Author: tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".
Bags Bags Bags, Craft Shop Tours, Knit and Crochet Away!

The Tangled Ball and Project Bags

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A month or so ago (this summer is a little blurry as it has been rather busy), I went with John to a large food and shopping market in Denver/Edgewater called the Edgewater Public Market. John was meeting some previous job colleagues there for a reunion. They are friendly people but I decided I would just wander the market on my own for the evening (if you check out the market on the link above it is pretty cool!), grab dinner on my own from one of the many eateries in the market, and read my book/work on my portable crochet granny squares.

While I was wandering the Edgewater Public Market I came across this storefront for The Tangled Ball:

A “yarn lover’s delight”! I love yarn and I had time to fill so after I ate my dinner, I wandered in. Next thing I knew I was sitting at one of the big tables in the shop with the owner and her husband (who is also a knitter and was working on a pair of socks) and working on my granny squares while chatting with them.

Here is what the shop owner was working on – a lovely knitted vest:

While we were talking at the table, working on our projects, I admired a cute project bag sitting on the table. The owner mentioned a local crafter made those bags but was no longer making the bags for the shop. She said she was looking into another source for project bags for customers to buy. I mentioned I make Drawstring Project Bags and she was interested in potentially selling them at The Tangled Ball.

If you are new to my blog, here are some examples of the drawstring project bags I make:

I’d planned to sell them again on my Textiles & Smiles Etsy Shop but I haven’t done all the product photography and writing of the listings to get them up on the shop yet.

So we agreed I would bring the bags by her shop in the future for her to see in person.

Before I get back to what happened with the bags and the yarn shop, here is a little tour for my fellow Yarn Lovers of The Tangled Ball:

I really loved the giant knitting needles with a Work in Progress (WIP) on the needles!

A week or so passed and I returned to The Tangled Ball to attend Colorado Makers Night Out held several times at month at the shop; and to bring a large sampling of my drawstring project bags for consideration to sell at the shop.

At the Colorado Makers Night Out I worked on my granny squares, while dining at the community table and visiting with some VERY talented and engaging knitters. Below are photos of my section of the table (my food, my project, and a drawstring bag I brought it in); and and amazing sweater (the photo does not do it justice) that one of the knitters was working on:

The other makers at the table were all beyond my skill set of knitting! (and I was the only person not knitting, ha, I was crocheting!) It’s was like sitting around with some of my blogging buddies who are knitting goddesses (you know who you are…) and watching in awe.

As far as the bags, the shop’s owner purchased about a 1/3rd of the bags I brought to try out at her shop. I recently found it she’s sold a couple of them so far!

I am so honored to sell my bags at a yarn shop but I will need to see if I can afford to continue sell at “wholesale prices” that the shop owner offers, when I do not buy my supplies at wholesale, etc. She owns a small business and is limited on what price she can pay for and then sell the bags for in her shop. It’s just the reality of the market.

I am going to get my act together and project bags up on my Etsy shop soon.

If you are a Yarn Lover and in the Denver area, I highly recommend this lovely yarn shop!

Bags Bags Bags

Bag to Celebrate a New Lab!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Our friends K&M are Retriever aficionados, and they appear to especially like Labrador Retrievers (“Labs”). They’ve had various “labs” as part of their family for years (Yellow, Chocolate, etc.) and now they’ve recent adopted a new Black Labrador Retriever puppy named “Murphy”.

While I was on the Oregon Coast (someday I will finish up my series of posts about that trip in July) I found this awesome fabric which was a tribute to Retrievers including Labradors, Goldens, Flat Coated Retrievers, etc., and I made them a drawstring project bag filled with treats for Murphy as a “Puppy Warming” gift.

Here is the front and back of the drawstring bag so you can see more of the fabric and all the different type of Retrievers included:

Here are photos my friend K sent me when they received the surprise Puppy Warming gift in the mail from me, including photos of the adorable pup Murphy!

I can’t wait to meet that cutie in person someday!

Fabric Scraps Obsession, What's on the Design Wall

Made Some Progress on “Strings Attached”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve been busy preparing to restock by Textiles & Smiles Etsy shop and getting ready for another scrappy fabric quilting retreat at my house, I am having with a different set of friends. Below is the basket of scraps they can work from:

In between that, some road trip adventure with John, and the completion of a home renovation project (well John did most the work), I’ve managed to make a little progress on the scrappy solid color medallion wallhanging I’ve been working on – Strings Attached.

Since my previous post What’s on the Design Wall: Strings Attached, I’ve sewn all the section of the center medallion string pieced star together and done the first border:

There were so many Y-seams! It seamed like every seam (smile) was Y-seam – yikes! I got a little more proficient on Y-seams after doing so many in a row but I don’t have any great insight, tips or wisdom to impart, sorry.

Here is a reminder of what the completed quilt will sort of look like:

Fabric Scraps Obsession, ScrapHappy

ScrapHappy August 2023 – All the Trimmings

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.

On August 15th, ScrapHappy Day, I’d hope to share the completed quilt top for the VERY SCRAPPY wallhanging quilt I am currently working on – “Strings Attached” from August 2021 issue of AmericanQuilter Magazine, pattern by Lori DeJarnatt (see post What’s on the Design Wall: Strings Attached), but alas, I’ve gotten no further than what I shared on August 9th when I last posted about it.

So instead for ScrapHappy August I am going to share the story behind this VERY SCRAPPY quilt – Recycled Hope VII: All the Trimmings

I made this quilt during the COVID pandemic and it holds a lot of meaning, and I will share the “Artist Statement” on this quilt in a moment for the full background. First I want to tell you about my “Recycled Hope” series of quilts:

From my Portfolio page:

The Recycled Hope an ongoing series of improvisational art quilts using recycled materials to include denim as the primary fabric on many of the pieces, combined with other recycled materials. “Hope” and the interpretation of the word “hope” is the primary theme of infused into these pieces. Most of the fabrics were not reusable as clothing or home decor and were destined to end up in a landfill. Reimagining recycled clothing and other materials into art quilts satisfies my hopeful desire to honor the environment and make art that is eco-conscious. Ending up in an art quilt is a better outcome than ending up in a landfill.

