Bridgets Place

I was visiting Kerry this summer and stopped off to see the homeplace of my grandmother Bridget Connor. She lived in Rossdohan near Sneem until she left to go to the USA as a young girl. She met and married my grandfather there and they returned to live in Bandon.  

 

My mother visited her grandparents there every summer during her teenage years. She would cycle from Bandon to Sneem in a day. I took her back to visit and to meet her two 1st cousins. It was 70 years since my Mum and Jack had last met and they were overjoyed to see each other. I could see the young people they had been. Shortly after my Mum died I went to tell Jack but he already knew. He could see how upset I was so he sat outside with me and told me how to forecast the weather by looking at the sea and the mountains. I have never met a wiser man. He was content with what he had and with living out his days in his homeplace.

 

It is sad to see it empty now and it would be lovely to hear it ring to the sound of children's voices again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very special place.

EbbandFlow

Julia made some hearts last year and that inspired me to have a go. I have been wanting to play with layers of fabric for some time and  this was a good project to start on. I used the embroidery foot to sew the strips to the slub satin background first. Joan me a good tip. She suggested I hold the strips of fabric in place using strips of paper which I could remove as I went along.

 

I will do things a bit differently next time. The shells were very difficult and most of them fell off even those I had managed to get some glue on. I think the best shells would be cockle or mussel. I must keep the beads and embellishments away from the edge so they do now catch the sewing machine when I am sewing up. I sewed the hanging ribbon in as I went along but I must be more careful and make sure it doesn't slip. The ebbandflow words fell off too. I will need to sew a layer of chiffon over to make a pocket.  The finished hearts are too big and the next time I would have a more rounded shape.

 

They are cute though!

 

 

 

 

Winter Workspace

I am all set up for my winter jewellery making sessions. I had two lovely days with Jo and Maureen and that inspired me to leave everything out so I can dip in and out. I love these new metallic druzy agate beads that I found.

 

 

Big Birthday

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I have created this for a friend who had a big birthday recently. The granny square pattern is called sunburst and the border is V stitch from Lucy at Attic 24's blog.

 

 

 

Grouted!

My mosaic is finished. I decided to use white grout rather than the sand colour we were given. I am pleased with the end result but I have learned how important it is to have a clear line. My wave would have been better if I had carried the light blue tiles all the way over the wave.

 

Planning the next project now!

 

 

Moorland Magic

I love the work that Lucy at Attic 24 does. She sits in her studio and works on colour combinations for crochet throws, cushions, bags and lots more. She is SO generous at sharing her patterns. I seem to have got into the habit of completing one throw a year as they take a long time to do and I fit them around other things. I am planning for 2017 and have just received her Moorland pack from Wool Warehouse. It is based on a view she passes often in late summer on her walks on the Yorkshire Moors. The throw will be graduated colours and will have a wave pattern which is new to me. I am looking forward to starting when the CAL starts in January. it is my first time doing a crochet-a-long.

 

 

 

 

Music and Mosiacs

I had a fun weekend in Killarney learning something new. We sang songs with Caz, played instruments with Ruti and made mosaics with Hilary. I got to play an owl and made lots of whoooooooo sounds!

 

This was my first time doing mosaics and I really enjoyed it. I was surprised how quickly we all learnt how to to use the snippers to cut the tiles. Hilary suggested we choose a simple image and I choose a wave. I am fairly pleased with the end result and now I just have to grout it. The next time I would use more defined lines for the edges of things like the crest of the wave. Kevin and I are now thinking about doing a mosaic on the garage wall. This will be a summer project so we have lots of time to plan it.