Serger Project 1

E-Reader
Click for free Bernina pattern by Kellie Rushing 

Okay, I admit it.  I REALLY don’t like sergers.  I use them as little as possible in my sewing classes, but I know I need to use them more.  So I signed up for serger club at Studio Stitch.  They MIGHT change my mind, but the jury is still out.


I would much rather do clothing construction start to finish BY HAND as opposed to using a serger for any of the steps.  I think this stems back to my early childhood.  Mother made my clothes and did a fantastic job.  Sergers were not so readily available  for the home sewist fifty years ago, so if a classmate had something on with a serged finished, it was obviously store bought and made with far less love than what my mother made for me.  I used to feel sorry for the girls who had to wear store bought clothes, and a serged seam was a dead give away.

Flea Market Serger Find

However, home sewing has come a long way and many of us now have sergers.  I have two...they just stay in the closet.  (How did you like that explanation about why I don’t use a serger very often?  I’m sure you would never think that the real reason is that I don’t have the patience to put four or five different threads through 5,699 different holes, thread guides, and tension discs! In my high school class, if a student unthreads a serger, they have to put a dollar in the serger jar.  Anyone who threads a serger gets a dollar!  Ninth graders will do anything for a dollar around lunch time!)  

Let’s go back to today’s story.  A friend was able to stay with my husband so I could run out for a quick class at Studio Stitch.  It was so good to get a couple of hours away after the hub's recent ER visit.  In class we were making a cover for our e-Readers from a Bernina pattern by Kellie Rushing.   It took me awhile to get the threading right on my “borrowed” serger.  (We are buying a Bernina serger for my school classroom so Studio Stitch let me use one today to get accustomed to it!)  Justiann finally convinced me to do EXACTLY the same thing with the serger that I tell my students to do with the conventional machine  when there’s a problem. I needed to unthread it totally and rethread it from scratch.  It’s just a little more complicated to do that with a serger, so I tried to avoid doing it.  However, a couple of re-threadings later it was working great.

(It turns out that my left-handed nature gets me even when threading sergers.  I try to thread left to right through thread guides when they want right to left, and vice versa.)  

After all the time threading and re-threading, the actual e-Reader case only took about 20 minutes to finish.  It was super-easy, after I sorted through my left-handed spatial challenges (Definitions for the words “width” and “length” were a little challenging today!)   I’m now on the search for any of my friends who have e-Readers!  Guess what they are going to get for Christmas!  My sample leaves a lot to be desired, but now that I’ve conquered the basic concept I’m thinking of doing some embroidery on them and turning them out one weekend for gifts.  It will be a good way to use from my fabric stash, practice serging skills, and give a gift all at once. If I become familiar enough with the pattern, it can go into the supplemental projects that my first year students are allowed to do if they finish assigned projects in class.
Here’s the funny thing.  After the class I came home and got the old Elna serger out of the cupboard and actually threaded it and began serging a bit. It took two hours to get it up and running, using a manual that I had located on the Internet. (This serger was a $5.00 flea market find, no manual included.)  You might notice in the picture that each cone has a different color thread, just like the manual said to do to check the tensions on the stitch. That Justiann at Studio Stitch may just make me move out of my comfort zone.    I guess I just needed a push.  I’m looking forward to next month’s serger club!

Random Projects

Bold Hearts and Stars B.O.

It seems like I’m always updating this blog sitting at the hospital with my husband!  We are in the ER right now waiting for xrays from a fall.  

During the last two weeks life has been so full of school related responsibilities  (i.e. conferences) that there hasn’t been room for serious quilting.  But never fear -- I was able to work a few things in.

One evening after a rough day I was nearly brain dead but I absolutely needed a fabric fix.  So I pulled out my box of “Blocks - Cut but not sewn” and put to “hearts and stars” together.  One is in a bright child oriented colorway and one is in feminine pinks.   Here’s a pic of the bold one.  

Sometimes I’m in a cutting mood and I’ll cut five or six blocks and put them in the “Blocks - Cut but no sewn” box.  That makes it easy to feel quickly productive when I only have an hour to spare.  I can put together a block that has forty or fifty pieces in it in a short period of time without too much thought, as long as I did my cutting when I was more alert!

Another evening I was still not up to tackling anything new so I walked to mom’s to see what she was working on.  She had gotten stalled on a scrappy block baby quilt.  The corners of the blocks didn’t quite match so she was ready to just stop work on it.  She let me take it to play with.  I applied a french binding and hand stitched it in place.  Who cares that the blocks don’t match exactly?  My mom is 74 -- I think the work is pretty awesome.  We will just ask the baby to throw up on the corners of any blocks that don’t match and no one will notice the blocks are slightly off!