Okay now that you know the background on this series of quilts (if you want to see the rest of the quilts in the series, check out my Portfolio page) here is the story behind this SUPER SCRAPPY quilt which measures 72.5″ L x 57.5″ W:

Missing my Quilting Community during the 2020 Coronavirus Quarantine and inspired by Amanda Jean Nyberg’s pattern “All Sizes”, I created a quilt from 15 years of scrap triangles collected from my quilting friends at quilt retreats and “sew dates”. Most of the scraps in this quilt are from the trimmings of blocks by many quilters as they made their quilts. Instead of going into the trash, nearly 600 scrap triangles from the trimming of quilt blocks compose this cozy quilt. This piece gave me hope that someday I can return to attending quilt retreats.

Hopefully for next month’s ScrapHappy Day post I can share newly completed work (smile).

HAPPY SCRAPPING!

As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:

Kate @Tall Tales from Chiconia , Gun @Rutigt – G Adrian, Eva @bambisyr-evaj, Sue @From the Magpie’s Nest, Lynda @Life on the Farmlet, Birthe @Birthes rom, Turid @Den syende himmel, Susan @DesertSky Quilting, Cathy @nanacathydotcom, Tracy @It’s a T-Sweets Day!, Jan @The Snail of Happiness, Moira @The Quilted Snail, Sandra @Wild Daffodil, Chris @chrisknitsews, Alys @Gardening Nirvana, Claire @Claire93’s Blog, Jean @onesmallstitch, Jon @writinghouse, Dawn @DawnGillDesigns, Gwen @Deep in the Heart of Textiles/Textile Ranger, Sunny @The Adventures of Team Wil-Sun, Kjerstin @Quimper Hittys, Sue @Going Batty in Wales, Vera @lifebyacompassnotaclock, Edith @Edi’s Crafting Life, Ann @Ann F Stonehouse Quiltmaker, Dawn @myquiltprojects, Carol @Quilt Schmilt, Preeti @Sew Preeti Quilts, Debbierose @Sew Rosey, Nóilin @Paper, Pen and Mug, Viv @Where the Journey Takes Me 2, Karrin @Karrin’s Crazy World, Amo @View From Our Hill, Alissa @ Snakes & Cranes, Lynn @Tialys, Tierney @tierneycreates, Hannah @quietwatercraft

A Crafter's Life, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: Second Stop – Depoe Bay

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Toward the end of July 2023 we met up with dear friends on the Oregon Coast. I am doing a series of blog posts about our adventures on the Oregon Coast – check out the blog category – Oregon Coast Adventures – for the other posts (note when you click the link this current post will be the first one that shows but keep scrolling).

After flying into Portland, Oregon, renting a car, and stopping in McMinnville, Oregon (see post Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon) we drove to Depoe Bay, Oregon and spent the night at a little motel right on the bay. We came in a day before our friends we to arrive so we could do a little sightseeing on our own and leisurely make our way to Newport, Oregon to meet up with them.

The motel itself was nothing to “write home about” but it had a tasty free breakfast included and some amazing views.

This was the view from our motel room window:

And here are photos of the beach area a little bit down from the motel where we did a little exploring before heading to a delicious fresh seafood dinner.

And of course I had to take a photo in B&W:

I love this photo! Looks kind of mysterious and moody!

Next post in this series I’ll share our adventures when we got to Newport, Oregon to meet up with our friends.

What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall: Strings Attached

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A quick update to the post What’s on the Design Wall & “Agriculture Report” on the string pieced wallhanging I am making called “Strings Attached” from August 2021 issue of AmericanQuilter Magazine, pattern by Lori DeJarnatt.

I finished string piecing the 8 sections of the center star:

And then tried my hand a the first “Y-seam” (when 3 or more seams come together and they DON’T make a right angle per the geekybobbin.com) to join the first two star sections:

You can see in the photo above I got so excited joining one section that I started laying out the first border (instead of just piecing the whole center star first).

In the comments in the first post on this quilt, one of my blogging buddies asked me to share any tips I had on doing “Y-seams”. My first tip would be: “No, avoid them” but since I really wanted to make this piece I could not get around it.

Luckily the pattern designer had dots on her template for the center star sections that were a 1/4 inch away from the edge of the points; and she instructed the reader to make the same dots 1/4 inch from the points of the four squares and four inset triangles (the blue fabric) and match them with the dots on the star sections.

Sounds scary (and it looked scary) but it worked. I just got to do this 3 more times and then I can assemble the center star. I wonder if I can then get some sort of Certificate of Completion (I would frame it!) for those Y-seams – ha!

Oregon Coast Adventures, Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Toward the end of July we met up with dear friends (the kind of friends that you’d also consider family) on the Oregon Coast.

These are friends I met in Bend, Oregon where I lived for 14 years until my husband Terry suddenly died in 2018. I haven’t been able in the 4.5+ years since moving to Colorado to bring myself to return to Bend, Oregon for a visit (such an awesome life…nearly perfect… was lost there and I still have some trauma from coming home and finding my life partner on the floor dead in the house I’d plan to live in with him the rest of my life…too painful to return yet…) and I didn’t want try to ask my friends to come all the way to Denver again to visit us, so the “compromise” was to meet up the Oregon Coast (via Portland, Oregon).

It wasn’t much of a “compromise” as I love the Oregon Coast; and John (my new life partner) hasn’t been to the Oregon Coast, one of my favorite places in the world (or the places I’ve been in the world), and I was so excited to share it with him.

Central Oregon Coast map from aaroads.com/guides/us-101-or/

The plan was meet up with our friends in Newport, Oregon on the Oregon Coast the next day after flying into Portland, Oregon. We rented a car and here was our travel route (with lots of beauty along the way to see on the Pacific Coast Highway/Highway 101):

Image from Google Maps

But along the way we decided to stop in McMinnville, Oregon for lunch and to visit a quilt shop I had visited many years ago (I think before blogging as I could not find a blog post about it, ha!) – Boersma’s Sewing Center.

John sat in “the husband area” (ha!) with the vacuums (they sell sewing and vacuum related items) while I browsed.

After the quilt shop we headed to a lovely brewery (Two Dogs Taphouse) nearby for a delicious lunch:

We loved that they had a cozy sitting area, actually like a living room, that you could relax in with your beer and your food and watch TV:

After lunch we stopped at Third Street Books (how can I pass up an independent bookstore?) on our way to our car:

And then off to Depoe Bay (the town before Newport as you head south down the Oregon Coast) where we would be spending the night until we met up with our friends the next day in Newport, Oregon.

