Waiting Game

It's as if I'm suspended in time waiting for Sunday to arrive.  What happens Sunday, you ask?  That's the day I board an airplane in Portland for my trip to Ireland.  I'll fly first to Seattle where I'll meet up with the rest of my group, and then on to Chicago, and then on to Dublin.

When I signed up for the trip, a kit to make this quilt was supposed to be included.  As time wore on, I realized that the image had been removed from the website, and there was no mention of it.  When I inquired about it, I was informed that it had become too expensive to provide gratis to all the participants, and that they had removed all references from their promotional materials.  Apparently not, since I posted about it and included the image back in August.  Oh well.  They did offer to obtain a kit for me at a cost of something on the order of $65, but I declined.  I think I can probably figure this out for myself.  I just need more green fabric . . . which I can probably find in Ireland, don't you think?

So that brings me back to the waiting game part of my trip.  This is the week when I make a mad dash around trying to clean things up, cook things up to freeze for Mike (so the poor dear won't starve while I'm gone), make sure there's plenty of cat food, charge a zillion batteries for my electronic devices (I'll be able to charge them in Ireland too, but I always start out with a full charge).  I need to make sure I have all the medications I need, and I need to make my list and check it thrice to be sure I don't leave anything behind.  It's all rather tedious and anxiety provoking.

It's exciting to be going on a trip like this, and I've been waiting a long time for the day to arrive.  Still I'm somewhat apprehensive as well.  To begin with, I'm a fearful flyer, although I'm usually okay once I get on the plane.  It doesn't help that we have only 35 minutes between flights in Chicago.  Having run from one concourse to another in the Chicago airport on a different European adventure, I'm none too happy about such a short connection.  I'm somewhat less worried about it since I'll be traveling with a large group.  If I miss the flight, we will all miss it. . . and someone else will be responsible for fixing things.

Also, I'm a little apprehensive because the last time I traveled abroad alone, I had a difficult period of time when I came home.  I had worked myself too hard before leaving, and then the trip (while wonderful in most respects) had its share of challenges.  I was a screaming meemie by the time I got home, and got terribly sick for a long time afterward.  This is a completely different kind of trip since I'm traveling with a group and not responsible for my travel arrangements, as I was on the previous trip.  Things should go much more smoothly with someone else telling me where to be at any given time.  While this might seem constraining to some, I'm sort of looking forward to this kindergartner treatment.  Heck.  I even have a name tag in case I get lost.

Another thing I'm apprehensive about is having a stranger for a roommate.  We corresponded once by email.  Her name is Carla and she lives in Alaska.  She's my age, never married, and no children.  She is a computer programmer, and she has two cats.  It's tempting to say that anyone who has two cats must be an okay person, and that's what I've been telling myself and everyone else.  I'm taking her a little bag of hazelnuts from Oregon as a gesture of friendliness.  The other thing I'm assuming about her is that she is a quilter . . . otherwise, why would she be going on the trip?  She told me this is her third trip with this group, and that seems like a positive sign.  Still, people have their little foibles, and I'm no exception.  Hopefully, we won't get on one another's nerves.  It would be wonderful to return from Ireland with a new friend in Alaska.  That's what I'm hoping for, but I worry about it nonetheless.

So those are the things I'm thinking about, and I haven't started packing yet.  I probably won't start packing until the end of the week.  It's all going to be fine, right?  Mike has a good philosophy about traveling, which is that things will go wrong, and to just expect it.  If things go wrong, I won't be surprise.  If they don't, I'll be thrilled.  On the bright side, they speak English in Ireland, and so the language barrier should be minimal.  If I get lost, I'll be able to ask directions.  And if I'm too wigged out to ask for directions, then I'll just wail and moan and show my name tag to some passerby.  They'll get the idea, don't you think?  Crying is very powerful, I've discovered.

So to while away the hours, I did a little sewing this afternoon.  I finished the latest block for the Blogger's BOM.  This block was created by Cathy at Cabbage Quilts.  Can you believe we're on the ninth block already?  Here's my block:

This is going to be a fun and colorful quilt when it's all put together.  I'm still finishing up the embroidery on the Promises & Borders quilt block and I still need to put the borders on my the latest Vintage Miniature Sewing Machine block.  I'm sewing on my old Janome while my Bernina is in the shop.  It's the first time I've used it since I got the Bernina.  What a difference!  The Janome is working fine, but it wants to pull the fabric  crooked under the needle, and so I find myself struggling to sew in a straight line.  Also, I'm used to the Bernina knee lift, and I keep banging my knee against the side of the table trying to raise the presser foot.  (What?  I have to use my hand???)  My Bernina has spoiled me.  I guess I'll forgive it for acting up while I was free motion quilting the other day . . . IF it comes back with its attitude adjusted.  I don't expect I'll see it again until I'm back from my trip.

So, I'll say this again in several posts, but I want you to know that I'll be blogging along the way, assuming I have internet access.  (My experience with internet access in Europe has taught me to expect nothing and to be glad if it works.)  I'll also be able to text and use my mobile Blogger iPhone app to post pictures.  I may not post a lot of text because I don't like tippy-typing on that tiny iPhone keyboard, but I will send you some images, so continue to check back.  Hopefully, I'll do more than that since I like to keep a running journal of what I'm doing when I travel.  

For now, I'll just keep biting my nails for a few days.  When the day comes to start packing, I'll probably relax a little bit.