Busy Week!

We had Kate and family here for the week, so of course I neglected blogging while Kate seemed to manage a post daily!! I may have a few thousand photos of course as they've built up over the week or two I've neglected my blog.

While they were here we did a bit of this:


Drank a little bit of this:

(Bailey's in chocolate cups!!)

And of course did a little shopping:


And crafting:


I made the little brown drawstring bags from funky napkins I thrifted years ago in Maryland. I have one for my knitting and a friend admired one, so I made one for her and Kate admired one and not so subtley hinted she might like one...they are handy for throwing my current knitting project in with all its bits and pieces (patterns, yarns, needles, etc). Now Kate can have one for her newest knitting project!

I am very excited because I finally went out and bought a free motion foot that works on my machine, after a 6 month break, I am back to quilting machine quilts. I only hope to be as good as Katy is one day! Look at the beautiful quilt she made me to try out my free motion foot! I finished up that Christmas tree skirt I started in November when my foot stopped working, and now will work to get the 3 baby quilts I have waiting, just have to finish the stitchery of the names on them.



Kate helped me pin down the hanging sleeves for the Dear Jane, so I will be sitting in front of the TV for the month of June with many hand sewing projects: label and sleeves for big DJ, quilt the border of the small DJ hanging, finish the stitcheries on the baby quilts and attempt to get the tree of life block quilt hand quilted?? Might have to end up machine stitching that last one!

The kids have absolutely loved having their friends over this week, and the adults had some great nights playing cards and hanging out. Thanks Kate and co. for a great visit!!

Dear Jane Revisited...and Some More...

I went outside today with DH and kids to photograph the Dear Jane. Here is the photo we got...not perfect, but Aine is quite under the weather and we couldn't go far afield. A trip to the doc for a bad sore throat (strep?) is on the cards for tomorrow.


Here is a behind the scenes photo showing you that it was our 5 year old daugther who took the photos for us, bless her litte sore throated self! She was excited to do it though, so we went for it.


Have a look at the girls 2 years ago, when I was starting to construct the top, my how time flies!


I finished 2 tree quilts, one for myself and one for my swap partner in the ALQS. If you are reading swap partner, which one do you prefer. I actually like them both, but neither is perfect. I hope to have time to hand quilt the swap quilt before I leave and mine over the summer.


I have neglected to get a photo of my little ballerina shoe knitting which is currently languishing as I work on my DJ wallhanging I still plan on giving away (and hope to time it with my 200th post...yes it has taken this mostly once a week poster 3 years nearly to get to 200!!).

I have to tell you about a visitor we had on Thursday. She found me while surfing for quilters in Ireland and quilt shops in Ireland (almost none to speak of!). She saw the blog and emailed me, and we arranged to meet in Limerick during her bus trip around Ireland. Kay is from Brisbane Australia and came bearing goodies, and a large stuffed dog, Digger, that Aine fell in love with. She had to take Digger around for the day and take photos of him, it has something to do with beer money for the party the last night? Here are some photos of Kay (blogless) and Aine and of Digger with a Killaloe backdrop.


I think she had fun seeing a bit of our countryside and visiting some of my friends and seeing some of my quilts.  My patchwork group leader is the sister of a well-known rugby player/commentator, Keith Wood, and her tour leader is a rugby commentator in Australia, so we stopped in my favorite cafe where the big brother of Mr. Wood is the owner/chef. We hope it duly impressed her tour leader, lol.

She brought me this wonderful stack of magazines and Lynette Anderson's Saltbox Sampler pattern and some yummy scrummy fabrics!! Thank you so much Kay, I hope you enjoyed the visit, Aine had a great time with you!


Katy and family will be visiting next Friday for the week. We are all looking forward to the visit. Katy promises to teach me how to make quilted postcards (plan to make some for the Sisters Quilt Show fundraiser for my mom's cancer unit in Bend!!) and I will teach her to knit!!

Mom is doing okay, they didn't stop her treatments, so the doctors aren't too worried about the shingles for the moment. She is hanging in there!

Thanks again everyone who visits, all the comments and friendships really make my day.

Happy Mother's Day!

You are strong and beautiful and loved! Look at all that support behind you. Remember, bald is beautiful!!

Mom has found out she has shingles on top of the chemo this week, but her spirits still seem strong, please keep her in your prayers and thoughts!

We don't celebrate Mother's Day here in May, in the UK and Ireland it is tied in with Lent and celebrated in March, so no breakfast in bed for me, lol.

I have been feeling the need to get healthier as I watch my mom going through her battle. I have been overweight again for nearly 3 years now and as I am getting older I can feel it in my joints more than I used to. I will be starting my weight battle today again, despite a First Communion party we are attending this afternoon, wish me luck :) On this Mother's Day, I plan on making some changes for this particular momma right here!

Thank you so much everyone for the amazing amount of comments on my Dear Jane. I haven't responded to any yet, but plan to respond to all...took a few days off, lol, though of course I couldn't help but keep crafting from time to time!

