Überraschungen ...

Es ist Montag morgen, es regnet, die Schule hat wieder begonnen und ich habe eine lange Liste an emails, Blogstalking und Co zu erledigen. Ich habe schon oft erzählt, daß mein Postbote der Beste in ganz Irland ist. So hat er mir gerade eben zwei nette Briefchen vor die Türe gelegt, angeklopft und dann noch nett zugewinkt. Das kleine habe ich erwartet: Ink Pads für den Stamping up Swap, aber das andere? Es ist groß, weich und kommt aus dem UK. Eigentlich sind alle Swaps abgeschlossen und bei den neuen sind doch erst die Partner zugeteilt worden. Also daher kann es nicht kommen. Den Nachnamen kenne ich, aber was habe ich versäumt? Nachdem ich vorsichtig das Kuvert aufgeschnitten habe und das erste kleine Stoffecken gefunden habe, habe ich angefangen breit zu grinsen....

Welch eine tolle Überraschung Rachel! Danke, Danke, Danke! Ich kenne Rachel seit dem Mouthy Stitches Swap in der ersten Runde. Wir waren nun auch gemeinsam im Stash Bee und noch so manch anderem Swap und mischen so manche flickr Gruppe mit "unsinnigen" Kommentaren auf. Sie ist immer für einen Spaß zu haben und Rachel ist meine Applique-Queen! Sie hat in den letzten Monaten viele tolle Totebags gezaubert und auch diese habe ich auf ihrem Blog gefunden. Mehr tolle Bilder gibt es auf ihrem Blog zu sehen. Liebe Rachel, das war eine tolle Überraschung und ich freue mich riesig!

I am sorry for my English readers but I heard from Rachel (and an other blogging lady) they want to improve their German so the translation will be given tomorrow! Just one word you need to know: Überraschung means surprise!

Aran Islands - Inis Oîrr

Gestern gab es wohl den letzten Samstagsausflug für ein paar Monate. Nächste Woche beginnt wieder der "Alltag" und damit die Rugby Saison. Die beiden grossen sind sich noch nicht einig, wer denn nun in diesem Jahr spielen wird, aber nächsten Samstag sind wir auf jeden Fall bei der Saisoneröffnung dabei. Also haben wir noch schnell das schöne Wetter genutzt und einen Bootsausflug auf Inis Oîrr gemacht. Dieses Mal ging es von Doolin aus mit einem kleinen Boot über riesige Wellen auf die kleinste der Aran Islands.
Yesterday might have been the last Saturday for a long time to go on a trip. Next week the rugby saison starts even if the kids are not sure who is going to play this year. Anyway we used the lovely weather and went off to Inis Oîrr. This time we took a boat in Doolin and took off to the smallest of the Aran Islands. 
 

Die Wellen sind unglaublich hoch und auf diesem kleinen Schipper fühlt es sich an, wie Achterbahn fahren. Ich liebe Achterbahnen, doch dort auf hoher See wurde mir dann doch ein wenig mulmig. Das Gefühl, das Schiff kippt jeden Augenblick um, ist dann doch beängstigend.
The waves were incredible high and it was like going on a roller coaster. I love roller coaster but the additional moving left and right and having the feeling the ship is going to overturn makes me feel sick.

Nach endlos langen Minuten haben wir aber den Hafen erreicht und nach einer kurzen Verschnaufpause ging es mit dem Rad über die Insel.
After an endless long time we finally arrived at the island. We took a short break before we rented some bikes and started to discover the island.

Natürlich mussten wir als erstes zu dem Schiffswrak treten. Es sieht schon fantastisch aus und im Sonnenschein leuchtet es richtig. Es gab viel zu entdecken rund um das rostige Schiff und auch ein Blick hinein war möglich.
First stop was at THE PLASSY WRECK. It looks amazing and shines in bright sunshine (if you have some like we did for 2 minutes). There was plenty to be found around the ship and great to look inside as well.

