Thank You! Frances Conroy

Frances Conroy has offered a wonderful longarm quilting service to Irish quilters for many years from her lovely cottage studio in Curr, Maam in the heart of Connemara.
As a result we have been able to complete some larger quilts without struggling with all that bulk on our domestic machines at home.
Frances has decided to retire from longarm quilting to spend more time with her family and we all wish her well.

But we would like to pay tribute to the work she has done so splendidly for us over the years and say a very big...

THANK YOU

for all these lovely memories...

Pieced by Kathy Fallon, quilted by Frances.

Pieced by Kathy Fallon, quilted by Frances.

Pieced by Jaci Mackie, quilted by Frances.

Pieced by Jaci Mackie, quilted by Frances.

Pieced by Jaci Mackie, quilted by Frances.

Pieced by Ester Kiely, quilted by Frances.

Pieced by Anne Marie Horan, quilted by Frances.

Pieced by Anne Marie Horan, quilted by Frances.

(if Frances also quilted a project for you and you would like to share the photo here, please email it to Ester)

Octagon Quilters complete Japanese Hoko Bag Workshop with Brenda of Clew Bay Quilting

Octagon Quilters Westport,
On Tuesday the 15th Feb. at Hotel Westport, 14 members of the Octagon Quilters were given a lovely workshop by Brenda Maloney on how to make the Hoko Bag. Hoko, meaning other, is made with two main fabrics and is very quick to construct. The adding of fabric flowers gives it a lovely summer appeal. Brenda is also a member of the Octagon Quilters and runs the Clewbay Quilters Studio from her home at Gloshpatrick Westport (http://www.clewbayquilting.com/), where all the beautiful Chinese fabrics were purchased to make those lovely Bags.

by Octagon Quilters Chairperson,
Mary Madden.

(The pattern for the Hoko bags shown above is from "Easy Japanese Quilt Style" by Julia Davis and Anne Muxworthy (10 stylish but simple projects inspired by Japanese Fabrics). Other patterns in the book are for dolls, quilts, wall-hangings and sewing accessories.)

Jackie O'Toole posts her postcard for the National Exhibition at the Botanic Gardens

Jackie O'Toole has just posted this fabric postcard for the National Exhibition "Branching Out". We hope you are working on a postcard too! See the IPS Magazine for instructions on how to construct a fabric postcard.

Ferret: UK quilt artist comes to Limerick

Ferret is an award-winning quilter from the UK who is due to teach a workshop at Maeve Meaney's shop in Limerick in March (I'm not sure if there are still places available at this workshop). I thought it was worth creating a link to her website www.ferfab.com for you to check out her work. It's pretty amazing. I particularly enjoyed this video link http://ferfab.blogspot.com/2009/09/foq-twisted-thread-video.htmlf from the Festival of Quilts.

Festival of Quilts, Bermingham 2011

Are you looking for a challenge? Are you an experienced quilter or a complete beginner? Are you working on a quilting project with local school children?

The Festival of Quilts takes place in Bermingham every year and as usual they are looking for quilts to exhibit and there are lots of categories, so there's opportunity for all levels to submit work for exhibition.

You have until 29th April to register your interest and the entry form doesn't need to be sent in until 27th May. (But remember, that if you are putting a quilt into the Western Branch 'Branching Out' exhibition it may be selected for the National exhibition so you won't be able to send the same one off to Bermingham!) For further details and to download the application form see http://www.twistedthread.com/pages/exhibitions/viewExhibition.aspx?id=31&view=review

Function and Form in Textiles, Cork March 5th & 6th

A two day festival of textiles that offers a series of lectures and workshops from

• Diana Harrison: Print and Stitch


• Deirdre Nelson: Stitching Objects


• Aileen Johnston: Beading and Machine Embroidery


• Janney Winchester: Batik


• Mary Timmons: Jewellery


• Jenny Monks: Drawing


• Sheila Jordan: Dry needle felting

For more information and to download the full brochure go to http://www.corktextiles.com/

Our Hungarian friend Gyöngyi Varadi featured in French magazine "Magic Patch"

