Thank You Friends!

…For searching your stashes and offering to look for the sky fabric. I decided to take a chance and go to the local lady here in Limerick and look what I found!! Thank you so much for searching your stashes, but it is good to know I have such a huge choice here when I need a specific fabric!! I forgot how huge her fabric selection is, really probably the biggest in Ireland and just down the road!

I am such a scrap quilter that I rarely buy more than a FQ every once in a while. But look at this sweet fabric, it is part of a collection called Bird on a Wire by Makower in the UK. I got a FQ or two of it a few months ago and saw more yesterday and loved it! Don’t know what I’ll do with it really, but maybe just stroke it for a year or two, lol! I love the modern folky look it has.
 

She also had a great sale on Civil War Fabrics and Japanese taupes she bought because she loves them, but they don’t sell in Ireland apparently!! Good for me though, as I got some FQs of both for 1.50 each, very cheap for Ireland!! She also has some CW fabrics for sale by the yard for 5 euros a yard!! Most fabrics here are 14 euros a yard, so what a bargain that is!! Will be going back for that soon, as I ran out of money yesterday!!

I can also say now that I’ve received my doll quilt for the swap!! Ritacor in Portugal made me a lovely vintagey flower applique quilt with fabrics from her grandmother’s stash! I had it in my hands yesterday then glanced into our spare room to realize that quilt on the bed there (not done by me, store bought before I got back into quilting… I have yet to finish big bed quilts to keep for myself). Doesn’t it look sweet? THANK YOU RITA!

Christine received my quilt. She is a hand piecer and hand quilter, so I am very pleased that my quilt went to her!! Her thank you email brought tears to my eyes, as she told me the story of seeing my quilt on the Flickr group and wishing it was for her, then her excitement and surprise to see the package from Ireland arrive. I am so glad it is going to be well loved. She is a “wannabe DJer” she has all the fabrics, software and things she needs, so go over to her and encourage her to get started…and check out the cute photo of her Civil War buff son holding the quilt!

Dave has a busy day planned with the girls, and I plan on working on my next Crazy Quilt that is due to be sent out July 31st, my DJ quilted squares of course, and hopefully finishing that sock!! Maybe I’ll get the pair done by the end of the summer! I need to baste up the apple core quilt and try the baptist fans with the different threads to see what I like, maybe I should do that too… and I suppose some housework… why aren’t there more hours in the day?!

Advertisement

 

Doll Quilt Swap Quilt – Finished!

Doll Quilt Swap Quilt – Finished!, originally uploaded by Cathi O’Neill.

I got this finished yesterday, woo hoo! It will be out the door and on its way to….???? before our trip to Portugal tomorrow. I feel I cheated on it slightly as I decided to machine the binding on, though I hand finished it…so only the binding was done by machine on this. I really want to keep it, lol, so that is a good sign right? It is the first thing I have hand quilted and finished!

I’ve included some scraps and had fun wrapping it with a wide strip of Civil War repro fabric…

Here is a photo of the back of the quilt, you can kinda make out which blocks are where with the quilting designs…

I plan on bringing my sock knitting and a hand piecing project, my applecore quilt, to Portugal for evenings and quiet times, if there are any!

The cool protectors for the ends of my sock needles I bought off of etsy from lunastrixae

 

Doll Quilt Swap WIP

Doll Quilt Swap WIP, originally uploaded by Cathi O’Neill.

I am currently hand quilting this little baby for my Doll Quilt Swap partner. I am loving being able to work with a hoop and listen/watch TV while quilting it! Who knew that I’d love hand quilting so much! I am up to 24 blocks now for my big Dear Jane quilt!!

I had hoped to post on Sunday, but here is a photo of my two cuties. We are doing our Sunday tradition of making American pancakes from scratch. The girls love to help me make things and have gotten pretty good at pouring and mixing. Aisling (my youngest!) loves to crack eggs into tiny pieces, I get to fish out the broken shells!!!

Our group quilt was hanging up on display with some of our group quilts in a shop window in town…you can see a lot of reflection, but the quilt turned out pretty well!

Knitting is on temporary hiatus until our trip on Saturday…I’m sure I’ll work on it a bit over our vacation, and my try to get some fun photos of the sock on vacation in Portugal, lol, as part of a contest for the Socks of Summer knitalong I joined. My Virtual Vacation swap package will have to be gathered in August, it is somehow impossible to find 100 percent wool yarn in Ireland!! I need to source some independent spinners and dyers. The only bainin (Irish wool typically used for Aran sweaters and with lots of lanolin and sheepy smell left in it!) I have found is in the States…wonder if I can contact their source directly! End products are easy to find, yarn isn’t, unless I want acrylic!!

Check out this cool sock yarn that Barbara sent over. It is from Lapland and I think would look great for some aran cable socks I fell in love with on someone’s blog!! Gotta put that on my to do list…it is getting long! Darn all this internet inspiration!

 

Updating…

Doll Quilt Swap Sneak Peek, originally uploaded by Cathi O’Neill.

I have been getting things done in the past week, just haven’t stopped to blog them. I work from home doing freelance design, and got busy the last few weeks, and find my nights taken up with that work, rather than my crafting…

I have joined a few swaps and knit-alongs this summer and have started working on a few of them. My doll quilt swap partner likes Civil War reproductions….hmmm…wonder if I have any of those!! I poured out my repro collection on the floor to start cutting out some more squares for my Ocean Waves quilt, and to get a few bits of fabric for to send along for Lucy, who is going through a rough time now, and also  to choose fabrics for my mini DJ doll quilt I will try to hand piece and quilt in the next few weeks… I will use the machine in the end if I need to…but will try to get it done by hand!

I have gotten three blocks quilted on my big Dear Jane quilt. I will put thumbnails here, but you can click on them if you want to see the quilting. I’m still a beginner, so don’t look too closely.

I’ve also been working on some commissioned name pillowcases for my SIL. I had thought about selling these, but they take a lot longer than is cost effective for a sales item… will continue them for gifts though, from time to time…

I’ve started on a sock for the Socks of Summer 2007 knitalong. I had tried to do swatch and calculate exact measurements to fit my large calves, lol, and for all the math and extra work I did, they were too big! So… I decided to go for pretty instead. I’m doing a pattern called Pomatomus (say that 3 times fast!) with a gorgeous clamshell pattern. I’ve done one pattern repeat, and really like the way the yarn looks in this pattern! I hope to do a couple of pairs of socks over the summer and learn how to make some that fit properly. This is only my second pair, but it is my first pair using tiny tiny 2.5mm needles!

 I’ve also made myself a little logo for the blog, one I can use for labels of things I might sell or for the swaps, maybe even some notecards… Do you like it? (check the banner!)