A wee taste of Ireland ... plus postcard info

I have so many photos of Ireland due to the fact we spent more time there so today I will share a few and maybe a few more another day if you wish to see them . Ireland was incredible in every aspect , the scenery , the people and the food , what more can you ask .

We took this ferry to Ireland , it was smooth sailing and took approximately  a little over an hour . We had our lunch on board and did a little shopping too .

Here is our first hotel in Ireland , the Slieve Russell , beautiful !!

This beautiful girl graced the stairway .

 The grounds around the hotel were amazing with many gardens and interesting things to see . 

Interesting vines.

This is  apparently the smallest church in the world , super tiny , squeezed between those buildings .

This was the floor inside , do you see a quilt pattern ?

                      Knock Cathedral , a famous church that has been visited by the Pope

                                 This golden  Rose was gifted by the Pope to the Cathedral 

                                              Donna and Mom enjoying the entertainment  

A mixture of song and dance in this performance  , we had excellent entertainment . 

Now we are  in Bunratty Castle Hotel , another lovely place to stay .

Some of the housing in the area , you don't see wooden houses here , all stone or brick .

Love the fences .

Donna enjoying some time with the horse , I am sure she was missing her own .

I had a chance for a little pat too , as you can see it was a little cooler this particular day , I had several layers on but was comfortable .

A beautiful castle we went to visit , I should have kept a journal so I could remember the names .I just didn't have time to be honest , I did bring along a journal but the only thing in it is a sprig of Heather .

 Well I will leave it at that for today but before I go I have given a little thought to the Postcard exchange and the fact I am so unorganized so lets put the date ahead to November 15th  . If you already have your postcard made that is wonderful , I hope to get names assigned by the end of this week and if anyone else is interested please let me know  as soon as you possibly can with your info . I didn't realize it would take me so long to return to normal after my return home so I am sorry for this delay but I think it will all  work out for the best . Thanks for your understanding .

 Thanks for stopping by and I will share a little more of Ireland another day .

 Hugs Sheila 

I'm Back !

It is great to be home , the trip was amazing , I would highly recommend a tour to Scotland and Ireland , we spent considerable more time in Ireland and I truly loved it there , it is true it is so....... green !!  I am a little under the weather at the moment as I picked up a bug of some sort along with many others on the tour  but I will share just a few photos today to show you some of our time in Scotland .

 From the window of the plane as we fly into Glasgow . It was a great feeling :-)

 I don't remember where this is but I like the photo and the reflection in the water .

Not the best quality as it was taken through the window of the bus but you can see little bits of colour from the Heather , and yes I did pick just a little .

 We are up in the Highlands here and I love the different colours .

This particular day it did rain , our only rain actually , the Gods were with us . I love the look of the mist over the mountains , very pretty indeed 

It was genuinely raining here but I got out and took the photo anyway , a common sight are the stone fences , standing the test of time !

Edinburgh Castle  , it was quite the climb to view this .

Lots of people visiting the castle , quite interesting for sure .

The final photo for today is of the four of us sitting outside one of the hotels we stayed in . Me, my Mom, sister Donna and sister Jacqueline . 

 I will share a few more later on but wanted to touch base and tell you I am home and had a terrific trip.

 Thanks for stopping by today , have yourself a great one .

 hugs Sheila

What I have been working on ... and an upcoming postcard swap :-)

I know it has been a while since I posted , blogging seems to have taken a back burner for me lately  , I apologize as I also haven't been visiting much either :-(
 My trip is coming up real soon , less than two weeks away now and in preparation for that trip I have made myself some cozy pj's in flannel . I won't have Bill to keep me warm and I am such a cold ol gal ;-) My sisters and my Mom are really getting excited now and we are down to trying to decide what we need to pack . I did go out and buy a new jacket which is weather proof and has a hood for those showers we are most likely to encounter while in Scotland and Ireland .  Want to see a picture of my pj's , they still need buttons , I have tons of buttons but none that will work here :-(

