Day 8 - Ireland - June 8, 2013

This was another day on our own around Galway.  You could use the shuttle to go to the quilt show or take it so the City Center, Eyre Square for shopping and sight seeing.

There was a lecture at 10:30 am on Early Irish quilts by Roselind Shaw.  I had not heard of her before but wasn't going to pass up a chance to see early Irish quilts.  She had quite a number of quilts that she had collected but didn't allow pictures of them.  Have since found a couple of articles about her on the internet. 

One of the other exhibits I did yesterday was Mantility of a Quilter.  This was an exhibit of quilts made by men.

Visiting Gramps Memoirs by Shawn Quinlan



One exhibit "I Believe" was set up in Galway Cathedral which was across the river from the university campus.  So a bunch of us walked over there today before the lecture on antique Irish quilts.  Here are some of those.



This was the door handle on the cathedral at Galway.

After touring the Connemara Marble factory the other day it was interesting to start noticing the beautiful marble used in the floors of the cathedral and how quilt like many of the designs were.



 

This was one of the black marbles with lots of sea shells in it.

 



In the center of the University campus they had an area called quilters village.  This is where the vendors were, some quilt exhibits, the prison quilt exhibit and an area they has set up as the Wicked Thimble Pub. 

 

After getting some lunch, Mickey and I caught the shuttle over to Eyre Square which was the city center.  We walked the shop street and did a little shopping, but it was really warm, 80's, we went back to the hotel.  This was my evening at the Wicked Thimble Pub.  There was grilled sausage, hamburgers and chicken, with different salads.  Then they has a Irish band and some young girls (10 years of age and younger) who came and did some Irish dancing.  Then at nine caught the last shuttle back to the hotel.



Day 9, Ireland, June 9

Sunday was the day to move on in our tour.  We left Galway this morning and headed for Killarney.  We drove  along the coastline and traveled through an area known as the Burren.

 

 

 

Talk about a house by the side of the road, Whew!

 

 

We stopped here to have a bit of a stretch and a photo opportunity.  Noel explained that here along the coast the walls are built more "open" because if they were build as solid as further inland, the winds off the Atlantic would just topple them over.



 

 

A little wild Irish rose

 

 

 

Now it was back on the bus and onto the Cliffs of Moher.  Most days lunch was catch as catch can.  Noel let us know that there was a visitor's center at the Cliffs and it has a cafeteria.  We had probably two hours here, so it was up to us how we spent our time.  So I and Mickey grabbed a quick bowl of soup and then I started out.  I kept in mind that these sights were something that I had trained to enjoy.  Yes it was a lot of stair climbing, but I didn't want to miss these sights.

 

 

 



 Next stop was the village of Adare.  It is a quaint town with some cute thatched roof shops and a nice city center.  We had time to walk around and get an ice cream, unfortunately, the kid sold out just as I decided to give in and have one.  Saved by fate.

 

 

 

 The next two are examples of how moist the air is over here.  A seed will take room anywhere, the wall of your house or the top of your chimney.



I'm always fascinated by little alley ways and courtyards and would love to snoop, but stop just short.

Soon after Adare the weather changed as well.  We drove along the coast on our way to Killarney.

 

 

 



 

 

This was an island off the shore called the sleeping man.  If you look from right to left you can see his head, neck, chest, hands resting on his stomach and then the rest of him.

Will continue day 9's adventures tomorrow.

 

Day 7 - Ireland

Today was the start of the International Quilt Festival of Ireland.  It was held on the campus of Galway University.  And the quilts were spread out all over the campus.  They had a lot of exhibits if not many in each category.  Exhibits were: Rain, Prison Quilts, Under a Black Light Moon, Pieces of my Heart, Under the Sea, Cornucopia, Spirit Rising, I Believe, Irish Pride, School House, Feeling Groovy, Playground, Mantality of a Quilter, Games and Puzzles, What App-ening, Grafitti and Tattoos and Cead Mile Failte (1000 Welcomes).

One exhibit didn't allow photos.  That was the Prison Quilts.  These were made by male prisoners at Limrick Prison.  The setting was unusual.  As you entered the exhibit space, it was completely dark except for spotlights on the quilts.  In the background a recording was playing of the sounds within the prison.  It was very interesting and there were some very good quilts in this exhibit.

For the Cead Mile Failte exhibit they had asked attendees to make a hand block in green and white.  The blocks from last year had been sewn together in small wall hangings.  Here are some photos of the blocks I liked best.

These photos are of a couple of quilts from the Under the Sea exhibit.  These were displayed in the "quad" which was probably the oldest building on campus.



Wrath of Poseidon by Marilyn Belford



This was a view of the vendors from the second floor exhibit area.

The Cornucopia exhibit was made up of quilts from the Hoffman Challenge.

Japanese Fans by Mary M. Biggs

 

 

Chopsticks by Steven Lennert
 

 

From the Irish Pride Exhibit

More quilts to follow.  Friday evening Mickey, my roommate, was off for the Wicked Thimble pub for a "barbeque - Irish style" and some Irish music and dancing.  So I was on my own.  Claire and Celine stopped by and asked if I was interested in going into Galway with them for a walk about.
So I said yes.  The weather was beautiful that day.  Probably almost 80 degrees and everyone was out enjoying the weather, as evidenced by this view.

This was the old Spanish wall.  One of the oldest areas in Galway.

When I first spotted this fellow he was standing on a table outside this restaurant, then he hopped up on the window sill.



After our walk about we grabbed dinner from a cabob shop and started back for the University Campus so we could catch the last shuttle at 9 pm back to the hotel.  Since it doesn't start to get dusk until 10 or 10:30, evening is deceiving.  We though we would have time to eat at the picnic tables near the Wicked Thimble, but as we got there, ladies were streaming out to catch the shuttle, so it was already almost 9 pm.  We hurried along, caught the shuttle and ate our supper on the sunporch at the hotel.  It was a very good day.

More pictures of quilts tomorrow.