Gone...but not forgotten

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

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

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

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

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...

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!!

Looky what I got this week! My Grace handquilting ...

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!