Back in Steamy Florida

 

 

We really lucked out with our visit to Maine last week. I'd checked the weather forecast before going and rain was predicted nearly everyday. Instead, we enjoyed sunshine except for one evening when we sat on our balcony and watched a misty rain shower roll across Frenchman's Bay. So different from a rain shower here in Florida where the sky just opens up and dumps gallons of water on you and everything gets soaked before you even have a chance to close all the hatches.

 

We drove past this fabric store on our way into Bar Harbor.

I got such a kick out of seeing that sign so needless to say we stopped for a visit on our way back to the airport. In addition to tons of quilting fabrics she also had a lot of notions and patterns. If I lived there I know where I'd be spending quite a bit of time and money.

I had to buy something to remember my visit and I thought this was cute.

 

Back to reality. We arrived in Florida at nearly midnight and the next day we had to move the boat back to the marina (we had it worked on while we were gone). But first we had to move our holding tank* back into place since it had of course been sitting right where the mechanics needed to work. Getting it out was no picnic (I nearly puked while rinsing it out) but luckily getting it back in was easier. However, attaching the hoses to it involved a heat gun, and added to the fact that this took place in the engine room...

* For those of you who don't know what a holding tank is; it's basically a septic tank. Everyone gets pumped out once a week at the marina and believe me you don't want to be downwind of the pump-out cart that day.

This was after I crawled out of the engine room where I'd finished re-attaching the hoses to our head. Pure sweat!

 

 

We also picked Wilbur up from Doggy Day Care where he received a glowing report card. He was part of the Wild Child group; got an A for completing his bath, nail clipping, and ear cleaning with no problems, played well with others, and is a Teacher's Pet. He may be a red-nose pit but apparently he's also a brown noser!

Our watch dog keeping one eye open.

 

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Fabric from Dublin

First of all the fact that I was able to get to the tram line, navigate about Dublin all day by myself, and not get lost is a miracle in itself.

The fact that I was able to find a fabric shop is yet another.

I'm just a regular Miracle Worker this week.

A little off the beaten path is Murphy Sheehy & Co. and you can visit their website here. I got off the tram at the St. Stephen's Green stop where all the happening things are and it's within very easy walking distance. If you can't find it, ask. That's what I did.

It's a small shop with two floors of fabric rolls. I bought three pieces for bags. I wanted a piece from a roll on the upper floor so the proprietress brought her scissors up, snipped, ripped, and it was mine.

The same thing for two pieces downstairs. I didn't need full meters and they were also very wide so I got approximately 1/2 yard of each. I wasn't sure how much I was actually spending and I was thrilled when it only came to 2o euros!

A view up the stairs.

Here's the girl who was running the shop. So very friendly and cute as a bug!!

If you're going to Dublin stop in. I only wanted cotton fabrics but they have linen, wool, etc...

Just inside the front door.

This print caught my eye. I have no idea what kind of silly birds they are but I liked them.

This striped fabric isn't an exact match as the stripe is more red and the beaks on the birds are more orange but we went with it anyway.

I have a pair of my sunglasses lying next to it so you can see how big the print is.

I see I left a sun burst cookie cutter lying there too. I got that for my mother.

This is the print I found upstairs. Actually it's fully embroidered. The underside is as dense as the upper and each sea creature is attached by all the threads from its neighbor.

The fabric is a heavy but very soft cotton. It almost has a flannel feel to it and I forgot to ask for care instructions. I'll do some experimenting on it when we get home.

Tomorrow is our last full day here so we're taking the hop on hop off bus tour. I love those things!! In total it's about an hour and a half but you can get off anywhere you want and just pick up whatever bus you want when you're ready to get back on. The weather's not supposed to be the greatest but since we'll be visiting the Guinness Storehouse and The Old Jameson Distillery I don't think we'll mind.