Well, our trip is behind us and we had a great time!!! Here are just a few pictures of a walk on one of the local beaches near the home where I grew up!!! This particular beach is bordered by a private golf course.
Connecticut is a beautiful state and if you ever have a chance to visit it you really should.
This was a very difficult trip for me personnally, the night before I left my husband was informed that his job was being made redundant. I held off from telling the children, no need to ruin their holiday. I however was really torn, part of me didn't want to go -- how can you justify an expensive holiday when your financial rug has been pulled out from underneath you. So off we went and tried to enjoy ourselves as best as possible.
The children had 12 days of eating all sorts of fabulous foods that are not available here in Ireland. Freshly pressed apple cider, DS#1 drank an entire bottle (about 1 litre) in one sitting!!!! Ice Cream sundays with sliced bananas, cookies, candy, pizza and of course Root beer!!!!! My mother opened her big mouth one night and told them about how their great grandmother used to love root beer floats. Well, you know what happened next don't you??!!!! Vanilla ice cream was bought and that evening after dinner we were making root beer floats!!! For those of you that don't know what I am talking about, here is the recipe. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream in a nice tall drinking glass and then pour root beer soda over it!!!!
We had a 12 day food feast!!!! My three kiddos were also in love with foot long hot-dogs, they just could not have enough of those.
The three kiddos were totally over the moon about Halloween, we brought back about 10kg of candy - disgusting but good!!! Another observation that they made was how friendly everyone is! They were a bit taken aback one day when a man opened the door for us has we approached a shop door, he held the door open and said hello and was very friendly and then he went on toward his car. DS#1 turned and said to me, "why are people so friendly here?". I don't like to run down the country I live in, I am a guest here after all, but there is a friendliness and politeness that exists in the US that you don't even come close to over here. People you don't even know talk to you for no reason when you are out and about. When you are shopping and the order has been rung up, the clerk smiles and tells you the total, and when all is finished they say thank you and wish you a pleasant day!!! I know that Americans are made fun of "have a nice day"!!! but to be honest with you it is really nice to have someone treat you with friendliness after you have just spent money in their establishment rather than the treatment you get over here. I shop here and they don't even tell you the total, you don't even get a smile or a hello and god forbide NO ONE ever says thank you!!! Sorry for that little tirade but it was especially noticeable on this trip.
Anyhoo, we are back home and Farmerboy was sooo delighted to have us back. He was very lonely and the pets just weren't cutting it as companions. They are not very good conversationalists!!!
I did do some quilty shopping!!!! Nothing very exciting, just alot of necessary instruments. I bought alot of rulers of various sizes, needles, thread (a massive amount of thread!!!) and of course fabric. I didn't buy as much fabric as I had originally planned but enough bits and pieces to make the coming winter enjoyable.
I have a pattern complete for the next issue of Irish Quilting Magazine and a few more in the works. I am enjoying coming up with my own creations versus using patterns, a nice challenge!! I do however have a few BoMs and kits that I do need to finish up and/or start.
As I write this I am feeling very nostalgic for home especially since next week is Thanksgiving. Even though the next few months are going to be very difficult for us financially, I am very thankful that I have such a wonderful family. Three great kids and a wonderful husband. We always pull together in times of difficulty and we have plans for the farm that involve eco-tourism and cycling/walking so the future is looking good. I just hope people continue to come to Ireland for their holidays.
Bye and keep smiling!!!
From me and all my friends here on the Farm, to all our family and friends in the United States - Have a Great Thanksgiving!!!! This has to be the toughest day of the year for all us ex-pats, it will be just another day but I and my family will be talking about all that we are thankful for!!!!!!
These pictures are truly disgraceful but then I am always on the other side of the camera!!!!!!! Tsk, tsk, tsk... I feel a diet coming on!!!!
Today I decided to make a start on little Ciara's quilt! I have all the small squares all sewn together and matched up with the other various squares to make up the first 1/4 of the quilt.
Sometimes it can be difficult making a quilt for someone else, you're never quite sure if you have really picked the colors that they will like. And worse case scenario, they may not like quilts and it gets tossed into the linen press....
Here is the right side of the quilt. I will update you as soon as I get the middle section done. I think the women in my quilt group were right when they recommended that I mix in some of the pink and orange.
Here is a peek at the next quilt. A couple of weeks ago I showed you a quilt I did for FarmerBoy's grandneice!!! Yes, his nephew had twin girls and I decided that it would be nice to give them each a quilt. The first quilt was pink and orange. The fabric is Lakehouse by Holly Holderman, it came in two colorways which was perfect for this project.
The only problem that occurred while organizing this was typical of my stupidity!!! I had everything laid out on my big cutting mat which was sitting on my bed. I organized all of the different sizes and colors into piles for separate quilts -- keeping everything balanced. I would like to mention at this point that I have an antique four poster bed that is very high. I picked up the mat and started to turn so that I could put it in a safe spot and that is when the corner of the mat hit one of the posts, the mat bent downward and off slid all the fabric!!!!!!!! I could be heard in three counties, the language being rather colorful to say the least....... Now I have to sit down and reorganize it again!!!