Agriculture Report, What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall & “Agriculture Report”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I was going to blog more about my recent Oregon Coast trip but there are so many photos to sort through so I thought I’d just post about a new wall hanging I am working on and my “Agriculture Report”. (What is an “Agriculture Report”? Well One of my blogging buddies @quiteayarnblog has an ongoing series of posts called “Agriculture Report” whose title always cracks me up because it is an update of what is going on in her garden. So I had to adopt that term for my garden report)

WHAT’S ON THE DESIGN WALL

I have so many projects in queue – unfinished projects and new project with imaginary and actual deadlines – but I was having a “squirrel” moment and cleaning out old quilting magazines and came across this pattern, String Attached, in an old issue of AmericanQuilter Magazine – and had to make it!

I am not sure why I fell in love with it but I did. I’ve done very little “string piecing” in the past but I thought it would be a great way to work down my collection of solid color fabric scraps:

I dumped them out and selected fabric scraps for the little quilt. I decided to stay away from dark or medium purple but to have red-violet and pink instead. I also tried to select fabrics similar to the sample one in the pattern.

The pattern calls string piecing on foundation paper but I decided to use muslin instead.

And here is the beginning of the center star on my design wall:

I am hopeful so far but I have some Y-seam type piecing to do when I get all 8 points to the center star done – yikes!

AGRICULTURE REPORT

My little upstairs patio garden is doing well this year, probably due to the ridiculous amount of rain we’ve been getting in the Denver Metro area. John and I joke we are now living in “Den-attle” or “Sea-enver” (Denver + Seattle).

I have tomatoes, peppers, and various herbs growing along with some Marigolds for pest control.

I was excited the other day to harvest my first tomatoes of the season!

Yes there were three cherry (small) tomatoes, but it was still exciting (smile).

Life in B&W, Oregon Coast Adventures, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: Yaquina Head Lighthouse in B&W

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a long time since I’ve added a post to my blog category Life in B&W where I let my inner Ansel Adams run free (smile). So it was time to share some of the Black & White photos I took while recently visiting the Oregon Coast. I’ll tell you more about the trip in a future post, but for now here are photos from our visit to Yaquina Bay State Park in Newport, Oregon and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse:

While at the state park beach area we enjoyed looking for life in the tide pools (the tide was low), a visiting with a park ranger who gave us a great overview, looking at large rocks covered with endless mussels, and trying to carefully walk on the rocks on the beach near the tide pools (the beach is entirely made of black basaltic rocks) without wiping out on Cobble Beach!

If you’d like to see more and see some of what we saw but in actual color, here is a video I found on YouTube:

Miniature Schnauzer Adventures

“Human Manager” Battle Continues

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Mike the Miniature Schnauzer asked me to write this post for him as a follow up his sort of recent Guest Blogger post Guest Blog Post: Battle of the “Human Managers” . While John and I are visiting with friends on the Oregon Coast, he is busy with new small dog friends at “Dog Camp” and I hear that he is also in a “new relationship” with another cute little female dog! He has quite the reputation with the ladies… (see his guest blog posts – Guest Blogger: Ladies Please Control Yourselves… and Guest Blogger: What Happens at Dog Camp, Stays at Dog Camp)

The photos are courtesy of the couple who run “Dog Camp”, they send me daily photos! His new crush is named Gracie and she is entangled with him in the second photo. We were informed that Mike was obsessed with her during dog camp!

Before John and I left for the Oregon Coast to rent a car and have a road trip (John’s never been to the Oregon Coast and I know it fairly well) and to have a reunion with some of my very dear old friends, John stopped by his Dad Chuck’s house to drop something off. He brought Mike with him (who loves Chuck so much!) and there was another Goose and Mike incident, ha! John of course took photos (smile).

Here is Mike getting loving from Chuck while Goose looks irritated:

Goose then whispers something in Mike’s ear:

Mike tries again to convince John that Goose is trouble:

And finally Mike just walks off:

John says Mike spends a lot of time barking at Chuck and at him when Goose is around. It is like Mike is saying: “get him out of here”!

Hopefully they will eventually learn to get along but for now he remains Mike’s nemesis…

Next post I will tell you about my Oregon Coast adventures!

Knit and Crochet Away!

What’s On the “Design Carpet” – Road Trip Granny Squares

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I hate being behind on reading my blogging buddies posts, so I wasn’t going to post again until I caught up. I haven’t caught up yet but I am only like 3 – 4 days behind now so I am allowing myself to do this quick post!

As I mentioned in the February 6, 2023 post  What’s On the “Design Carpet”, I am a nervous front seat passenger in a car. My best bet is to do something to distract me while I am a front seat passenger (especially when my partner John is driving, ha!). So I’ve been taking a granny square crochet project on the road whenever I am a passenger and I’ve made a bit of progress.

Instead of the “Design Wall” in my studio, I thought I’d show you my progress on the “Design Carpet” in my living room – ha!

Here is what the granny squares looked like in the beginning of the project:

I decided to add to more rows in a different color gray to float the centers:

And now 5 month later, I have 50 granny squares completed:

You might notice one very dark gray bordered granny square in the image above:

Well I have 30 more granny squares to complete and I plan to make a lot of them with that darker gray yarn (Currently I plan to make an 8 by 10 granny square blanket, so I need 80 blocks to complete it).

If you haven’t guessed it, I’ve been using up my collection of random gray acrylic and acrylic/wool blend yarn, including two different variegated grays/blacks yarns from my stash. So it will be another “scrappy” granny square blanket like these two I made previously:

I seem to have a thing about gray yarn as I notice there is a lot of gray in that blanket above!

I’d love to someday make a super “scrappy” granny square afghan like the one I came across in the blog post Scrappy July by View From Our Hill. She has like 16 different yarns in each granny square block – check out the link!

Shows and Exhibits, Special Events, tierneycreates, tierneytravels, WCQN

Black Pioneers Exhibit Celebration, California Museum, Sacramento, CA

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West exhibit opened at the California Museum in Sacramento, CA on June 10, 2023 however the official exhibit opening event occurred on July 15, 2023 and I attended.

I was so surprised to discover my quilt Langston Hughes: Pioneer Poet was used as their show poster! The museum staff told me how much they loved my quilt.