Yesterday I took off with a quilting friend to a gigantic “cloth shop” a couple of hours away from us.  It took us much longer to get there than anticipated.  But I told my friend that it may have been the Lord’s way of keeping us out of an accident that could have been happening had we arrived earlier.  But now on second thought, I think I’ve figured out what Jesus was doing!  Because we took longer to get there, we didn’t have as long to shop in the store.  That was his way of making sure I had money to eat on the rest of this month.  We just got paid and I blew my allotment of play money for the month in less than an hour.  However, I did get quilt backs for six quilts.  My goal is to get these six quilted before Christmas (plus the one I have on the frame right now.)  AND,   I only bought one new piece of fabric that doesn’t yet fit into a quilt!  I was the model of restraint.  (It helped that my friend had already GIVEN me three fat quarters and a 1/2 yard of fabric from her stash before we left home!)

I intended to spend this evening working on Block Lotto’s block of the month.  However, the best laid plans of mice and men go astray.  So I’ll do some applique work while sitting here in the hospital.  

Hey, great news.  Hubs is going home with me from hospital.  It’s only a broken collar bone this time!  Yeah!  I might get to do those blocks this evening after all (and look for the cell phone that I lost during the rush to the hospital!)

Project S-02 Girlie Onesies and Project Q-96 Studio Stitch Block of the Month

"Onesie" Dress for new baby

Wednesday morning waiting at Wake Forest Baptist Medical University Center for my husband to finish a CT scan.  I hope the news is good.  There hasn’t been a lot of time for serious quilting this last week because I’ve been working on several small projects.  

Denim Re-Do

I love wearing comfortable denim dresses because they last forever, but the length “dates” them.  In previous decades we wore them a bit longer.  So I spent a little time cutting six inches off the bottom of several of them and hemming them up.  (Not too short now....I am fifty years old.  Don’t want to try to look like my students!!!)

Onesie Dress

I was also excited to take a “onesie” class at Studio Stitch in Greensboro, NC this last Saturday.    Our instructor, Gail, showed us how to  deconstruct part of the onesie and add a ruffle to it to turn it into a onesie dress.  Since I have two very good friends and a niece expecting little girls within the next couple of months, this was a good time to take up this project.  I wish I had purchased a slightly better quality onesie to take to class to work on because it turned out better than I thought it would.  I gave it as a gift to my niece the day after I finished it.  She’s only four months pregnant, but I wanted to give her her first baby gift.  I also gave her two of the burp clothes I talked about last week.  

Since this niece has an older sister who has a six month old boy, there are going to be lots of “boy onesies” that we can turn into “girl onesies” by adding a  pretty ruffle.  It actually takes less than thirty minutes to turn a onesie into a “dressie”

July BOM from Studio Stitch, Greensboro, N

 Studio Stitch Block of the Month- July 

I attended the block of the month class at Studio Stitch in Greensboro last night and picked up my July block. Justiann at Studio Stitch is in charge of this and is doing a great job introducing us to simple patterns.  This pattern has a lot of potential.  I can see myself using it for the “cross motif” that is expressed if I choose my colors to emphasize the cross. (As a matter of fact, I have a quilt in my head with this right now using Freedom Fabric manufactured in the U.K.  I was wondering how I was going to use that fabric!!!!  It has Celtic crosses that can be fussy cut for the middle of this block.  )   I can also see this block used as a friendship signature block.  It could also work to feature specific fussy cut motifs in the middle of the block for a baby quilt.   

Oh, no, here’s another idea for this block!  One of my closest friends is a Mexican and her baby will be born an American.  One set of the three color blocks in the main block could be the three colors of the Mexican flag.  One set could be the three colors of the American flag.  I could alternate the main section of the block with a mini Mexican rose pattern.  Hum..... I need to think on that one.  

I’m using a quilt-as-you go method for these blocks.  Doing it this way means I’m not left with 12 blocks that I have to incorporate into a quilt at the beginning of the year when I’m ready to start on another BOM project!  I do so hate to have tons of blocks stacked up waiting to be joined into quilt tops.  (For some reason I don’t mind have twenty quilt tops waiting to be quilted.  I just don’t like having stacks of blocks.  Go figure what the difference is there.  I’m sure it gives some deep psychological insight into my personality.)

I’m doing both color ways for the BOM  and I finished one last night and then finished the cutting for the other one last night as well.  I started the piecing on the second one this morning before heading out to the hospital.  This “cancer journey” with my husband means that my quilting has to be done in fits and starts.  But it’s all good.  It does get done and if it’s not as precise as I would like I remind myself that  I do it for the love of it, not for any desire for perfection.  

Project 01-S - Baby Burp Cloths

Burp Cloths in progress.
(Blue one on the right is finished.,
and properly folded!

Wednesday evening after a day of computer work at school, I had just finished straightening in the sewing room and it was late.  But I needed to satisfy my sewing addiction and I didn’t want to stay up too late.  I needed something that would allow me to see some immediate progress.  Baby burp cloths to the rescue.

I had already done the preliminary work, so it was just going to be a quick sewing job.    

Yet let’s talk a minute about choosing a pattern for a baby burp cloth.  Should be very simple, right?  I had researched patterns for the cloths.  Did you know there is one website where a sewist has gathered 38 different burp cloth patterns?  My stars, how many ways can you sew fabric onto a cloth nappy so that a baby can spit on it?

