 66K produced in Clydebank, Scotland July-December 1919. Cool bit of history. Will research on how to clean up the machine and to understand how it works... The decals are worn away in many places, but that just means it was well used right? They are faded where someone's hands would lift it out of the case. Some Irishwoman's hands before me...

I had intended to spend only an hour on this computer this afternoon. I've now spent two hours (between helping kids with various things and a few other housework breaks). Time to go play with kids, clean and get some dinner going. But I did have fun researching this...

Christmas Came Early for Me!

2006-11-14T06:43:00.000Z

Aine had her birthday yesterday, and I got an early Christmas on Sunday night! I told DH I'd love a treadle sewing machine, purely as decoration, but also one that I could try my hand at at some point too, maybe try to make a small wall hanging on one.

We have an ad magazine called Buy and Sell here, which is great for getting secondhand stuff, so he typed in treadle sewing machine and found a working one not too far away. He said he better get it now, because if he let it sit, he'd forget it altogether, so he trekked out Sunday night and came home with this!

It needs a cleaning and some TLC but it works and looks well loved. I love the pincushion they fashioned around it! Any fellow treadle owners have some good tips on how to clean it up gently?

I did a bit more scrap organization and STILL have a mountain of unsorted scraps for pillow stuffing. I'm also trying to figure out what boxes baskets or drawers I want to use. I've got big baskets of neutral, brown, green and blue, good sized piles of orange/autumnal, yellow, pink, red, and purple, then I've got the troube ones which I'm just going to call "lights" and "darks". I also have my "Barbara" fabrics, lol, a stack of shabby chic soft florals which have really grown on me as I have admired the quilts she makes, lol. Of course I have my civil war repros, but they have their own 3 drawer plastic bin already!! Oh...and I have a separate novelty and brights stash for kids quilts, and some hand dyes! So many!!

If you can believe it, most of my scraps have been given to me ( I begged on Stashbuster 2 years ago and was rewarded with so many amazing envelopes of gorgeous scraps to my parents house on a trip home to the states, I've been using them ever since). I seem to only buy a fat quarter or two, and always a bolt of natural muslin when I run out...something I use a lot. I am getting better at buying more, there is such a thing as being too frugal! My entire stash of repros grew over the time I was making my Dear Jane by trading fabric and Irish goodies with fellow DJers!! For my "Frugal Jane" I think I bought the muslin and maybe 3 FQs for the entire quilt, the rest was traded. I love swapping and if anyone ever wants to do one, just let me know!

Happy Birthday Aine!

2006-11-14T06:34:00.000Z

November 13, 2002, my bright beautiful Aine entered our lives. I can't believe my first born is 4 already. Time sure flies.

I'm going to try to embed a little video here of our family celebration last night for my parents and friends. Crazy kid party comes on Saturday, eek!

Quilting content will arrive later today. Please just skip over it, lol, if you don't want to hear really bad singing! Really I just wanted to see how to do this and if it works!!

Slippers and the Start of Fabric Reorganization Drive!

2006-11-11T18:46:00.000Z

Here are the slippers I made along with Barbara in our cyber craft along yesterday! I bought the fabric in Sweden, I love it!

Here is most of my fabric stash, most of it is scraps! But even I can have too many scraps! I can't bring myself to throw away any reproduction scraps, but I think I will be turning my big pile of unsorted scraps into a few pillows soon! I figure that I haven't made any crumb or string quilts ever, even though I hope to in the future, so keeping a small amount will be enough to get some done in the future, as we all know they reproduce in the dark anyway! I am sorting my fabric scraps by color, thinking I might do some color coordinated scrap quilts in the future. I thought about it for a while, contemplating sorting by size or by color, but I think color will work for me... What works best for you?

New Look

2006-11-09T22:11:00.000Z

Barbara asked if I could help do a new look for her blog yesterday, so we started working on a new clean look for the blog. I had been meaning to do the same with mine after admiring many crafting blogs with beautiful banners round the blogosphere... So...after working on her layout for a while, I got inspired to change my banner and layout too...it is still a work in progress, but so far I am liking the change.

My husband returns tomorrow from his business trip, so I am hoping for some good quilting time this weekend, in between a kids party and an antique fair in Limerick. I hope to recharge my batteries this weekend and get back into the crafting groove!

Gonna go try to knit a few rows on my mom's scarf now!

P.S. Pam and Elizabeth, please email me your addresses so I can post out my little gifties to you, I hope before the end of the year! Any other takers on the swap? I am thinking of making a hand pieced Dear Jane block christmas ornament as my gift....still 2 places left on my swap!! Kate, you know I have your address, lol!

Pay it Forward "swap"

2006-11-08T07:31:00.000Z

I am participating in a "swap" that Jo in New Zealand mentioned and that is making its rounds amidst the blogosphere. The first five people that say they are interested in a little handmade quilty gift from Ireland will receive one from me and the only stipulation is that they have to promise to do the same thing to other folks on their blog to spread the love, lol!! I am thinking a hand quilted patchwork ornament of some sort. Anyone interested in joining along?

2006-11-04T09:43:00.000Z

Blogger and I are not getting along. I've done 2 very long posts (I even thought I had copied the text into memory...and it was gone!) neither of them have shown.

I got home from a wonderful visit with Barbara on Tuesday and feel like I hit the ground running. We had friends visiting Thursday and Friday. Sandra, Conor and Holly our buddies from our old village came for a far too quick visit yesterday afternoon. Today Aine has a swimming lesson, so soon I'll be getting us all bundled up for a walk to the pool.

This is a picture of the town where Barbara lives, Vasteras. It is in one of the few older sections left of the town. I love the wooden architecture and the buildings right up on the river!

On Saturday we hit the town shopping. I was in crafting heaven! I went a little crazy, I'm sure Barbara was shaking her head, lol! This pile doesn't include my loot from her local quilt shop I got on Monday before I left! I got some great Japanese craft books, some cute decorations, a thimble and needle glider...well...just lots... DH took the camera this week on a business trip, but I will show more of my goodies next week when my camera is back!

Sandra and I were just talking yesterday about how much we miss having shops here in Ireland. She is from England and I'm from the States, so we are used to having easy access to crafting items. Here the only thing I find easy to locate with any selection is yarn... Most fabric shops will only have a dozen or so cottons, usually in hideous colors and about $18/yard. There is one quilt shop I know of, and rumors of a few more in the country...I think that brings the quilt shop tally in the country to one definite and 2 small home based quilt "shops"...in the country!! Needless to say...online shopping is done for things I really need right away (peach fabric for my cousins quilt...) and the rest is scrappy stash quilting, enhanced by shopping trips once yearly when I'm home visiting family in the States.

I really wanted some help with my Dear Jane and was so grateful to my wonderful and generous host! It was really special to have a fellow "Dear Janer" help me layer and baste the quilt in preparation for hand quilting. I've never thread basted before, only just pin basted. I also never knew how to hand quilt. Barbara showed me the way she learned to hand quilt in all directions. It will take me ages to get the tiny consistent stitches she does, but I got the basic concept. And as if this help wasn't already generous enough, while I practiced hand quilting Sunday, Barbara whipped up a beautiful huge patchwork tote bag for me in no time at all to carry my DJ on the plane. THANK YOU SO MUCH for everything Barbara, and I only hope I can reciprocate when you and Hakan come for a visit in May.

I have been falling asleep every night so early I've gotten hardly any crafting done this week! I finished another name pillow for Sandra to take home with her yesterday. A gift for her godson... I am procrastinating with the crazy quilting, afraid to just dive in! My goal this weekend is to get caught up with the online class assignments and get some stitching done. I also need to organize my crafting stuff...since I have no table right now but the kitchen table, I've got fabric everywhere...feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff so need to organize it again up in the future craft room, even if it is just into piles for a while.

Better get going. Aine has a swimming lesson today and since Daddy is away on business...me and Aisling will walk her down for her lesson at the pool!

Crazy Quilt Class Block

2006-10-23T00:19:00.000+01:00

I'm not overly happy with this block but I am going to use this as the block to learn with for my Crazy Quilting online class... I am hoping that I can balance it all out with the embellishments I use...

Hope to get to work on my machine tomorrow for that letter pillow for my friend. She is coming to visit a few days after I get back from Sweden!

A Day in the Life: A "Lazy" Friday

2006-10-20T11:16:00.000+01:00

The girls and I have colds at various stages at the moment, and since today was Aisling's Friday playgroup and Aine and I couldn't have our regular date at the swimming pool with our colds, I decided to let Aisling play hookie from school, especially since she has been clingy lately.

I took a lovely bath this morning and got through quite a lot of my book club book, while the girls ~~destroyed~~ trying to keep them tidy, they are having too much fun, but I do make sure Aine helps me tidy them up before bedtime every evening. If she makes a mess she has to clean it up, or at least be trying while mommy probably does most of it played in their room next door. They love imagination games and Aine takes out her dresses for her teddies every day. I've given up for expedience! Aine has her thousands of teddies she plays with on her mattress there in the distance...she has been sleeping on her "Barbie" blow up bed as a special treat as Daddy is painting both beds PINK! I will dye their sheets pink to make the room even more horrible, lol...Eventually I will make quilts, etc, etc...

It is 11am and the girls are still not dressed. Aine is baking me a block birthday cake with lego flower decorations. I just blew out the candles and am eating the pink block with the letter K on it...

I think I will update this blog today as I go along...don't worry I won't do this again probably, but I thought it might be fun to try, there will be some quilting and crafting in the afternoon, I promise. And some cookie baking with kids, and some play-doh...and...

Okay, I'm back...we've made some Halloween sugar cookies, and Aine even fashioned her own "dad" cookie, LOL. The girls had fun, we made a mess...what's not to love...will clean up that mess when I start dinner... I have my priorities, I have been recently attending a teddy halloween party upstairs. Aine sang many songs for me while I peeled off the freezer paper from my Dear Jane...Aine finds it too boring apparently, so looks like the job falls to me!

DJ top to "flimsy" stage!!

2006-10-18T21:20:00.000+01:00

Here she is, my Dear Jane top, done this afternoon!! The outside border will stay plain till the quilting is done and then will be cut into a scalloped border, yikes!

I've got to peel off all the freezer paper templates from the back of the quilt and fix a few frayed seams I've already spotted, but she is ready...to go to SWEDEN!!