Here are some of the photos I took (including the poster and my piece, see videos below to see the other quilts in the show):

This quilt has gotten a lot of mileage! I also found it posted on other online advertisement for the show:

GoodDay Sacramento morning show had a segment on the exhibit (you will see my piece toward the end of the segment):

GoodDay Sacramento

CBS News Sacramento also had a segment on the exhibit:

CBS News Sacramento

And here is the walk-through video I took while at the exhibit:

I recently returned from a long weekend in California. John and I visited family and friends in Oakland and Sacramento California. I’ll share some photos/stories from those visits in a future post.

Fabric Scraps Obsession, ScrapHappy

ScrapHappy July 2023 – “Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White” is Done

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.

I finished the freeform scrappy log cabin quilt I first wrote about in this post – What’s on the Design Wall: Scrappy Log Cabin.  I pieced the blocks as a sample for the Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat I had in May. I got it back the other week from the longarm quilter, put on a binding, and earlier this week I finished sewing down the binding.

It is now hung in the wall of the upstairs guest bedroom where I have a B&W theme going on with some framed Ansel Adams posters, Black & White wall art, and B&W photos I’ve taken (on the walls not shown in the images below).

This quilt is very “scrap happy” as the quilt top was pieced entirely from my collection of black, white and gray scraps!

As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:

Kate @Tall Tales from Chiconia , Gun @Rutigt – G Adrian, Eva @bambisyr-evaj, Sue @From the Magpie’s Nest, Lynda @Life on the Farmlet, Birthe @Birthes rom, Turid @Den syende himmel, Susan @DesertSky Quilting, Cathy @nanacathydotcom, Tracy @It’s a T-Sweets Day!, Jan @The Snail of Happiness, Moira @The Quilted Snail, Sandra @Wild Daffodil, Chris @chrisknitsews, Alys @Gardening Nirvana, Claire @Claire93’s Blog, Jean @onesmallstitch, Jon @writinghouse, Dawn @DawnGillDesigns, Gwen @Deep in the Heart of Textiles/Textile Ranger, Sunny @The Adventures of Team Wil-Sun, Kjerstin @Quimper Hittys, Sue @Going Batty in Wales, Vera @lifebyacompassnotaclock, Edith @Edi’s Crafting Life, Ann @Ann F Stonehouse Quiltmaker, Dawn @myquiltprojects, Carol @Quilt Schmilt, Preeti @Sew Preeti Quilts, Debbierose @Sew Rosey, Nóilin @Paper, Pen and Mug, Viv @Where the Journey Takes Me 2, Karrin @Karrin’s Crazy World, Amo @View From Our Hill, Alissa @ Snakes & Cranes, Lynn @Tialys, Tierney @tierneycreates, Hannah @quietwatercraft

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

A Lovely Time in Loveland

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A month ago John and I decided to visit Fort Collins, CO for an overnight visit. We love Fort Collins and are entertaining the idea of moving there someday…perhaps.

On our way to Fort Collins, we stopped in the neighboring town Loveland, CO to visit John’s sister and her husband and go on a boat ride with her and her husband.

We had a lovely boat ride around the reservoir/lake area they live in (Colorado is far from the ocean but we do have rivers, reservoirs and lakes to sail on). Their adorable little dog Lacey came on the boat ride with us and had her own little bed on the boat:

After visiting with John’s sister and her husband we stopped at the Loveland Visitor Center to get John a sticker (he collects stickers to put on his toolbox) and took some photos of the awesome “Love” sign outside the visitor center:

(Did you spot John in the photo?)

Behind the “O” of LOVE, which is shaped into a heart, are “love locks” where people promising their love to each other have left locks:

You can see the theme of Loveland is “Love” and inside the visitor center they also had this sign that you could use as a background for photos:

Postscript

A Visit to Pink Door Fabrics

Before we got to Loveland, we first stopped in Frederick, CO to visit the retail store of Pink Door Fabrics, which is only open to the public 2 days a month.

Here are some photos from my wander around the retail store of Pink Door Fabrics, which is primarily an online shop specializing in Tula Pink fabrics.

I was well behaved until I got to this section of the shop:

I filled my bag really full and they did not mind!

A Year of Finishes - 2023, Quality of Life, What's on the Design Wall

What’s on the Design Wall: Go Boldly

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is a follow up to the June 23rd post What I’ve Been Up To and What’s on the Design Wall.

For the Quiltfolk Magazine photoshoot (see posts Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I and Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part II ), I wanted to have a quilt in progress up on the wall. The magazine editor had suggested it a day prior to the photoshoot and the quilt I had in my “UFO Stash” that came to mind were blocks of brightly colored “Crazy Curve Circles” that my friend D had given me a couple years ago (see June 2020 post Tweaks to the Tierneycreates Studio).

D already pieced a lot of the blocks; and I ended up piecing the rest of the sections together that she cut from the templates but had not pieced. She also gave me fabric and I made some additional blocks using the templates she also gave me.

Here is what the quilt currently looks like on my design wall – I’ve made a small version of the quilt pattern designed by Elisa’s Back Porch Designs:

There was a lot of piecing to get the whole quilt together – first the individual sections into a four patch, resulting in 16 blocks; and then sewing the 16 blocks together. I thought about making a larger quilt (I am so many blocks left over) but I just wanted to get this one done and move on to my other projects.

This quilt is part of the project A Year of Finishes – 2023, and it was mentioned in this February 15th post A Year of Finishes: Audit of Existing Projects, Part II as one of the outstanding UFOs I have in my stash.

I’ve decided to hand quilt it as a late Autumn/early Winter project, and use this dusty collection of hand quilting threads I bought at a sewing expo show in Seattle, WA early in my quilting days (2000?):

I think they are YLI threads.

So I am taking this quilt off the design wall and putting it away until the cooler weather when I’d want to have a quilt sitting on my lap while I hand quilt it.

So what to do with all the leftover blocks?

I’ve decided to make the large version of the quilt Circle Dance which includes both the larger “Crazy Curves” blocks (the one I made) and the smaller ones:

The pattern says “63 inches by 70 inches” but I think I can make it even larger with all the blocks I have left over. I will need to make the small “Crazy Curves” from the small template from the extra fabric D gave me.

I might start that in 2024 or 2025, who knows. I have so many projects in queue!

Next up on my project list is sewing on and then sewing down the binding for my black, white and gray scrappy freeform log cabin quilt – Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White (see post ScrapHappy June 2023: “Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White!”  if you’d like background on this quilt), which is back from the longarm machine quilter:

And to close out this post, here is my Human Manager, Mike (see previous post) who is irritated I was taking a photo of the quilt on my design wall and not playing with him and his bear.

