April Star

Micki asked me to post the April Star, which is Melissa from Ardea's Nest. Isn't Melissa a lovely lassie? I read the interview and really enjoyed it. I also loved all of Melissa's work, especially the shamrock quilt. Gee, I wonder why I liked that one the best! I am sure that you are going to really appreciate Melissa's work and her interview.

A Bit About Me: I am a married mother of two. My son is a student at The Ohio State University and my daughter has a family of her own and is the mother of my lovely grandson. Hubby and I have filled the empty nest with 3 dogs, all Puggles named Frank, Sammie, and Dean after the Rat Pack. Though I work outside the home, my job has me on 24/7. 365 which sounds worse than it is. Some days, I am busy all day and much of the evening, but others go by without a phone call or email! Plus, I have the flexibility of working from home a lot which is really nice on those slow days. I have been quilting since my kids were little. We couldn't afford those fancy bedding sets and I began making them. Back then, I didn't take photos of them for I didn't view them as art, but as simply utilitarian pieces. Now, I know they can sure be both!

What Inpires Me: That is sometimes a problem. I can spend hours surfing all of the creative websites and blogs out there and save more ideas to my computer than I could complete in a lifetime. I have to limit my internet time or I'd never get anything done! Right now, I am having a lot of fun with traditional piecing and am feeling really inspired by bright colored geometric shapes.

What I Love to Do the Most Creatively:I really love to quilt. I am finding my way as a traditional piecer. I am not very good with "rules" and have long gravitated toward more "artsy" type quilts.

My Favorite Fabric and Designer: I have to admit that I really can't answer this without going to a fabric site and looking everything over. I am not that interested in designer fabric for the sake of the name. Rather, I just grab what suits me at the time. I think this comes from my gravitation toward art quilts in which the color and texture matter more than the designer. Maybe as I get more comfortable with traditonal piecing, I will get to know the designers better.However, I have to also admit that I am often influenced by what is on sale. If I see a piece that is on sale, I'll grab it and hold onto it until I find the right use for it. At that point, I just match whatever fabrics are available at the time to it.

UFO I Intend to Finish First: Now you are going to think me really crazy, but I am not a UFO'er. When I begin a project, I work until it is finished or I find it a new home if I honestly can not force myself to get back to it. That isn't to say that I don't have a few WIPs going at once, but there really are never more than two or three of those at once, and they are usually in different states of completion so I can choose between hand stitching binding, piecing, or embellishing for instance.

What's on the Design Wall Now: I am currently collecting fabric for a chili pepper themed quilt. This is one of those projects inspired by a piece of fabric I picked up at a thrift sale one day. I also would really love to make myself a new handbag with a quilt block then.

Who Would I Love to Meet: I would most love to meet my blogging friends and the girls in my Yahoo chat group. Honestly, there are many among the two groups with whom I "talk" nearly daily. The only other person I talk to more is my husband.

If I Had One Wish: Well, I probably should wish for world peace and prosperity and of course I do, but I think you are looking for something more relevant to crafting. And I can answer that one too. I would love to be in the position of not having to work at all. I would love to just quilt all day. One of my greatest frustrations is getting in the quilting groove and having to stop for work.

Plans for the Future: My husband and I are looking to buy a new home and a larger quilting studio is a must have for me. I would like a better space for learning to free motion quilt. I know I can practice on smaller pieces, and I do, but I would love to have the space to quilt a piece as large as a twin, perhaps. I don't know that I'd ever try anything bigger on my own. I would also like to begin keepin a better record of pieces I finish. Blogging has given me a way to record my work which I rarely have done in the past. Now, I miss some of the old quilts like friends I don't see anymore. All the quilts I made for my kids, for instance. They have been washed and worn into oblivion.

Well, Melissa, Micki thanks you so much! You definitely have the gift of the gab and are quite the writer! I hope you get your larger studio. Micki sews in the living room, does her crafting in the dining room....Thus is crafting and sewing in a wee cottage.LOL

Events at the Butler Cottage

Micki is missing her blogging, but she has read a few books, listened to music, taken walks with me, read magazines, and she is keeping up with her favorite tv shows like "Desperate Housewives". I do have to say that she is getting away with a bit of murder . To give you an example: She watched "Sound of Music" for the umpteenth time, and I sat there and watched it with her. She loved it, and she was singing along with Julie Andrews, but I have to tell you the truth that I hated watching it again for 3 hours. I have seen it so many times, I can't count. However, due to her wrist, I sat there and appeared to watch it again, although I was taking cat naps, which she didn't notice at the time, as she was too busy singing. LOL

She even said that she could watch the movie again if it was on, so I desperately looked through the tv guide and it was not on again. Thank God!LOL

Anyways all kidding aside, Micki's hand is getting better, and hopefully, she will soon be back to her blogging, sewing, and journaling. We are heading to Letterkenny tomorrow. I am planning a trip for us over the summer. We both need it. Micki will be reading this, so I can't say what it is , but it is her birthday month in June, so I thought it was an appropriate time for us to take a wee vacation.

