Author: Rose

Rosehttp://www.phoenixrosedesign.com/

Grand Canal Docks

Retro Blogging a bit – to share some pictures that I didn’t get to share before.

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Board Gais Panorama

I have a friend who lives in an area of Dublin known as the Docklands. One sunny Sunday morning last December (2014) we decided to head out to brunch and then to the RDS event center for the Christmas Irish Crafts show. The day was cold, but calm and not windy.

The Famine Dog... playful or starving and ready to attack? In 2014 - the people of Austerity in Ireland are fighting back. Angry about water charges, angry about banks not having to repay the government, angry about medical cutbacks, rising rents, and 700

This made walking from the Connelly train station up to the docklands (about 15 minute brisk walk) quite an enjoyable task as I got to walk along the pedestrian zone with statues and nice views over the Liffey river.

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Once there, we met in front of the Grand Canal theater (aka Bord Gais energy theater) where there is an abstract art installation, a small performance area (for musicians in the summer) and plenty of seating to enjoy the water of the harbor.

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The docklands area has been significantly redeveloped in the last 15-20 years, and contains lots of new buildings housing larger businesses like Yahoo, Google, and Air B&B.

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The architecture is quite modern and seems to reflect different themes for the docklands. There is a bridge meant to resemble a harp on its side….

20141207_103747“Harp” Bridge

There is the Convention center that is designed to reflect a “telescope”, and a couple buildings designed to reflect the sails on tall ships or the steam pipes of the old steamers that once docked in the area….

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Convention Center (telescope)

All of this is quite stunning in the sunlight, but as you can see, the swans and other waterbirds – they just aren’t bothered to look about. They simply swim, dive, and eat.

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Foggy Foggy Day

Foggy this morning in Castleknock looking toward the train station. #fog #ireland #blackwhite #mystery #ghost #autumn #autumnevenings #clouds #magic #photography #ilobsterit

A bit of retro blogging as I haven’t been sharing some of the random pictures that I’ve taken over the last few months.

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One thing that’s cool about Ireland is that in Autumn and early spring, we get lots of foggy days. One particularly bad day of fog was November 26, 2014. In the morning, the fog was pretty bad, but as the day went on, it got worse and worse.

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Arriving to work, you could really see the intensity – because you couldn’t see the steps to the bottom of the hill, nor could you see much beyond the parking lot.

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By the dark of evening – the fog was so intense that I couldn’t even see past the end of the driveway – and it blurred the houses across the street. That means that visibility was down to about 50 feet or so. I decided to stay in and light a fire, and work on crocheting – after all – who wants to be out in the “fog” that horror stories are written about?

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Tooth fairy Pillows

Over the weekend, I dug out the sewing machine. The funny thing is that I often get asked about ‘fixing’ things using my sewing machine, and the only time that I ever do get out the machine is if someone else asks me to do something for them. I’m not the world’s best at sewing, nor am I very fast at it. To be honest, it is my least favorite “crafty” thing to do, but if I have to I can do it. The result is that when the machine is out (about once every 6-8 months) I go through and “binge sew” on it – to repair everything that needs reparing, make what needs making, and then call it good. I then pack up the machine and it doesn’t see the light of day for another 6-8 months.

Bibs for Orliath

Yesterday, I told you what got me started on my “sewing” binge – the need to repair four bibs. The thing is that while I was at it, I remembered that I had promised my niece and my cousin’s daughter that I would make them tooth fairy pillows. A tooth fairy pillow is a little tiny pillow with a pocket. As a child begins losing their baby teeth, they put them into the pillow where the tooth fairy can easily take them (without getting squished by the sleeping child) and leave a little gift in return.

Bibs for Orliath

After making the bibs, I had some leftover cotton fabric, and thought this would be fun to use for the kids. I cut some small 4 x 4 inch squares and on one piece of fabric, sewed a little pocket. From there, I pinned the right sides of the pillow together, along with the ribbon to use to hang from the door.

Bibs for Orliath

I sewed the right sides together, trimmed the excess fabric,

Bibs for Orliath

and then turned the pillows inside out.

Bibs for Orliath

Making a french seam, I now sewed around the pillow again – making sure to hide the previous stitch and avoid catching the “door loop” in the stitches.

Bibs for Orliath

Having left a small opening for the “stuffing”, I turned the now stitched pillow right side out and then filled it with stuffing from old bed pillows – just enough to make it poofy. Now, I stitched up the hole in the bottom.

Bibs for Orliath

Viola! A little Tooth fairy pillow is complete!

Bibs for Orliath

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