Guest Blogger, Miniature Schnauzer Adventures

Guest Blog Post: Battle of the “Human Managers”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is Mike, the Miniature Schnauzer that lives with Tierney and John and provides management of their lives. I am guest blogging since Tierney has fallen off the blogging-wagon again busy with summer visitors and trying to finish up projects (that she will eventually blog about…)

I want to share with you an irritating issue I’ve been dealing with for a while: a battle between my “cousin” (or “uncle”) Goose and I over who gets to manage the humans.

First you might be confused if you’ve never lived with Miniature Schnauzers. Miniature Schnauzers are natural “Human Managers” and can help guide humans in their daily lives. My late sister Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer had her own blog Schnauzer Snips and she addressed this in a Special Service Announcement she made on her blog:

I already had John and Tierney “under my paw”; and John’s Dad Chuck was very amenable to Human Management by a Miniature Schnauzer – whenever I stayed over my “grandpa’s” house I was able to keep him easily in line.

Then everything changed…

John’s sister decided to get a Miniature Schnauzer puppy (Goose) and share custody with her father Chuck. At first I was okay with this as I know I am a role model of dog fabulousness and I figured they were just trying (and would not succeed) to find their own “Mike wannabe” that they could have regularly in their life.

Little did I know Goose had his own plans and would become my nemesis in a battle for control of the Humans!

Here are some recent photos from when John and I stopped by for a visit with Chuck and Goose (I much prefer when we visit Chuck and irritating Goose is at his other home!)

Goose is whispering in my ear: “Chuck is mine and soon John will be too, I’m going to be in charge of managing the humans!”

Here we are at a stand-off, each one of us wanting to get on John’s lap.

Here I am pleading to John to just ignore Goose, I am his one and only manager!

Goose succeeds in getting on John’s lap and his now mocking me.

Here I am whispering to Goose: “You might have won this one but watch your furry back. There can only be one human manager in this family!”

Hopefully Tierney will return to blogging in the future, until then I am happy to let you know about my struggles to be the primary Human Manager of John and my grandpa!

A Crafter's Life, Outside Adventures!

The Night Bazaar, the Canyon, and the Ramen

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Recently my sister and my nephew visited us in Colorado for 4 days. Here are some highlights of their trip which included a visit to the Night Bazaar in downtown Denver, hiking at Castlewood Canyon, and making homemade Ramen.

THE NIGHT BAZAAR

I liked calling it “The Night Market” (it sounded more mysterious) and we stumbled upon it when visiting downtown Denver one evening.

My nephew, who likes trying out eateries he hears about on viral Tik Tok videos, asked if we could visit Dave’s Hot Chicken (which they do not have available in Virginia where they live). It is a “fast food” type of eatery but one of the founders trained at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry (one of the world’s most famous three-Michelin star restaurants) and it shows in what I would consider a masterpiece of “fast food” eatery chicken.

daveshotchicken.com

So we ventured to downtown Denver where one of the Dave’s Hot Chicken locations was located and across from that eatery was the Night Bazaar. After our visit to Dave’s we headed over to the Night Bazaar.

We had so much fun wandering through the vendor booths as the sun was setting. Mike the Miniature Schnauzer was in the backpack and got to enjoy some sightseeing in downtown Denver:

John was continually stopped as we wandered through the market and then the Platte River Plaza bridge area with questions about Mike in a backpack. In the photo above he is chatting with a large group of people who want to know how Mike ended up in a backpack (the other dogs were being walked on leash through the market).

My sister and nephew found this cool sidewalk art with very wise words and took this cool photo:

THE CANYON

My nephew loves Colorado and wanted to go on a hike while he was visiting. We decided to take him to Castlewood Canyon which is not too far from our home and has lots of hiking options based on desired activity level. Here are a couple photos from our hike:

I’ve learned to wear a hat (I am the sister in the hat) when it’s hot and you are hiking – it helps in the Colorado sun!

At the Visitor Center, where I stopped to use the bathroom, I met a Park Ranger that had a rescued Bull Snake wrapped around her waist. The snake was recovering from an illness and she was “babysitting” it by keeping it on her all day at work!

Now that is dedication to the park’s wildlife!

If you’d like to see more photos of Castlewood Canyon check out this post I did in April 2020 – And on the 8th Day…Part III.

THE RAMEN

John’s loves to cook and always wants to challenge himself and experiment with making foods outside his comfort zone. A couple weeks ago, after much YouTube watching, he began making Ramen soup at home. He was using pre-packaged air-dried noodles (much higher quality than the instant ramen you eat in college) along with his fresh ingredients.

Well he wanted to take it to the next level and learn how to make his own Ramen noodles from scratch. My visiting nephew also loves to cook and was game to do a “Ramen Night” one evening for dinner and make Ramen with handmade noodles.

It took them two evenings to complete the dish – you have to let the ramen noodles sit for a day before you can use them. You also have to let the prepared chicken thighs for the ramen sit overnight before cooking the chicken so it will have a nice crust on the skin.

After all their hard work, they served us Ramen for dinner on Sunday night:

Their Miso based broth was amazing and I thought I was at an authentic ramen eatery!

So those are some highlights from their visit.

I’ll close this post with a couple bonus photos from their visit:

1) My sister brought a kimono for me as a belated birthday gift. She has connected with a woman with in Thailand that makes these kimonos with fabric sourced from Japan. She plans to import some of the kimonos to sell in the US. Here I am modeling the kimono she gifted me:

2) My sister and nephew adore my dog Mike, they are dog people…and cat people (they have two cats and two dogs) and Mike went on a lot of road trips with us. Here is Mike acting as a granny square crochet square rest as I crocheted sitting in the back seat of the car with my sister during their visit:

(I work on crocheting granny squares when I am a passenger in a car for a long car ride…keeps my passenger-in-a-car anxiety under control!)

3) My nephew and John played tennis at the tennis courts in my neighborhood and had a blast.

John didn’t do too bad playing someone like 1/3rd his age. (Both had played on tennis teams in junior high school but there was quite the difference of years since those experiences!)

A Crafter's Life, From the Archives, Special Events

From the Archives: Ladies Friendship Circle

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I was randomly thinking about this memory the other day and thought I would re-post it. If you’ve been following my blog a very long time (at least since 2016) you might remember the post – The Ladies Friendship Circle (1931).

