Home from Oz!!

Daddy is home and has been asleep since 3pm!! Kids will hopefully get a day to play with him tomorrow, lol, cuz then we're all off to Dublin and DH is off to Brussels for work Sunday night! We leave for Oregon on Wednesday morning, leaving the car for DH to pick up again on his way home from Brussels. Nuts. Crazy. But what can you do!  I don't regret going home to be with my folks this year, though we'll miss DH. This is going to be my first 4th of July Stateside since 1997, so I am looking forward to it. My cousins and and Aunt and Uncle (dad's sister) rent beach houses at Lincoln City, OR and it sounds great!!

First of all I want to say a HUGE thank you to Janet, a great Australian designer and blogging buddy. She not only sold me some of her gorgeous patterns (and some great ones of her friend Cath of Willow Valley Store as well, cute buttons and notions too!), bought me some great magazines and threw in some awesome goodies for me, mom and the girls... but also went to Foothills Fabric shop and collected some great books and goodies for me and sent them to my husband's hotel so he didn't have to spend a day on the train getting stuff for me (though bless him, he was willing to do it for the adventure!) She went above and beyond and for that I am really grateful. I really hope the next time you are back in Ireland that we do get a chance to meet! Come down to Killaloe, we'll have a chat and I'll bring you over to meet the local patchwork girls! Leanne Beasley kindly went to the trouble to sign her two books for me and I got a very early copy of Rosalie Quinlan's book Gift signed as well. Thank you very much ladies, you all are amazing designers!! And I am a very happy girl. And Lynette, I got the buttons to make your Saltbox Sampler as well...now I am all set! I think I may have to visit Australia some day to meet all these talented and FRIENDLY folks!! Have a look at all the goodies Dave brought home...and my necessary tea towel and fridge magnet for the collection!





Here is my last photo of my DJ till the Sister's Show, I promise. I like the look of it at the bottom of my bed! Please ignore the over stuffed bookshelf, we need to buy a new one, I can't give away books!


Aine and Aisling came to my last Wednesday patchwork group as Tuesday was the last day of school for them. Look at Aine's concentration working on sewing her little quilt!



 Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway if you haven't already!!

Dear Jane Wallhanging Giveaway

I am not a prolific poster. I have been blogging for over 2 years and have still not reached my 200th post, that may take till the fall, sooooo...since I have enjoyed 2 years of wonderful new friendships and support without once hosting a giveaway, I'm going to do a biggish one.



I would like to give away a hand pieced and hand quilted Dear Jane wallhanging. I just finished it!! I machined the binding on this one, but everything else is hand done. It has the 6 inch blocks I did when I first started my Dear Jane. I realized the quilt would be too huge at that size, so stopped after 9 blocks. Some are slightly wonky, as I hadn't done some of them with my excellent freezer paper method yet!! But the wonkiness gives the quilt has character right??


If you would like to give this quilt a good home, please leave a comment here. I will put your name in a draw that I will do next Thursday, July 3rd from Portland, Oregon after we've arrived. Can't believe we'll be in the States in a week...woh...time flies.

Thank you for everyone who comes by and visits. I've made so many amazing friendships through blogging and quilting and am grateful for every one of you!

Done Done!

Sorry I disappeared off the face of the earth for a few weeks, but I am back!!

I have finished 5 quilts to label stage now!! Let's Celebrate!!!


First one: My Dear Jane!!! Here is a graphic of the label I sewed on...

Please excuse the weird color, will have to figure out how to fix it...

I also put the label on my machine quilted ALQS quilt. It will be heading....somewhere this week!


The other finishes were the 3 baby quilts, ready to give away now... won't show more photos of the same thing :)

I also have other reasons to celebrate: the generosity of quilty bloggers and friends. I have a story to tell soon of some lovely Australian designers who all helped me to get some quilting souvenirs for my husband to bring home from his trip (halfway through...he is home on Friday!!) But I also won an AMAZING package from Dawn Hay. I can't believe how HUGE this prize was. Thank you so much Dawn!! So many lovely things, I love it all!!!


 My wonderful blogging buddy Barbara in Sweden sent over this goodie package. We are encouraging each other to lose kilos and sending sock yarn for each kilo... so far I 've lost 2, so some sock yarn came my way, and the bag handles for a bag Barbara is helping me make!


I have been crazy busy with kids: birthday parties, goodbye parties, sports day, school play, playdates... if you are interested in seeing some photos or movies, check out my Flickr or YouTube!!  This week has more insane schedules, end of school, more playdates, some mommy quilting and knitting playdates, and packing for the States! Tomorrow I head into town to get those few "surprise" kids magazines and sweets I can pull out during our travels.  Guess I can slow down sometime after the Sisters Quilt Show!!

Things are starting to get hectic here!

How does time fly by so quickly? I have only a few weeks here till I leave for Oregon. My two good American friends are moving back to the States permanently the week before I leave, so we are cramming in many kids and mom's goodbye events (dominos night here on Wednesday: kids off school on Thursday for Lisbon Treaty referendum vote in Ireland, school is the polling station), school trips, sports days, Aisling is having her 4th birthday party Saturday, Dave leaves for Australia for 10 days on Sunday!! I am amazed I am getting any crafting done, but it is my stress reliever. I actually decided to stay home and quilt last night instead of running to catch up with some friends already on their way to see Sex and the City at the movies!! Dave had attended the Irish drinks party/reception for his brother's wedding, no kids allowed and I wasn't feeling good Friday, so opted to stay home with kids rather than worry about babysitters up in Dublin for a few hours of partying while I was still feeling fluish... He came home and my friends were already on their way to the movie, I just couldn't gather enough momentum to rush off to join them...wimp, I know!!

Luckily I am feeling better today, just in time to print out Barbie invitations, run out to toy shops for party bags and goodies, cards and presents, etc etc etc...if I can find the time!!

I have made some good progress on the three baby quilts that have been waiting on a free motion foot. I just winged a flowery vine motif on the muslin sections of the quilt. What do you think? I have two more pretty similar now to complete.



I have finished the hanging sleeves on the Dear Jane now, so just the label to finalize and print out...that will be quick, so the big stress for the Dear Jane is gone now!!! It will be ready for the Sisters Show.

Not much knitting going on, just working on more ballerina slippers this time for Aine, not very exciting to show, as look like Aisling's only slightly bigger.

I need to finish up my ALQS quilt, which is no longer going to be hand quilted, no time to do it! And my DJ wallhanging giveaway quilt, which is nearly done hand quilting... that should keep me plenty busy till we leave!

Mom is not doing well at the moment, the "easier" chemo treatments that we suppose to have less side effects, have a very bad effect on her, very bad nerve pain.  She has also become anemic, so any thoughts or prayers to keep her going and to get her through this chemo would be great. Hopefully the docs will have some better pain meds ready for her next treatment tomorrow. If you want to and you have a chance, say hello to her at her blog, Cancer Warrior. To everyone who has sent her a card and gave her your support, thank you so much, it means a lot to her and to me.

Let me leave you with a lovely view from the home of Hollie, of the quilt. If you take the road we live on and follow it up the "mountain/hill" we live on the bottom of, you see lovely views like this!