Fall is in the Air

Hello all! This is Lauren typing to you on a very cloudy and chilly fall Irish morning. Fall is definitely here in Ireland, and here I was worried it would be green all year round! The leaves have definitely changed significantly, and while there is still more green than any other color, I'm excited to see the familiarity of my favorite part of this season. The road I walk to class is littered with crunchy orange leaves, and when no one is looking I like to kick a bunch into the air. It brings back memories of living in Bryant and my sisters and I banding together to destroy my dad's leaf piles as he raked them up. I don't think he minded too much, seeing as how we got away with it most every year :) Aaron has just left for work (he does 9:30 to 6:30 today!) so it's just me and my cup of instant coffee and my homework today, and a research methods class at 4.

While there haven't been many big events after Aaron's job offer, I realized there are still quite a few things to update you guys on, so bear with me, as this may be a long post. It's definitely a long overdue one--we'll try to keep up with posting more frequently.

1.) My classes are going splendidly. I love my classmates, and it sounds like we have a really, really good group. This is the third week of classes and we're finally getting into the literature after reading a bunch of literary theory and criticism. Those things are great, but those first few weeks left me feeling a little intimidated. I feel much more comfortable discussing actual books than articles about books that I've never read, and I think that's the general feeling with the rest of the class too. The first week, I contributed little to the discussion, but the second, I felt more comfortable with the people and jumped in a little more. We all seem to really like each other, and usually will gather together and talk for a while before class starts, and several times we've all gone out afterward and continue our discussion at a restaurant or pub (of course the tone of those conversations are completely different--as in, we're more liable to make fun of the snooty thing we just read than we would be in class!)

2.) All I plan to do until Christmas is read. I've got two novels to finish for tomorrow (I know right) and next week I'm reading Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen) and Frankenstein, both pretty big novels, as well as readings for my Victorian class. It is definitely a masters level experience, and I'm in no way disappointed by the standards the professors have set or the workload. I think I would have been very, very let down if any part of it felt like my undergrad program, but I'm happily being stretched and challenged in new ways. Hooray for higher education!

3.) I snapped some photos of Aaron on his second day of work (but let's just pretend it's the first) and I thought you would all like to see how dashingly handsome he is in his new uniform! Please notice the very manly fuchsia stripes on his sides.

4.) Trinity Hall had a fire drill this morning and Aaron and I were pretty much the last ones out (sorry Mom and Dad). We were battling cold/runny nose/changing weather grossness--I had it and I'm pretty sure I gave it to Aaron since he woke up with it this morning--so when the alarm went off at 7:45, we were a little slow to get out. When we walked outside, we had to sign a sheet that said that we acknowledged that we were late and that we would have been dead if it had been a real fire... that's right, we were on the dead list. Every university should do fire drills that organized, but maybe not before 8 in the morning.


5.) I've been taking pictures of the street art that I've seen around Dublin. Some are actually really interesting and pretty, not like the one word things that someone sprayed on a surface to vandalize it, but it looks like there are a couple fences/places that actually facilitate what I like to call "tasteful" graffiti. Most of the graffiti I've seen has been advertisements for different festivals or events. These two photos have been my favorites.

6.) Fall, and cold weather in general, makes me want to curl up in a warm quilt... or as my tendency has been lately, to make one. This time last year I was working on my very first pieced quilt, which is still waiting on finishing touches at home because it was too big to bring along. It's a different color version of this one here, from the purl bee. My circle is pink and orange, with the exterior being brown instead of white.

So Aaron and I decided on a crafting budget for me. I'm reminded of how much I really enjoy sewing and crafty things whenever they're unavailable to me--it's definitely my stress reliever and without them I feel like a part of me, probably the creative part, just isn't being utilized. So with a budget set, I set out looking for a quilt project that would keep me busy for a year, and would have a small chance of leaving behind a large fabric "stash" for me to have to take home. I dreamed big:

Someday I will make this quilt. From this website

Of course this would be nice too... in fall colors! Also from purlbee.com

And then there's that one... again, from purlbee.com

But there are issues with all of these quilts that prevent them from suiting my purposes. For the first, the pattern is too expensive and I'm not that practiced at applique yet, so I'll tackle that one in about ten years. The second two are almost too straightforward, and I can just see myself getting frustrated 20 minutes in with thoughts of "oh this would be so much faster with a machine!" So I needed a quilt project that I could only handsew, that would be ludicrous to do on a machine, and therefore take away the temptation to buy one. So let me introduce you to my next project:

Hexagons!

Or to be more specific, the pattern is called Grandmother's Flower Garden. This image will give you a hint as to why....

from a Nebraska history website on antique quilts

There's no pattern to buy (just a hexagon template), and they must be hand sewn, and they're going to make pretty little flowers. Since I'm making this quilt in Ireland, my fabrics should have green in them somewhere right?

This is the fabric bundle I just purchased from a store on etsy.com called Poppy Seed Fabrics. They've already been shipped and they're on their way! I'm so excited! It will be a welcome break from reading to sit down every once in a while and put together a flower, and it's also nice to know there's really no pressure to get it done. I have a whole year after all!



I miss this place, though...

Can't find a source for this photo, but I will definitely be stitching this up someday for a pillow or something.

Have the boys totally checked out now? Hi Mom, Nana, and Laurie! :) That's my super long blog post updating you all on the little things. I'll finish with two more pictures of a photo mural that lines the street of the farmers market I've been frequenting. Can you name that African American celebrity?

 

How random is that?

Until next time, love you all and miss you!