Barbara and her DJ quilting friends in Vasteras (outside Stockholm) will be helping me to baste this quilt! And Barbara, who teaches hand quilting at her LQS, will get me started learning hand quilting on a few small pieces. The Dear Jane quilt won't be quilted until the new year, she will take a well deserved break for a while as I practice my hand quilting for a few months! I hope to say that this quilt is all hand sewn and quilted in the end.

Oh yeah...and I also finished my other mitten, now I have a pair! We have our knitting group tomorrow and I plan to work on the matching hat.

I've also got a crazy quilt class at www.joggles.com to get started on, and... I'm also dying of a fluey cold thing...hmmm maybe I am doing a bit too much me thinks! Especially with Aisling's 5:45am wakeup call this morning... Off to bed now, I'm tired!

I Have "Knitten a Mitten" and other things...

2006-10-14T08:27:00.000+01:00

This mitten knitted up so quick! I just started it Wednesday night... It is fun learning the new stitches again (increases, decreases, etc) and seeing something useful emerge from your needles...I was so darn excited to make that thumb, LOL! I plan on working on that and also getting my 4 inch strips for the edge of my DJ quilt cut out...

I will be starting a Crazy Quilt class next week and somehow feel that a trip to get some beads, some fabric and maybe some more wool might be formulating in my mind for today. I hate city center driving in Europe, I am no good a parking and parallel parking in Ireland is on the opposite side of the road that I learned on, to add to the complications, LOL! But I will brave the wilds of Limerick my local "big city" here in the name of my crafting!! I think. Aine has a cold, and while she is fine, I might just be all mommerly and hang around playing puzzles with her or something. She won't be able to go to her usual Saturday swim class, as her cough is pretty chesty...

I took my DJ quilt up to our bed yesterday to see how it will fit...pretty well, but I have to figure out how to make it look nice on our IKEA Leksvik sleigh type bed...the bottom corners will be a challenge.
Here is a still life I put together on top of our wardrobe. Two antique quilts and lots of baskets, one on the left was my grandma's, middle one was thrifted, and last one I bought in a French market. I love baskets...they are everywhere in my house, and I can even make my own willow ones, took a few classes, LOL! I liked the girl head statue and bought that a local garden centre.

My DJ top is done!!

2006-10-13T08:05:00.000+01:00

Well. Almost...just have to add the scallop around the edges...but all the blocks are sewn up into the quilt! Just took a little over a year and a half to get to this stage...started early February 2005 and it is all done by hand! I have found it very relaxing to work on the blocks a little at a time, my evening therapy for stressful days chasing after two dynamos ages 2 and 3!

Aine wanted to pose this morning with her apple, LOL! She will help me peel all the freezer paper templates off the back, she's been a great fan the whole way through.

Knitting Progress!

2006-10-10T20:46:00.000+01:00

Lots of us quilters seem to be starting up knitting again! I got started with Aine's scarf in August and finally got this hat done yesterday to match it. It was way to wide for her, despite having checked long the way for correct measurements etc, oh well! I fudged a better fit for her, and while not totally pleased with it, am happy enough.
While unpacking more boxes this week, I found a knitting project that should have been a sweater, but it stalled about 10 years ago and I eventually turned it into a pillow! It is a design with two trees intertwined, a sorta romantic symbol of our upcoming wedding at the time...boy did I learn a lot about cable stitches then!

I nearly finished sewing my last border together, I hope to start sewing it onto the quilt at my patchwork group tomorrow...

Need to start thinking about crazy quilting soon, I start my online class this weekend!

The Quilt that Swallowed My Husband!

2006-10-04T23:09:00.000+01:00

It is taking over the house! It is getting so big now, it is very hard to get a good shot of the whole thing, so here is one of the corners. I've started on the last border now, so am getting excited!

Going to get out the knitting for a bit before bed, though, as I have a knitting group to go to now! About 6 local moms meeting in each others houses each Thursday. Very cool, and very nice people!

Corners of My Home!

2006-10-04T22:26:00.000+01:00

Look what I got in the mail! My friend Katy, friend from way back in college, and fellow Bob Dylan fan and quilter, sent me this! We are both from Maryland, and both living in Europe, she is in London with me here in Ireland. It is nice, we usually meet up once a year or so. This year she was over for a Dylan concert in the summer, lol! Check out her nice work here. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU KATY!!

Here are a few photos of the house as it is developing. We had the tilers remove the hideous carpet in the kitchen and lay our new floor today...it is still a bit of a mess so kitchen photos another day!

The living room is getting nice and homey, and the second sitting room we ripped out the fireplace, and set up a kids playroom... I love that big bookcase for storing the kids toys!

I have three borders of the DJ done now, but will post that later, when I get my quilt holder away from the telly!

Making Progress...

2006-10-02T21:11:00.000+01:00

This is the view from our local library! I take the girls there every other week or so now and love this view! I'm really enjoying the patchwork group, and bring my Dear Jane quilt there to work on while I chat about quilting! How cool to find other people in real life that like quilting and fabric as much as I do...

I've finished the 3rd border on the Dear Jane quilt and now have to attach it. After getting the last border on, I'll need to do another plain border that will eventually be the scalloped edge...90 inches of straight sewing plain muslin is not going to be very exciting, especially done 4 times! Oh well!

Everyone seems to be posting goals for the month, so I think I'll join in!

1. Finish Dear Jane top
2. Start Crazy Quilting practice and Joggles.com class!

Since the first goal is a doozy, I don't think I'll add much to this list. I think this year I am not going to do too many hand made presents... in November, I will try to finish a baby quilt for a friend I will see in December, and maybe something for my parents for their new house, a small quilt...everything else will be bought!

Second Border On!

2006-09-22T23:31:00.000+01:00

My DH is somewhere behind that quilt, LOL...it is harder and harder to photograph it now, as it is so big!

I have started on the next border and hope to plow ahead. I don't think I'll be getting out my sewing machine for new projects for a while, so I hope my blog doesn't become too boring, but with the move and a self-imposed deadline to finish my DJ top by the end of October, I will be focusing on hand work on the DJ and the crazy quilt round robin. I want to really make sure that the sewing room/office turns out great, so it will be the last room to be tackled as we mull over furniture and layout...

Thanks for the lovely comments about one of my two cutie pies. Hey Shelina, she wasn't cold, LOL, just a little windswept up there on the hilltop!! Weather is still quite nice here for the moment!

Not a lot of quilting here, but getting a little done...

2006-09-22T00:14:00.000+01:00

If you climb up the road we live on up from the town into the mountains you are rewarded with this view... Here is my cutie Aine (onya) modeling her mommymade scarf withour beautiful view of the Shannon and Lough Derg.

I have finished my second tri border for the Dear Jane but haven't gotten it out to photograph. I seem to be running everywhere these days!

I promise I will be getting more into a routine and back to quilting entries!

It's a Long Long Way to Tipperary!

2006-09-10T22:04:00.000+01:00

We're here, still waiting for new furniture to arrive, camping on our living room floor and still living out of boxes, but I've managed to do a bit of quilting progress...my second hand pieced border is ready to be sewn onto my Dear Jane!

I found the patchwork group here...it is small, but the ladies seemed nice. I think I overwhelmed them with my Dear Jane quilt when I brought it in...it gave me some "street cred" LOL as a quilter! I will have little Aisling babysat once a week so I can go to the class and will have to see about my life as a graphic design worker as well...that is not as regular as it is freelance so will have to see about workload before setting up anything permanent for that. I figure I have to treat myself a bit first, so between a gym membership and swimming and the patchwork, Weight Watchers, and plans for Irish set dancing on Wednesdays ( I met my husband doing traditional Irish dancing in DC) I will be spoiling myself rotten here!

My oldest Aine (onya) goes to a montessori that is in the same facility as the pool we just joined, and I can have Aisling there for the hour I want to swim most mornings. I used to swim a lot before the kids, it helped me to lose the weight the first time I did Weight Watchers, so I am happy to find a gym with a creche, esp. when the montessori is attached to the same building, ideal!! Aine will be in school till noon M-Thurs, and then every Friday they do a special day for 2 year olds to get them accustomed to the montessori environment, so Aisling will go there, and I will take Aine swimming for those two hours. Aine loves to swim, and Aisling, not so much, so it is a great way to get some time for us together. Aisling and I will have lots of time alone while her sister is in school.

Anyway I am finding my feet here and have met some nice people already! Another American girl called last week for a playdate for the kids...having never had kids in America, I've never been invited for a "playdate" LOL!

I am definitely not going to show photos of the house yet, as we are still in camping mode, but after we get our furniture hopefully tomorrow, things will start shaping up.

I will have to take photos of my walk to the gym...poor me... I have to walk out my door down a hill to the Shannon River, with a beautiful view from our Tipperary side of the river over the lovely County Clare hills and the beautiful town of Killaloe on the other side of the river. It is a hardship, but I think I might be able to get used to it!

No broadband yet, so I am still not surfing long (dialup is 5 euro cent a minute, about 8 cents US)...hope to have broadband this week or next week though... I am looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs again soon!

Started a scarf last night!

2006-08-26T23:13:00.000+01:00

Back into knitting again. Once upon a time I did a few sweaters, including one with complicated cabling in the design of two intertwining trees! I thought I'd left it behind but I feel the pull again, so here is my start, a fuzzy scarf for Aine to match with a fuzzy pink coat I found at the local Oxfam charity shop! Aine likes pink. Would you ever have guessed, LOL? I will make a matching hat and then do a set for little Aisling. My next project will be to try some warm toasty socks I keep seeing around the blogosphere! Can't be too hard right??

A few people asked about what I was going to do with the crazy quilt to embellish it... I will be doing a round robin with it! Barbara has organized one with about 7 of us and we will each embellish one or two blocks for each member in the RR. I can't wait to see how it will come back to me next year!

We took a break from packing on Thursday when we realized that no one would be showing up Friday, so we have a few more boxes to pack and then just a basic tidy up to do tomorrow. Dave goes back to work Monday and will meet the movers Tuesday afternoon at the new house with me and the girls and the cat close behind (I hope, hope hope! there is still no guarantee that Tuesday will the day, please keep fingers still crossed??)

Anyway...I hope to sew my top border for my Dear Jane quilt tomorrow. I will try to post some progress, as Dave is taking the computer apart tomorrow night, oh the withdrawals are starting already!

No Moving Anywhere Today...

2006-08-25T12:34:00.000+01:00

But I did finish the top for my Crazy Quilt!

