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!

 

Just Because…

A few days ago I commented on Thimbleanna’s blog about the lovely gifts she’d recently got “just because”. I said, isn’t wonderful our community where we reach out across the globe to make these friendships and give of ourselves “just because” we feel a need to, “just because” we see something that we just know this person on this blog would just love. LOL, I recently suggested a swap with Jessi at Alabama Fiber Dreams when I read of her love for salt and vinegar chips/crisps. I offered to send her some Irish ones and then we decided to add in some yarn and other crafty goodness. I sent her husband some yummy Irish tea and some bread mixes… This is what she sent me, how spoiled am I!! Her own beautiful handspun yarn and stitch markers, some lovely Sophies Toes sock yarn, beautiful knitting needles (how did she know that I’d love to get bunches of these decorative needles just for the beauty of putting them in a jar in my studio!!), a knitting journal, some cheetos hee hee, sweets for the kids, an amazing huge quilt kit, and a scrap quilting book! Jessi, I owe you big, I don’t feel we made a fair trade, I got so much more than I sent out!!

And if I wasn’t already lucky enough with this swap, this week I have been surprised by two packages I received “just because”!!

A few weeks ago I was reading Gail Pan’s blog and admired her sampler that has just been published in the latest Australian Homespun magazine. I commented on her blog about how I loved it and had to figure out how to get the magazine over to me here in Ireland. Dawn Hay read my comment and followed the link to my blog and generously offered to send me the magazine as a congratulations for getting that pesky Irish version of a full driving license. How wonderful are quilters?? I received her package today, and there was a lot more than a magazine in it! She sent some squares for Aine’s quilt, some 3 Sisters Simplicity charms, 3 gorgeous Australian design fat quarters, some gorgeous multicolor DMC floss, a cute vintage sewing machine button, some beads and cute notepads for the girls, and some Debbie Mumm panels! Above and beyond again. How lucky am I!!

Then arrived a package today that I didn’t even realize was making its way to me from England. Anne Bebbington made these amazing and sweet heart stitcheries for the girls (they have them hanging in their room now!) and this gorgeous heart quilt for me, for my birthday, and for everything else that has been happening this year, “just because”. What a surprise these beautiful handmade gifts were. They brought tears to my eyes. 

I am grateful beyond words to all of you. And very spoiled.

When I come back from spending time with my parents, I want to send back some goodness into the world. I’m sensing some sort of a giveaway….stay tuned in a few weeks!!

On another note, I did send out a few little packages today, my Pay it Forward gift is in the mail, as is my bag swap packet, a very small gift for Dawn ( I need to get you more!!), and a few goodies for Barbara.

I am pretty much packed for the trip, just need to get my cross stitch organized in my carryon bag and then my toiletries in the morning. The house is presentable, and the 12 generous mommas all have Dave’s work and mobile numbers, and he has a cheat sheet full of numbers and info about where the kids will be on any given day. I hope everything works out okay!! I know I’ve said it before, but I feel very lucky to have such support in real life and in our blogging community.

Thank you.

 

Happy Belated Birthday…

to me!! LOL, I meant to post about my lovely day on Tuesday, but time got away from me, and my kids busy social life! We’ve had lots of kids over playing this week during our Easter holidays. Tomorrow we are going out to someone else for a change of scenery. But to still be in my pajamas today now at 10:30 11:30 is pretty nice!

We had a nice easter weekend as well. Went to Sherry’s for a party and egg hunt, here are a few photos of the hunt and Sherry’s place, check out the great views!! I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet Anne Marie up there and that I’ll miss the expat quilters Saturday this weekend, just can’t do a 6 hour (3hr each way to her place) road trip this time when I’m leaving on Wednesday! I totally want to go though, have a great time guys!

The girls also had a visit from the Easter Bunny for an egg hunt at Nana’s house. Here is a picture of that egg hunt!

I’m nearing the 40 mark these days, but still a few years short (38 this year) so anytime anyone remembers my birthday it makes my day. Got a lovely early call from Barbara, my friend Sandra back in Waterford, a great afternoon visit and gifties from my friend Kathleen here…was just nice! Look at the package of taupes Barbara sent me, she decided she doesn’t like them anymore and asked if I wanted them, uh……YEAH!!! I will be getting a few bits for here in America in trade for them!