After going through all 38 of the website links this sewist collected, I had already picked out my pattern and was planning to use my embroidery machine to put cute phrases on the cloths before sewing them together.    I had previously asked my friend how many she wanted.  She said a few.  I asked her to be more specific and she said five.  So I thought I would make five very cute embrodiered clothes.  No problem, right?

A couple of days earlier, I had gone to FIVE different stores before I found cloth nappies.  I had boiled them to make sure they were really pre-shrunk and that any residual chemicals used in their manufacture were gone.  I dried them.  I ironed them. (I REALLY ironed them.  Do you know how easy it is to stretch cloth nappies off grain if you are not careful?)  I cut the flannel and I pinned it in place.  I then set them aside for sewing on another day.

The next day I spent a couple of hours with my five month old great nephew.  It was an epiphany moment.  My friend did not mean five burp cloths.  She meant five HUNDRED.  You can only use those things one time before you have to get another one.  How much can a baby spit up?  And on top of that, why was I going to do beautiful embroidery for a baby to SPIT STINKY STUFF ON?  This was a nasty experience (Although my great nephew is perfect, his spit up leaves a lot to be desired!)

So this evening after straightening my sewing room, I went into production model.  My friend is getting a bunch of simple, simple burp cloths and they don’t have embroidery on them. (And my sister-in-law in Argentina is getting some to give her friends too!)  It may not be such a beautiful gift without embroidery, ribbons and bows, but at least it will keep that clabbered sticky stinky stuff off of her neck!  And that's what friends are for, isn't it? -- to protect other friends from clabbered sticky stinky stuff! (PS - The finished blue one in the picture is not my friends. It was for practice. She's having a girl!)

Project 98 - Chocolate Table Mats

Another new project!!!!    However, this one doesn’t count either since I merely helped my mother with it and didn’t do it all myself.  (Did you know that if someone else buys the fabric, the project doesn’t count as a real UFO - unfinished project?  It’s an SEP - someone else’s project!).  

My niece saw some table mats that mom and I had made for her mother and decided she wanted a set.  We asked her what color and she said it “didn’t matter.”  Obviously she is an alien inhabiting the body of my niece.  No one related to me EVER says that color “doesn’t matter.”  

My mom has always done very traditional quilting but we wanted this project to go quickly so we could get back to real UFO’s.  So  I taught her to do this using a quilt-as-you-go method.  I cut the strips and the backing and placed the center strip on the wadding and backing for her.  She added the strips and I finished it all with a French fold binding.  (It’s so much fun working on projects with my mom.  I feel like that by helping her  I’m paying her back for all the fingerpaint, glitter, glue, threads, etc that she let me trail through the house when I was little.)

Now if you look closely (don’t!), you will see that somehow mom didn’t keep the additional strips precisely “squared.”  However, we decided that since they were table mats and were probably going to be covered by round plates, who was going to notice?  In addition, my niece has a 3 year old and a 6 month old so they were going to be covered with food before it was over anyway!!

If you hang out very much around this blog, you will find that I don’t do work “for show.”  I come from a rural farming family and both of my parents were used to making every scrap count for something useful.  So, crooked stripes on a table mat are perfectly fine if the table mats are useful.

Now, I do promise I am going to work on some projects  already in process next.  The weather has cooled down, so I’m mounting  a ladybug quilt  (project 91) on the frame in the cabin and getting started on  quilting it this weekend.  

New Project - Crazy Pinks

Project 97


Okay, I admit it.  I had to start a new project, even though I have many in various stages of completion.  But it’s not as bad as it sounds.  I’m using only scraps of previously purchased fabric.  I’m not buying a single piece of new fabric for this project.  I’m calling it “Crazy Pinks” because it’s a crazy quilt design using up my pink scraps.  

I saw a Crazy Quilt top that a friend posted on Facebook in red, white, and blues.  I have wanted to do a Crazy Quilt for a long time and this friend’s project was the encouragement I needed.  I had a tiny box of scraps left over from a pink and cranberry BOM twin quilt I completed last year for my mom (Project 37).  The scraps were so beautiful that I couldn’t dispose of them even though they were tiny.  This looked like the perfect project for these scraps.

I did a quick Internet search on foundation block patterns for Crazy Quilts.  After doing a bit of reading and reconsidering, I decided to skip the foundation block patterns and just wing it.  


I don’t think early crazy quilters used patterns.  Many of them used the Sears Roebuck Catalog as the foundation paper for their blocks.  I used embroidery stabilizer to support the blocks (instead of catalog pages) and just started by placing a small “pretty” piece of fabric in the middle of a 9 ½ inch square of stabilizer.  Then I just picked through my scraps and continued to grow the block by adding scraps around the outer edges of the center pieces.  It took about four hours on Sunday evening to complete six blocks but I was pleased with the results.  

I returned home from work today (Monday) and decided to continue the project.  I did two more blocks and then connected them with a deep beige sashing that I had in my scrap collection.  I tried the piece out on the bottom of my mom’s twin bed and it looks great as a bed runner to keep your feet warm on a cool evening.

I’m going to go through my fabric stash tomorrow evening to look for a burgundy or wine piece to make a two inch border and then back and bind it with the same deep cream I used for the sashings.  