If you can believe it, the lawyer for the purchaser never got the mortgage organized for today, and in the meantime the moving company cancelled our moving date anyway... so we are still here, with a new moving date of next Tuesday. We couldn't believe it when we called the moving company yesterday afternoon. In the morning they had told us they could move it all into storage today even if we didn't move it to the house. When we called, they had cancelled the whole thing, no moving to the house, no moving to storage, nothing, so even if by some miracle the house purchase could have been completed today, we couldn't moved anyway. Ugh. I hate moving. All our pots and pans are packed, as up until yesterday afternoon we were working on the premise that we would be packing into storage today. Hello takeaway, bye bye Weight Watchers till next week!

In order to destress last night, I finished up my last few crazy quilt blocks and sewed them together with no sashing and a brown border. Thanks for all the good opinions on that previous post...I like them set without the sashing!

Anyway, we will be camping out here in the house till Tuesday, so evenings will be filled with Dear Jane sewing and my new knitting project...fuzzy pink scarves for the girls this winter! I'll be signing off the computer on Sunday and DH will bring the computer in his car Monday when he heads back to work. It may be a week or two or three before post again, or I may just be an addict and pay per minute for dialup every once in a while.

You may see some Dear Jane progress or knitting progress later this weekend...as I am still well addicted to reading my blogs and will not be able to stay away, LOL!

Off with the family into town to donate some toys to charity shops, and return library books...and get some Subway subs for lunch - they made it here to the wilds of Ireland!

Moving Day...Friday?

2006-08-21T18:58:00.000+01:00

Blogger has disappeared several posts in the last week...it is getting a little frustrating. Here are the few things I was going to show...my collection of sewing tins...the sampler one I got from a thrift store for 10 cents! It holds my threads...and other sewing stuff... The house one has my basting pins...it is a tin I bought in Giverny in France...it is Claude Monets house... The Cream of Wheat tin is my traveling sewing kit...with a spool of hand piecing thread (mettler) and some #12 sharp needles, a small scissors and seam ripper...

The other photo is the last pillow I did for Aine's favorite teacher. Aine helped me pick out the scraps for it and had great fun.

I'm so tired and stressed these days with the move. The purchaser's lawyer hasn't sent back everything, so we are not sure about Friday, though the mover is booked already. I can't wait to be settled somewhere again!

Anyway, I hope I don't get kicked out of the ring from lack of posting, I hope to be back within a week, but if not, I'm drowning in a sea of boxes. I shall return and get back to my regularly scheduled quilting!

Busy Week

2006-08-12T22:28:00.000+01:00

Mostly with the work I do from home (graphic design)...but kept on doing a few bits and pieces...

The montessori quilt is done except for a hanging sleeve...and I've done 3 of the 4 orphan block pillows for the teachers. Check out the gorgeous batik I scored at a thrift store the last time I was home in the States! I was preparing to cut it and found some tags on it...it is an Indonesian batik and there was a price tag of $28 on it! I am seeing lots of nice bags, pillows, etc with the length of fabric I got at the Village Thrift shop for 50 cents!! I had forgotten I had it, but it is lovely!

Moving day is getting closer and closer...getting a bit sad about leaving here, but I know I'll make new friends eventually and have plenty of quilting projects to keep me busy, LOL!

Anybody have a good way to get some will power? I'm at the heaviest I've been in years, and need a swift kick in the rear! Starting using my Weight Watchers points counting again. Lost 70 lbs on it before, could stand to lose about 40 lbs now. Sigh.

Crafty Weekend...

2006-08-06T19:39:00.000+01:00

This will be a quilt for Aine's school we are leaving behind...I will bind it up with scrappy bright binding I had leftover from another project (I knew it would come in handy at some point!) and need to piece together some batting scraps to do this one... I have found enough orphan blocks to make pillows for each teacher as well...a little nicer than the typical box of chocolates, well, in the long term anyway!

I also found an orphan block I have that will be PERFECT for crazy quilting practice! My grandmothers fan block. The lace is actually from my grandmother's stash so will be used in my crazy quilt blocks for the round robin as well!

My MIL is here for the weekend and funnily enought brought a knitting project. Aine is there with her own "knitting". I will definitely be teaching this girl some crafting when she gets older and can manage a sewing needle or knitting needles. I wonder what a good age will be for those, hmmm????

I've started on the top border for the Dear Jane, with an aim of getting the quilt top done by October at the latest!

Some Dear Jane progress again...finally

2006-08-04T09:14:00.000+01:00

Last night I sat and stitched the last bit of the bottom border on to the quilt. I'm slowly making progress... Now to get the rest of the borders ready to stitch, will make it easier when we move to have a "little" hand project while the sewing machine is in transit, LOL. I don't really have a desk for it yet, we plan to build the office later, so will need to get a cheap temporary fix for computer/sewing desk. I might just take a little break from machine sewing for a while and focus on hand sewing, after August 25th, our (hopefully) official moving date!

Little Mischief Montessori

2006-08-03T22:56:00.000+01:00

This is the little quilt so far... just need Montessori and then to sort out a border, am thinking about lots of scrappy blocks for the border, but maybe I should use just one color to calm it down a bit, as the words are very scrappy! I'll use muslin to sew the words together and a few inches around them, so the border frames them nicely.

A friend has commissioned me to a pillow as a gift for a godson, so I know I have another free pieced letter project for next week! They are a lot of fun and don't take ages, and the kids love to see their names, so I imagine that I might be doing many birthday gifts using this idea in the future...

Have had a lot of work to do the last few days, and so quilting has taken a back seat to work after kids are in bed. No more crazy quilt blocks for tonight. But maybe tomorrow, or over the weekend!

Goodnight from this "artisan/designer/liberated (read "imprecise"/crazy" quilter!

Crazy Quilt Developing

2006-08-01T23:41:00.000+01:00

Okay...tonight's block is okay, but probably a bit busy...but I am happy enough with it...

Was playing around in Photoshop with it, and trying to figure out if I like the brown or green sashing best...maybe I should try it with a muslin sashing as well...I hope to do one each night till I'm done...3 more to do...

I also need to get back to my free pieced letters, but this has called to me first. I'm leaning towards a green sashing. What do you think?

Maniacal Blogger!

2006-08-01T00:17:00.000+01:00

I know you are wondering what the heck has gotten into me, blogging 4 times in one week, my average is once a week!

Well, several big project are over and I'm having fun with these CQ blocks, each is different, so I thought I'd subject you to the next one! This one features my two cuties, Aine (onya) and Aisling (ashling) ages 3 and 2 respectively...they were more like 3 and 18 months here in this photo, but I love it, it is one of my favorites and taken by my husband with them sitting on my lap... I was going to have a muslin sashing, but I'm thinking a dark brown or green to link the blocks would look nicer.

This is going in a different direction than I had envisioned but I like the colors and textures I pulled out of my stash, so I'll stick to this pallette...

I also managed to get all the sashing sewn onto my Dear Jane quilt today and started sewing on my first border...maybe you might even see that tomorrow.

Somebody STOP ME!

On a totally different note, we seem to be progressing towards moving...oh so slowly, tomorrow I run around town doing legal and banking things while my dear friend looks after the girls, bless her!

Been looking around at quilting and knitting blogs, I feel the knitting pulling me in...used to do it ages ago, before kids...will I succumb? do I have time to? Hmmmm...

First Crazy Quilt Block!

2006-07-30T23:37:00.000+01:00

My first crazy quilt block. I thought I was going to keep it with just whites and creams, but these browns and greens leaped into my pile too...

This is a photo of my grandpa (future big band leader in previous post!) as a young boy. Love those Edwardian poses and clothes for kids!

Put a tiny piece of my wedding dress lace in there, and some Egyptian fabric to remember my trips round the world (spend a month in Egypt...)

I plan to keep the colors in a brown/green/cream/white pallette, for a theme of "family tree", so "earthy" colors, "tree" colors!

This will be sent out for a CQ round robin, so no embellishing...that is for RR folk to do...I get my first block to embellish soon, that lovely quilt top over at Barbara's blog!

Photos in Your Sidebar...

2006-07-30T20:19:00.000+01:00

A couple of people asked me how I added the photos to my sidebar. I'd like to say that I came up with the idea and the HTML code to do it all on my own, but I confess, I copied it from Tropical Screamer's blog. I saw it a while back and thought it was a great idea to have a gallery of quilts. I feel very unprolific compared to many fellow Stash Quilts bloggers, and this reminds me I have worked on many quilts and completed many this year as well.

Basically you find a photo of your quilt on your blog, click on the photo and open up the page with the full size view. You copy this into memory (I use ctrl-c) and then you use this code:

li (this makes it part of a list, all this code should have these things around them : < >)
a href = "http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4688/515/1600/CIMG0666.jpg"
(this should have the link to the photo you want to show)
img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4688/515/1600/CIMG0666.jpg" width = 100
(this makes the photo come on the sidebar and makes sure it is only 100 pixels wide)
/a (this ends the code for the link and photo)
br (following thing is brought to next line)
b (code to bold the title of quilt)
Aine's Pillow (title of quilt, no <> symbols needed for text you want to see on blog)
/b (code to end the bolding)
br (following thing is brought to next line)
My first foray into free pieced letters. She sleeps on it now! (description of quilt, no <> symbols)
/li (end of this quilt photo and link code)

Sorry if I've dumbed this down too much...but never hurts to add as much info as you can... my coding is very far from perfect to a real whiz at HTML code, I am sure, but it gets the job done for me, so I am happy... This is just the code for one photo and link, to make a bunch of them just keep repeating this set of code for each quilt/photo you want in gallery. All blogger templates are different, but you can set up a title for the gallery, like Works in Progress, 2006 quilts, etc... Clear as mud, right? Hope this helps a little bit?

A Finish and Some New Projects

2006-07-30T14:34:00.000+01:00

I finished the Star Sampler wedding quilt on Friday, and plan to deliver it to my friends today on their first anniversary...about time, huh! I just stitched around the stars and in the ditch, fairly basic quilting...I used free motion so I wouldn't have to wrestle the quilt around each pivot on each star...boy is it hard to do straight lines on free motion setting! But I got there anyway...

