Family Day Out with Quilt Inspiration

Today the sun was shining and it actually felt like summer!

We headed out for a while to the Ulster Folk Museum which is not too far from home.  It's an open air museum of traditional homes and businesses from the past and if you should ever visit NI I heartily recommend it for a pleasant day out (especially if the sun is shining).  Many of the oldest buildings - churches, cottages and schoolhouses - were once situated in various parts of Northern Ireland and have been transported brick by brick or stone by stone and rebuilt in the park rather than become lost to development.  Today there was a lot of street theatre happening around the village and at some of the rural homesteads too.

Me and the Bean - in front of the Old Rectory

It was break time at the schoolhouse,
so I tried playing on stilts - not my forte!

This is one of my favourite cottages in the museum park.

Inside my favourite cottage - I'm not arty or good with
a camera but I loved what the sunlight was doing
with this window recess and the geranium.

Cross Stitch in all its antique loveliness

Anyway, among the thatched cottages and workmen's terraced houses, the old school houses and weaver's cottages I found some quilting inspiration. See?

The tiled floor in an old Roman Catholic Church

A hexagon/star/square cushion in the Old Rectory

Bed quilt

Single Irish Chain quilt - though I suspected this one was made
 recently to "assist'" the exhibit rather than being genuinely of the period.

There was a truly scrappy quilt in the courthouse steps pattern in the blacksmiths house.  It was made from pieces which cannot have been more than 0.75" wide and looked to me to be the oldest quilt (certainly the most well-worn) on display in the properties we were in today.  I tried to take a picture but the room was really tiny and filled with other visitors so it didn't come out. I wish the museum would provide a little more information on the quilts, but that's purely because of my personal interest, and probably not of interest to the masses.

There was a tiny bit of mummy sewing later in the afternoon.  As a mum, I sewed the Bean's latest swimming achievement to his swim bag.  Not so exciting to you but a big excitement to him.

And then, for my own mum I made another little pocket tissue cover - this time using a different tutorial (from Sew Much 2 Luv) and to match her birthday handbag.

Wee tissue cover - not the most exciting pic in the world, I grant you.

The birthday bag - blogged earlier

There wasn't maybe as much sewing achieved today as I'd have liked, but as you can see it was never too far from my mind.  Hope you are having a great weekend too!