In 2013 I facilitated the completion of a quilt started in the 1930s and given as a gift to someone 80 years later (who was alive when the quilt was first started). Here is the story:

THE LADIES FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE (1931)  

82 years ago in 1931 (note this post was originally written in 2013) my friend’s MJ’s grandmother and her group of friends made a quilt top for MJ’s mother (the new baby in 1931). The quilt was never finished. MJ wanted to finish this quilt for her 82 year old mother who had kept it packed away in a chest for 80+ years and surprise her for Christmas.

After searching several quilt shops, MJ and I found the perfect backing and binding fabric at one of our wonderful Central Oregon quilt shops.  Then we had the quilt professionally longarm machine quilted.

MJ and I spent an evening sewing down the quilt binding to finish it. We were both snuggled under the quilt as we each worked on sewing down one end of the binding. MJ planned to surprise her 82 year Mother with the mind blowing Christmas gift of a lifetime – a quilt top put away since 1931 that has been turned into a quilt!

Something very special about this quilt: MJ’s Mom is the only person living from this time period of this dear group of family and family friends – so when she gets the surprise quilt for Christmas she will see the names of the long-passed very dear people she grew up with.

I warned MJ – when you hand your Mom the quilt at Christmas, it is going to be a “blow out the tear ducts moment”!

MJ presented her mother with the quilt for Christmas in December 2013 and yes there were many tears of joy. Imagine receiving a completed quilt that was started when you were a child, by people who loved you and are now are long gone.

MJ’s Mom passed away in mid 80s and I am so glad she got to enjoy this quilt before she passed.

Quilts are love (as most quilters know) and this quilt contained the “spirits” of the departed loved ones entwined in the quilt’s hand embroidered stitches. I liked to imagine these “spirits” being very pleased that their quilt was finally finished and given to the intended…even if it took 82 years…

A Crafter Needs to Eat, A Crafter's Life, Agriculture Report, Fabric Scraps Obsession, What's on the Design Wall

Bunch of Random Updates

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I had a couple brief updates and I thought I would spread them out into a bunch of brief blog posts but I am lumping them all together.

GO BOLDLY

An update on the quilt (which might end up more wallhanging size) that I mentioned in the post What I’ve Been Up To and What’s on the Design Wall, which I named “Go Boldly“:
I am now sewing the blocks together. There are 64 blocks and each need to be sewing into blocks of 4 to make them into 16 blocks to then sew together.

I am currently debating whether to make the quilt larger (I have enough leftover blocks to make 1 – 2 additional quilts or wallhangings) or leave as it is. I think I am going to just sew the 16 blocks (4 mini sections to make a block) together and then decide.

OH SCRAP – IT’S NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE

A little update on the freeform (or wonky as some say) log cabin quilt I discussed in this post – ScrapHappy June 2023: “Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White!” :

The longarm machine quilter (Sew Colorado Quilting) has finished quilting it and sent me some photos, here is one of them.

I actually picked up the quilt today from her and will do a post on it with more photos once I get the extra backing and binding trimmed (I like to do my own trimming) and decide on a binding. I am thinking about doing a “facing” on it (like you would do with an art quilt) as I plan to hang it on the wall.

COLOUR WHEEL

A quick follow up on this post The Colour Wheel Quilt is Done, about the color wheel quilt I made to use as a teaching aid when I give a workshop next year (September 2024).

By the way I will share more information about that workshop including the venue once that venue gets ready to publish its online catalogue listing the workshop. If that doesn’t happen before October 2023, then I’ll go ahead and share as I’ve shared it with the Quiltfolk article writer for Issue 28 that comes out in October so it will be publicly revealed then anyway!

I had put the quilt away until next year for the workshop but then I decided to find a place for it in my studio so I could enjoy it before then – here it is now on a wall in my studio that I rearranged to make room for it:

VARIOUS RANDOM INFORMATION

John who loves to cook, tried making Ramen for the first time the other night and it came out pretty good!

My yellow rose bush in my front garden is finally taking off and here is one of its lovely roses:

And finally, here is Mike and his “cousin” Goose both trying to via for John’s laps (Goose won) when John was visiting his Dad the other day.

Hmm, I just realized that technically Goose is Mike’s “uncle” not his cousin – ha!

A Crafter's Life, Quiltfolk Issue 28, Special Events

Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I shared in Part I (if you are just joining us, see Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I), I was invited to be part of Issue 28: Colorado in the October 2023 issue of Quiltfolk Magazine.

I had an amazing Zoom video chat the previous Friday with Dr. Sharbeon Plummer, one of the Quiltfolk Magazine writers who will write the article about me; and then a very fun photoshoot inside and outside my home with the Quiltfolk Magazine photoshoot team.

I thought I would share some “behind the scenes” photos from the photoshoot that I took while the photographer was getting set up and/or the stylist was doing her styling magic.

Inside My House

The photo above is not a grouping of quilts to be photographed together, but rather a selection of quilts the photographer wanted to do individual close up details on. The first photo in the series of images above shows some of the photographic equipment they unpacked for the photoshoot.

Outside My House (Front & Backyard)

So that’s about it for now about this incredible opportunity.

As we get closer to the release of the October 2023 issue of Quiltfolk Magazine I’ll have some type of “social media” package with a preview of photos from the article I can share as a teaser and a discount coupon to share on my blog and Instagram for followers who would like to purchase a discounted copy of the issue.

The photographer and stylist set up some really cool photos and I cannot wait to see the outcome of the photoshoot. I also cannot wait to read the article of course!

If you’d like to see some additional behind the scenes photos check out the Instagram feed of the stylist @kimberleezacek (see her “Quiltfolk” reel) as well as the IG feed for Quiltfolk Magazine – @quiltfolk – which has a reel called “Issue 28” showing the amazing road trip by the photographer (Melanie) and stylist (Kimberlee) as they travel through Colorado meeting with quilters and photographing their homes and studios (as well as the beauty of Colorado).

A Crafter's Life, Quiltfolk Issue 28, Special Events

Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is the follow up to my recent post: What I’ve Been Up To and What’s on the Design Wall.

I was invited to be featured in the October 2023 issue (Issue #28) of Quiltfolk Magazine.