The secret socks are done and I have started on some felted ballet slippers for the girls...as I am knitting them now, they look like they'd fit me, but they shrink amazingly into that lovely felted fabric! Will have  a photo to show next time.

I've also been working on a few projects for local friends kids, lots of tshirts and onesies. I may sell these at the local Sunday market in the fall...if I get myself organized enough :)


I have started on a wall hanging for Katy's Another Little Quilt Swap. I am actually making two of these at the same time. I have always wanted to do a tree block wallhanging. I hope my swap partner will like it! I am thinking of adding a brown border, it is already 20 inches so only a small border, or should I just add a binding, and forget the border? I plan to hand quilt it. (I will press it out a bit better and get it squared I promise!!)


Many have asked what I am going to do next? Nothing so big for a while, lol. Katy and I still have our Dear Jane swap going on, so I'll still be hand piecing some DJ blocks, I'll probably continue to do a lot of hand quilting as I've discovered I love it! But...since we will be spending a lot of time in the States this summer... I don't plan on starting any major projects...right now. I hope to finish my scrappy ocean waves blocks over the summer on a borrowed machine, and to continue knitting. I will work on my cross stitch sampler...lots of little things!

Now, if you made it this far, here is a gratuitous cute picture. Aine's class did an Irish dancing display on Friday, here she is with her partner in the "old time waltz" display, too cute :)

Finished

More later, I fell asleep before I could post it last night, lol! Time to get the girls to school!

Bound and Determined

...to finish this Dear Jane by the end of May!! I don't want to be stressing out about finishing it in June, as it will be a busy month getting ready for our trip, celebrating birthdays, weddings, and first communions, not to mention Aine's ballet recital... I really hope I can just focus on it now and in May and get it done. I am back stitching the binding onto the quilt for extra strength, so it is very slow going. The inside corners are not perfect, but they aren't horrible so I will continue. Any tips for getting them nice and smooth? I am doing something that Katy suggested: putting the binding on the quilt and sewing it down around the back as I go along, so that I don't have to go all the way around the quilt twice, lol, can get it totally done a little piece at a time.

 
I got my gorgeous bag from Barbara's bag swap! Marian was worried about the bag as it took a few weeks to arrive from Holland, but it made it here. It was filled with a pattern, some chocolate and some Holland Drops licorice, most of which has disappeared already!

My socks are coming along well, on the second one, nearly down to heel flap. Any knitters reading this: which way do you prefer doing your socks? I would like to try some other ways of doing them, and have heard of socks on 2 circular needles, or one long one (magic loop), or doing two at the same time. What are your favorite ways, and any good links to the instructions (though I plan on Googling before my next pair of socks...)

A big THANK YOU  to so many of you that have sent or are sending mom a card! When I was in Bend I helped her start a blog for her journey to keep friends and family updated. If you are interested in checking in with her or saying hello, you can find her blog Cancer Warrior here. You have all been a wonderful support to me, for that I am very grateful.


Last weekend I did a marathon baking session and gave out some thank you cards and banana bread to the moms that helped me out, 11 of them in total. I used my new Xyron machine to make recycled card graphics into new cards, and to make thank you stickers...what a cool toy for crafters!

It was a busy week with the kids, so I haven't done as much as I wanted to but made progress on socks and binding and that is pretty cool. Here is a gratuitous photo of the girls, cuddled up under the Dear Jane quilt after I had marked the scallops and cut it out. Aren't they cuties?

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

I had a great visit with my mom and dad last week, and really loved all the great comments I got from everyone. Mom appreciates all the good thoughts and well wishes. I have a special request before I get to the quilting and knitting news... Mom is losing her hair now and the chemo has affected her more this second time around, she sounds a bit down now that her kids have both had to return back to their regular schedules. Could you help me cheer her up? I'd love her to get some cards or postcards from everywhere, anywhere in the world to put up on her card wall...it cheered me up looking at it as we put them up and I know that it gives her a lot of pleasure to see all those cards and what they mean. If you are up to sending a card, just email me at catherineoneill at carrigeen.net I'll send over her address. Mom got your card, Beth, and was pleased that my friends were thinking of her. Thank you.

On the crafty front, I finished my hand quilting project I started in Bend. Thimbleanna asked me why on earth I was taking a quilting class after quilting a Dear Jane, lol??  The main reason: I stab stitched nearly the whole quilt, one stitch at a time! I would love the learn that beautiful elegant rocking stitch I see so many doing. But...my teacher in Bend said my stitches were even and good enough, it didn't matter that my rocking stitch wasn't like hers, it got the job done, and that was good enough. I can't use a thimble to save my life, which is too bad as I spent a lot of money on a gorgeous Roxanne one! Maybe someday, but then again, I am getting the job done so why bother?? Here is the finished quilting practice. I think I might make it into a pillow.


 I also started a pair of socks for a friend who has a big birthday in November (think I'm giving myself enough time to finish them?). I can't really show them on here, as I'd like her to have a surprise so maybe I'll just put a little teaser in... I'm fairly into knitting them now, as Barbara has been asking me lots of questions about sock knitting lately, due to her newfound obsession,  and it got me back into knitting again them again tool.


