Together Forever

Standing joke amongst our family and friends is that my sister and I will end up old spinsters, living together forever.

There will probably be a few cats and perhaps a small dog involved.

There are worse fates in life I think!

 

From Aideen, Sharon & Tracey when in Finland - 2013

Road Trip!

My friend Ver is just back from her American road trip and she had an amazing time.  I was unashamedly jealous.

She has a young baby and all three of her children got chickenpox during the trip but she still found time to send me a postcard from each state.

What a postcard champion!

 

From Veronique when in Texas, USA - 2013

 

From Veronique when in Louisiana, USA - 2013

From Veronique when in Florida, USA - 2013

So Cute

This little gem arrived yesterday from the very handsome Charlie, where he tells me that he's having a great time and that he loves me.

So cute and just what a girl wants to hear.  Such a pity he's only 7 years old!

 

From Charlie when in Clonakilty, Ireland - 2013

Amster-dam Nice!

After a serious postcard drought I got a big delivery from my sister and her friends from their visit to Amsterdam recently.  The three I've chosen are a few of my favourites, some were very funny but not suitable to share, due to the nature of the city they were sent from!

From Sharon when in Amsterdam, Holland - 2013

They couldn't find a postbox and so sent them all together in an envelope on their return.  I love when the postcard has actually travelled, but better they arrive by envelope than not at all.

 

 From Aideen when in Amsterdam, Holland - 2013

Yes, I'm talking about you Tracey!

Who shockingly didn't send me anything, she's always been such a strong contributor in the past.  But after I communicated my dismay to her she has promised to do better and as she has lots of travel scheduled for the summer I've got high hopes that she'll redeem herself.

Otherwise I'm sending these ladies after her, check out the legend on the right!

 

From Aideen when in Amsterdam, Holland - 2013

Caravaning in Clare

I spent the weekend with my friends Laura and Luisa where we enjoyed good food and company in Laura's lovely county Clare.

It was Luisa's birthday mid week so after some sightseeing in the beautiful Burren region, we celebrated on Saturday evening with an amazing meal at An Fulacht Fia restaurant just outside Ballyvaughan (I highly recommend the lamb en croute).  We were staying in Laura's holiday caravan so we hit the beach for a walk and then headed back for a few beers and a couple of rounds of gin rummy.  Oh yeah, it was a crazy night!

Summer in Ireland is as reliable as a politician so as you can see from the photos, it was just a little on the windy side.  But it certainly blew away the cobwebs and we had a great time.

A pleasure as always ladies!x

The birthday girl

Laura loves to be photographed!

Here Comes The Summer Sun

Being Irish I have never worried too much about the weather and normally just wait to see what's outside when I open the curtain in the morning.  But I have never been so happy to see summer as I have this year.  Last summer was a complete bust and the winter was so long, wet, dark and depressing that I was completely starved of vitamin D by the time the sun finally came out a few weeks ago.  Though it has played quite a bit of hide & seek since it has been so good to dust off my summer clothes and show my toes the sun!

And postcard season has been kicked off by my parents with this little cutie, which was sent because of the similarity of these kitties to our own, the only difference being you would never get our two this close together as they completely despise each other!

From my parents when in Portugal @ Laura's wedding - 2013

Bouyed by the sunshine I rooted out my fabric stash and, following on from my New Years resolution to no longer procrastinate, I am going to make myself a 50's style dress using a really cool fabric I bought a while back.  Hopefully the good(ish) weather holds long enough for me to make, and wear, it!

 

Fabric is organic cotton by Cloud 9 and illustrated by American illustrator Ed Emberley

 

And I chose Burda pattern 7179 and am going to make the short sleeved version.

Nantes, je t'aime!

Just back last night from a trip to Nantes to visit my friend Denise.

Great company, fab food, cold beer, a little shopping and sunny weather doth a good time make!

We did a lot of socialising, I had a macaron, a galette, a crepe, a croissant aux amandes (I just have to have one of each when I visit France!), I got some vintage Levi 501's, which I've been looking for for ages, for €24 and we visited Les Machines de L'Ile which has a carousel for adults and a giant mechanical elephant that takes for a stroll around the grounds.

I had such a good time - thanks Denise, Vincent, Cooper and friends for a wonderful trip.xxx

The Welcoming Committee - Cooper Dooper Doo!

 

Amazing sights - Les Machines de L'Ile

And num nums - just a small selection!

Hilarious

I got Texts from Dog by October Jones yesterday and I was literally crying with laughter reading it.

 

2 of my favourite texts:

 

If you fancy a light hearted giggle - buy it!

Debbie Smyth

I did a workshop last month at the Cork Textiles Network conference with artist Debbie Smyth, who creates 3D drawings using pins and thread, and her pieces are absolutely amazing.  She'd featured in Embroidery magazine a few years ago and I was very excited to see her at work.

Now I cannot draw to save my life, something I truly wish I as better at.  My friend Laura gave me a little doll when we were studying Creative Textiles together and I decided to outline her over and over again in different poses and then used some of them in the workshop.  It was absolutely addictive!  Choosing colours and different ways to wind the string was completely involving and the time at the workshop just flew.  It's still a work in progress but I'm really happy with how it's turning out.

 

 

Apologies as always for photo quality

Gather Round

Part of the reason for my absence is that I've been working on this textile piece.  It was intended for an exhibition entitled The Gathering and I missed the deadline but decided to make it anyway as the idea had firmly stuck in my head.

I imagine Russian dolls are like women at an ICA meeting.  They love to have a really good natter when free of each other but come home time it's a near impossibility to gather them back together again.

So I made these little dolls from felt, ribbon & broderie anglais fabric with machine and hand stitch.  I free machined their faces, which all have a slightly different expression, and repeat hand stitched Gather Round (courtesy of my mothers writing) onto the background.  Then I appliqued each of the dolls onto the background which gave them a nice raised effect.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It's nice to finish a piece but I always feel a little bit lost after I do until I move to the next project.  These include finishing a piece I started at a workshop a few weeks ago and crocheting a granny square blanket, so plenty to keep me occupied!

 

Apologies for the quality of the images, I don't know why, but they always upload badly from my phone.

What a Corker

I know I've been very remiss in blogging, it's a quiet time for postcards and I've been busy with my textile work.

I randomly came across these 2 today and they made me laugh so I thought I'd share them.

Courtesy of ecards

Monkey Business Corkers

First In

My first postcard of 2013, may it be the first of many!

 

From Sharon when in Amsterdam, Holland - 2013

2013 Resolution

I'm not really one for new year resolutions as I never seem to keep them.  I don't smoke, I don't drink often, I'm active and while I do love eat, I have a reasonably balanced diet.

But last year went by so quickly that it scared me a bit how little I did in 2012.  So I've decided to make a resolution this year.

And it is not to procrastinate.

 

So in the spirit of not putting off what I can do today I've enrolled in the pilates class my physio keeps recommending but that I previously could never find the time for.  I really hope it works as I now have constant pain in my neck and arms from working at a desk all day.

My clever plan is to commit to things instead of putting them off so that I then will have to do them.  Sounds so simple doesn't it?  We'll see!

So to all of you who made resolutions this year - good luck!