Jede der Inseln hat ihren Berg und so mussten wir den Hügel raufstrampeln. Eigentlich wurde das Rad mehr geschoben, aber zum Glück sind das ja mehr Hügel als Berge. Der Blick über die kleine Insel ist fantastisch und auch die nächste der Inseln konnte gesichtet werden. Der weitere Weg ging dann entlang der Küste bis zurück in das Dorf.
Each of the islands has its "mountain" so we had to cycle up. Actually was more a pushing the bikes up and have a nice walk. Luckily the hills are not that high so it only took some minutes to get to the castle and have a fantastic view over the island. After we cycled along the coast back to the village.

Irgendwann ging es dann doch wieder auf das Boot. Eine Reise stand uns noch bevor: Cliffs of Mohern von der Seeseite! Nachdem der Wellengang nahe dem Festland schon recht hoch war konnte das noch lustig werden. Zurück zum Festland ging es mit dem gleichen Schiff und dort sind wir in ein noch kleineres umgestiegen. Juhuuu!
Unfortunately we had to go back to the main land. There was only one thing more to do: Cliffs of Moher from the sea side! After remembering the high waves around the mainland I was not really looking forward to. So we went back to Doolin where we changed to boat! Yeahh great! The one going to the cliffs was even smaller and to tell you the waves did not get smaller!! Look at this....

Also gut festhalten mit der einen Hand und in der anderen die Kamera. Zwischendurch schwappte noch das Wasser in das Boot und die Füße wurden dann auch noch naß. Ich brauch nicht zu sagen, dass es so gegen 6 Uhr abends dann kalt wurde. Zum Glück hatte meine Kleine ihre boshi mit und ich konnte mir die ausborgen (keine Sorge, sie hatte einen Kaputzenpullover und eine Kaputzenjacke)
So now it was time to hold yourself with one hand and the camera with the other. In between the boat was going up and down and sometimes the water swapped over. I do not have to tell you that at about 6 pm it got quite cold and the water was not really warm. Lucky me my little girl had her boshi with so I could borrow it (do not worry she had a hoodie)

Aber wir haben es geschafft. Die Klippen sehen von unten noch viel beeindruckender aus.
But we did it! The cliffs look incredible from the sea side.

 Aber auch dieses Mal hat sich der liebe süße Puffin versteckt, sodass ich wohl nochmal runterfahren muß. Irgendwann seh ich ihn, aber erstmal muss ich aufhören zu schaukeln ....
Again I did not find any Puffin around the Cliffs so I have to come again. But first I have to stop rocking ...

Swapping

Do you ever say no if anyone asks you to join a swap? I can hardly resist so when Nicky called out to start stamping I tried my best for days until I gave in. I remember potato stamping when I was a little girl in school but it was never one of my favorites. Also my kids have stamps I do not really like (To be honest I love their drawing much more but sometimes it is fun). Just making my own stamp sounds so much more fun.



So this could not be so hard. So I went out to get some rubber and a scalpel to get started. The hardest thing was to get the ink pads which had to be ordered. To tell you a secret I am not a very patient person so after I got rubber and scalpel I started to cut and shape. Of course I wanted to see how it looks so I improved a little with an ordinary sponge and it worked quite well. So this was my first attempt in stamping a fabric


In the meantime the ink pads have arrived, the school has started so now I am off to stalk my dear partner and try to make her something beautiful.

Time to finish the Bees

Today was the day. My new lovely darling - so called sewing machine - had the first go after a long break. After cleaning the kitchen table from the birthday cake, presents, candles and giving it a good wipe I could start. There were some bee blocks waiting for a long time to be finished. I started with the Stash Bee Blocks from July. These were quite simple as I could do paper piecing which I really like. 6 1/2'' equilateral triangles, straight or wonky. A perfect block for little scraps.

The other one for August straight forward as well. Adrienne was asking for a churn dash. She gave us a great tutorial to work with so it was really fast to make. For an other one I would just make the cuttings a little bitter as I like to trim the blocks. You know, just in case you need it. It gives a little safety

This was the last month in Stash Bee. After 17 month it is over now. It was fun and sometimes it was a challenge. It was a great time. I am sure there are some blocks I would have never tried.