Look at the wonderful package Kathleen brought over. She knows me so well, a great book, a DVD based on a book we read in book club that I liked, candle for bathtimes and some cream…and she brought me a Banoffi Pie, my favorite dessert at the moment. The funny thing is I had just bought myself the same exact thing an hour earlier as my birthday treat for myself. Luckily she stayed here to help me eat some! Dave brought home some yummy Thai for dinner, nice!!

On Friday night I designed a layout and traced a pillow for mom using Lynette Anderson’s stitcheries from her Angel’s Wish book. I stitched away on it Saturday and on Easter Sunday in between parties, egg hunts and trips to play areas with cousins up in Dublin, and got it finished on Monday. I hope she likes it!

I had a knitting miracle occur yesterday as well, lol! I had gone into Limerick to buy some 4.5mm double pointed needles to make mom’s last hat out of my Noro Silk Garden, the knitting shop was closed for Good Friday. I figured I would have to make another special trip to buy them or get them in the States if I wanted to get it finished before the end of my trip. Well, while cleaning out a drawer in my sewing room, I found the exact DPNs I needed, which I bought two Christmases ago at the start of my sock knitting career….woo hoo! Now I can start and no extra errands to run!

So…now that the Dear Jane quilting is done, I’ve got 3 projects going: mom’s hat is started as of last night, I took down my Dear Jane wallhanging to put on the quilting hoop (I was missing hand quilting!), and I have a redwork cross stitch sampler I am working on that I got last year in Birmingham… Gotta keep doing something, lol. The Dear Jane is taking a little rest now till I get back from the States.

Mom is getting nervous about the chemo starting on Monday, and I hope she will be okay. Thanks everyone for all the support since this happened. I am looking forward to helping out whatever way they need me to, and giving lots of hugs!

 

Amazing Progress!!

Yesterday was an momentous day. I finished the quilting on my Dear Jane!!

I have also managed to finish a bag for a bag swap I am participating in! It will be jetting off to ….. soon!

It isn’t perfect, but it is still cute. I figure my finishing skills will get more precise with each new bag I do. I kinda made up the design for this bag as I went along. There is a pocket for some pens and a mobile… I bought the bamboo handles back in the States a few trips back, and figured they suited this bag. Hope my swap partner likes it!

And if that isn’t enough project for me to show in one post. I am nearly done 3 baby quilts for friends’ babies that arrived in November and December. I found some chinese coins swap blocks that I got years ago and decided to make simple baby quilts with them. I will do a stitchery at the bottom of each quilt with baby name and birthday and a little graphic, probably some flowers…

To top off a lovely week of progress, I did a swap with Lynette Anderson, brilliant Australian designer, for some Dear Jane civil war reproductions for her Dear Jane and my CW repro collection (love me some repros!!). She so generously sent one of her books signed for me, An Angel’s Wish, just beautiful projects, and mom loves angels, so can see a project for her for the summer, don’t have time probably before my first trip over. I also love the notepad she designed and the cute purple pen! Thank you so much Lynette for your generosity, great swap! Glad you’re happy with the fabrics and chocolate I sent, one can never have too much of either I say!

It looks like I’ll be going to see mom the 2nd- 9th of April. Have to plan my trip around husband’s golf schedule! Friends will be helping out and Dave will take a few days as well. Travel is going to take a lot of the time but got a great price. Mom will be starting the chemo March 31st, so will be able to help out her first week. Can’t wait to give her a big hug. She seems to be doing well recovering, but is getting nervous about the chemo. She is talking about plans for the girls this summer, so I am so glad I am bringing them over, she can’t wait to see them!

Heading up on Saturday to Verry Sherry’s  for a party and some Easter Egg hunting, might bring the Dear Jane for some show and tell!

Maybe I will do a little angel stitchery for mom, a little angel pillow for her chemo sessions so she can lean on it and think of me for her other sessions when I am not there. What do you think? Better get that started tonight if I do it!!

 

Took the Plunge!

After being lazy for several years and wearing my hear in a shapeless long mass, I got my hair cut last Saturday! Note how I made it a bit of a quilty photo with my applecore wallhanging and my quilt I won in a charity Ebay auction by Debbie Mumm herself!

I am worn out this week. My husand has been travelling to different places the last two weeks, and that little devil Aisling has woken at 5am the last 2 days!! I am ready for a little me time for mommy and am heading off with a few friends on Saturday for a day of shopping up in Dublin! Just wish my friends liked quilting and that there were quilt shops to visit!

