Tour to the Emerald Isle and the International Quilt Festival of Ireland

Sorry, our trip has been cancelled, but there are several more available if you would like to attend. Lynda
CÉAD MÍLE FÁILTE—100,000 WELCOMES!
Have you heard about the International Quilt Festival of Ireland?

Well, we have and we are so excited about it that we want to escort 40 wonderful quilters and friends on an incredible 11-day tour of the Emerald Isle—wouldn’t you like to join us?
Nancy and I will be the personal escorts for an 11-day tour of the Emerald Isle, starting Friday, June 1st in Belfast, and culminating in Galway for the IQFI. Our husbands are also coming along. We fly from Denver to Belfast and will enjoy several sights and tours in the next few days as well as a visit with quilter’s of the Northern Patchwork Society. On the 4th we travel to Derry/Londonderry and along the way stop at the stunning Giant’s Causeway—one of my favorite sites in Ireland. The Giant’s Causeway is a spectacular rock formation featuring 40,000 basalt columns rising out of the sea. We will also make a special visit to the famous Bushmills Whiskey Distillery for a special guided tour—one of my husband’s favorite stops on our last trip to Ireland. We continue on to the city of tribes, Galway, stopping at the picturesque Glencar and Ashford Castle. The last few days we’ll spend in Galway attending the IQFI with opportunities to visit the Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle and more.

As far as the festival itself, Jim West of Sew Many Places has outdone himself planning the IQFI. It is going to be a new kind of quilt festival! The festival will be held on the University of North Ireland campus in Galway, Ireland June 7-10th, 2012. The campus will be transformed into a glorious Quilter’s Village on the banks of the River Corrib. In the village there will be a Quilter’s Market where you can buy everything from Irish crafts to traditional Irish food. The Fat Quarters Chocolate Shop will be the place to obtain anything chocolate. The Town Hall will be filled with vendors who have created booths to tease you with their latest state-of-the art products and services.

Visit the Wicked Thimble Pub to relax and enjoy live Irish music in a pub atmosphere. Ready to chill out—the local movie house will be showing continuous free Irish movies such as the 1952 John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara movie, “The Quiet Man” filmed just a couple of miles away. Over a dozen special quilt exhibits will be on display in various buildings throughout the village and quilting classes will be held in the Schoolhouse.

Last, but not least are many Non-quilter’s programs, including an Irish pub crawl (I know my husband that will be attending), fishing, woodcrafting, golf, Hell’s Kitchen Museum/Railway Museum (Nancy’s husband will certainly be attending), and much more.
The festival begins with a special GRAND RECEPTION on June 7th featuring legendary quilter Jinny Beyer, a 3 course dinner and a Riverdance-type show, Trad on the Prom. Nancy and I will be attending but space is limited so sign up soon.

For more information, click here:
http://www.iqfoi.com
Any questions, just email me at millilyn@aol.com .

Happy stitching,
Lynda Milligan