Thanks So Much

Micki wanted to thank you for all of your emails and well wishes. We went for a lovely, romantic walk on Killohoey Beach, and we enjoyed having the beach to ourselves. The rest of the day was quiet time at home, which is just what the doctor ordered. I surprised Micki with some flowers, so that brought a smile on her face.

Micki did read all of your messages, and I even answered some of them. I thought Terrie's suggestion of eating chocolate was a good one. We bought a 99 cone, which has a Cadbury chocolate flake on it, so Terrie, you inspired me to suggest a cone, and we enjoyed it on our walk on the beach.

The pain is much better, so that's why I thought the smiley face was appropriate.

Thanks from both of us for your concern! Micki is off to the bedroom to watch one of the Twilight movies while I watch a football game. I just heated the bed for her, so what can I say? She is super spoiled.Hey, I am not too shabby at blogging...LOL

What's New...It Aint' Good

I sprained my hand, and of course it had to be my right hand. There was water on the floor, and I slipped. I didn't want to fall and injure my legs. as I had enough with injuries with my legs, and grabbed the table and somehow twisted it. I did prevent the fall, so that is good, but my hand is sprained. Luckily, it is only a sprain and no break involved, so I just have to rest. Joe is typing this for me, and he will continue to do so when I want to post. The bad thing is that I can't use the key board. I will just have to do things like read, watch tv, take walks with Joe....I can't think of anything else.
Well, that is the latest. I guess rest is in order....Joe says that is not so bad, but I am not quite seeing it that way. LOL Anyways, I will have Joe be my typist when I want to post, and then I can read the posts myself and have a bit of fun seeing how all of you are doing. I will keep up with reading the blogs, but at this time, can't type, so in about two weeks, I should be fine.

Blog Award and Birthday News

Mary from Me and My Ancestors gave me The One Lovely Blog Award. What an honor Mary and thanks very much! I am supposed to give it to 7 blogs, but I hate to just narrow it down to a mere 7, so I am asking that anyone who reads this post, please take the award, and I am officially giving it to you. That way, a lot of people can take it, as I think so many blogs are lovely and inspirational.

Thanks for all of the well wishes for Joe's birthday. I got him a Guiness wallet, which he loved, as it has tons of compartments,an Ireland cap, which he looks so cute in,and the complete HBO Deadwood Series in a beautiful gift box. We will be watching it all the way through, and that will take a while, as there are 12 discs in the box covering all the seasons that the show was on air. We really enjoyed the shows, so we can't wait to see them again. Joe and I had a lovely day, and we do thank one and all for all the Happy Birthays!

We have had a sunny day. Joe and I took a walk around the Famine Graveyard, which as I told you before loops the entire village. We can see the ocean in front of us ,and the hills and Muckish Mountain are off in the distance. It is just lovely!

Civil War Hexagon

I made a Civil War Hexagon block for a swap that I am in, but made an extra one for myself. I am going to make a lap sized quilt of all Civil War Hexagons. The neat thing about this hexagon is that it already has the batting and backing done so it is like the Quilting as You Go technique. I will only have to connect the hexagons, and all will be done. I recently received a FQ bundle of Civil War fabrics, so thought it would be a fun idea. The flower is appliqued on the block, and I finished it pretty quickly. I cut out plastic templates for the the two sized hexagons , so I can continue to use them for all of the blocks. I do love Civil War fabrics!

Other than that, it is a quiet weekend at our cottage. The weather is cool, but sunny. Joe and I took a walk around the village using the Famine Graveyard loop, and that is about 4 miles. Tomorrow is Joe's birthday. His gift is packed, his homemade card is ready, and so all is set.

Hope your weekend has been a nice one. Thanks for all the lovely comments on my EQ block. I will make some cushions from it, so it won't go to waste.