As if I didn't have enough projects I want to do, I've been inspired to do some more!! I love the montessori Aine went to! She learned so much, is writing her alphabet at 3 1/2, counting, knows 1-10 in Irish and Spanish as well as English, colors of the rainbow, so many cool things they've taught the kids. I'll be sad to leave here and leave it behind... I have decided to do a little free pieced letters project for the school, a little wallhanging with "Little Mischief Montessori" on it. Also, just a small patchwork pillow for the 4 teachers they have (2 of them work in the creche where my little one Aisling goes as well when I work...) will use some orphan blocks for 2 of them and then do two heart blocks I like for the others...they are great stashbusters for small pieces of fabric!

I am also starting on my Crazy Quilt Round Robin blocks! I plan to use a family/ancestor photo on each of the six blocks I need and then lace and beads from my wedding dress and veil...will be my first time using lace and silks in a quilt, should be fun. I love some of these family photos we have: my great uncle doing rollerskating as an exhibition sport at the St. Louis Worlds Fair, and my grandpa who was a big band leader in his early days! Aren't they fun? I love the old photos!!

Almost Ready to Post off to Oregon!

2006-07-24T11:06:00.000+01:00

My cousin's quilt is quilted and bound now...just needs a label! Anyone have any ideas for what to say on the labels for her quilt and the baby's quilt? I will probably just keep it simple... Made with love from your cousin in Ireland...Cathi O'Neill 2006??? Hopefully she will be recovered and don't want anything to specific about the accident on the label...the year and its existence will be enough to remind her of why she has it! I'm still keeping all fingers and toes crossed that she will make some sort of recovery, but haven't heard much lately. I hope to send these off to Pendleton to Aunt Mary, my cousin Chrissy's mom, by the end of the week.

I have also started quilting on my friend's wedding quilt, with some hope of getting done for Sunday, their 1st anniversary! I've got all the sashing quilted with stitch in the ditch...and will go through each star and probably outline them in some way... Hope to be doing binding later in the week...

I've put my DJ on hold for a bit...need to complete all the outside sashing first...ran into complications when figuring out how to put the borders on!! Anyway, when not quilting the star quilt or binding it...will work a little here and there on that quilt.

But it looks like we will be really moving soon...still no official date for our closing, but maybe mid August, and we may have that date in the next few days!! It has truly taken forever, and DH has been living in Nenagh Monday - Friday since January...too long!

I am hoping to start on my Crazy Quilt blocks...am scanning in some photos of my ancestors and will print some out onto fabric soon...I want each block in the round robin I am doing to a photo, either of the girls, Dave and I, or other cool ancestor photos I have! I have one of an great grand uncle of mine and his rollerskating buddies who performed at the World Fair in St. Louis (my mom is from St. Louis), way back in the late 1800s/early 1900s...will have to post that photo when I get it scanned in!

Some Progress to Report!

2006-07-17T00:10:00.000+01:00

I have done baby quilt number 2 from my double 4 patch swap! This one goes to my friend Jen in Colorado Springs, for her third son Henry. It has lots of things to spy when he gets older. Hope they like it!! I have enough blocks from this swap to do one more quilt for another friend in Oregon...will wait to deliver hers myself when I go for Christmas to my parents new home in Bend (and my brother's new bachelor pad in Beaverton)...

I have my cousin's quilt sandwiched and decided to meander the muslin parts of the quilts with maybe the center squares outlined... I need to become a more precise quilter...too many puckers and wrinkles, so meandering is helping it. Doing liberated quilting is wonderful, but for traditional designs...I should learn to be a little more patient and precise. Need to walk the middle road I think! I don't want to ever become a member of the quilt police (like I'd ever have the skills to be one!!) but I can also just make a conscious effort to do the best that I can and enjoy myself as well! I am happy with my cousin's "peachy quilt" but wouldn't want the quilt police anywhere near it, they'd have a heart attack!!

Anyway, we are hopefully getting closer to getting our new house. We looked at furniture this weekend a bit, and priced things for doing the kitchen. There is carpet in this kitchen, have you ever heard of anything so strange? Carpet and kids aren't a good mix, especially in the kitchen, LOL, so that is one of the first changes to make!

I am doing the Crazy Quilting round robin with Barbara and a few of her friends, so Crazy quilting is becoming a new interest of mine. I'm really excited about the idea I have for my own blocks...it will include photos of my family and ancestors, my wedding dress, parts of girls baptism gown...and more...won't spill the beans on the entire concept of the quilt, but looking forward to getting started. When I get a spare moment...

Cousin's Quilt Finished!

2006-07-10T00:07:00.000+01:00

As I've blogged about for the last month or so, my cousin was in a very bad car crash at the end of may, along with her 4 month old baby. The baby came through with only minor abrasions and a small concussion, but my cousin had severe injuries including traumatic brain injuries. She was in a coma for a while, and is now awake!! However, she still isn't aware of things just yet. They are trying to get her to move her eyes to answer yes and no, but not sure she is there yet with her understanding. Please send out prayers, good thoughts, good karma, for some sort of cognitive recovery for her if you can! But awake is great news!!

My aunt said she loves the color peach, and I thought that pastels would be soothing to her eyes. What do you think? (please excuse the wrinkles from hanging!) I need some ideas on how to quilt this simply, I'm still a novice machine quilter and haven't hand quilted yet (will be learning for my Dear Jane!). I will back it with flannel for a soft warm feel!

I hope to post again this week with my first DJ border attached. With no school for Aine and doing my work mainly at night, and Aisling giving up her naps (oh no! there goes the daytime sewing!) it is going slower than I thought...but hey it is progressing!

I'm looking forward to a package from Hancocks of Paducah with flannel for this quilt and a HUGE design wall I hope to create in the new house, if we ever get there...might be end of August at this point...UGH!!! The package will also have some bleached muslin for another handwork project I will start: a seven sisters wallhanging using my blue South African indigos I have. So many ideas, so little time to quilt!!

More wonderful things arrive in the mail!

2006-07-03T14:29:00.000+01:00

Look at the great package I got from my Dear Jane online group Secret Pal! She has been so great to me this year, so generous! Oddly enough, I nearly bought that scrapmaster ruler just a few days ago! I must have been psychic! She has sent me so many thoughtful and beautiful things and it is only up to June (we send out packages once a month...). I am truly grateful, especially with how expensive and hard to find any quilting things are here. It is like Christmas every month.

I've had some bad luck with the pal I am supposed to be sending to, which I'm sorry about. She asked me to not send packages after April and just send letters, but then I haven't heard from her again since. Sigh. I will keep trying and will send a lovely Christmas/Birthday package at the end of the year. Sometimes you just don't know why things don't work out. I do hope she will talk to me eventually. I feel like I must have done something to have it happen, but I've never done anything but send gifts and nice emails, so really it can't be anything I did. Sigh again.

This month I am going to focus on getting my cousin's quilt done and my DJ top done if I can. I am doing another month challenge on Quilters Around the World and I will be trying to do the triangle borders done and attached for my Dear Jane.

I'm sewing my cousins quilt top together a bit today, but had a night out with the girls Saturday (my friends lovely husband watched my 2 kids and his 2 kids so his wife and I could go out with the group, bless him! My DH had to go to his brother's 40th birthday shindig...) and I have a bad cold. My recuperation from the night out, hay fever and a cold has been slow! Aine has no more school for a bit, so we are having a lazy day today...I'm still in pajamas at 2pm. Girls are having a great time playing pretend games. So far today, we've hung out pretend laundry, done real laundry, had a teddy sleepover, a potato sack race, and played tooth fairy...so many hours left to go in the day... I will have them clean up all their toys at the end of the day...they are having too much fun now. They want a lot of attention at this age, but they are so cute and fun to watch!

Quilting Retreat and another Tub Session!

2006-06-29T09:38:00.000+01:00

I was only able to afford one official quilting retreat day (yesterday) without kiddies, as without family or Dave here these days, I have to pay for my alone time during the day! But it was lovely to have 9-4 to devote to sewing. I got my 20 blocks done for cousin Chrissy's quilt and started on my DJ triangle border!

I hope to get more done today on the tri border and maybe get a lot of the sashing and borders cut for Chrissy's quilt. She is still not much changed, opening her eyes a few times but not seeming to recognize what is happening to her. They have moved her to a nursing home for long-term care...it is so sad...I better make sure to label the quilt well and make sure that it doesn't go walking!

I had the girls over again for another hot tub (read drinking) session. Now I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking, compared to my friends here, look at all that Miller lined up on my deck! I drink a watered down Bacardi and Diet Coke! But I'm willing to learn, LOL! I should have started these hot tub sessions ages ago...is fun to have one night with the girls during the week...would have to have babysitter otherwise!

Some Finishes to report!!

2006-06-21T16:55:00.000+01:00

My Dear Jane center is DONE!! My life is busy these days with kids, work and I always seem to be too tired to get too much done, but I squeeze in quilting when I get a chance and over the last week, managed to do a few things!

My weight, however, is the worse it has been since I was pregnant. Do you think I can focus on weight loss again when my family are all back together again (and I can join a gym to do my favorite swimming...which has a creche for kids!). I feel out of control, but stress and tiredness make me reach for food. I feel guilty and then a vicious circle starts! I lost 70 lbs before. I need to lose at least 30-40 lbs now to get into 120/130 range I like (5 foot 1)... I really wish I could focus on it. I keep starting and failing, and that is just self-defeating. Oh well...sorry for that brief interlude into the dark recesses of my mind, LOL!!

My cousin's little baby's quilt is done, and very wrinkly looking in this photo, but I'm happy with it. It is very cute and completely from my stash (and Barbara and Hanne's!) I am plugging away on my cousin Chrissy's quilt...have all 20 block centers done and 10 blocks completely finished. It is those HSTs that always slow me down! She has apparently been opening her eyes a bit more, but nothing more than that... I hope she is fighting hard, I bet she is!

Tonight I have some friends coming over for a dip in the hot tub...two of them have been in before, but it will be a first for one of the girls...very decadent...drinking bacardi and coke in the hot tub watching the sun go down...very late tonight, nearly 11pm!! We might be selling the hot tub, but I'm angling to keep it in the smaller less private garden...if people want to look at my lumps and bumps while I soak...I say, let em!!

So...I plan to keep working away at my cousin's quilt, and then start contemplating my triangle borders for the Dear Jane... There are so many projects I'd like to do, just need about three centuries to do them!

Sorry I've been gone so long!

2006-06-13T20:42:00.000+01:00

I've gotten some lovely comments from folks wondering how I am, and how my cousin is. Quilters are good folk!

We had an Irish heat wave, which means we broke into the 80s...that is tropical here! So most of the last few weeks have been spent outside with kids and their friends!