And wonder of wonders, I actually threw the teeny tiny scraps left from this project into the rubbish bin!  I NEVER put fabric in a rubbish bin.  It was a truly freeing experience (but they were very, very, very tiny pieces!) However, guess where mom and I are going tomorrow!! - To the FABRIC STORE! I figure I've emptied a couple of yards out of my stash, so I deserve to refill it. We do that with our gasoline tanks don't we?

Project 2 & Only ONE month left

I have only one month left before “officially” returning to school work.  (We all know that I do school work all summer!  It irritates the custodians that I’m in and out of my rooms all summer.  I think it’s because they want free rein of the kitchen labs while school is out!  I kind of rain on their parade by working in my labs).  Yet here at home for the summer,  I’m busy trying to get a lot of my quilting done, along with yard work, and professional education.  I’m taking an online class that is dealing with blogging, so this blog will continue to change and evolve as I incorporate the things I’m learning.  I’m also enjoying getting to spend time with mom and being able to get to daily Mass.  

But back to the purpose of this blog!!!  I finished binding project 2 - Green Log Cabins and I’ve made two pillow slips to go along with it.  Now I just need to embroider a label for the project before giving it to my brother.  I think this project has turned out so well, but I am definitely glad it is complete.  I do solemnly promise that I am NEVER going to tackle a quilt this large again (until next time, of course!)  Last night I was applying over 350 inches of hand binding.  It took about five hours to get that last little component done.  My goal is to finish the embroidered label this afternoon and present the quilt to my brother and his wife tonight.  Wish me luck.

As for this professional education class that covers blogging, the instructor is recommending that we complete our writing in a word processor to allow for easier editing.  Then we can copy into the blog after we’ve proofed our work.  So, you should be seeing fewer errors in my postings.  We will see how that works out.

Project 89 - Butterfly Garden 

Butterfly Garden
for Mom
June 2012

Took this off the frame last evening and then finished the binding this morning for mom. Look closely -- one of the blocks is turned the wrong way! But by the time I found it, I didn't want to pull everything out. I'm a bit lazy like that sometimes. Mom and I are okay with it. I'll just pretend to be an Islamic rug weaver. They always weave a mistake in so that Allah won't think they are trying to imitate His perfection. 


I've heard that the Amish do a deliberate mis-stitch in each quilt as well. I don't have to make deliberate mistakes; they just come naturally!!! But I've taken the "process pledge" with a number of other online quilters. We are determined to get as much enjoyment from the process as from the product!  It's also our goal to share the frustrations and the blessings of the process.  Too many times people just show their beautiful finished project and people think they could "never do something like that" because they haven't been privy to the trial and error that took place while the project was under construction.  Here's to the process!

Project 2 - A Decade of Cabins in Green and Brown

A Decade of Cabins in Green and Brown

Mom pieced this quilt top more than a decade ago!!  I've had it in a cedar chest.  Since my brother and his wife are moving into a new home and their bedroom is in cafe latte, mom asked me to quilt this and get it ready for them IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS!  It's a fairly good size - 72 inches by 96 inches.  I still have her butterfly quilt on Penny (my frame) and I'm more than 1/2 finished with it.  My goal is to finish the butterfly quilt this week and get the brown and green log cabin mounted on the frame this weekend and then get it quilted next week.  

Big Boy checks out every quilt before quilting!

Since I quilt in an old cabin behind my house, with no air conditioning, I'm having to do my quilting very early in the morning.  We are in the middle of some above average temperature days.  Today was over 90.  We'll see how this project goes.  (It might end up being their Christmas present and not their housewarming present.)  I have a twin size bright butterfly quilt for their daughter that I wanted to get ready for the housewarming as well.  (And I thought this summer was going to be relaxing!)

Project 96 - Cathedral Window - For years I have wanted to learn to do Cathedral Windows,  My desire to learn to do this particular pattern strengthened about three years ago when a friend of mine died.  She left me the contents of her sewing room.  


Elsa was a bit like me -- she kept many projects going at one time.  I've finished several of her quilts but just haven't had the courage to tackle her Cathedral Window project.  She had finished the initial sets of four window frames but had not put any of the "glass" bits in the frames.  Elsa's work was always exquisite so I haven't wanted to tackle this until I felt a little more confident of my skills.

So at the International Quilt Festival in Ireland last week, when they offered a class on Cathedral Windows, I jumped at the chance to take it.  It was taught by Bernadette Falvey.  She taught us the "old and authentic" way to make the block and gave us a small kit to practice.  This is my first attempt.  I have a long way to go before my technique is perfect, but at least I have hope that I will be able to tackle Elsa's project sometime in the near future.

Bernadette Falvey on the left
Me on the right!

Antique quilt
(Wonder if mine can ever look as good as this?)

Another attendee at the festival showed me a couple of short cuts and I'm trying those too. (Thanks, Karen). I also found a third method in the book Quilting School by Ann Poe yesterday in the middle of the night when I was trying to remember what Karen taught me.   
I've been told there are also ways to do part of the work by machine rather than doing everything by hand.  I'm not sure yet what method I will settle on.  It will depend partially on the method that Elsa has already started with and partially on my comfort level.  But at least I can say that I have learned how to make this quilt block -- even if my attempts are still a little wonky!