EQ Block

I designed this block in EQ. I wanted to use 1930's fabrics, and I really like how it turned out. I can't enter the Barn Quilt Contest, as I am not a resident of the US.....darn.Someone suggested that I do one, so I sent it in, but I then realized it was not for international residents, but I will make something out of it anyways.LOL Hope it inpsires you to enter the AccuQuilt Barn Quilt Contest. I love Stars, and I love anything that is 1930's fabrics. I threw the heart in, as I adore hearts too. It's funny that it went through anyways, but I won't be considered. It was fun designing though.

I do love EQ...so much fun! I am heading to bed laughing, as I thought it funny that it went through and was submitted anyhow.

International Quilt Festival In Ireland

I just wanted to update you on the International Quilt Festival in Ireland. They now have an official website, and the event will be held in Galway, which is a gorgeous area in Ireland. I thought you would love to see the site. There will be some really neat people there like Jinny Beyer and Kaye England. among others. I think you will love the workshops and events that they are planning. They even have tons of events for the non quilters, so family members would be happily kept busy. The tours that are being arranged are incredible,and I can't tell you how beautiful the nearby Connemara area is or how wonderful the city of Galway is! I know some of you are writing me about visiting Ireland, and since the Quilt Festival is being scheduled from June 7-10, 2012. it seems like a wonderful event to plan your trip around. Check out all of the categories at the top of the page....you will be so impressed.

Here is the website so you can check it out for yourselves. It would be fun to hear that some of you were coming to the Quilt Festival, so we can meet there and have a blast together.

Enjoy your weekend! Joe's birthday is Monday, so more celebrations on the horizon. We both love March!

AccuQuilt Barn Quilt Contest

A quick post to tell you that AccuQuilt is having their 2nd annual Barn Quilt contest. Well, you can win a 1000 dollars and a trip to their factory, in addition to other wonderful prizes. Find out more by clicking on the logo/button on the right side bar on the top of my blog. There's going to be wonderful inspiration too, and we quilters always love that.

Don't forget to sign up for the free GO patterns and tell me what you think of the contest.

I love barn quilts and loved reading about their history, as I saw tons of them in the Dutch Country in PA. They are really amazing!

St. Patrick's Day Festival

First of all, Happy St. Paddy's Day to you all! Joe and I had a lovely time today. We went to Muck and Muffins for coffee. The parade started at 1 PM, and Joe took several pics. Keep in mind, we are a wee village, so this is nothing like St. Paddy's Day in Dublin. I watched a bit of that one on tv, and it was amazing.Still, we all had a bit of craic! Enjoy the pics which will give you highlights of our parade. I also have two videos for you to watch, that Joe took with his camera of a friend of ours named Ernie, who performs music sessions at McColgan's Bar and who played today in the village square.He's a wonderful man, and super talented!



La Fheile Padraig Sona Duit , which in Gaelic is Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Irish definitely know how to celebrate, and if you do visit one day during this wonderful festivity, you must try to see the parade in Dublin. Here are some highlights of the Dublin Parade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF9AD_-MBxw

These are the videos that Joe took with his camera. Isn't Ernie great? Happy St. Patrick's Day once again!

Wee Tour of Dunfanaghy

Dunfanaghy is a seacoast village located in the northernmost county of the Republic of Ireland called Donegal. It is definitely one of the prettiest areas in Ireland. I came up here one day to see the quilt shop called Pauline's Quilt Shop, which was on the main street, and I fell in love with the village. I then brought Joe up here to see it, and then we landed up moving here. What can I say? It is a bit of heaven up here. We never take this place for granted...It is just gorgeous!

We are right by the ocean and surrounded by the hills, Horn Head, and Muckish Mountain, which is the largest mountain in the distance.

Here is the main street of our village. We are right by the sea, and there is a wee lane from the main street that takes you to Killahoey Beach.
Our main street has surprisingly a lot of wonderful places to see, and that is because we do get quite a bit of tourists coming here. We have two hotels at the beginning of our village. One is called Arnold's Hotel, and that is the largest hotel, and the second one which is much smaller, is called Carrig Rua Hotel. Behind Arnold's Hotel is a horse stable, where you can rent horses to ride on the beach.

Right across from the Arnold Hotel is a wee park where you can see Horn Head and to the right is where Killahoey Beach is.

Joe and I have a few places that we eat at which are our favorite places. We love coffee shops!!!We would rather go to a coffee shop than to a fancy restaurant. Both of us love coffee, but we just love the atmosphere of a coffee shop. Our two favorite ones are Muck and Muffins, which overlooks the ocean, and then the one you saw yesterday which is called the Starfish Cafe. We love the snickers cake at Muck and Muffins and the Starfish Cafe has the best Irish breakfast ever.

