Where does the time go?

I honestly don't know where the time goes, I want to be a good blogger and I have the best of intentions but somehow I always get waylaid by LIFE!!! I am juggling so many things right now and time just seems to slip away. I have been working on learning EQ6, the quilt design program. I have designed a few quilts (on paper) and actually made a few. We are also going to make some changes in our hospitality business. Presently we are a registered B&B but the tourism business is sliding downward and business was so bad this past summer I was all set to close up shop and start looking for a job. The job market is now the pits and so what do I do??!!!! Well, a few of my friends (quilty friends) have suggested that I start offering quilt and other craft retreats. We are working on improving our B&B website and including retreat information. I need to do some advertising and make some alterations here in the house, minimal. I will keep you all posted as we progress. Hopefully things will settle down soon!

I hope Sherry doesn't get to cross with me but I just wanted to show off a little project that I have just finished for the upcoming premiere issue of Irish Quilting!!!!! A lap quilt that I designed using the Portugal line of fabric from Moda.

It was a bit of a challenge on several levels. First it was a rush job, two week turnaround. Now for some of you that would be a piece of cake but I am also running a Bed and Breakfast single handedly and have been really busy for the past two weeks. I have three children who are involved in sports, music, the Christmas Panto that the local drama society is doing and various other clubs. My children can't pass a sign up sheet without putting down their names!!!!!! Sooooo, two weeks is daunting to say the least. The second challenge was that it had to be done with a charm square and jelly roll and a few yards of fabric. I was not allowed to touch my stash nor was I allowed to purchase or use any of my own Portugal stash!!!! Kinda of like that show where you show up with 3-5 weird food items and a professional chef makes a fabulous meal with it!

I had a few designs that I wanted to try out but the calculations weren't working for me so I had to come up with something new. This line of fabric is really beautiful and I was enjoying myself up until it was time to machine quilt it. Machine quilting is not one of the things I do best. In fact I stink at it and it really shows!!!!! I have a few quilt tops sitting here that need to be quilting and I am gritting my teeth.



I often wonder if a Gracie frame would make my life more enjoyable. I have been hemming and hawing over whether I should purchase one. Does anyone have an opinion on the Gracie frames, the one that you load your own machine onto??? Let me know?
Now onto the usual family business. Over there on the left is our lovely Tom Cat! I am pleased to introduce to you Sammy, aka Samuel Beckett. Sammy is a very pretty kitty and he knows it, he lounges around the sitting room all day long and then spends the night prowling around the fields and farmyard. We have seen lounging about on back country lanes near the neighbors house and sitting high up on the bales of straw in the barn. Sammy has the life and he knows it.
This is Sheila the wonder dog. Sheila loves going in the car and insists on sitting in the front seat as the navigator. Last October she went off with FarmerBoy and didn't come home that night!!! She had gotten out of the car and wandered off, totally not like her. FarmerBoy got in the car and didn't notice her abscence and drove the 12 miles home. Two to three weeks later on Halloween night we received a phone call from the SPCA and Sheila had been found just a few miles from our house. She found a family to take care of her while she made her way home. The family lived several houses away from the children's piano teacher, so Sheila is alot smarter than we ever gave her credit for.

Sheila was our first pet when we moved here to Ireland, she holds a very special place in our hearts!!!