I found a good YouTube tutorial for sewing the Cathedral Window by machine by Helen of Ludlow Quilt and Sew.    How did I survive before I could look up things on Internet and YouTube?

Project 89 - Butterfly Quilt 
Working on this one for mom - Spent a couple of hours quilting for mom this morning.  She originally purchased this quilt as a quilt kit.  She scavenged the pieces she liked and then I "inherited" the kit leftovers.  I picked through my stash and found some pieces that would work and put a twin size quilt together.  Then, she liked it so much -- she wants it back.  But it's all good because I inherit her quilts when she meets Jesus later in life.  We tease each other about it quite a lot.  ALL her quilts will be MINE, ALL MINE some day!  (I'm not really selfish -- we give tons of what we make to friends and family but we give the ones we really, really like to each other!)  

Trip Home - June 15, 2012

For some reason I found this funny.  In ALL my travels with students over the years during summer holidays, I have NEVER had a student be late to return to the coach, I have never had a student get sick and have to remain at a hotel (and remember I have traveled with both insulin dependent diabetic and pregnant students.)  I have NEVER had an airline lose our reservations, I have NEVER had to fly standby, I have NEVER missed a flight connection.

I thought traveling with adults was going to be a restful, rejuvenating experience!  But we had one lady get lost at St. Kevin's Monastic Settlement and we had to send someone out looking for her.  One lady was sick several days and stayed in the hotel, missing out on wonderful fun.  Air France lost our reservations for the flight home on Friday and we had to fly stand-by.  Then when I got in to Orlando, I didn't make the connection to Atlanta and I had to spend an extra night in Orlando (at airline's expense, of course.)

Before going on this trip, I thought it might be time to give up student trips and begin to travel with adults.  Oh, well -- changed my mind on that one.  I'm going to send the travel agent I work with on student trips a big thank you as soon as I get home for all the wonderful work he does for me!!

I hope to be back in a day or two and begin putting my own pictures on line and take more in-depth looks at what I discovered during this Irish journey.  I'm especially interested in talking about the quilting stuff I learned from fellow travelers.  For now, I'm getting ready to head back into the Orlando Airport and start another day of travel to get back home!!  

Avoca, Glendalough, & Dublin - June 14, 2012

Avoca Mill Site

I knew our last day in Ireland was going to turn out to be one of my favorites.  I had been wanting to get to Avoca ever since I first heard of this trip last year.  Some on our group wanted to skip this, but I was adamant that THIS was the reason I chose this particular trip - because we would spend time in Avoca.  We had a fabulous tour of the site and I was able to get plenty of pictures in the mill.  It's quite an interesting story of how one family in the last generation has taken this nearly defunct mill from employing six individuals to employing 800.  I'm looking forward to getting this presentation together for my students.  Of course, I could only afford one small thing in the store but I did buy a beautiful rose colored scarf.  I'm going to dare anyone to touch it!


After Avoca we traveled on to Glendalough and I loved this place too!We visited St. Kiven's Monastic Settlement and walked around the cemetery and grounds.  Then Pam and I settled in for a thirty minutes brisk wall (It was chilly!) to the lakes and back.  Of all the places we went, this was the most poignant.  I need to get ready for the next plane ride -- so I'll be back to finish

Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel, and Dublin - June 13, 2012

Pic from www.blarneycastle.ie

It was a whirlwind of a day.  We left Killarney and traveled several hours by coach to Blarney Castle.  I had kissed the Blarney stone last year -- so I didn't bother to climb the castle steps and kiss it again.  I wonder what kind of germs are on that rock!!!  Plus I don't like depending on two men I don't know to hold on to my legs as I lay backwards to kiss a rock.  Something a little bizarre about that!  This picture comes from their Web site.

We spent a little time in the Blarney Woollen Mill shop.  The knitted sweaters and scarves were beautiful, but how often do I actually wear a heavy sweater in area during winter?  So I left them behind.

We traveled on to the Rock of Cashel, which according to current public relations materials is one of the most visited "heritage" sites in Ireland.   There's a great audio tour on the Cashel village Website that will let you visit the site without climbing that gigantic hill!

Here in Cashel we stopped at a lovely "carvery" for lunch.  A carvery is similar to a cafeteria line where the meat is carved for you in front of your eyes.  Plate portions seem to be tremendous.  I can see why everyone walks everywhere if they are eating in these restaurants.  Along with any potatotes that come with your set meal, they also often put potatoes and "veg" with it.  We had meals at some places where we actually had three different servings of potatoes with the meal!    At this carvey, I opted out of the potatoes and meat thing and had quiche!

We ended the afternoon in Dublin where we had a couple of hours to look around and SHOP!  How much shopping can a group of women do?

Druid's Glen Golf Course

About seven o'clock we broke our journey at Druid's Glen Resort.  They must have bribed someone to get us in here.  We had to go down teeny little country lanes to get to the resort, but the road then opened into a beautiful world class resort, golf club, and hotel.  Right now their room rates are only about $150 U.S. but the literature in our room indicates that during height of the season our room's actual charge could be closer to $500 U.S.  It was marvelous with down covers, big rooms, wide halls, and excellent dining.