 Lovely pink and so soft , they will feel wonderful I am sure . This is a Kwik Sew pattern #2811 and I have made several pairs from this pattern over the years , I love them .
 I am also working on my mystery quilt by Kaaren of the Painted Quilt , have started the long process of cutting the strips for the braid border , lots more to go for sure but this had to be set aside so those pj's could be completed .
 I have had a few inquiries as to whether there would be a postcard swap in the near future , well yes there will be but I will need to schedule it for when I return in early October . If you wish to give me your name and address etc . now that will be fine but I will not be sending out partners names until after my little trip . It takes me a fair amount of time to set this up and I simply do not have that time right now but in the mean time you can start your postcards to send out lets say by the 20 of October .  If you are real smart and get it made now I will get things set up as quickly as I can and they can be in the mail even earlier . Lets make the theme whatever suits your fancy , it can be fall or whatever creative idea you might have . I will need your mailing address , your email address and your blog address if you have one . I would really appreciate this info in a form I can cut and paste , it saves me a ton of time, thanks .
 And now for a couple of nature photos I have recenty taken , this is one of my favorite roads to travel on so peaceful and the trees draping over the road way is a lovely canopy . This is pretty during each season of the year .

Along this road way I came across this fungus growing in an old tree trunk and couldn't resist taking the photo.

a little closer view 

I find these facinating , the simpliest things make me happy .

This was also growing along that road way and I used my macro setting to take this picture , the bees were loving these bright yellow flowers . They are fairly tall plants ad I have no clue what they are ??

Off now to start on my border that comes before the braid , I will update you later as to my progress , oh yes I did go with the churn dash blocks for the corner stones which I am quite pleased with . See you later and thanks for stopping by , I will try to be a better blogger .

 hugs Sheila

Happy Birthday to Rob and my mystery quilt progress

Good morning on this first day of September , a day to celebrate our oldest son's birthday . Happy Birthday Rob , we are so very proud of you and all you do and the wonderful son , husband and father that you are . Have a wonderful day just wish we could be there to celebrate with you . Love you !!

 This morning I finished step #3 of the mystery quilt by Kaaren of the Painted Quilt . I changed out the dresdans for the flying birds block . I am not sure I like the way I have them orientated but will think on that and possibly change their direction . I had some difficutly with the template for the dresdans so rather than frustrate myself I decided on this block .

 What do you think , should I change them ??

 So the decision has been made I am changing the corner blocks and have just made on block so far but this is what it will look like with a churn dash block . Thanks for the input ladies it is always good to ask for help :-)

 I must run right now so thanks for stopping by and hope you have a terrific day .

 Hugs Sheila

mystery progress

 Good morning from the East Coast , it is a simply gorgeous day , the humidty has lifted and the sun is shining , what more can a gal ask for !! First off I want to share some activity at our bird feeders this morning , I do love the birds.

 A cute little woodpecker enjoying the mixture we stick in holes drilled in that post .

I know this is not that clear as I did shoot this through the kitchen window but a Downy woodpecker was actually enjoying a drink from the hummingbird feeder , I had never seen them do that before .

 Trying to get some niger seed from this feeder .

 Having better luck pecking it out of this sunflower , so neat to watch and he wasn't the least bit nervous of me poking around taking pictures ;-)
  I had planted sunflower seeds in a planter on the deck and both planters produced some flowers but each is different , oh and the seeds were compliments of my friend Annette . Thanks Annette from me and my feathered friends .

This is where the flower that is hanging on the feeder came from , it had gotten to heavy and broken away . Here is one that hung on there and has been a banquet table for many birds .

Isn't that so cool . I love that they can enjoy it straight from the plant am I bet they do too :-)

 Now on to some sewing , yes I have actually been doing a little and working diligently on my mystery quilt being shared with us by Kaaren of the Painted Quilt . I have all 88 flying geese made but need to attach some 2.5" squares to some but have two sides complete with one already sewn on .

  Yes I am using my very trusty vintage Singer 15/91 for this job and it has been a real champ and had made this very huge job enjoyable . There is a ton of piecing and cutting with this mystery quilt but oh just look at the results , I am loving it .
 Also on the sewing front I have completed this months BOM by Buttermilk Basin , love doing these , very relaxing to sit and stitch those wooly pieces to the cotton .

Fun litte project and should make a sweet quilt , thanks Stacy for sharing this pattern with us .

Today is also my hubby's birthday so I would like to wish Bill a wonderful and very Happy Birthday to my best friend and partner of almost 44 years , giving away my age now huh , but hey I was a child bride ;-)
 Thanks for the visit today and hope you have a great one .
 hugs Sheila