On Friday June 16 I had my Zoom interview with one of the Quiltfolk Magazine writers; and and on Thursday June 22 I had a photoshoot at my home with one of the Quiltfolk photographers and one of the stylists.

So where do I begin? How about with a little background/history?

Quiltfolk Magazine is a quarterly magazine which features interviews and stories about quilters and quilting communities in a specific US state or region.

image credit: quiltfolk.com

I’ve been reading it and subscribing to it (on and off when I feel inspired to pay the annual subscription fee) since it’s first publication in October 2016 – which featured quilters and quilting communities in Oregon, the state I lived for 14 years before moving to Colorado.

First issue, image credit: quiltfolk.com

And I’ve been working on a quilt similar to the one on the cover since 2016! This cover inspired me to try out English Paper Piecing (EPP).

(I now have around 68 rosettes done, so I am getting close to the 99 to finish the EPP quilt.)

I love Quiltfolk Magazine, I have collection of past issues and each one feels like a beautiful ode to the art of quilting.

Check out this link to see the beautiful covers on these issues – Archive – Quiltfolk.

Okay so with that background perhaps you can imagine my shock, surprise and honor to have received this e-mail from the Editor in Chief of Quiltfolk Magazine on May 24, 2023 (excerpted and text condensed):

I am writing to you today because our team is currently in the process of planning an upcoming release, Issue 28: Colorado, and we came across your name and amazing work. We would like to know if you would be interested in being featured in our next magazine issue? First, a little about us: Quiltfolk is a 164-page, ad-free, print-only quarterly publication for quiltmakers and quilt lovers. We are a travel magazine as much as we are one about quilts. We go on the road four times a year to find America’s quilt stories, covering one state per issue. I’ve attached a PDF of our most recent release so that you can see how dedicated we are to producing a first-rate magazine for the national quilt community that we love. We were founded in 2016 and have been steadily growing ever since, now reaching tens of thousands of quiltfolk across the country. If you are interested in being featured in Quiltfolk, Issue Issue 28: Colorado, (and we hope you are!) please confirm by responding to this email. Then, next steps are as follows: One of our writers will reach out to schedule an email, phone or Zoom interview with you within the next three weeks. We will also be in touch to coordinate an in-person, socially distanced photo shoot with our crew. (The photography team consists of one photographer and their assistant. Occasionally, a writer may join them.) We are currently planning photo shoots between June 19th – 28th.

I stared at the e-mail for quite a while before my brain fully registered all the words! Quiltfolk Magazine, friggin’ Quiltfolk Magazine, which I’ve loved and read for years is inviting me to be in it!

Of course I replied “Yes”!

More to come in Part II…

A Crafter's Life, What's on the Design Wall

What I’ve Been Up To and What’s on the Design Wall

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve been behind in writing blog posts and reading blog post. I’ve been prepping for my first magazine photoshoot! For now I’ll need to keep you guessing but soon I will reveal what publication and what issue.

I had a Zoom interview last Friday with the article writer and yesterday (Thursday) I had a photo shoot with the photographer and stylist. I made them some homemade shortbread cookies, fruit, coffee and tea for their morning photo session with me:

The photographer and the stylist were so awesome and it was a fun (and a little tiring) morning posing for photos and helping them style what they wanted to at my home. Photos were taken inside and outside my house and lots of quilt photos. I have some “behind the scenes” of the photoshoot to share once I can reveal the publication. If you follow me on Instagram (@tierneycreates) you’ll probably find out first as I am just waiting for the stylist to post their behind the scenes photos to Instagram.

The “What’s On The Design Wall” part of this post is related to the photoshoot.

A day prior to the photoshoot, the Editor in Chief of the publication informed me that they liked to photograph any “works in progress”. I’d just finished Scrappy Autumnal Splendor (see post Scrappy Autumnal Splendor Back from Professional Quilting) and It’s Not Just Black and White (see post ScrapHappy June 2023: “Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White!” ) so I had nothing on the Design Wall!

But the set of circle blocks that my friend D sent me a couple years ago (see post What’s on the Design Wall: Pride) for a colorful quilt she began in a class but decided not to finish, came to the rescue!

I started making the existing blocks into a quilt in summer 2020; and making additional blocks from the pattern and templates she gave me. I was going to name the quilt “Pride“, but I got distracted by other projects, took the quilt off the design wall and put it away.

Now it is back up on the design wall, just in time for Thursday’s photoshoot:

Yes it’s a little wrinkly but I was short on time before the photoshoot to re-iron the blocks before putting them up.

As part of the photoshoot I even sewed two blocks together, so I guess I better now work on sewing the whole thing together!

I changed the name of the quilt to “Go Boldly“. It is going to be wallhanging size and I do have enough leftover blocks to make a second wall hanging or even a quilt if I use up the extra fabric D also gave me to make more blocks (I have very generous quilting friends!)

Oh a quick update on Scrappy Autumnal Splendor – the binding is on and it is sitting in its new home in my home library. I was happy to get it back from the long arm machine quilter and get it bound (or “binded”? SpellCheck tells me that is not a word, ha!) before the photoshoot.

And I will close out this post with a couple photos of John (napping) and Mike enjoying the new hammock (actually intended for camping, it is a portable and fits in a small bag) we picked up on clearance at a sporting store. We got a break from all the rain we’ve been having in the Denver Metro area and they got to enjoy some hammock time!

Fabric Scraps Obsession

Scrappy Autumnal Splendor Back from Professional Quilting

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A follow up to the post What’s On the Design Wall: Scrappy Autumnal Splendor.

I picked up Scrappy Autumnal Splendor from the longarm quilter on Thursday, I’ve sewn on the binding and I am working on sewing down the binding and then the quilt will be finished!

I got a preview sent to me by Cara @sew_colorado_quilting (IG page) who did the longarm quilting. Here are the photos she sent me before I picked up the quilt:

I was beyond excited to pick up the quilt and had to take some photos on Thursday when I first got it from her (yes I was sitting in my car, opened up the package the quilted quilt was in, and posted photos to IG, ha!)

Here is the quilted quilt on my design wall and the back of the quilt draped over the chair in my studio:

After I finished fondling the quilted quilt (ha!), it was time to finalize my decision for the binding. I decided to go with a gold fabric that had also appeared as fabric scrap pieces in the freeform log cabin blocks, but I also had some yardage of the fabric.

