November Show and Tell

Every month members bring along finished quilts or some work in progress to show the group. This month a variety of work was shown including members work exhibited at the Quilt Festival in Bermingham and the Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin (for info on these shows see www.twistedthread.com)

Members Challenge

A multicoloured scrap of fabric was given to members at a previous meeting and the challenge was set to create a 12.5inch block using this fabric and any other fabrics of your choice. 30 blocks arrived at the November meeting showing a great variety of styles and techniques. The group will now construct a quilt using these blocks and the finished quilt will be raffled amongst the participants with one luck prizewinner in 2010. Someone is going to be the very lucky and proud owner of this group quilt!

Hungarian Flower Quilts

In 2007 Hungarian master quilter, Gyongi Varadi lived in Galway for a year and taught us her method of paper piecing to make flowers. On her return to Hungary she set a challenge to all Irish and Hungarian quilters to submit flowers which were divided between the 2 guilds to make a quilt each. The 2 quilts were exhibited for the first time recently in Budapest and a number of Irish quilters travelled to see the exhibition. These quilts will be exhibited as part of the Western Branch Exhibition at the Galway City Museum in May 2010.

The library

Jackie is our librarian and ensures we have access to a great selection of books to borrow. Members pay €2 per book and can keep it for a month and return it at the next meeting. It's a great way to find out if a book is worth investing in for your own bookshelf at home. And it's a great way to browse a huge selection to find a pattern that might suit you for your next project. The photo shows a small selection of what's on offer. Jackie is always open to suggestions of new books you would like to see added to the library, so let her know what you would like to see.

Shopping for patchwork fabrics.

Every month at our meetings in Galway we invite a fabric supplier. In November our guest speaker Moya Geraghty brought her shop 'Patchwork Plus' to give all of us a chance to stock up on lovely fabrics and sewing supplies. Here are a few photos of some very happy shoppers. For more information check out Moya's website http://www.patchworkplus.ie/.

Moya Geraghty shows her work

Moya Geraghty was our guest speaker at the November meeting and she arrived with a wonderful selection of her work through the years. These quilts tell stories of everyday life captured creatively in fabric and stitch. Moya showed us quilts for Christmas, Valentines, Halloween, Patrick's Day, teenagers' bedrooms and babies. Her quilts range from traditional to contemporary. She makes quilts and wall-hangings with prints and plains, printed panels, denim, flannel, hand-dyed fabrics, etc. The variety of work was inspiring. She uses a wide variety of techniques and draws inspiration from a variety of sources. These are only a small selection of the quilts Moya showed us. If we master some more technology, we may be able to create a slideshow to show more of the work.....so watch this space! Thanks Moya for a fabulous visit to Galway and we look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Monthly meeting 14th November, 2009

The meeting of the Western Branch of the IPS for November takes place at 10am at the Bridge Centre, St. Mary's Road, Galway. Our guest speaker is Moya Geraghty and she will bring her shop 'Patchwork Plus' selling lots of patchwork supplies. Moya will also give an afternoon workshop in making patchwork Christmas gift items. For further information on 'Patchwork Plus' visit the website http://www.patchworkplus.ie/.
Any member participating in the current challenge to make a 12.5inch block using the challenge fabric should bring along their completed block on Saturday 14th.

The photo shows Moya's Christmas fun quilt.