I’d love to say that I’ve gotten my groove back for crafting, but I am only managing little snippets of crafting each day. Mom’s 3rd of 4 planned caps is underway, but here is a photo of her second one: the “No Hair Day” chemo cap. For some reason Aine is modeling it with a lollipop.

I have 3 more pieced triangles to quilt and some more of the plain tris and then I will be done my Dear Jane quilting…I think I am subconsciously dragging my feet on the quilt, not wanting it to end. Or maybe I am really just afraid of doing the scallops!! I really want to do some small projects over the weekend. Some pot holders, as mine are falling apart, and the start of my bag for a bag swap! I will get my crafting mojo back!

Tomorrow starts our 2 week Easter holidays here, but the girls are going to an Easter camp the first week, arts and crafts and fun! Here is a gratuitous photo of Aine in her “movie star” getup, she was singing the blues! Keep your fingers crossed for me to get my groove back on, lol, and please stick with me a little longer, I promise more quilty crafty content soon!

 

Licensed to Drive…and 7 things!!

It is a miracle! I was a nervous wreck as I drove around our local big town in Tipperary, Nenagh, but I managed to do it! I got a certificate and everything, which I get to exchange for a real driving license! At the moment, Ireland lets you drive on a learner’s permit for a long time, but the laws will change in July and I wanted to finally (after 11 years here!) get my full license… I was ready to sign up for more lessons I was sure I had failed! I nearly kissed my tester, he was so nice (amazing!) I clipped a curb on a tight corner and figured that was it, and he told me don’t worry, he judges driving over the half hour, not just one thing… So nice! He marked me down on certain things, but not enough to fail, amazing!! Can you tell I’m still in shock!!! Of course all this is tempered by a dent I got for the car while practicing the hour before: an elderly gentleman came the wrong way up a one way street and by trying to avoid him, I scraped a pole on the edge of the street…DH will not be happy, I thought it was a scratch, but it is a dent as well…DH is gallivanting around Europe for work till Thursday, but man I feel guilty about the dent…next time I’ll let the person in the wrong scrape his car to get by!

NOW…back to some crafty stuff again in the next few days! I can concentrate on other things again!! I have my patchwork group again tomorrow morning, so will bring my Dear Jane along to work on the quilting. I’m itching to work on something new, and have a bag swap to work on…maybe will get something organized about that soon. I would also love to get my ocean waves done soon… Back to work!!!!

I feel so honored, I have been tagged by amazing quilt designer Pat Sloan to do the 7 things meme, that just made my day as I received her email right before leaving for my test. I met her when she lead a quilting group around Ireland last year. Hope to meet up with her again this year!

Here are the rules:

1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 7 things about yourself.
4. Name 7 of your favorite bloggers.
5. Send e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged.

1. I am extremely nervous during formal tests, lol, like the driving test…
2. I drink Diet Coke like others would have tea or coffee, bad I know, will try to change!
3. I have struggled with weight since university. I lost 70lbs on Weight Watchers in 2001, got pregnant with Aine the week I reached my goal… got down to 120 after Aisling was born, but then let myself gain weight ever since…always a struggle for me! I don’t plan on getting to 120 again, but 130 would be great (I’m 5′1″)
4. I am usually a book snob, prefering book club type modern books and classics, lol, but since I started watching the TV series Bones, I’ve enjoyed Kathy Reichs novels and have been collecting them at the charity shops I visit! I have always liked anthropology and archaelogy.
5. I stay up too late and get up too early, lol, guess that is why I get things done! I do well on about 7 hours sleep, sometimes less!
6. I am not a great cook on some levels. Or maybe I should say, I am not a relaxed cook. When I organize myself my cooking turns out fine, but with kids it is hard to get a balance of interesting recipes…I keep to my standbys…I love to bake though, lol, not good for the waistline (see weight issue above, hee hee)
7. I am a gadget girl. My mobile is out of commission right now and I am waiting for a mobile smartphone, it can play movies, mp3s and be a phone…and it syncs to my Outlook tasks and calendars and contacts, which I use daily… a few more days and I will get back in action. Us mommy’s here use a lot of texting to organize play dates and mommy play dates, and I keep getting asked this week if I am getting the text for different coffee mornings…nope!

I am not going to tag anyone this time, but anyone who wants to play along, let me know, I’d love to hear more about you!