Wrap again

A few posts back I shared two wrapped band temari I had stitched. I was planning to do the black base one again on a S10, well that didn't happen because I accidentally marked a S6 again. So I decided to mix it up again by changing the way the bands were laid out.

This time I again laid two bands in each colour but the difference was that I laid them running in the same direction on two sets of lines next to each other instead of in a V on one set of lines.

I imagined a spiral look to it with all the threads moving in the same direction, probably should have done just one row in each of the nine shades, maybe it would have made the spiral work better.

As you can see I used the same colours as the last temari but this time on a cream coloured base. I used the same amount of thread on this temari which means there is still about a third of a skein left in these shades for my next go. Don't you think this temari reminds you of candy or icecream? Maybe it is just me but I ate a bunch of Peppermints the day after I stitched this one... Maybe it was just because I found a bag of peppermints.

Japanese food party

The last few weeks have been a little rough, lots of overtime at work and general business. I haven't had a second to put towards temari making.

Last night we did take time out to celebrate our Mum's birthday with a Japanese menu. Miho and I prepared the menu and my DH helped by cooking the Karaage.

It was so yummy. Here a few of Miho's pictures.

Table set and ready to go

 Yum loaded up and about to dive in

 Mmm Chicken Karaage

The menu included all the Japanese favourites, to be honest this mostly isn't everyday food, but their was plenty of dishes. We has individual cheesecakes for dessert. It was a great night.

What is your favourite Japanese food?

Ireland part 4, The Finale

Our last few days in Ireland were spent in and around County Cork. We visited Cobh which is the last place the titanic took on passengers before its fateful voyage. We visited the Titanic Experience

 

 

Cobh

Picturesque little town, we took our lunch at the Titanic Bar and Grill restaurant under the White Star Line building. The food was A-mazing, and we tried an interesting lemonade that was brown in colour.

Titanic Passengers waiting to be ferried out of the Harbour

 

White Star line building today, we stood on the same balcony!

We stayed at an amazing B&B in Blarney and travelled around the area visiting lots of attractions most notably Blarney castle where we managed to climb to the top and kiss the Blarney Stone. The headless image below is me actually doing the deed. I am grateful for the grating under the stone, I could imaging one could accidentally slide right through the gap to a squashy fate without them.

 

I kissed the Blarney Stone

Blarney Castle Estate

W and my Hubby also got to visit the Cork University Hospital to have W's permanent cast put on his broken wrist. I think I forgot to mention that two days before we left Australia my son broke his wrist at school. While they did that the rest of the group went to the English Market in Cork.

We left Ireland from Cork, but my folks continued to travel around to Northern Ireland before arriving back to Dublin.

Where did we go next? The Netherlands! More on that next time.

Ireland part 3

We hired a car and travelled from Dublin to Cork.

My favourite place in Ireland that I visited... it is hard to say but, I really loved Kilkenny. I could see myself living in a place like that! All the streets are full of blooming floral baskets and the buildings are ancient and gorgeous, it really is such a pretty town set by the lovely River Nore. Kilkenny Castle is an imposing building but lovely and grand too. The grounds are quite huge to walk around. We didn't go inside, instead we took a ride on the Castle Tram around town and took afternoon tea at the Design Centre cafe.

Kilkenny Castle

We ate dinner in the red building on the left side of the picture. It is called Matt the Millers and the food was amazing! While we ate we watched them resurface the bridge, what would have taken weeks back home was done unbelievably overnight. They also had a live band playing real Irish music. Irish singing always have such a good fun vibe, how can you not have a good time when you hear it. It was magic.

We had a pub lunch at Syd Harkins where we enjoyed the most delicious Soda Bread ever. The publican was very kind and gave us lots of local info.

We also got in a bit of shopping at Dunnes Department store and Mr W's highlight was the massively huge ice-cream cone he got at Kitty's Cabin lolly shop

Ah Kilkenny I love you!

Ireland part 2

After a few days in Dublin we headed out west. We visited Cashel Rock which was in an amazing state of decay. The guides were incredible and we learned so much. None of us could quite make our hands meet around the totem that assures you will never have another tooth ache so we all have to keep looking after our teeth. I must admit we added this to our itinerary so we could sing It's a Long Way to Tipperary but we really enjoyed the visit too.

The country side is amazing and green. Even though it was July it was still chilly (by Aussie standards) but the sunshine was lovely.

If you look closely in the photo above you can see the bishop's walkway just under the 3 windows. It is designed so he could walk around without being seen, unless he wanted to and then he could be above the parishioners. Behind (on the town side) the castle there is an extensive grave yard. Until recently if you had a relative buried here in the graveyard you had the right to be buried here too.

Wow it was awesome and imposing!

More Ireland next time.