Hello, friends and fellow quilters! Here is the long-awaited account of our journey from the left coast of Oregon to the left coast of Ireland.

Some of you may be wondering about the name of this column. In Ireland and elsewhere, there is a saying used when something is regarded as dubious - "In a pig's valise!" since most pigs don't actually carry a valise (a piece of luggage).

There was a bit of a build-up to the trip to Ireland, so I'll try to keep it brief.

As most of our Oregon friends know, we moved out of our house in early August. Due to a number of organizational, bureaucratic and shipping obstacles, we then became gypsies for a time, as we moved around the Fireside Inn, the Wayside Lodge, the Shamrock Lodgettes, the Adobe, the Rock Park Cottages, and back to the Wayside Lodge.

All along the way, we continued to shed some of our "possession overload." I even managed to create two more of the Flower Belle patterns under rather adverse conditions, and indeed was very grateful to Donna K. in Yachats for the loan of her Velux lamp, so that I could see what the heck I was doing!

''At the Wayside Lodge"

We had a chance to enjoy some gorgeous Oregon sunsets from our little cottages. Here is one of the last ones.

''Last Oregon sunset"