Greens fees at the golf course are about $120 U.S. per person.    The Irish Open was played here in 2000.
The resorts gets its name from a Druid Altar rock located on near the 12th green.  However, in the evening it began to rain buckets and I couldn't get out there to get a picture.

Afternoon Sewing - June 12, 2012
Although the sun peeped out from the clouds, many of us in the group were just plain tired and so we retired to the library of the International and had a sewing afternoon.  I'm not sure I can remember all the names, but I'll try to recall some of them.  Pam was working on wool applique.  Jo-Anne was working on a stamped embroidery.  Another lady beside Pam was working on wool applique but was using a slightly different technique.  (I'm think I'm going to try wool applique -- You don't have to "finish" the edges.  It's just exactly what I need, another expensive craft!).  My room mate Gail was working on a Celtic reverse applique pattern, similiar to the Hawaiian technique.  Along with a lady who took Bernadette Falvey's class at the quilt show, I was working on a cathedral window.  When Karen joined us later, she showed me another method for the cathedral window.  I'm not sure which one I am going to prefer.  I'm trying both of them for a while.  


All in all, it was an enjoyable crafting afternoon.  I skipped dinner after having a cake at lunch.  Several ladies went out to a dance show.  I knew the next day was going to be a busy one, so I was in bed by 10:00.  

Jaunting Car Link

Jaunting Cars - Killarney - Tuesday, June 12.  The day started off with a mist but we took a chance anyway to ride the Jaunting Cars  through the National Park to Ross Castle and the Killarney Estate.  

By the time we got to Ross Castle it was absolutely pouring pots of rain.  We stayed huddled under our horse blanket on the jaunting car and didn't even get off to see the castle! 


The Jaunting Car let us off in front of our hotel, The International, and we all went our separate ways for a bit.  I returned to the Spin a Yarn shop to pick up another ball of yarn.  The sock I began to work on the previous night is going to be big enough for a giant!  I figured that I needed to get another ball of yarn before leaving just to be safe.


I met a lovely lady from Oregon who now lives in Ireland and who is trying to open a fabric shop and interest citizens in learning to quilt.  She is operating out of the back of the Spin a Yarn shop and currently has five bolts of fabric in her inventory.  


After lunching at Miss Courtney's Tearooms (tomato pepper soup, brown bread and coffee cake -- yum!), I returned to the hotel where I spent the afternoon in the library sewing.  

Streets of Killarney - Monday, June 11 (I think!) - I was finding that I needed a little "me-time" away from all the people on our tour.  (I'm normally a pretty good people person, but only if I get sufficient down time.)  So while the group toured the Ring of Kerry yesterday, I spent the time in Killarney on my own.

After breakfast I spent an hours just exploring the shops in Killarney on Main and New Street.  I found Miss Courtney's Tearooms and Spin a Yarn shop.  I was excited about both.  I spent some time in Spin a Yarn locating yarns and a simple sock pattern.  I am determined to learn to make socks!!!!  The assistant there was a great help and shared a pattern with me where the socks are knitted on two pins only, rather than the traditional four/five pin set.  I'm going to give it a go.  However, if I get these finished they will be the most expensive socks I've ever worn.

Next I took off for 10:00 a.m. Mass at St. Francis.  It was lovely!  They were also praying a novena to St. Anthony.  At 10:00 on a Monday morning the gigantic church was filled with people.  How refreshing.

Miss Courtney's Teapot's Vintage and Modern (from Hydrangea Girl)

After Mass I returned to Miss Courtney's Tearooms for a simple morning tea.  This is the type of tea shop I would like to own and operate, with a quilt shop next door.  Her Website doesn't do her justice.  I had vegetable soup with brown bread and darjeeling tea.  I was going to have a piece of Strawberry Kissed Cake, but I had to do it take-away because the soup and bread totally filled me up.  Take a look at  at Hydrangea Girl's blog for a better description of the Tearoom than I could write this early in the morning!

Oops, breakfast is calling.  Got to go.  I hope to be back later today.

Cliffs of Moher - Sunday, June 10th.  Directly after breakfast this morning we leave for a couple hour drive to the Cliffs of Moher.  They were quite beautiful, but I was quite TIRED!  I thought traveling with 15 year old students was a bit of a challenge.  Try traveling with a group where everyone is 45 and over.  Enough shopping already!

On the way to the cliffs, we stopped by one of the best known dolmen's in Ireland - Poulnabrone in Co. Clare.  This picture is from the Stones of Ireland Website.  The name pulnabrone apparently means something like "hole of sorrows" or "throat of sorrows."  According to our bus driver, Mike, there is not an exact translation for the name.  My dad would have loved this stop.  He's interested in grave yards.  I don't guess he's ever been to one that is more than 4,000 years old though.  I spent a bit of time on the bus wondering about the people whose remains had lain in this place.  It was really morbid.  I was just wondering what their life was like.