Look at my DJ...one more row to go...it is too big to take a photo of it on the floor without moving furniture! I'm so excited to see it taking shape!

Another crafty friend surprised me with quilting fabric from the States today! She loves to yard sale in the summer and is keeping an eye out for me for quilting fabric...they are great, and the pinks and greens are perfect to go into my cousin's scrappy quilt!

Teddy quilt is quilted with binding sewn on...will get the quilt done over the next while.

We have gotten the other house in Ballina, Co. Tipperary...will be a great location and a big house. You can take a sneak peek here if you want to see it! Will need a bit of updating, but it is such a big house for us! It is still just going to paperwork now, where everything fell apart last time, so keep your fingers crossed.

My cousin is much the same, but opened her eyes for a brief moment last week...haven't heard any more, but a good reason to hope.

Days here are full of dressing up, trampolining, refereeing fights between a 2 and 3 year old...the normal stuff...but am looking forward to getting settled again!

Quilting is my therapy!

2006-05-30T23:35:00.000+01:00

If anyone who reads this can say a little prayer for my cousin and her family right now, I'd really appreciate it. About 2 weeks ago, she was in a terrible car accident and her head injuries were so severe they are giving very little hope of coming out of the coma she is in now. Her one and only daughter, age 4 months is doing okay now, only a minor head injury and some cuts and scrapes from flying glass. It was my cousin that bore the impact the passenger side of the car crushed into her, and by some miracle her baby behind her was okay. My cousin's husband who came upon the scene of the accident is still distraught.

The teddy bear quilt top that I am finishing up now is for my cousin's baby Shae. Many thanks to Barbara for most of the teddy bear blocks (I only did one!) and to Hanne for 4 of the 4 patches. I am embroidering eyes and noses for the bears, then will do some simple quilting. I am also going to do a scrappy top for my cousin using the diamond square block seen around blogland lately. My aunt told me my cousin's favorite color is peach and since I only found 2 scraps big enough for my block's center I've actually broken down and bought some peach fabric for the quilt border and some of the block centers. I hope to get this done in the next few weeks.

The alphabet quilt for my daughter might not be done by her 2nd birthday on June 19, but I want to work on these quilts first right now.

I finished up my other baby quilt...now to get about a zillion tops quilted!!

DJ is up to Row J now, three more to go...

Our pink house is gone...we had to take back our deposit...too many legal entanglements we didn't want to take on ourselves. We are back to looking in a nicer village along the Shannon River that has everything within walking distance, including a PATCHWORK CLUB! This is quite amazing as quilting is not popular here...once I heard about this club, it was decided, buying or renting for short term, Ballina, Co. Tipperary here we come!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!!! And keep a good thought for my cousin's family!

A lot going on...not all of it nice...

2006-05-22T23:21:00.000+01:00

First, something happy...here are my helpers...helping me spread out my DJ to celebrate one more row done. Just 4 more to go, then onto the borders!

The teddy bear block will join with some blocks Barbara and Hanne are sending over as a comfort quilt to my cousin's little baby. Both of them were involved in an accident. The baby is faring well, but mommy is still in a coma from her injuries. I'm starting to get worried now, she should recover, but it could take a long long time, as her entire right side of her body seems to have been crushed...lots of broken bones. I will be making her a scrappy quilt using peach as a focus color (my aunt tells me it is her favorite...) I will be using a pattern a lot of bloggers have been discussing lately...the diamond square block... I don't have much yardage, so this should work well for me!!!

The "A" is the start of a free pieced alphabet sampler for Aisling's birthday next month...will work on this and my cousin's quilt as much as I can these days...

But tonight has been a busy one. More bad news this weekend. One of my best friends here, and the ever-present on my blog, Conor's mom, well her mom passed away this Saturday...so I whipped up a name pillow for Conor to match with his "magic quilt" that I made him. It is the wake tonight, so I am looking after them so parents can have a bit of space with all the visitors coming to pay respects (and the Irish trip to the pub afterwards!) He and his sister are having a sleepover tonight. I didn't think I'd make it, but they finally fell asleep around 9:45...

Anyway...I haven't read blogs as much as I should, but between kids, work, and quilts...it has been busy!!!

Still trying to buy that pink house...but some technical issues have arisen, not monetary, but house and permits etc related...keep those fingers crossed, as we really would love that house, pink or not!!!

Just Another Manic Sunday!

2006-05-14T21:34:00.000+01:00

For some reason I keep using song titles lately... well I guess the song is Manic Monday...can you tell I was a teen in the 80s??

I did nothing all week quilting related except maybe one or two seams on my DJ quilt...but went a little crazy today! I finished sewing Row H of my Dear Jane together and got it sewn onto the quilt. Have Row I sashing prepped for sewing...

Then, I finished one complete baby quilt top with scrappy border and got the middle of one other done. Kitty is helping to model them...very simple quilt, but nice...have to figure out what to put in the white spaces...charm tacks probably, but haven't totally figured out yet...

I think I've finally decided to stop doing baby quilts for all my friends...some just don't appreciate them. And since my time for quilting is limited with 2 young kids, I'm tired of giving away most of my work!! I need to make a list of projects I want to do for myself this year and work on those. A few more gifts here and there to finish, but I think I'll be a slightly selfish quilter for a while!

Thanks for all the lovely comments about the house! I'm so excited about it...lovely house and gardens! Will be planning lots of little quilts for it!

If you are interested in seeing any more photos of the house, I've put them on my website for my family and friends to see a few more...

This News Just In!

2006-05-10T20:42:00.000+01:00

Isn't this fun? You can get one for yourself here.

Little Pink Houses for You and Me

2006-05-08T20:08:00.000+01:00

Wasn't that a John Cougar Mellencamp song way back in the dawn of time, okay...in the 80s :0) !!!

We just bought this house today, about 10 miles away from where my husband works in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary! For a very nice price, with lovely contents included...have to keep pinching myself. We will finally be together again sometime in June in a beautiful house!

My daughter Aine, age 3, LOVES this house...it is pink, what is not to like!! It has been decorated by a professional decorator and was owned as a second house by a single man in Dublin who wants to move on.

I have been working on my DJ blocks, but have been overwhelmed with work, visitors and daily life, and house buying this week!!! Just wanted to share my good news and show you some of the house!

There is an unfinished 4th bedroom and a storage closet next to it...DH says that can be fabric/office closet, hee hee and bedroom can be an office/sewing studio!! Woo hoo!!

We also hope to add a conservatory (greenhouse) to it as well...and a herb garden and more berries again...and....

This house is perfect for displaying quilts, so will have to start making some wallhangings this year...can you tell I'm excited!!

History Tag and a Finish!

2006-05-03T12:11:00.000+01:00

Thanks everyone for the great welcome back messages... Glad to be back online again...it is a definite addiction for me, in addition to my kids and my quilting!

Barbara tagged me with the History thingie, so here goes!

20 years ago:

I was 16 years old, and I worked summers in a fabric shop, but hadn't discovered quilting yet. I liked to sew my own clothes though...

10 years ago:

I was married just under a year and my husband and I had moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he was working as an Operations Manager in a Concrete Block manufacturing company and I was a volunteer coordinator and office manager (I was volunteer as well...) for our local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. I remember visiting fabric stores in Atlanta, but I was on a break from quilting, having taught myself at 18 while in university...made one quilt and didn't make any more till I moved to Ireland!

5 years ago:

We were living here in our house in Carrigeen, Co. Kilkenny, just outside of Waterford. I had started back quiting again as the friends and family started having babies!!! I had left full-time employment at this point and was doing graphic design from home. This is they year I lost 70 lbs on Weight Watchers going from 190 to 120!!! I'm back between those numbers now, so time to get on the bandwagon again...

1 year ago:

Uh....I had recently come back from a trip to the States, and was still doing lots of baby quilts for friends and family...can't remember much exciting to tell you!!

1 month ago:

Working on my Dear Jane quilt, no doubt, as I worked on it everyday in April as part of a challenge!

Yesterday:

Finished sewing the last bit of binding on this quilt, I used variegated thread to machine quilt it...first time doing that...had good fun with it, though I'm not happy entirely with the quilting...It was a bit sparse at first following the lines I had drawn...when I started doing it free-hand it looked much better and denser... I guess I do better going outside the lines, LOL!! I used fun pieced flannel backing with kiddie prints. This will go to a friends new baby...her name is quilted into the quilt!

Today:

Will work on my Dear Jane, of course, and start quilting on my star sampler quilt...if I get the chance!!

I went and checked out her site, and don't see it there yet, so I tag Evelyn for this history thing!

Dear Jane Progress!

2006-04-30T23:29:00.000+01:00

I'm up to row G now on the Dear Jane! Even my husband who never pays attention to my quilts says he's proud of me with this quilt...it is nice to hear! I've hand sewn the whole thing and it is very special to me!

I am going to work on some binding on my black and bright baby quilt now and could be back to post some more!Next week I plan on quilting my star sampler quilt while working row H.

A Bit of Good News!

2006-04-30T20:49:00.000+01:00

After camping out on my mac for a while, I am happy to say, we have bought a new computer and can finally get back to being a blogger again. I enjoy it, and feel a part of the quilting community by doing it, so it is nice to be back! I am going to start reading blogs again too, I've missed catching up on everyone's projects!

Well it finally happened. WE SOLD THE HOUSE!! And got just about what we had hoped for. We put an offer on a house we liked in Killaloe/Ballina, along the Shannon River outside of Nenagh, our new hometown... they decided they wanted 15,000 more for the house. Ummmmm...nope...don't think that is going to happen... so back to the drawing board for us, we may rent for a while...but we'll be back together again in June or so...6 months is a long time to be apart.

I need to update my quilting projects, and Barbara tagged me for this history thing, which should be fun to do...but for this first post back, I thought I'd show a goofy photo of my family out under the kids sun umbrella today... My mother in law is visiting and we went off to the beach today... We've also started cleaning out the attic and garage in preparation for moving...so much STUFF!! When we moved from Atlanta to Ireland we sold everything but my books and some family furniture and it all fit in a crate that was about 6 foot cubed... amazing how it all builds up again.

I've got six more blocks to attach to my Dear Jane and I will have 7 rows sewn together...hope to post a photo later tonight, so better get a move on! If I'm really lucky and on a roll I'll have the binding sewn down for my black and bright baby quilt too...

Might be having a blogging break for a while...

