A little of this, a little of that

After getting back from Ireland, I've been playing the field with my quilting projects, working on a block or two for one quilt, then switching gears and trying out something else. Part of this is just me wanting to finish up some of my many half-started projects, and part of it is just not wanting to commit and settle down to any one thing right now.

I finished my September mini quilt top and have it basted together, then I made a few of the Sew-on-the-lines Monkey Wrench blocks, then I dug out my Union Jack paper-pieced blocks, and made one of those, which took TWO HOURS! So I put that away again until I forget what a pain they are.

Then I figured since I can no longer close the lids of several of my scrap bins because they are so full, I'd better start making something with those, so I started sewing some random Courthouse Steps blocks.

These are a little like Log Cabin blocks, and are perfect for a random scrappy project. I like them too because they can use up little itty-bitty scraps (which of course I save), so I'm finally getting rid of some of those.

I have a feeling this will be like my Mini Spiderweb quilt - made over the course of a year or so by doing a little bit here and there with not a lot of planning. I'm gonna keep working on these at least until I can close my scrap bin lids again.

Friday Finish: Disappearing Nine Patch

Well, we made it home from Ireland...eventually. Our plane was diverted to Fargo due to bad weather in Minneapolis, and we were stuck there for 6 hours. We managed to get out on the last flight that left there at 2 IN THE MORNING! I got in my front door at four a.m. yesterday morning. Phew!

My jet lag has been pretty typical - I'm exhausted beyond belief by 7 p.m. and then wide awake around 3 a.m. So frustrating!

Nonetheless, I managed to sew the binding on this little baby quilt last night so it would be ready in time for the baby shower tomorrow. The backing is a Dear Stella arrow print I had, and I added a strip of leftover squares from the front just for fun.

I'm please with how this turned out, as it was largely improvisational and unplanned. I quilted it in an easy stipple, and the binding is some leftover Connecting Threads fabric I had in my stash.

Ireland, Day 9

Our final day in Ireland was an easy one, so this will be a short post as we didn't do a whole lot. 

View of Derry from the city wallss

Mother and I got mostly packed up the night before so it didn't take us too long to get ready. We had a final breakfast in Derry and then headed out on th bus back to Dublin. It was about a three hour trip, and we entertained ourselves by everyone telling the story of how they met their spouse. I did some reading too and a little bit of dozing.

Delicious soup and brown bread

We stopped at a nice farm shop for lunch and I had a delicious tuna melt and mother had the veggie soup. They had a nice gift shop, and I spotted some lotions that had labels from Kaffe Fassett prints! That was the first time I've been lonesome to sew and got me thinking about being back to my sewing machine and some fun projects I'm anxious to start working on.

We got to Dublin around 2 and checked into our hotel which is called the Pembroke Guesthouse and was in a quaint Edwardian era building. We dropped off our bags and then mother and I headed out for some final shopping. 

We walked about a half hour to Grafton Street, which had a fun bustling atmosphere with street musicians and lots of people. We didn't find any souvenirs we wanted though, so instead we went to the grocery store and stocked up on Cadbury chocolate and digestive biscuits to take home. Cadbury chocolate doesn't sound very exciting, but they have so many different varieties here, and it's like Guinness - it tastes better over here!

We had enough time for a little nap before heading out for our last dinner of the night at a pub called The Merry Ploughboy. We ate a delicious meal and were entertained by musicians and dancers. It was fabulous and a great way to end the trip. 

There was a group of seniors from France sitting next to us, and one of the ladies had a huge crush on Samuel Chestnutt. He made her night when he danced with her during the final song and then gave her a big hug. It was cute.

We didn't get to bed until late, what with being out carousing at the pub and then having to get organized and ready for flying home. For some reason I didn't sleep so well, so our 6:45 alarm was not a welcome sound.

We had a quick breakfast (homemade scones and jams, omlets, yogurt) and were in the bus at at the airport by 8:45. We had final pictures and hugs and goodbyes with Samuel Chestnutt and Niall.

Now we're just at the gate and boarding is about to start soon, so this will be my last post from Ireland.

I'm excited to get home and sleep in my own bed and get back to regular life. It was a wonderful trip! One of the ladies in our group gave me this nice note:

Ireland, Day 8

I stayed up too late last night reading The Blondes by Emily Schultz, so it was extra hard to be up and at 'em when our alarm went off at 7:45. Thank goodness our day was an easy one of scenic drives and beautiful views with nothing too arduous like hiking.

We drove about an hour to Malin Head, the northernmost tip of Ireland, which ironically is part of the Republic of Ireland (southern). It's a beautiful spot with windswept cliffs and sandy beaches, and I guess they just finished filming some key scene for the next Star Wars movie there.

We entered County Donegal, which some say is the most beautiful county in Ireland, and still a holdout for many of the traditional old Irish customs and ways of life. We saw lots of thatched cottages and piles of drying peat, and I loved driving on the twisty turny roads and seeing all the different views and landscapes. 

We visited the Famine Museum, which was kind of quirky. Samuel Chestnutt had never been there before, but someone had told him it was great, so he took us. It was obviously a passion project for the guy who owned it and showed us around, but there was actually not so much about the famine and more other stuff like The Troubles, and old Irish customs, and then a haunted house (or cottage) thrown in for good measure, and a bit about seaweed and geology too. It could have benefited from some editing and upkeep. We all didn't know quite what to make of it, but after the museuming, we were hungry.

Samuel Chestnutt drove us to the town of Buncranna to meet two friends of his, Ruth and Andrew, who fed us a delicious lunch of soup, brown bread, sandwiches, brownies and cupcakes in the town community center, and then showed us around town. 