Pic from architectureinitslandscape.com

There are over a quarter of a million miles of dry stone walls in Ireland.  We may have seen about a third of them in our drive!!  Again, my official source was the bus drive Mike, but he indicated that the stone walls separated holdings and that making a stone fence was really the way you cleared the rocky land to make it arable.  One Web site I looked at said that many of these fences were stacked around 1840, after the famine when a new farming system was introduced.  There are some great pictures and explanations about these stone walls on the Dochara Web site.  The following picture comes from Architecture in Its Landscape blog and was representative of what we saw as we drove through the area to get to the Cliffs of Moher.

Pic from Cliffs of Moher.net

As I mentioned when I started writing this entry, the Cliffs of Moher were quite lovely.  It was breezy and cold, but a walk to the top of the site brought us to a breathtaking view, accompanied by a single harpist sitting atop in the wind.  There is a very well-done video on the official Web site for the Cliffs.  We had a bit of tea and a chocolate croissant in the glass walled visitor center and observed people coming and going to view the cliffs.  It seemed even the oldest wanted to make the trek to the top.  An elderly accordionist had stationed himself on the side of the walkway going up to the Cliffs and folks were stopping to listen for bit.  He had placed himself at a strategic place -- right where most folks needed to stop and take a breather.  He was probably able to gather quite a bit of change throughout the day.  

Pic from citypics.org

Our last stop for the day before our hotel in Killarney was the village of Adare  We really had time only to grab a very late lunch, but I did get a few pics of a church in the village.  This picture is really for my dad.  Everyone of the bus thinks it's hilarious that I'm in Ireland taking pictures of cows.  I think I'm going to fix my dad a "cow scrapbook."  There's really something quite funny about all these cows.  They lay down on their sides in the pastures!  Our cows don't lay down on their sides -- they lay down on their bellies and prop on their legs.  But these cows and horses are always laying on their sides.  I keep thinking someone has shot them and the fields are full of dead livestock!  We've seen a couple of llama in with the cows and of course we've seen tons of sheep.

After a full day of touring round the countryside, we landed in Killarney for the night (and the next couple of days.)  Our accommodations are with the Killarney International Hotel, right across from the take-up point for the jaunty cars that take you to Muckross House.  Hopefully, we will have a change to take a jaunty car ride tomorrow.

Another Class in Galway - June 9, 2012  Took another class at the quilt festival.  This time with Nicola Dougherty Roe of The Fennel Shed of Buncrana, Co Donegal, Ireland.  Great class.  I was interested in finding a better way to JOIN the binding after I got it all the way around the quilt.  It worked out great.

I also attended two lectures.  One was done by Bryan Taphouse of Freedom Fabrics.  He discussed how his fabrics go from idea and design all the way to becoming quilting fabrics.  It was super interesting!!!  I have a lot of info to take back to my apparel class.  I was so concerned that some of the fabric I wanted from his line would be out of stock by the time that I got to the vendor tables -- he gave me some!!!  What a thrill!  Now it may be too precious to use.

I also attended a lecture by Cathy Van Bruggen.  She's on the trip with us and her specialty is applique designs.  I gleaned a little from the lecture, but I think I'm going to purchase her DVD when I get home and try her applique method.   What a fun day of meeting well known teachers in the quilting world.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was nearly 8:00 so we just ate in the pub and got to bed around eleven.    Tonight is our last night at the Menlo Park Resort and Hotel.  It's been a very nice stay and they have taken wonderful care of us.  They've been especially attentive to my need for 5,000 cups of tea a day with plenty of "milk."  (If you say "cream", you actually get real full cream!!  Too rich for me!)

I hope to get back to Galway in the future!

Bunratty Castle - Friday night, June 8 - After a day at the quilt show, we took a coach to Bunratty Castle for the medieval festival.  I've put in a  pic from their Web site.  It was a fun experience, although the mead was a little headier than I anticipated.  The menu was grand (mead, bite of friendship, parsnip soup, whiskey soaked spare ribs, chicken with apple/mead sauce and vegies, rastin, coffee and tea).  The Irish music after the meal was so enjoyable.  We didn't get back to the hotel until very late -- but the evening was well-worth the money, time and effort.

Quilting Class - Friday, June 8th  Spent the day at the quilting festival and participated in a Cathedral Window class by Bernadette Falvey.  She does a mix of traditional and artistic quilts.  She taught us to the traditional Cathedral Window pattern, totally by hand, making sure to keep the "little crosses" intact in the corners.  The class was great and I think I'm now ready to conquer the pieces of the Cathedral Window quilt that my friend Elsa left me when she died three years ago.  I've been so hesitant to finish this quilt because Elsa's work was always so exquisite.  The Cathedral Window sample at the right is from the  Instructables Web site.  

Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Abbey -  Thursday, June 7, 2012 - Spent a couple of hours traveling from Galway by coach through the hills of Ireland on the way to see Kylemore Abbey.  Amazingly the rain held off and allowed us to walk through the grounds of the Abbey and to view the gardens. 

