Inis Oirr Classes

It's always a pleasure to head out to Inis Oirr for a class with the Mná le Chéile group.

Following the arrival of Mary McCarty to the island the group came together and met to sew in the Arts Centre: Arás Eanna.  Since then they have moved to their own lovely premises Teach Brid, a renovated cottage that is home to the group and their Gammill long arm quilter.

Many of the group are very experienced quilters at this stage and make lovely and varied work.  They also host classes for young people from local schools.  I was invited to do a class this autumn and suggested the nine-patch that you cut and twist. 

I figured that the more experienced quilters might get a quilt-top done and at the same time it would be a good block for beginners to try. We discussed colour choices on the Friday evening and some people even began cutting their strips.

On Saturday morning it was full steam ahead. Participants had instructions for a cot, single or double quilt.

One person went for a single quilt, the others for cot quilts. One person opted to make a bed runner with 10 blocks.

We cut, sewed and re-arranged the blocks and by 4pm (last flight leaves at 4.45) three cot quilts tops were complete and the rest well on the way. It was a a lovely place to spend a sunny October Saturday.

Photos show Allissa, Mairead and Mary's quilts. 

Anne Marie Horan

Hand Applique Workshop

Last meeting's workshop was "hand appliqué" lead by our own very skilled member Marylin Farrell.

After light confusion about freezer paper, what it is and how to use for hand appliqué we flew along, creating our tulips in a vase.

First we stitched down our flower stems (everybody! had them already cut and ironed to size for the class) and we could practise our tiny stitching.

Then we went on and stitched down the flower part of our tulip, learning how to needle turn the seam allowance under as we went along. We learned how to work inside and outside curves and had great fun comparing our stitch size. Not everybody found it easy to aim for 14 to 16 stitches per inch, but, of course, your work looks so much nicer if you do!

And we were very proud when Marilyn complimented us for our invisible stitches.

Before we went home we promised to bring back our finished pieces (or work in progress) back to the May meeting.

I really enjoyed this workshop and will take my tulips as a start to do more hand appliqué.

Many thanks Marilyn!   

Written by Veronika Feldmann

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!

Abbeyknockmoy ICA finish their first quilt

Ester Kiely worked with 8 members of the Abbeyknockmoy ICA group to help them make a patchwork wall-hanging which they designed to commemorate the ICA's centenary in 2010. These enthusiastic beginners were delighted with their finished quilt and some of them attended the West Awake exhibition in the museum. Perhaps they will become new IPS members?