Our patchwork friend Gyöngyi Varadi was featured in the January issue of French magazine, "Magic Patch". The two "Let the Flowers Bloom" quilts were photographed for this purpose. Mari hopes to get a copy of the magazine for our library. But you can get a little look at the cover and some pages of the magazine (en francais!) at http://www.edisaxe.com/page_feuilleter.php?id=9635100

Gyöngyi also had an exhibition during the last Hungarian Patchwork Guild's AGM in Budapest in November 2010 and this features on the Hungarian Quilters Guild website.

http://www.hunpatch.com/2010exhib/exh2010lib/exh2010_11_HTLN/exh2010_htln_varadi/index.htm

February: Beginner's workshops

Once again our beginners came together with Margaret and Anne Marie to continue their Jacob's Ladder projects.

These classes allow plenty of time for questions, getting to know your sewing machine and trouble-shooting!

1/4 inch seams are a basic step in ensuring your patchwork projects come together as accurately as possible.

Here the blocks are laid out together before being sewn together.

If you are also a beginner and are interested in attending workshops please talk to the committee as we are eager to help everyone acquire the skills they would like to make their next project!

February: Workshop with Linda McMulkin 'Charm Bag'

In the afternoon Linda McMulkin taught a workshop on how to make this patchwork 'charm bag'.

The bag requires 35 5inch squares of fabric in coordinating colours.

Iron-on fusible wadding is used to layer both the patchworked outside and the plain coodinating lining inside the bag.

A small outer pocket is made up of 2 patches and a flap.

Quite a few bags were almost completed on the day, so we hope to see the finished items at next month's show & tell!

Thanks Linda for a very enjoyable workshop that provides us with a useful project bag to keep all our stuff in!

February Guest Speaker: Linda McMulkin

Our own Western Branch member Linda McMulkin gave a talk at our February meeting. Telling the story of how her interest in sewing developed through dress-making before she came to patchwork.

It was during a holiday in Ireland that Linda and her husband Peter decided they would come to live here. The idea for her fabric shop and workshop, where she gives classes, grew from the fact that she had found it difficult to source fabric when she first arrived. And so "Rags for Linda" (www.ragsforlinda.com) has grown from strength to strength over the years since she arrived in Ireland. And we consider ourselves lucky to have such a resource here in Galway as Linda is always ready to source whatever we ask for. Linda will soon add long-arm quilting to her talents and we look forward to seeing the results!

Linda showed us a great variety of quilts during her talk and only some of them are featured here.

February: Show and Tell

Sandlin explained how she solved the problem of not having enough denim for the back of her quilt by inserting a panel with the baby's birthday. Her quilting thread is in a golden colour to look like the stitching on denim-jeans.

And here is the front of the quilt again (the letters are applied using the technique from "Snuggle and Learn Quilts" by Chris Lynn Kirsch who visited Galway with a group of US quilters in October and donated her book to our library.

Mogs brought along this quilt she has been making with the Headford Active Retirement group. This is all hand-pieced, folded patchwork 'Cathedral Windows'.

The 3 postcards shown above are made by Margaret. Are you making some of these 6 x 4 fabric postcards to be posted in time for the National 'Branching Out' exhibition?

Madeleine showed this beautiful quilt she has completed.

Colette brought along her 'Snakes and Ladders' quilt to show the Western Branch.

Anne Marie is working on these colourful children's quilts at the moment.

February: Mid-Western Branch Show and Tell

While at the Mid-Western Branch meeting we had the privilege of seeing some of the wonderful work happening within this group.

Tracy created this stunning 'New York Beauty' quilt top and she's working on an intricate foundation-pieced border to finish it off.

Another example of the 'New York Beauty' blocks in a different colourway.

A lovely Autumn-coloured curved strip-pieced quilt.

Falling leaves on the back of the quilt make a very nice feature.

A delicately coloured quilt with curved border by Rebecca and Chris is on its way to its new owner soon. To read more about this husband and wife team see http://rebeccapalmeroriginals.co.uk/

Chris showed his recently completed quilt in pinks and purples.

Another member of the group brought along this quilt which is over 100 years old. Although it is faded in places, that merely adds to its charm. This is hand-quilted and the flowers you see are all hand-stitched cross-stitches! Take a closer look below.