Gothic Church at Kylemore Abbey

The small Gothic church was adorable (if you can use that word about a church).  There was no sanctuary light burning so the Blessed Sacrament was not present but I still spent a few minutes in prayer.  I love praying in old churches.  It's like I'm joining my prayers to countless other folks who have gone on before.  

These pics came from Discover Ireland

Kylemore Abbey website can be located here.  

Galway, Ireland - We made it to Galway, Ireland.  We will be staying here the next four nights in the Menlo Park Resort Hotel.  We took a drive around the city to get our bearings.  Tomorrow we take off for a couple of tours and then the Quilting Festival officially opens in the evening.  T,his afternoon we simply rested to recover from the long trip to get here.  We were then treated to a great welcoming dinner.  I had a great and inventive salad, tender, tender salmon, root vegetable medley (turnips, rutabagas, carrots - actually quite good) and fresh apple pie.  The meal was great, except my mom's apple pie is better.

Here are a few pics to whet your appetite...

This scene comes from Galway Guide Website.  Galway City is known as the City of the Tribes.  It is a well known seaside resort area for citizens through Ireland.  However, it was a strange feeling to come from one side of the country (east coast) to the other side of the country (west coast) in only two hours of driving time.  It makes me realize have really big the U.S. is.  We can't even go from the eastern portion of N.C. to the west edge of N.C. in two hours.


This pic comes from the same Galway Guide Website and shows the sunset over Galway Bay.

The sun doesn't set until nearly 10:00 this evening.  So my roommate from Chicago has been teaching me to do reverse Hawaiian applique and I've been teaching her how to tat.

There's been a bit of confusion over tickets for classes and attractions for the rest of this week, but I'm sure Sew Many Places will get it figured out. If I was trying to manage 500 Americans descending on a city at one time, confusion would probably be rampant.   I certainly can't complain, because as usual - I'm a bit mixed up too.  I've brought the cord to every gadget in my house EXCEPT the one that connects my camera to my Chromebook -- so I'll have to wait until I can pick up a camera cord tomorrow to begin loading my own pics on this blog.

I am so thankful that things worked out with DH's health and other things to let me go on this trip!!!

Dublin Airport - Nearly 24 hours awake but I have a ton of new friends - Sherrod, Skeetz, Susann, Becky, and Karen!  We had a great flight.  No crying babies and no tipsy businessmen.  Although, at about 3:00 a.m. U.S. time an older gentleman started going up and down the aisles singing Sweet Molly Malone.  We're waiting for another flight to bring a couple more to our group before getting on a coach and heading to Galway.  Pictures will come this evening.

Orlando International Airport - Tuesday, 11:45.  I've still got about two and one half hours before meeting up with my group here in Orlando.  It is so absolutely freeing to be sitting in an airport without having to keep up with students.  I've taken students to Europe each summer for the past eight years or so.  I think I'm going to start alternating years and take students one summer and go alone the next summer.  This is NICE!  I'm taking off for 10 days of quilting and sewing in Ireland.  I planned this trip over a year ago when it seemed husband was recuperating well.  But the year brought many set backs and I wasn't sure up until the very last minute that I was going to be able to go.

My DH (dear hubby) is in good hands at home for the next little bit.  I think we both need a break from the intensity of the last three years of cancer stuff.  He's been in a battle for his life for so long that now it is hard for him to realize that the time has come to readjust to what life is now going to be.  Hearing loss, feeding tube, decreased vision, etc. -- but he's still here and we are hoping for a positive report when the next CT scan comes up in July.   We had quite a scare a couple of weeks ago with a four day hospitalization -- but it was merely (get that, merely) an infection in the bone near his original cancer site.  They treated him with some mega-potent IV antibiotics and he is SO MUCH better.  He's now on a six month course of antibiotics to make sure they have really knocked this out.  The doc said this was not unusual.  (Thanks for tell us that ahead of time!)  I think that infection must have been brewing in that bone for the last several months pulling him down.  They kept treating him for a mere ear infection  ten days of antibiotics here and ten days there-- and apparently weren't hitting the deeper infection.  He's like a new man.  He's even cracked a joke or two and I can see my old DH in there.

During the past year, I've been so protective of him, that I need to get out of the picture for a week or so and let him begin to readjust without me enabling him.  He has a great CNA (Chrys) with him during the day and I knew things were going to be alright when I found out he asked her if she could drive a straight gear.  He's planning on having her chauffeur him all around in his truck I'm sure.  He also asked me to leave the car so he could make it his "project."  That means he's going to try to clean it up.  He still doesn't get it -- that I think a car is a "tool" not a showpiece!  Chrys' boyfriend is a golfer so DH has pulled out a magazine article about his son to show her.    He still only "works" about 20 minutes before taking a 2 hour nap -- but he has come such a very long way!  Thanks for friends who have prayed!

I've told DH in jest, that if he dies before me -- there will be no funeral for a WEEK!  They have had him at death's door so often -- that I need a week just to make sure he's not going to WAKE UP!  He made a face at me that was clearly recognizable from his pre-cancer days -- so yep, maybe he's on his way back.

Don't know about Wi-fi access where I'm going, but I'll try to post pics on the blog so you can come along if you like!!!!