Well, our trip is behind us and we had a great time!!! Here are just a few pictures of a walk on one of the local beaches near the home where I grew up!!! This particular beach is bordered by a private golf course.
We had a 12 day food feast!!!! My three kiddos were also in love with foot long hot-dogs, they just could not have enough of those. 
As I write this I am feeling very nostalgic for home especially since next week is Thanksgiving. Even though the next few months are going to be very difficult for us financially, I am very thankful that I have such a wonderful family. Three great kids and a wonderful husband. We always pull together in times of difficulty and we have plans for the farm that involve eco-tourism and cycling/walking so the future is looking good. I just hope people continue to come to Ireland for their holidays. 
When you live so far from home, you often forget the little things. Here are two pictures that I took the other day while my little sidekick and I went out for a walk. Oh, how I miss New England in the Autumn!!! The colors are soooo beautiful and I love the crisp morning air. These pictures don't do justice to this part of the world but just let your imagination fill in the blanks!!!
Bon Voyage folks!!!! I am off to see the parents in Connecticut and do some leaf peeping!!! My three travel companions are counting down the hours now, the countdown has been going on for about 30 days. To say I am relieved that the day is finally here is two fold, a bit of rest and no more count downs!!!!
Warning!!!!! Do Not Cut Fabric While Watching A Movie!!!!!!
Okay everyone, I want you all to listen up!!!!! (I sound like a mom don't I!!!!) A very good friend of mine (some of you have been reading her blog) Sherry is nearing the finish line and is about to launch the first issue of Irish Quilting!!!! Sherry has been working feverishly over the past few months and the end is in sight, all of us who know her are sooo excited for her, she is presenting us quilters here in Ireland with a venue to display our work and a resource for future quilters on this Emerald Isle. The photography will take your breath away, the quilts are travelling all over this beautiful Island to be photographed in some of our most scenic areas. So please, please, please watch out for it and buy yourself a copy!!!!!
So, Cheers Sherry, to you from the bottom of my heart:
First I would like to show you the gorgeous sunset we had last night, all three of my children were outside mesmerized by the color of the sky! I just had to take some photos to share. This past weekend was the end of a very busy 6 weeks. I had more business in the past 6 weeks than June and July combined!!! Not really but pretty close.... The tourist season is winding down and exhaustion has set in. Last night there were no guests in the house and I was extremely grateful for that. I have alot of work ahead of me this week in an effort to get this house back to proper order!!!
I might even finish up a quilt or two or at least give it my best!
These two quilts are going to be winging their way across the US to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The light color quilt was one of the first quilts I showed on this blog way back in January. Hopefully my neice will enjoy this quilt and will look pretty in her room. And if not then I will take it back.... I mean business people!!!!!!!!
My children are sooooo excited to see their grandparents and indulge in some purely American food. This holiday will be all about the food!!!!! Their first request was to ask my mother to have root beer and some of that really good danish. They also want to go to the Donut Inn for chocolate donuts on the first morning, do ya think we might have a problem with hyperactivity later in the day or a serious sugar crash!!! Yikes!!!! High on their list is pizza, hot dogs (the real ones not like the Irish ones), cheddar cheese popcorn and last but not least Candy Corn!!!!! They can thank me for that one, I can't wait to get my hands on some Brachs Candy Corn, it's all I can think about. 
Bye and keep smiling!!!!!!
Welcome to my little nest! This is where the magic happens, or rather where I wished it happened!!! One of the greatest aspects of blogging is that you get a glimpse of other people's lives. I love it when other quilters show off their space and talk about their studios or work areas. This is mine!!!!!
I have moved slightly so that you can see the other little nook!!! Behind the fabulous Fat Quarter custom cabinet is my collection of plastic containers and assorted hold all's! Large basket for assorted stuff like glue, some rulers, threads and anything else that can fit. There are two small plastic containers with all of my threads. Keeping watch over all of this is Woody from the infamous Toy Story Saga (he is in for repairs but we pretend he is the guard). Woody is sitting on a plastic container that holds some projects that are in line to be worked on and the plastic container that the basket is sitting on is for my stash. The bottom container is filled with stash!!!! Farmerboy thinks it's old baby clothes....shhhh!!
This little attractive arrangement is for stash, charm square and jelly roll collections and scraps. The purple baskets have my Thimbleberries stash and other assorted fabrics. I have two types of stash, both are equally unhealthy!!!! I buy fabric online when it is on sale and this is randomly purchased, I try to purchase a variety of colors, textures and print sizes. I also collect fabrics from a certain collection or designer. For example, I love Three Sisters designs from Moda. I have a nice litte stash of their fabrics as well as April Cornell fabrics. I am a huge fan of Lakehouse fabrics and enjoy collecting that year in and year out.
Plus this is my view!!!!!!!!!! Can't beat that!!!!!!
Slowly but surely I make progress on this adorable gift. Yesterday I showed you a small glimpse of this quilt and today I would like to share the applique that I did late last night. Applique can be a bit daunting for me, it's the stitching that makes me tremble not the fusing!!!