2006-04-18T07:42:00.000+01:00

I removed some software to make room on my hard drive as it was filling up. Bad move. It took away my TCP/IP protocol somehow which means I can't connect to the internet on my PC. I am using my Mac for emails and limited surfing, but I can't really even read most blogs, as it takes hours to load each one on the mac. Evven posting this blog has taken ages to do...so for the moment, I am taking a break till I get a working PC again...it will let me do anything non-internet related, which is good, but I will have to reinstall the software, which I can't find the disk for right now...ugh...

Updates on other things: I have 5 rows finished on the DJ! Myself and the girls have another type of cold...this one is a cough that wakes us all at night, hello sleep deprivation!!! Guess I better stop burning the candle at both ends, looking after kids all day then working for myself some nights on paid work, then sewing and blogging...I stay up too late and pay for it this year with endless colds!! I seem to get a few weeks break and then some new strain the kids bring home gets to me too!! The joys!!

Weekend Progress

2006-04-10T00:53:00.000+01:00

I am working away on Row D of the Dear Jane, nearly done sashing the blocks, then to assemble the row tomorrow and attach to the growing quilt at some point...

This is the backing to that flannel quilt I'm making...I don't have much of a flannel stash, and asked fellow Stashbusters for some trades or donations of some 12.5 inch squares, as always, everyone was great, and I had fun trading linen hankies and various other things for my squares! Some wonderful ladies donated quite a lot of fabric scraps, so I have a feeling that at least a baby quilt will have to be done to deplete the flannel stash. I like flannel, but it doesn't call out to me to make tons more...but I may change my find after cuddling under one!!

I'm up at 1am here because my nearly 2 year old woke up crying for a bottle! She was down to one morning bottle but this last week she's asked twice for a bed time or today a midnight bottle... after eating a TON of food today as well...I'm thinking growth spurt!! She drank the bottle dry and fell back asleep, so she must have been hungry. Now if I can only get back to sleep myself... Think I'll sash a few more DJ blocks and then try again!

Three Rows done...10 more to go!!

2006-04-08T08:09:00.000+01:00

I am working as much as I can this month on my Dear Jane, even if it is sometimes just sashing just one block a night... Other days I get more time and I get more done, like yesterday...finished sewing Row C together and attached it to first two rows...it definitely helps me to match seams, doing this by hand. I am a demon for not pinning my machine pieced tops and just getting on with it, lopped off points, mismatched seams and all. I am learning slowly to be more patient...hand sewing is teaching me some of that patience!!

On the housing front, we got an offer after a viewing on Wednesday. They are coming back to look at it this afternoon, so gotta start cleaning soon. The offer was low, but if they meet us halfway, we'd be happy!!

Hope to work a bit later on the pieced backing to my flannel top, then I will sandwich that quilt and have 3 quilts ready for machine quilting the rest of this month. Going to have to get moving with those!

Look what the postman brought!!!

2006-04-04T20:51:00.000+01:00

What a red letter day for me today! The lovely postman brought me some swap blocks, a huge stack of lovely CW and vintage squares that I traded with another Dear Janer and that huge pile of fabric and Jennifer Chiaverini tome (her first three books!) a wonderful friend sent to me as a surprise birthday present. I can't believe the amount of fat quarters she's showered me with and the huge book...how did she know that Chiaverini novels were some of the few books in my quilting library!! This friend of mine was my best friend from kindergarten through to middle school, when she moved away... only about 20 minutes away, but that is the ends of the earth as a kid! Our mother's stayed friends over the years, and we kind of just drifted apart, never intentionally, just with different schools, different friends...it just happens.

We've kept in touch from time to time and now we both have two little girls and have gotten to know each other better again, as much as you can with busy lives and living on two different continents, LOL! I sent her newest baby this quilt last September and found out she'd just signed up for her first quilting class, woo hoo!! When I went to visit my folks in DC in November I went to visit her in Virginia and saw the wonderful quilts she'd done already and saw my imperfect, slightly wavy quilt hanging up on her wall in her living room above the baby's play pen. Wow. So she is bitten by the quilting bug and I am reaping the benefits...what a truly good friend! Now...how do I do something equally nice back for her... hmmmm....

May become a basketcase, again...

2006-04-02T14:27:00.000+01:00

BC- before children, I used to take a few willow basketry workshops... I even made this moses basket that my two girls slept in! I was just thinking about wanting to try another class when I came across a brochure at our public library for the ladies that taught me a few years back...it was a sign, definitely! I think I'll take another class in May... I really enjoyed it and made several baskets, culminating in this huge project of the moses basket. It would be nice to do again, no one can ever have enough baskets right?

This is my DH Dave and our oldest DD, Aine (onya), she is 3 now...time flies!!

My Quilting Library!

2006-03-30T23:24:00.000+01:00

My house is FULL of books...4 huge bookcases full of gardening, cooking, fiction, non-fiction...but this is my quilt book collection. I have had more over the years, but never used them! I find that I kind of make my quilts up as I go along...I use quilt blocks, definitely, but I can only think of one quilt I ever nearly followed a whole pattern for...and even then I changed all the coloring... Well...I take that back...I am following the pattern for the Dear Jane quilt, but aside from that...mostly I just pick a block I like, figure out how many I need (these days I make a ton of baby quilts!) and then figure out borders and sashing as I go along.I'm still a beginner, but I seem to only keep "process" books or inspiration books, not actual pattern books. In my collection: Liberated Quiltmaking, Gwen Marston, Scrap Quilts: The Art of Making Do, Roberta Horton.. The Angel book which has no pattern just quilts others have done...for inspiration... A great book about designing your sewing space... and Gayle Bong's new book, Save the Scraps, a present from my secret pal! And of course two Chiaverini novels I've been given, I really enjoy those and read them so fast!

I do love quilts, and love antique scrap quilts...I think my next quilt for myself is going to be a string quilt...but I can't seem to get into the idea of planning a quilt by buying large amounts of fabric...maybe it is just the frugal girl in me...but I love the idea of using up my scraps...and I love to look at all the different fabrics people have given me... I don't know that quilts I gift to people will ever be as scrappy as ones I do for myself...those are usually controlled scrappy quilts! Now if I can stop dreaming about the types of quilts I like and start doing them...

But this weekend the plan is to quilt my black and bright baby quilt for baby Emma Rose that arrived March 20, and to make flannel backing for that quilt and another flannel quilt I'm doing for myself... Swap blocks are done, woo hoo!!

Brainstorming for my first "arty" quilt

2006-03-28T14:15:00.000+01:00

I won a book last year on Ebay, just wanted to buy a book and it was the right price...it is called Everyday Angels in Extraordinary Quilts by Mary Lou Weidman... It is about doing a quilt expressing who you are and who you want to be, a kinda guardian angel quilt with your character...

This is my idea so far... I love trees as a motif...I love yoga... I am always striving and failing to find my balance...with kids, with food, with housework... I'll get there one day, but I am always seaching for balance. My angel here is doing a balance pose for yoga, called the tree pose... I figure my angel will be slim and trim, the way I'd like to be someday (slim, not skinny...my days as a size 2 are long gone, but I'd love to be toned again...) I'll applique the tree somehow and use charms I have to hang on the tree along with leaves... That squiggly border is celtic knot border that I'd like to try once...esp. since I'm living in Ireland and of Irish descent, and married to an Irishman...it is part of who I am... I'll use CW repros cuz Im into them with my DJ as well...and I fell in love with South African indigos and was sent a few that I'd love to use on the border maybe...

It is just at idea stage, but need to figure out how to get it started...guess I piece a background in greens and creams and then work on the tree...can do a border later...

This is part of my promise to myself to do more quilts for myself and for my house... Since we are still moving at some point, I can't really do quilts for a specific part of the house, but this can go anywhere...

Quilt Bartering...my first commissioned quilt!

2006-03-24T06:36:00.000Z

I am still not over the virus/cold/flu thing... it is apparently making the rounds of our local villages of Carrigeen and Mooncoin. Talking to people in the local shop, it has been a bad one, people having it for weeks, thinking they've shaken it (like I had earlier this week) and then getting it back just as bad as ever (like I did yesterday)... At least I know I'm not alone!! And this morning I feel so much better than yesterday...felt fluey achey and otherwise disgusting then. But tomorrow is my birthday, and by God I am going to go out with DH...I'm so forgetful though, I just realized that I organized babysitter and forgot to get reservation at my favorite Thai restaurant... ugh... it will probably be booked out... can we say d'oh!!!!

Anyway, back to something quilt related! Here is the quilt I started on last week before the illness really knocked me down at the weekend. Finished the binding yesterday... Just a simple one patch with a border and of course the free pieced letters (thanks Tonya, LOL, you helped me get my first commissioned quilt!!) I wasn't up for anything more complicated these days and I needed to get it done fast... She gave me plenty of lead time, too much really, so I forgot all about it till last Friday!!

I did this quilt for my babysitter who looks after my youngest DD Aisling twice a week while her sister is in montessori. I work two mornings a week on my "paid job" (my main job as mommy is unpaid but still rewarding, LOL) I do graphic design for a few different companies, laying out books, letters, order forms, envelopes, newsletters, etc. I usually have to work one or two nights also, but I enjoy the work and a mommy that has a bachelors degree (in French and German language and literature...yeah that is useful in the real world!) likes to use her brain sometimes and get positive reinforcement from adults that she is still useful in the workplace, LOL!! Anyway, I digress, as usual... My babysitter saw Conors quilt I did last month and asked if I could do one for her. We traded a weeks worth of babysitting for the quilt, I figured it was a good trade! I did it all from stash fabrics, and just had to buy some batting... It is much simpler than Conor's quilt, but simple is good sometimes...so I hope the little boy she's giving it to likes it!

I hope to finally finish my swap blocks this week (they are due March 31st!) and then have 2 tops ready for quilting, so I'll be working on those in April while focusing on doing as much sashing on my DJ as I can! There is a great group of people over at the MSN group Quilt Around the World and there is a contest for a goodie box if you make progress on a difficult project during the month of April, mine is the sashing the DJ, gonna try for the goodies!!!

First Row of Dear Jane sashed!!

2006-03-15T16:45:00.000Z

This is a tiny picture, but row A on my DJ quilt is sashed together! Now onto the next row... I'm under the weather at the moment, some sinus/flu/cold thing, so my energy levels haven't been great. I'm mainly working on swap blocks and this sashing...no energy to start anything new or to heft my tops through the sewing machine for machine quilting... I do hope to start quilting a few tops in the next week or so!