I've put my cross stitch aside for now, as I need to get down to work on my Dear Jane to get it done in the next 10 weeks before our summer visit with mom and dad. The kids are really getting excited about it, the visit, not the cross stitch!


So, plans for the forseeable future: secret socks, Kate's quilt swap quilt, working on the Dear Jane scallops, some hand quilting on another little Dear Jane wallhanging I am working on. Would anyone be interested in owning this? I might do this as a giveaway in the future if anyone is interested! I'll have my full size one done about the same time.


I've also gotten some lovely mail lately. Nicky and I did a swap and here is the gorgeous stitchery she sent me from Leanne Beasley!


Barbara sent me a birthday present that arrived after I'd left for the States: sock yarn, how did she know?? :) Thank you!!!


OOOOOH also...I got some MOO cards!! They are sooo cool!!! small business card like things with photos from my flickr account, very  cool!


I promise to try to write more often instead of doing these huge posts with 20,000 photos. If you've gotten this far, thank you so much!

Time Has Flown, Time to Go Home...

My time has flown by on this visit to mom and dad, but I think that I have helped a little! I've dusted and cleaned, planted shrubs with dad in the garden, hung some of the quilts I have gifted them with over the last year, and made dinners, lunches, breakasts... and run errands...I just had to do a little bit of shopping while I was out and about changing snow tires (the day before we got snow here) and getting prescriptions, watch batteries, etc etc etc. Look at all the wonderful cards my mom has gotten from her friends, and some of my friends too! Thank you everyone for all the support, and check out the gorgeous angel that Barbara sent her. Mom is doing well after her first round of chemo, with minimal side effects. Long may it last, though they say chemo gets tougher as you go along, as the toxins build up in your system. It would be great if she could get away with minor effects!



Mom loved the brown hairy chemo cap I made here. Here she is sporting it with a devilish grin!



I also managed to finish two projects for mom while I was here, a roll brimmed hat, the last of the hats I planned to make her, and an ipod cozy made from some yummy Noro Silk Garden yarn! She wants to bring the ipod with her to chemo sessions and didn't want it slipping out of a holder, and this cozy is nice and tight so it shouldn't slip out. Here she is modelling her goodies, lol! You can also see the Bend Mountain quilt I hung up for them, my Christmas pressie for dad this year.



My dad and I have loved shopping at thrift stores since I was a kid (my brother and mom, not so much!) So here are my very restrained purchases on this trip from the thrifts stores, nothing cost more than $1 (including some vintage 90s heat and bond stuff which might work??) and the easter stuff cost pennies on sale!! Gotta love the bargains!!

I've also bought myself a few other goodies on our travels around town, hee hee!! I've decided to start making my own cards to save a few euros on the zillions of cards we need to buy for kids parties etc etc!! I of course have gone overboard buying cheap scrapbooking papers and card stock, and a very expensive but cool sticker maker/magnet maker thingie. Made mom some fridge magnets of her favorite photos of the girls as a test...should be a fun tool. Maybe by next year I'll have made up my investment against the cards I would have had to buy, lol! Or maybe I will find it as addictive as fabric and yarn buying? Could scrapbooking be next...oh what a slippery slope!

I also managed to get myself two books that I wanted: Tilda's Hus English translation: Sew Pretty Homestyle, and Betz White's Warm Fuzzies book.



I found this gorgeous pottery with the Bend mountains on them...treated myself to these... My little Annie I bought just happened to find her way into the photo, along with a gorgeous mini art quilt that Susan at Art is Bliss sent to me. Thank you!



I managed to meet up with Kristin last night for a local Knit Night where I was able to make great progress on that hat. Everyone was very friendly and I hope to go a few times over the summer while the girls and I are in Bend. Thanks for the great welcome Kristin and Sarah!! Kristin and I went out for some yummy Thai food at a greal downtown restaurant and she gave me some great info on activities for kids this summer!



Tonight I went to a hand quilting class, nothing like taking advantage of the time I had here. I helped mom organize some photo albums this morning, taught my parents to start their own blogs, and hung up a quilt, so snuck away this evening for the class. I don't do a typical rocking stitch but I can do a few stitches at a time and the teacher said just do it the way that works for me. I haven't been able to properly figure out thimbles, so I don't use one... Here is the start of my practice piece, I love the variegated hand quilting thread I got!



Here are a few more photos of some pieces I have given my parents, a quilted heart wallhanging, the angel pillow, and a photo wallhanging of the girls.



If you have read this far, thanks for staying with this rather overstuffed post! Tomorrow I get back on a plane to head home. My girls and Dave won't want me back, the kids are enjoying all the playdates, and Dave is enjoying all the meals my friends keep giving him! I will have my work cut out for me making thank you cards and gifts for everyone!

I am loving the quilting, so will probably bring that on the airplane tomorrow. See you all back in Ireland!