We have two Chinese restaurants. One is a take-away, and the other is a fancy restaurant where you can sit in and really enjoy good Chinese food. By they way, in the pic where it shows the Chinese Restaurant sign is our favorite pub called McColgans Bar. We went there this afternoon to enjoy some time there. Two visitors were playing pool, and there are two tvs in the pub. We always sit in the snug area near a lovely fireplace, and of course I had a Baileys. By the way, our village has a couple of pubs. LOL

We have a bank in town, a post office, but also what I really love are our craft stores. One is called McAuliffes Craft Store. It is very large and has tons of things.


Joe asked if he could take pics of the inside of the craft shop, so of course they said "yes", and so you get a peek inside the shop too. We have a wee craft shop in Muck and Muffins and also another craft store in the Workhouse, which also houses another craft store and an exhibit about the Famine period in Ireland. Isn't it lovely?

We have a health food store in town called the Green Man. The other favorite pub here in our village is Molly's Bar.


Right by the beach is a golf course. So if you come to visit, while you quilters go to our four quilt shops in the area, you can leave your husband playing golf at the golf course....Now, that's an idea. LOL There are three other beaches nearby called Marble Hill, Tramore Beach, and Portnablagh .

It is hard to mention everything and to show you all of our village. We have national parks near us, one of which is Ard Forest and the other is Glenveight National Park which has a beautiful castle there and sculptured gardens and lots of wonderful trails and scenery to die for.

Lots to see here, so hope you enjoyed the bit of a tour I organized for you all!

Tomorrow is St. Paddy's Day...Joe will be taking pics of the festivities, so I will post them tomorrow.

March Star #2

Marilyn has a wonderful blog called Marilyn's Maze, and she is my second Star of the Month. I know you will love her blog and her work. I have been lucky enough to become her friend too, and it is a joy to have gotten to know her and be a part of her ife through our blogs. I am amazed what she has done with her life after she made the decision to start quilting. You will love her story.
Please do visit her, and I hope you enjoy her interview and pics of her work. I know you will be truly inspired by it all!

Here is the Interview:

Name: Marilyn Pond

A Bit About Me: I am a native Californian; in fact, both my mother and father were born in California. While I have lived all over the state, today I make my home in Long Beach, California and share my home with a Schnauzer and a Poochon ( poodle and bichon). I am a mom and a grandma, and Grandma is the best job that I've ever had. I am a widow for over 17 years now. I cannot stress enough how life-altering that is, but really it is all about our choices in life that make the difference. My choice was to learn something new and that was quilting. I had always sewn, but quilting was almost relearning sewing. What? A quarter-inch seam? Will it hold together? I just accepted the fact that quilts have been surviving for hundreds of years just fine and gave myself over to it. It is now my passion! I co-own a small quilting-related business with my BFF, Robin Gallagher. We call our business Two Wacky Women, and we host quilting retreats. I know, how fun is that? We have five scheduled for this year.

What Inspires Me: All the amazing blogs and websites are my main inspiration. I use Google Reader and spend some time in the morning surfing blogs for ideas and again in the evening. I have wonderful quilty dreams. I belong to a fabulous quilt guild, Quilters by the Sea, and the amazing ladies and gentlemen( yes, we have a few) also inspire me in many ways. I also belong to a wonderful quilting friendship group that offers inspiration far beyond quilting.

What I Love to Do the Most Creativly: My new quilt passion is the modern quilt movement. It feels fresh and new and allows the machine quilting to sing.

My Favorite Fabric and Designer: Alexander Henry Fabric grabs and holds it every time. I am so lucky that they are local and I am able to visit their wonderful facility.

UFO I intend to Finish First: I am in a couple of UFO challenges this year. One is for my UFOs and another is for a deceased quilter who left behind many projects that need completion. I finished one for Cindy first. I am now working on a UFO that I started last summer. It is a Lyn Brown Mystery: "Goose on the Pond."

What's on the Design Wall Now: My Lyn Brown Mystery UFO

Who Would I Love to Meet: I would love to meet some of my blogging friends. Quilting is made up of a small, yet large world...a world of wonderful people.

I I Had One Wish: That I had more time to finish all the projects I start. Of course world peace would be in front of this.

Enjoy all of the eye candy and thanks so much for a wonderful interview Marilyn! It was all so inpsirational!!!