No new viewers for our house, and no offers, it is a bit depressing. DH is missing us being together, so we might just move out to Nenagh and start renting a house with him, it will only be a few hundred euro more than what he is paying now to rent his room, and it will get us out of our limbo stage and my single mother stage, LOL!!! It is hard to be sick when you have two kids to take care of!!!

Thanks for all the ideas on the quilting for the 4patch blocks. I really do need to buy the Hargrave or Gaudynski machine quilting books, and I've never used a stencil before, so all these things kinda intimidate me. I'm self taught, and am just now branching out past the stitch in the ditch stage. I'm happy enough with the meandering I have done on a few quilts, but would really like to get into some of the more decorative quilting patterns such as the wreaths and feathers, fans, clamshells, etc... This is the year to get a start!

Ideas for a quilt...

2006-03-08T13:34:00.000Z

These are the scrappy four patch blocks we are swapping... these are the ones I've received so far. I asked for scrappy novelty/kids prints for baby quilts I have to make this year.

I plan on making them in a 4 x 4 setting (one block has 2 4 patches and 2 plain blocks) and was wondering, has anyone made a scrappy border before using maybe 2.5 inch bricks to form a strip rather than a piano key like border? I thought I'd do a scrappy strippy border then another border of the plain muslin... but what would you quilt in those centers? They are about 12 inches big?? I'm still a novice with machine quilting but would like to do something besides meandering in those areas?? Can anyone help?

Still moving slowly...

2006-03-06T16:45:00.000Z

Haven't been really productive lately because, well, I guess I have two small kids!! I have been working on a few swap blocks a night, and some DJ sashing...but they are pretty boring to show!

This is a quilt I did a few years back, just crazy piecing it onto foundation (found out the crumb block or mile a minute block terminology later!)...did 9 crazy blocks sewed them together, then put the borders on and then embroidered along some of the seams...

This one was in a local exhibition in a nearby town library...I'm famous in Carrick on Suir, Co. Tipperary...LOL...NOT!!!!

My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and mom has promised me a gift certificate from an online shop. A fellow Stashbuster member gave me a great shop that she uses http://www.quiltersquarter.com and I think this one is it...so many items, and good prices for overseas.

But just on the off chance, anyone else have a favorite shop for online ordering? Evelyn, if you see this, what one do you use for sending to you over in Austria??

History of my Dear Jane

2006-03-02T09:55:00.000Z

Here is my Dear Jane layed out virtually...I've only got 4 sashed together in real life!

I've gotten many lovely comments on my Dear Jane, and since I haven't worked on much more than a few sashings for the Dear Jane quilt in the last few days, I thought I'd post about my Dear Jane quilt. You can find the history of the quilt here. It am using Civil War (1800s) reproduction prints that I traded people for from around the world...Irish items, signature blocks, other fabric... I had a great time doing that and built up a great Civil War repro scrap stash...no yardage, but lots of little pieces!!

I call her my "Frugal Jane". I'm big on scrap quilting, recycling, shoping at thrift stores, restoring old furniture, etc etc... just a frugal kinda girl. My entire stash of yardage is about 10 pieces and then a bolt of unbleached muslin...my scraps take up boxes and baskets!!

Anyway... I started on my Dear Jane journey thanks to a generous gift from fellow Stashbuster, Gail Riker. Thanks Gail, if you see this!! That was in January 2005 when I started with 6 inch blocks I've been sashing together recently for my wallhanging! I realized a full quilt in that size would drown our bed here, so changed to 5 inch blocks.

I hand pieced all 225 blocks, tris and kites over the last year, finishing in just under a year. I found the hand piecing very relaxing in the evenings after chasing kids all day, LOL! I think hand piecing is a great way to do it. I found the curved piecing and the complicated blocks with tiny pieces much less intimidating by hand than if I'd done them on the machine. Don't get me wrong, I love machine piecing, but for this quilt, I wouldn't do it any other way than by hand...just less scary for me that way!

I am by no means an experienced quilter, so if I can do this anyone can, LOL!! If you've been put off by the complicated blocks, but still like it, just go for it... I never did applique, reverse applique or curved piecing or hand piecing before this, and I made it through. Go for it!!!

Now I've got to learn hand quilting, LOL, after I finish constructing the top. It is a never ending learning process!

Dear Jane Quilt....Under Construction!!

2006-02-27T18:08:00.000Z

Okay...I've got the first two blocks sashed to each other...a small start, but a start... I don't know how long this will take me, but if I always have the next block ready, I can do it as a quick, mindless evening task...one straight seam after another...relaxing really! The blocks look strange because I've removed the freezer paper templates in some areas and not in others!

We have another viewing on Wednesday...so at least we are getting more people starting to look! We are hoping to hear back from the family that looked on Saturday, but you never know...so we are still keeping all fingers and other appendages, LOL, crossed!

Still working away on some swap blocks, and now the big Dear Jane. I need to get some batting for the baby quilt, and I was thinking of piecing a flannel backing for the baby quilt for a softer back...It will not really go with the front, but since I never really work from any patterns or big plans, I guess I'm a kinda "maverick" at heart, though I'm not sure if I'm maverick enough to join the maverick quilt ring, as that is by invitation only!!!

So...projects to choose from at the moment: quilt my long waiting star sampler quilt, a wedding gift for a friend (wedding last year!), piece two flannel backings: one for my flannel quilt and one for the "amishy" baby quilt, buy batting, get quilting thread for the Dear Jane wallhanging, finish the swap blocks, start on my baby's 2nd birthday quilt...and the list goes on and on...

Tonight I'm finishing up a pregnancy pillow for my sister in law Roisin (ro-sheen) (I know...lots of weird Irish names on my blog!!) it is basically a life sized pillow in the shape of a C to keep her happy with a big bump!! I made one when I was pregnant, but I used some fabric that I liked on it and took it apart to make a quilt from it!!! This time I had plenty of muslin, so made a nice plain one she can throw in the wash.

A Second Viewing...and Quilt Top Done!!

2006-02-25T14:40:00.000Z

My non-tradtional baby quilt... I don't tend to make baby quilts with black fabric, but I had these blocks from a swap and my friend said she wanted bright things for this baby girl's room, so I thought the black and bright quilt would suit. She didn't want the normal pastels for babies.I plan to wait to quilt this till the baby comes sometime within the next month or so (due mid-March) and then quilt the name and date, and maybe a quote or two, or just stars, hearts, etc... now that I'm using a softer fabric, I know I'll be able to do the free-motion quilting I want for this one!

We had a second viewing for the family of the woman who looked on Tuesday! They seem to really like the house and the gardens! I have a nice size berry patch in the back, some apple trees, and herbs scattered throughout...haven't managed a bigger garden with the two kids to keep me busy, but this seems to be a big attraction for them.Since they just saw the house this morning, we won't know if they are interested enough to make an offer, but please keep all those fingers, toes, eyes and elbows crossed for us!!

Off to work on some of my 4 patch swap blocks before the kiddies come home. Have decided to be like my organized quilting momma hero, Evelyn, LOL, and prepare some blocks that I can sew a seam or two on in 5 minute snatches. If I have stuff set up, then between playing with kids, getting them places they need to go, looking after house, cooking dinners, working on my paid work, LOL, then I can find some time for quilting too, woo hoo!!

I finished my DJ wallhanging and will put it aside till I sort out quilting thread and needles. Can I just use the Mettler thread I use for hand piecing I wonder? Or is it not strong enough for the quilting part? I also think I'll use sharps instead of betweens, as the shortness of the betweens scares me. I should learn someday from a long-time quilter, but till I can find one in Ireland or on my travels, I'll just wing it for the moment.

I pulled out and started preparing sashing for my big DJ...hope to sew some of row A together tonight...beginning a new part of my Dear Jane journey!

Sad Excuse for Progress

2006-02-22T12:24:00.000Z

I've got the blue border on the wallhanging now, and started the scallop border, which I won't touch until after the quilting is done!

We had visitors again this weekend, and a christening, so I didn't get any quilting done at all. Now that I'm back on my own again during the week, I've been falling asleep on our sofa at crazy hours like 8:30pm... I think I'm 35 and over the hill!!!

We are hoping to sell our house as soon as we can, so when I get a call for a viewing (we've only had three since the start of the year, pretty sad!) I get stressed out trying to clean with 2 messing monsters, LOL, under my feet! We had a viewing yesterday which sounds promising. The woman liked the house and is bringing her husband to look at it, so keep your fingers crossed for us. The girls are finding it hard to say goodbye to daddy every Monday. My oldest understands on one level, but still wants her daddy. I'm looking forward to the day we can all be in the same house during the week again!!

Playing with Dear Jane CD

2006-02-16T23:27:00.000Z

My Dear Jane CD has lots of goodies on it, and is based on EQ5, so I was playing around with my wallhanging design to figure out the size I wanted for the scallops, I've settled on this... Right now I'm sewing the 2 inch blue borders on...tomorrow I might start on the scallops, or maybe not...

DH's mom is coming down for the weekend and we have a christening to attend on Sunday, so I might not get a chance... Scallops are new to me so will take some attention...might grab some quick quilting time this weekend and work on my swap blocks instead. Can you tell I'm intimidated by these scallops?? But I love the look for this quilt, so will persevere!

He likes it, he likes it!! He really likes it!!!

2006-02-15T21:41:00.000Z

The quilt that I made a few weeks ago for cutie Conor has been well received. His mom tells me it lives on his bed and if he has a bad dream, he uses his I Spy quilt to look at the pictures and make up a story so he won't be scared. I'm so glad to hear that he appreciated it, despite my lack of success quilting words into it...sure, he wouldn't care about that anyway, it is the pictures he likes!

It is always nice to know that things you make are appreciated. My daughter insists on sleeping with her pillow every night...I even had to unstuff it so she could lie flat on the bed!

Look at my cutie learning to use the computer

2006-02-15T18:27:00.000Z

She is actually coloring in Dear Jane blocks, LOL, on my Dear Jane CD. Her object is to turn every block into the same color, but it is teaching her how to move the cursor and click. She loves "clicking" and working on quilts like mommy does...she took my wallhanging to look at its colors for her computer...too cute.

I also managed to get all 9 blocks for the wallhanging together...have decided a string pieced border is too much like hard work by hand! So...a hand pieced plain border and then scallops to work on next.

