Luck o\’ the Irish traveler

Wednesday, March 19
Limerick

My Limerick day started out at Maeve Meany’s shop, the Limerick Quilt Centre. I didn’t get to visit with her at the guild meeting, but Meg and Holly suggested a visit and I just couldn’t pass up the chance to visit an Irish quilt shop. It was all I expected and more! Meg and Holly are both doing sampler quilts, and come to the shop on Wednesday morning for a lesson. I also met Norah (I hope I got your name right!); she stopped in to work on her sampler quilt also.

Maeve was quite happy to include me as she demonstrated different techniques. Her stitches joining the Grandmother’s flower garden patches were the tiniest I’ve ever seen! I wandered around, chattering or not, looking at the fabrics and fat quarters and quietly sorting out what I’d like to take home with me. In light of the fact that most of the quilting cottons come from the U.S., it really was silly to buy fabrics there, but there were a few I just couldn’t resist. I also got ¼ yards of Vilene, Pelmet Vilene, and Bondaweb; products I’ve heard of from my English quilting and embroidery books. I wanted samples to touch and feel and experiment with when I get back home.

Maeve’s store is a big room in her house, which is tucked behind another house near Limerick’s city center. About one fourth of it is a separate room, housing the quilting machine, back stock, and Maeve’s private fabric collection. The shop is lined on two sides with walls of fabric, floor to ceiling. Along the window wall, the “kitchen” (sink, coffee pot with hot water, and cupboards with food and dishware) sits next to a sideboard crowded with kits and books.

In one corner of the shop are two couches tucked into the corner, and the wall above holds quilts in various stages of progress. Sitting on one couch are some muslin panels with cats printed onto them; they’re supposed to be used for appliquéd wall hangings, but I can see embroidery and paint and maybe some appliquéd fabric… I’m going to have to go back and get one or two.

The shop-and Maeve-is wonderfully warm and inviting and friendly. I sat and sewed and visited (after I scouted the fabric out!), and had a grand time. Four hours later, I left with a bag of fabric and my samples.

, ,
I also got a better look at Meg’s quilt that I’d first seen at the guild meeting. Meg and Norah held it up while I photographed it. You can really see the rose in the small image. I am so impressed with Meg’s ability to take a pile of fabric and make it into a recognizable image, that you step ‘way back from to see. That is a very hard thing to do! Meg invited me to come out to her house later in the week, so you’ll be reading more about her later.

I spent the rest of the afternoon dawdling around Limerick. Meg suggested I go by a store called Silke’s, on Catherine Street, and there was a nice lunch place nearby too. Wonderful mushroom soup at Sage’s; I wish they’d had the recipe available. On the way up the hill, I’d stopped at a yarn and embroidery store for some crazy quilting goods, and I collected more at Silke’s.

After my shopping spree, I went down to St. Mary’s Cathedral. It’s the oldest church in Ireland still used for the original purpose. It looks like a fort to me, with the parapets on the church tower. I wandered around the churchyard for quite awhile, taking pictures of the church and the graveyard, until finally they locked the gate! Luckily there was another gate I could go through.

My other two goals, King John’s Castle and the Hunt Museum, were a bust. Someone associated with the Hunt Museum had passed away, so it was closed for the day. King John’s Castle was just closing when I walked up. I would like to go back and see them; I’ve concentrated on shopping and I really should do some history stuff!

On the way home, I went the long way around to Killaloe (Killa loo) where Dee would be set dancing at the Anchor, a pub, later in the evening. On the way down the hill, I caught a glimpse of a restored castle that Tony had told me about. I also got to see a wonderful rainbow. On “my” side of the river was a channel with a number of boats docked. Every so often you’d see a sunken boat. Um, what’s up with that?? Doesn’t it cost money to tie up your boat there? It darn sure costs money every time I park the car!

Killaloe is across the Shannon River from Balina, two small medieval towns. There’s a one lane bridge that connects the two towns. Major traffic control to go over the darned thing! Three sets of signal lights on the Killaloe end, and two sets on the Balina end, as well as a light at the parking lot at the beginning of the Killaloe end. Holey cow! Lights everywhere!

Later that night at the pub, I got some lessons in set dancing. The first one is don’t be drinking beer and dancing! There’s too much twirling and whirling, and you’ll get dizzy, as well as very thirsty. Water is much better! I had a great time learning to slide and whirl with the rest of the group. Set dancing is somewhat like square dancing; you have four couples (sometimes more in some dances), and there’s a caller, but there the similarity ends. It’s also very regionalized; the dancing in County Clare is different from dancing in County Limerick, but there are some commonalities.

I found this regionality or tribalism, common in many aspects of Irish culture. Right off the bat, when I tried speaking a little Gaelic, the words I used in Dun Laoghaire didn’t make much sense when I used them in Wexford. Later on, I learned that some words are pronounced differently, the music is played differently, and on and on. There’s also quite a strong rivalry between sports teams as well.

There was only one set (group of dancers), and the less experienced dancers would take turns sitting out. It’s excellent exercise! I would love to continue set dancing at home, maybe with the contra dance group in Fairbanks. Tony suggested having a group come over to learn, which would be awesome fun!

Because there was such a small group of dancers, the evening ended early at midnight. It’s just too much exercise and the sets will take turns dancing, to give everyone a break and a chance to grab something to drink. I followed Tony home, waiting patiently at the light while they went through all the cycles until it was finally my turn!