I asked for converging corners to be made and I am so happy with my quilt. I love to snuggle in especially now when the temperatures are falling. Thanks so much to all the ladies who made a block or two. They work together so nicely.

An other Bee is coming to an end this month: The Modern Irish Bee. I could not finish the blocks for Judith before the summer and I am terrible sad about that. She asked for two tumbler blocks and in each of these we should use one of our fabrics. For one block I wanted to use the Glimma from Lotta Johannsen I used in my month and the other block I used a fabric I got in Austria in summer.

Last blocks for today were the ones for August for Sophie. The fabrics were already waiting for me when I came back. It only needed some time to get started. As my son was so bored today I let him make the design and let him arrange the HST. To be fair the girl had the pleasure to do the photoshooting with me ...

This was also the last month in Modern Irish Bee. It was great fun and I had the opportunity to make lots of different blocks.

I hope to finish my quilt soon so I can show you what the lovely ladies made for me. Thank you so much for the great time with you!

Swaps done and comming up

I am only back for some days now but there is plenty of work now to be done. I am sorry for the delay in the bees but you still have to wait an other day until I am sorted. I have to thank all the Bee members of MQGI for the lovely blocks they made. I will post a picture soon and hope to put them together soon. For the modern Irish quilters they started a pincushion swap and you know, you never can have enough pincushions so of course I signed. With all those lovely ladies there I had so say yes! To sign in I had to start with a mosaic and to be honest it is not that easy to select just a hand full but this is what I cam up with

In case I could get bored or run out of fabric I also joined the map swap! Did you ever see all those gorgeous fabrics out there with map prints? I always wanted to have some as well so thanks to May doing an other swap. There is still some place so if you want a piece of "Road 15" by Sweetwater head over and join the group.

Before the summer I took part in the "Fabric Basket Swap". My basket arrived save at its new home as the parcel sent to me was rejected and went straight back. I was so sorry when I heard that and time was running out as I was almost on the plane. So I hoped that the second time sending the basket will be successful and when I arrived I was searching for the parcel. Unfortunately I could not find it. I was so sad until two days later the kids found an other parcel in front of the door! What a surprise when I recognized it is my basket! Thank you so much Laura! Rainbow colors and stand alone baskets! How lucky am I?

Think this are all the swaps for the moment so if I forgot about anyone this time I am sorry. My head is not back in working mode but I am sure I will talk about the next days. So that's it for today ... I think so!

Summerholidays are over

Earlier than planed we are back in Ireland. We had a great time in Austria again meeting lots of old and new friends, enjoying the summer even if it was much to hot at the end. Looks like we are no longer used to this temperature so we are quite happy being back to (almost) normal. There was no sewing during the vacation. Just mountains, water and sight seeing. We went up on towers and sliding down, went on ships and trains, visited castles and tourist attractions, watched the knights and played chess in the park....

... had fun on the playgrounds, painted the street and had lunch with this gorgeous lady ...

.... visited the bear, watches butterflies, falcons, dragonflies and frogs, fed squirrels and walked with horses ...

.... went on mountains to see the sun rise, waterfalls and flowers (gentian) and loved to sit outside watching the moon...

... had a little birthday party for the girls (just in case Rhonda is still wondering - not I did not turn 69 -  not now) before we packed and came back to Ireland!

When we arrived there were some parcels already waiting for me and there are some bee blocks waiting to be done! So time to go back and start the sewing machine!

QAL 2 Finish A Long ..

I am back for a short hello. The weather is not so bad and we already went into the mountains. So we enjoy the summer.

I also want to show you the success from the QAL 2. Almost every topic on this list is finished now. There is one project I am really proud of that it is done ...

1. Quilt for a friend - Done

It was hard work at the end. I love how it looks now and I am so happy that my friend loves it too. Unfortunatels her little girl said "purple is my favourite colour" and took it to her room. I am not sure if she will ever give it back. All trys ended in tears ....

2. Stash Bee Quilt - Done

3. Something out of these - not an idea till now

4. mittens - Done

5. pillow made out of crochet grannies - Done

I am really happy how this quarter worked out.