Dear Jane Wallhanging

2006-02-15T11:13:00.000Z

I am slowly hand piecing the sashing of the six inch blocks of my "false start" DJ. I started it with the larger blocks and then realized these would be too large a quilt for my bed, I needed 5 inch finished blocks to make it slightly larger than the original to fit on our bed... It isn't fast work, but it is coming together nicely...

I will add a border and then scallops to get some good practice in and then practice my hand quilting... Will start sashing the real DJ soon, that is going to be so strange...I need a new project, got to make up my mind the next hand pieced quilting project...hmm...cathedral windows like Mary is doing...lovely 6 pointed diamonds project that Merith did...I'm not interested...at the moment that is...in a Dear Hannah... Any ideas of a good project?

Blog Cloud

2006-02-14T23:45:00.000Z

I can't see my own blog today, but I hope it comes back soon, I'm seeing if I can post an entry even if I can't see it.

I did a blog cloud like many others around the ring have...can see kids quilts, ireland stash home work, and crazed cathi pretty huge there, pretty accurate, LOL!!!

Fell asleep at about 9:30 tonight but now up for a while again...back to hand piecing my Dear Jane sashing, can't manage anything more complicated tonight!!!

More Adventures with the Crazed Quilter

2006-02-13T15:37:00.000Z

I am putting up a photo of a queen size quilt top I did for my mom. It is her colors...I'm not a pastel/pale blue kinda girl...I did do all the scrappy blue hearts from stash in all shades from the palest to the darkest blues...nice but kind of sedate. I made it for her 60th birthday a few years ago it is finished and given away, but I never took a photo of the finished quilt for some reason...

Now for my new adventures today. Picture this, an incessant soft rain... My replacement license arrived finally today, good thing, as I would have had to pay a larger fine and go to court for my huge speeding ticket, going 70kph in a 50kph zone (or as I can understand it, being the Yank that I am...45 mph in a 30 mph zone) (going down a hill on the outskirts of our village, can we say SPEED TRAP, LOL!) . Anyway...I needed the license to show while paying the ticket, and today was the last day of my 28 day period to get it done...nothing like cutting it close...but had 2 weeks of hoops to jump through (driving tests to arrange, etc, forms to be signed by policemen for the loss of the original license...). Did I mention I still have my US license with a clean record, but it isn't accepted here, have to take more tests and get Irish version...

Anyway, I pick up Aine from school and go straight into town...dumb move...everything practical closes during lunch hour in Ireland, so forget about paying bills, PAYING FINES, doing anything but eating and shopping...I had the girls in this lovely Irish misty rain...got there, found it closed for the next hour and quarter, had to put new parking discs on my car, as I'd scratched off the wrong time and would risk a parking ticket on top of the speeding ticket. Did that, then took my two damp kids down to their favorite eating establishment, known the world over: "Donalds"...that passed the time for us pretty well, so we trekked up the mountain back to the police station, payed the fine, got the necessary 2 points on my license for my excessive speed of 45 mph and came home... I will blame myself if my little damp kiddies get colds...what a day...

But I haven't finished yet...one of my cats was trapped in my office while I was gone, I hadn't even seen her come in. I let her out and was hit by a smell...yes it was...my cat had soiled my next quilt all pin basted and ready to go...it was on my chair in the sewing room... I will have to cut out some of it, which was luckily on the edge, but will have to unpin the quilt and put it through the wash.

It is never boring Chez Crazy Quilter! Need some more textile therapy tonight but have several hours of work to do then too...hope those stains come out, YUCK!!

Conor and the girls!

2006-02-12T11:31:00.000Z

OK...remember my quilt I did a few posts back? Here is cute little Conor who I made the quilt for, and my darlings all rolling around in my scrap stash which is barely able to fit in that large basket there behind Aine! One of these days I'll organize them into useable sizes, but for now I kinda just dive into the basket to get fabrics I want! I've pulled out novelties and hand dyes...those are separated, but most other fabrics are happily living side by side for the moment.

I am working on a scrappy 4 patch swap at the moment, nice and simple, but am working up to starting on the alphabet sampler quilt I want to do for Aisling (ashling) my youngest there lying in the scraps, for her 2nd birthday in June...

I am watching Conor and his 14 month old sister Holly from 9am-6pm today along with my kids! Tis only fair, as his mom and dad were the ones that took my kids a few weeks back when I had my dire food poisoning and slept all through the day that Friday! Luckily DH is home at weekends. He's taken the older kids off for a trip to the soft play place down the road (which in Irish terms is about 40 minutes away, LOL!!) I've got the babies and can hear them playing with plastic cups and plates in kitchen...they were across the hall in the bedroom...guess I better go check them out!!

More textile therapy tonight

2006-02-09T23:32:00.000Z

I finished the pillow for Aine using some lightweight fabric from my stash...I do believe I made a "prairie" type skirt with that chambray print, back in the days when I wanted to be Molly Ringwald and sew all my own funky clothes, LOL!! I found some fabric up in my parents attic and brought it home, figuring I could use some of it in my scrap quilts and find other uses for the lighter or heavier stuff (foundations, home dec stuff...) It was fun to use up some of my very old stash! And she likes her name on the pillow...plus this used up all of my odd bits of batting...extra bonus!!

Those are my first row of DJ blocks for my wallhanging...going more slowly than I had imagined it would...but should look nice when done...

Did I tell you that my 18 month old got her MMR injection on Tuesday, but actually didn't... They called me yesterday to say they had injected her with the water part of the mix, but forgot the actual vaccination...I'm not impressed.

I've got to get ready for American visitors tomorrow...my dad's cousins from Wisconsin (would that make them second cousins or first cousins once removed...I can never figure that out!) should be nice visit.

Confessions of a Crazed Momma Quilter

2006-02-09T14:07:00.000Z

I didn't have a bad day yesterday...I just had A DAY... My husband was out of work for several months last autumn, got a job which would have had us move 5 hours away, didn't like that job, found a new job 2 hours away...all of this while I was away for Thanksgiving with the girls at my parents house and then coming up to Christmas. He got the new job and seems to like it, but he is gone Monday to Friday night, and I am here alone with my kids. My youngest is teething her final painful molars and my oldest is getting into a very whiney three year old phase, it just never seems to end.

I am out of the house Monday through Friday taking the girls to either montessori or to a playgroup every morning...two mornings while the oldest is in montessori, I have the youngest babysat while I do the graphic design work that I do from home... I try to keep the house clean and cook some of our meals (though I must say chicken nuggets and potatoes are a standby a few nights for the kids) and I try to make time for myself to sew and to write my blog journals... Our generation of women are supposed to be superwoman...marriage, kids, career, we can have it all...but having it all is very tiring!! I don't want to give up my little bit of work I have, but feel guilty leaving my youngest to be babysat. Somewhere in the middle of this all I would like to get fit as well, but swimming is hard with two small kids, and even walks with whining kids can get difficult. And of course food is a crutch for me, so I am struggling with weight issue as well.

So I find I use my quilting as a stress reliever these days. After a day of what seemed like constant fighting and whining with my kids yesterday, I pulled out some 9 patches from a swap last year and got them up on the design board for a baby quilt I want to make. It really is a calming influence to fondle the fabrics, LOL. I figure I'll put a black border around these and machine quilt either words (this is an easier fabric than the last one!!) or stars, hearts, etc something cute...I might try quilting the 9 patches across the diagonal which I've never done before, just in the ditch... I have 8 of the 9 patches left and will probably make a 5 block by 5 block wallhanging with black alternating blocks and get some perle cotton to try some fun quilting...will probably give it to the girls for their room...

Anyway...sorry for whining. I do apologize...it is hard being far from your home (Maryland!) and your DH when kids are so young!! But what doesn't kill me will make me stronger, LOL, or even more of a crazed quilter!!

While She Was Sleeping...

2006-02-07T18:09:00.000Z

While the baby was sleeping this afternoon, big sister Aine (onya) picked out fabrics to make her name. We had fun...and I just winged all the alphabet letters...very freeing! We'll turn this into a pillow for her bed!

This went together very fast and was very addictive! I see lots more letters in the future, especially like using upper and lower case...

Finished the I Spy Name quilt...more plans for letters!

2006-02-07T13:14:00.000Z

I finished my friend's son's little I Spy name quilt...kept it simple, stitched in the ditch and around the letters. He'll love it! I tried to free-motion words into the blue areas, but the hand dyed fabric was so tightly woven, the needle kept bouncing off, and my access to different needles to try out isn't great...not many places locally to sell sewing things. Quilting things...well there is a quilt shop about an hour away, luckily, but it is very small...

I am planning on practicing lowercase letters next to make some name pillows for the girls. I also have a simple scrappy 4patch swap to get started on.

I've started hand sewing the sashing on a smaller Dear Jane wallhanging using my false start 6 inch blocks. We don't have a large bed, so a Dear Jane quilt done with 6 inch blocks would drown our bed. I restarted on my 5 inch blocks this time last year...I'll start on that more daunting construction task next week!

Not so Wonky Houses

2006-02-03T12:02:00.000Z

This is a quilt that I won on Ebay. It is a Debbie Mumm original, signed and dated, one of her earlier ones before she had her own line of fabrics. I got it for a reasonable price and for a good cause, and was very pleased. I even ordered the book it was in from her website and she sent that out along with the quilt. A lot of her patterns are too cutesy/country for me, but I really love this houses quilt.

I haven't been doing much quilting lately, as kids and work are keeping me busy. I am trying to quilt the I Spy quilt I did recently, but having issues with the thread, tensions, and other such fun... I really need to get my DJ sashing and cornerstones started, as I miss having a hand work project.

Does it ever get easier? my kids are only 19 months apart, and this crazed mama is tired...

Simple Pleasures

2006-01-31T12:40:00.000Z

I did up these little bed quilts for dollshouse beds yesterday. They are for my dear friend that looked after my girls on Friday...they were already planned, but wanted to get them done sooner so that I could give them to her this week as part of my thank you (I believe I promised 6 months of babysitting services to her husband in my comatose state as well, LOL). She has a dollshouse with some antique looking beds so I hope these will fit in nicely.
They are tiny...that 4 patch above my two little quilts is 4.5"!!

I wish I could say that I am adjusting to life on my own during the week, but looking after and running around with an 18 month old and a three year old just ain't easy! I wish I could be supermom and superwife, but I just can't so maybe I should go with the flow, and quilt some more!! Hand piecing is especially relaxing to me, so I think I may have to pick up my DJ again and start putting together the rows!