Then the tedious task of sewing the binding onto the quilt:

And now I am sitting around sewing down the binding to the back of the quilt. Mike the Miniature Schnauzer is keeping me company:

And moved to nest in the quilt when I took a break and left the quilt on the sofa!

Yes, Mike does need a haircut, he gets one on Tuesday; and yes his paws are green as he was playing ball today in the freshly mown backyard and “naturally dyed” his fur green!

Fabric Scraps Obsession, ScrapHappy, What's on the Design Wall

ScrapHappy June 2023: “Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White!”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.

Look what is now on my design wall: a sewn together freeform log cabin quilt using my black and white (and some gray) fabric scraps that I introduced in this post – What’s on the Design Wall: Scrappy Log Cabin. As far as the name of the quilt: Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White! I’ll explain that later in this post.

So I went from this (a crazy box of black, white and gray scraps):

To this (35 scrappy pieced blocks):

To now this (all sewn together):

Here is a close up of some of the freeform log cabin style pieced blocks (if you’d like to see a summary of my method I discuss it in this post – More on the Blocks I Made at the Retreat and a Brief Tutorial).

It was so much fun to piece this quilt and to select interesting (all over the place) scraps for the blocks. As you can see in the images above, it is just a mishmash of scraps! I had a bunch of black and white fabrics scraps with writing as part of the fabric design so I thought it would be fun to work them in.

As far as the name of the quilt (I love naming quilts): Originally the quilt was going to be created only using black and white scraps. Then I decided to work in some gray. Then on a whim I decided to use some scraps that had a khaki brown color in addition to black. I liked the effect of a little bit of light brown in the piece. A pure B&W log cabin style quilt was not aesthetically pleasing to me. The name “Oh Scrap – It’s Not Just Black and White” is a play on the saying (which there are many versions):

Life isn’t always black and white (there is some gray…)

Now I am working on piecing the back of the quilt and I went shopping in my stash like I did in the post What’s On the Design Wall: Scrappy Autumnal Splendor.

And found these three fabrics to use as the pieced backing:

I will reveal the pieced backing when the quilt is quilted. I’ve decided to have a longarm quilter machine quilt this quilt also.

So after making two freeform log cabin quilts in a row I think I will try a different pattern when I am ready to make my next scrap quilt.

By the way here is an update on Scrappy Autumnal Splendor, the other freeform scrappy log cabin quilt: The longarm quilter is done with it and I get to pick up the quilt later this week! The longarm quilt sent me some photos and I am so excited!

As promised, here are the bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:

Kate @Tall Tales from Chiconia , Gun @Rutigt – G Adrian, Eva @bambisyr-evaj, Sue @From the Magpie’s Nest, Lynda @Life on the Farmlet, Birthe @Birthes rom, Turid @Den syende himmel, Susan @DesertSky Quilting, Cathy @nanacathydotcom, Tracy @It’s a T-Sweets Day!, Jan @The Snail of Happiness, Moira @The Quilted Snail, Sandra @Wild Daffodil, Chris @chrisknitsews, Alys @Gardening Nirvana, Claire @Claire93’s Blog, Jean @onesmallstitch, Jon @writinghouse, Dawn @DawnGillDesigns, Gwen @Deep in the Heart of Textiles/Textile Ranger, Sunny @The Adventures of Team Wil-Sun, Kjerstin @Quimper Hittys, Sue @Going Batty in Wales, Vera @lifebyacompassnotaclock, Edith @Edi’s Crafting Life, Ann @Ann F Stonehouse Quiltmaker, Dawn @myquiltprojects, Carol @Quilt Schmilt, Preeti @Sew Preeti Quilts, Debbierose @Sew Rosey, Nóilin @Paper, Pen and Mug, Viv @Where the Journey Takes Me 2, Karrin @Karrin’s Crazy World, Amo @View From Our Hill, Alissa @ Snakes & Cranes, Lynn @Tialys, Tierney @tierneycreates, Hannah @quietwatercraft

tierneytravels

The Cliffs of Moher

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I thought I would return to the trip to Ireland (Dublin, Doolin, Galway) John and I took with our friends K and M in October 2022. There were so many wonderful sights (see posts Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland!, Guest Blog Post: The Beasties’ Ireland Travelogue (Part I), and Guest Blog Post: The Beasties’ Ireland Travelogue (Part II)) and I haven’t blog much about them.

Also I noticed that only the tierneycreates Beastie guest post blogged about the Ireland trip, I cannot find a post that I wrote (smile and wink).

One of the spectacular places were visited while in Ireland were the Cliffs of Moher which looked like something out of a movie.

Here is a little background on the Cliffs of Moher from the attraction’s website if you are not familiar with them:

At The Cliffs

One of Ireland’s favourite visitor experiences & tourist attractions, the Cliffs of Moher tower over the rugged West County Clare coast.

Visually spectacular, the Cliffs of Moher sit astride the striking landscape of the Burren on one side and the Wild Atlantic Ocean on the other. Rising out of the Atlantic waters to a height of over 700ft at O’Brien’s Tower and running along the coast of Clare for almost 14 kilometres, or 8 miles, the Cliffs of Moher were formed over 320 million years ago, and today form part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark. The Cliffs of Moher is in a Special Protection Area for Birds and Wildlife. The magnificent Cliffs on the Wild Atlantic Way host major colonies of nesting sea birds and are one of the country’s most important bird-breeding sites. Borrow some binoculars from our information desk and do some bird watching. Enjoy the captivating spectacle of the vast array of sea birds, a delightful way to pass the hours.

It was very very very windy on the cliffs and here are John and I braving the wind:

And here are our friends K and M. that we went to Ireland with, battling the wind at the cliffs:

K’s mother was from Ireland and she still has plenty of family there (some of which we met up with in Galway while we were visiting); and her husband M goes to Ireland all the time so they were awesome tour guides.

I took over 100 photos at the cliffs and I am certainly not going to torture you to them all (or clog up my image allotment on WordPress); so I made myself select a couple of my favorites to share with you the beauty of the Cliffs of Moher:

The photos of course do not do the beauty of the Cliffs of Moher justice – I felt like I was on the set of a movie and fully understood why the call Ireland the “Emerald Isle“.

Here is a little video I took:

There were a lot of cattle grazing in the grasslands area of the Cliffs of Moher and one particularly friendly bovine caught my attention and we took a photo together.

Now I am considering becoming vegetarian again, ha!