Day 1 - September 20, 2017

This morning we woke up at 5:30am to get ready for our adventure! We made it to the shuttle on time, and the shuttle got us to the airport in plenty of time.

We made it to the shuttle on time!

When we arrived at the airport we tried to check our bags but were told that we were unable to check in because our connecting flight from Philadelphia to Dublin was less than 1hr which is an illegal connection.

Illegal connection?! You must be joking!

 So I had to call our tour company to see what they were going to do. I spent the next hour or two on the phone with people trying to find out if our whole trip would be a bust. After much frustration (but no tears!) the tour company rep was able to conference call American Airlines and get us booked on new flights. So now we would be going from Seattle to Dallas, Dallas to London Heathrow, London to Dublin.

You weren't joking...

My head was definitely in the clouds for most of this trip.

View over Texas

Oh, us? We're just on a flight to London. (Insert excited squeal here!)

 **May or may not have watched the original Beauty & the Beast while on one of our flights**

    

We're in LONDON!!!!

Harry Potter shop in the airport?!

Boots store in the airport. They didn't sell actual boots... :)

We would end up getting into Dublin late and would now be missing the bus from the airport to the hotel and the welcome drive around Dublin, but at least we won't be missing the whole tour! It was not a good way to start the trip but we were just happy to actually make it to Ireland. When we arrived in Dublin we had to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel (which was an adventure itself as we did not have any local currency so had to wait for a cab that accepted credit!) and got all checked in. I do regret missing the first drive around Dublin with the group but it was very nice to check into our hotel and get to shower after a very long day of travel and get a little down time before dinner. We did get to have dinner with our group and were able to meet our tour guide. We took pictures in the cab on our way to the hotel and even the view from our hotel room. We were so excited to actually be in Ireland. I have waited over 10 years to make this trip and I literally pinched myself a couple times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. My heart was filled to bursting with the realization that I was actually in Ireland!!

WE MADE IT!! WE'RE IN IRELAND!!!!

View from our hotel room... you can actually see water in the distance.

  

Dinner menu

Dessert

It’s Been A While

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my poor little blog! It’s not that I haven’t been crafting, because I sure have! It’s just so hard for me to remember to take a picture once I finish let alone come up with something to say about it other than “YAY!!”.
So, lots of things have gone on in the last 5 years but right now I want to focus on my trip to Ireland! I have been waiting to go to Ireland for over 10 years! And my friends 2017 was my year. It all started when I was at my friend, Bailey’s house and we were talking about places we would love to visit and she mentioned that she would love to visit Ireland. My face immediately lit up because I have too but didn’t want to go by myself because it seemed like it would be so fun to experience it with a friend. So we talked about it a little more and decided to do research on how much a trip would cost. We also talked about what we HAD/WANTED to see and/or experience while we were there and how long we wanted to stay. I think we did a ton of research on different ways to get there and if we wanted to do a self guided tour or an escorted tour. The verdict was that for us, an escorted tour was the way to go. So we bit the bullet and bought our tickets in April for a September departure. When I clicked that button and bought those tickets I had the most wonderful feeling of excitement and disbelief. We were actually going to do this! We were going to Ireland!

I'm Not Dead

Long time no post... I have been crafting but been terrible about posting or even taking photos as evidence that I have been busy! But today, I am sooooo on the ball! I finished a project and took pictures to prove it!

Just in time for Memorial Day! A nice patriotic wreath with 2 kinds of fabric flowers...my blood, sweat and (hot glue gun burned finger) tears went into these flowers but I am so happy with how the wreath turned out.

Something to show for it!

I've finally gotten some crafting done...and the pictures to prove it!!
First up my finished tv console I scored off of Craigslist this summer...all sanded and painted. I think if I had it to do again I would do a couple things differently, I always learn something new with each project but I am definitely loving this new piece.

Then for the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild challenge is due in a couple of weeks. So, I had grand plans to do a Cathedral Window pillow like alamode . I got my pillow top all done:

...but...there were little bits of the corners of the green fabric peeking out. :( I had visions of someone spilling something on the finished pillow and me sobbing in the corner from fear that the darn pillow would completely unravel! So, in consideration of my perfectionism/neuroticism I scratched the whole thing and decided to try something completely different. (also my empty pockets were talking to me since the Cathedral Window Pillow ate up like 5 yards of fabric already!!!)
Half square triangles seemed a little less risky and I could use what I already had on hand in my stash. So here's what I came up with for the challenge instead:

Here's to hoping that basting goes smoothly, because I would really appreciate if everything else went smoothly for this project!!

Crafting

Wow! I can't believe my last post was in April! I have still been sewing and crafting but not so great at documenting it. I have been working on a quilt for my mom. I got it all sewn together and it was so wonky I couldn't stand it! I tore the top apart and trimmed every.single.block so they are the exactly (pretty much) the same size. Lesson learned. Do not try to skip a step! Take the time to trim your blocks up front and you will spend much less time with the stupid seam ripper!

Next up, I found this beauty on Craigslist for $60! I am so excited about it! I am going to use it for a tv console table. Fingers crossed!

It's DONE!!!!

I finally finished hand stitching the binding and I am soooo very happy to be done with this quilt!
Here is the front:

...and here is the pieced back which I am so in love with!!!

I used the pattern by Elizabeth Hartman called "Fenced In" from her book The Practical Guide to Patchwork which I won back in November
I was so excited to win and even more excited to see a project (actually quite a few) which didn't scare a novice quilter like me! I haven't measured it but it fits perfectly on my full size bed!

Up next...a hippie quilt for my momma!

Binding Time

My week last week started out like this:


Now I am working on this:

It was such a beautiful day yesterday I took my quilt outside to sew on the binding in the sun. I have to say I really enjoyed that! Soaking up the sun under a new (almost done) quilt!