Buncranna is where John Newton first came ashore after being stuck in a terrible storm and then having a conversion experience and writing the song "Amazing Grace". Ruth and Andrew have done a lot to bring that story to people's attention and put Buncranna on the map as the "Amazing Grace Town" including erecting plaques with Newtons story, creating a garden, and starting an annual festival.

After seeing all the sites, and singing Amazing Grace of course, we headed back into town where we had a quick rest at our hotel, before heading out again for an evening walking tour. We had a local guide who was very good, and he took us up on the medieval city wall and told us the history of the city, including lots about The Troubles, Bloody Sunday, etc. 

There are lots of political murals, but many of them have been changed to reflect the current times and are not so sectarian or divisive.

We ended the night with a late dinner at a pub called Fitzroys, and it was very good. We told the wait staff it was our driver Nialls birthday, so they'd bring him icecream and make a fuss so we could embarrass him. That was fun.

Tomorrow is our last day in Ireland! 

Ireland, Day 7

Mother and I were extra organized this morning, since we'd done all our packing the night before. We were up and dressed in no time, and had a nice leisurely breakfast before meeting our group and heading to the bus at 9. We all laughed about how good it was to see each other and how it felt so lonely splitting up yesterday and being by ourselves! You do get used to traveling around in a big herd and not having to make decisions - it can be a little disorienting to have to fend for yourself all of a sudden.

We made our way out of Belfast and headed north up the coast. The stretch of coast from Belfast to Londonderry is called the Antrim Causeway Coast, and is rated as one of the Worlds Great Road Journeys. It's 120 miles long, and we did the whole tag today, stopping off at a few cool places along the way.

Unfortunately, it was windy and rainy most of the day. We were due at least one rainy day during our time here - in fact, it's amazing that we haven't had more of them! But still, it was a little bit of a downer to have it so grey and cloudy.

Nonetheless, the scenery was still beautiful. We stopped in cute little villages for coffee and bathroom breaks, or for a few photo ops, but our first real stop was The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. This was originally built by salmon fisherman so they could cross over from the peninsula to a little rocky island where apparently all the good fishing was. Now it's just a cool experience and in a very pretty area with lots of trails and hiking spots. 

We were a little nervous about just how long/rickety/dangerous/high/bouncy the rope bridge would be, but it turned out the trickiest part was all the hiking and steps required to get to the bridge! The bridge itself was a piece of cake. 

By the time we met back in the bus everyone was all wind blown and wet from the rain and feeling pleased with ourselves for doing such adventurous activities. We passed around cookies and gorp. Unfortunately, my cold is starting to go around, so Airborne and cough drops and essential oils were also passed out. Mother bought some local seaweed at a little shop and munched on that.

We drove another half hour to the Giants Causeway, a geologic wonder of over 40,000 six sided interlocking basalt columns. We ate lunch in the visitors center first before taking a quick bus ride to where the columns start. 

This is such a cool place, and I loved just the little bit I was able to see. Unfortunately, with the rain, the rocks were really slippery and I didn't feel confident abut scrambling and hiking around on them like others were in order to see some of the fabulous vantage points. You could easily spend hours here on the miles of hiking trails enjoying all the different views.

Mother and I just explored from safe ground, and then had a quick spin through the gift shop before being back in the bus right on time. We pride ourselves on always being on time. I'm petrified of keeping the group waiting!

Our final stop was Dunluce Castle, the 14th century ruins that C.S. Lewis used as inspiration for Cair Paravel, where the kings and queens of Narnia lived. We just stopped for a quick photo before driving the final 45 minutes into Londonderry.

We're here for two nights, and are staying at a nice hotel right downtown. We had time for a quick nap before dinner in the hotel resturaunt, then it was back to our room for some TV, reading, and bed

Ireland, Day 6

Culture Night was celebrated into the wee hours of the morning here in Belfast, and mother and I could hear a good portion of it from our hotel room window. Thank goodness for earplugs! 

We went downstairs for a quick hotel breakfast, and then met our group and walked over to the Titanic Museum. The museum is the #1 attraction in Europe these days and is definitely worth going to. The building itself is cool - meant to look both like the prow of a ship, and an iceberg.

The exhibits really gave a good background on the history of Belfast itself and also focused on the workers who built the ship and who they were and what it might have been like. Let's just say I'm glad I wasn't a shipyard worker in early 20th century Belfast - it sounds awful!

It's kind of ironic that the Titanic is the city's big claim to fame, and it sank! But as our guide later that day said, "It was fine when it left here! Maybe it had something to do with that English captain!" (He was joking)

We spent over two hours at the museum, and then after that had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. We did a hop-on-hop-off bus tour that gave us a good overview of the city and took us to all the main sights. Especially interesting were the working class neighborhoods, still divided by Catholic and Protestant with very high brick walls, built tall enough to stop bullets from when this area was a hotbed of sectarian violence during The Troubles.

It was sad to see the walls still there and lots of political murals painted on them. It's clear that even though the country is technically at peace, emotions still run high around old loyalties and traditions. We don't really have any equivalents to this in the US - it's a battle that has been going on for over 800 years, and it's hard for me to understand. It just feels so sad and pointless to me.

We rode the bus around until 2, and then stopped at a grocery store for some lunch fixings and ate back at our hotel, tucked up in our beds. I took a nap, and mother wandered around town some more. She did some shopping and brought back a mysterious wrapped package that she said is for me but to be revealed at a later time apparently. 

Neither of us were hungry for dinner, so after running out to pick up some more chocolate, we both enjoyed a quiet night in, watching TV, reorganizing our suitcases, journalling, and reviewing our pictures. It was nice to have a low-key day. I really needed it, since I'm still not feeling 100%.