Bus-trip to 'Branching Out' the National Exhibition at the Botanic Gardens, Dublin

Western Branch quilters are off on a road trip!
On 9th July we will meet at the Galway Cathedral carparkat 8.15am. The bus will make a second stop to pick up Roscommon quilters in Athlone on the way. It will then take us directly to the Botanic Gardens to view the National Exhibition 'Branching Out', followed by lunch at the cafe in the Gardens. The bus will stop at Liffey Valley for a short break and leave Dublin at approx 6pm to return to Galway.
Cost of the trip, including lunch, is 25Euro. Contact Joan Colleran for further information.

Crafts Council of Ireland calls for textile submissions for SEASCAPE

Following on from the success of 'Tread Softly' an exhibition of textile work by members of the Crafts Council of Ireland at the Knitting & Stitching Show, RDS, Dublin, October 2010 we would like to announce for 2011 - Seascape an exhibition for the Knitting & Stitching show - 10th-13th November

SEASCAPE – date for first round submission extended to 20th July!

Makers will be invited to apply for the 1st round submission by the 20th July with the following information
. images and/or design drawings of their intended piece
. four images of relevant work made within last two years; images must be jpeg images, no larger than 300dpi sent on a cd
. completed application form (available on line from Thursday 7th July)
. 100 word interpretation of the brief.

for further information contact registration@ccoi.ie

Patchwork classes at SUAN on the Headford Rd. Galway

This year the Western Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society was contacted with a request to teach patchwork to residents of the SUAN community housing scheme on the Headford Road in Galway. This is a group of houses managed by COPE. There is a community room at the centre for community activities.

When the request came to the group, Sandlin and Margaret kindly volunteered to get involved and they provied 4 2hr classes over a period of 4 weeks. Thank you Margaret and Sandlin for getting involved at a time when you were both very busy with other projects for family, friends and an upcoming exhibition!

They taught the group to cut squares using templates and sew them together to make a nine patch. Borders were added to cover a 16ins cushion pad.
The squares were hand-pieced and the borders were machine-sewn using a sewing machine owned by the centre.

The group then learned how to quilt the block. The sewing machine was used again to add the back to the cushion.

All the work was completed in the class as participants did not want to work on them on their own.

The participants said they found the class to be one of the more enjoyable classes they've had in their centre, eventhough 5 of the 6 ladies were initially non-sewers!

QUIP: Quilting in Public Day on June 18th 2011

The EQA encourage all countries to participate in QUIP - Quilting in Public Day. A day where you and your group take your patchwork and quilting projects into the community. For more information on the background to QUIP see http://www.e-q-a.eu/Events/events.html.
This year the date is 18th June 2011. If you would like to let us know what public events you are planning for this date just email westernips@gmail.com.