International Quilt Festival of Ireland

I enjoyed the festival in 2012 and was looking forward to it again in 2013. On Friday I was alone visiting the festival so I had lots of time to stroll through all the exhibitions at my own pace and spend time revisiting the areas I was most interested in. I also met lots of familiar faces from the IPS throughout the day and enjoyed catching up with you all!

My favourite exhibitions were the Hoffmann Challenge, Cornucopia, The Prison quilts and the Graffiti quilts. But to be honest I found something to appreciate in other exhibitions such as Playground, Water, Mantality and more.

 I was personally pleased to see 'Spring has Sprung' in the Playground exhibition, which I made in collaboration with the 2nd and 3rd class pupils of Dunmore National School, as part of the CRAFTed project. Loretta O'Brien may bring it to the Quilt Festival in Birmingham in August, which would be a further thrill for these young pupils!

 I also felt there was more choice amongst the stalls in the Traders Hall this year. Even though my spending budget wasn't big I enjoyed looking, admiring and buying just a small selection of fat quarters for my stash.

 On Saturday my Dublin friends came with me and were happy with the exhibitions and their purchases. I volunteered on the IPS stand and enjoyed talking about our guild to Irish and International visitors. My sister and my niece joined me on Sunday and they were very glad they saw it all.

The weather on all 3 days was glorious, but perhaps that didn't work to the traders advantage as people spent a lot of time outside around the grounds. The warm weather may also have proved difficult for those with mobility issues as there is a lot of walking between exhibition venues on campus.

 My overall experience at the festival was very positive and I spent 3 very happy days in quilt heaven!

I believe next year the festival will move elsewhere in Ireland and will also include fibre arts and other crafts. I'm sure this makes sense to continue to attract visitors from abroad, but I for one will miss having this festival on my doorstep. Never mind, I've been spoiled for 2 years and I don't mind a bit of travel to see this standard of international work in Ireland. Roll on 2014!

 

Brink of Sunset

Hanna Grete Brink

Cork Churns

Paula O' Rafferty

Maynard David Taylor

Portrait of Troy

Valerie Giles

Poulnabrone Dolmen

Denise Labadie

 

Seasonal Sisters

Gail Thomas, Helen Godden, Annette

South William St Angel

Marina Brennan

Spring Has Sprung

Dunmore National School

These are just a sample of some of my favourite quilts at the Exhibition,

Ester Kiely

 

1913 Project

The Western Branch recently handed over our panel for the 1913 'Tapestry' to Padraig Yeates and Brendan Butler.  At the Knitting and stitching Show Mari got details of the project and at our meeting we decided we would like to take part. Angela Keane came to visit us in the spring and gave us a most interesting talk about the Lockout itself and how it was being interpreted through the Tapestry Project. The panel we got to work on was a representation of the Manchester meeting. We were given a paper printout with suggested fabrics, a bag of fabrics and the hessian/linen background onto which the picture was drawn. 

Over the following months the picture emerged as figures were appliqued and hair was embroidered. Colette and Johanna attended a workshop in Liberty Hall and out of that came the suggestion of making small group onto a vilene foundation and then applying them to the larger picture. This meant that more than one person could work on it at a time. When all the figures and flags were done the lettering at the top was embroidered. The title panel will be embroidered separately and applied later.

 

Mogs McDonnell was our rep who went to Arás and Uachtaráin on July 10th where Michael D welcomed representatives of the various groups working on the commemoration of the Lockout. I'm not sure when the full 'tapestry' will be unveiled. Ours was one of the last panels to be given out so it must all be nearing completion at this stage. Well done to all involved. With the short time frame not all who wanted to get involved could, but the piece goes forward as a work done by the Western Branch of the IPS.

 

 

 

 

We will let you all know when the Tapestry is completed. Can't wait to see the finished work, it will be a very interesting view of history through the medium of textiles.

 

 

 

Madeleine Jordan – A truly inspiring woman

Madeleine Jordan was the guest speaker today and all I can say is that she is ‘some woman’. Madeleine and her trusty assistant (her daughter-in-law) came laden down with an enormous array or quilts, wall hangings and other small items that she has made over the years. 

Every single piece that she showed to us had a story to go with it. All I could do was look on in amazement at the wonderful work that she has produced over the years. Many of the pieces were completely hand quilted and all of her work was stunning. 

Her attention to detail and her diligence in researching the subject of her projects shines through in the finished articles. There were so many pieces that I don’t think we actually got time to see them all and we could have dedicated the whole of the meeting to Madeleine, her life and times and her quilts. 

I could have happily listened to Madeleine talking all day, she is like a breath of fresh air and her vitality and energy to do what she so clearly loves doing is astounding. Well done Madeleine's and thank you for such a wonderful and inspiring talk, it definitely gave me the kick that I needed to get started with the needle and thread again.

March Show & Tell

Our March meeting was wonderfully attended.  Hanging in the back of the meeting was this gorgeous quilt:

It will be raffled off in the May meeting to raise funds for the IPS Archiving project.  Be sure to buy your tickets before then!

The majority of our show and tell quilts were from Terri McNeill's workshop the month before.  Isn't it great to see how the same pattern can be interpreted by each quilter using different fabrics?

Lynne also showed several quilts made with fabrics from Seams Sew Simple, giving each and every one of us a few new ideas!  Thanks, Lynne!

Our April meeting was filled with a Paula Rafferty double sided log cabin workshop and a wonderful shop:  Floppy Fabrics.  Stay tuned to see everything in our next few blog posts!

Guest Speaker: Gaye Grant!!

The Western Branch of the IPS were so lucky to have Gaye Grant, of the Fennel Shed, as their guest speaker in the February meeting.  She brought her fantastic shop as well as a pile of gorgeous quilts.  For each quilt, she took the time to discuss the process she undertakes to design the quilt (showing off the fabric!), piecing and quilting. It was a fantastic learning experience for everyone in the audience.

You'll see Gaye's book Square Play in the photos above.  Be sure to check it out of your branch library or pick up a copy of your own. It's a wonderful book.

Gaye, thank you for taking the time to visit us.  We learned an incredible amount and look forward to seeing what you create next!

Disappearing 9 Patch Tutorial

As taster of what we could be doing for our donation hospital quilts, Maureen Feary brought her Disappearing 9 patch step 2 quilt. Maureen gave a fly through of how to do it, involving 9 patches and half square triangle.

You start with your usual nine patch, keeping your patterned fabric in the four outer corners and a focus fabric in the center.  Cut the block in quarters, again as you would for a traditional nine patch.

Measure the quarter squares above and cut out four additional squares of the same size. Layer them on top of your quartered nine patch (above).

                                      

Mark the diagonal in each layered square, making sure you do not draw the line through the little (red) squares underneath.  Sew 1/4 inch on either side of the marked line.

 Cut along the drawn line, creating 8 blocks.   Press the seams.  

 Arrange the blocks, as shown below, such that a repeating pinwheel pattern is created.

If you begin with 4 inch squares in the first nine patch, you will need 5 1/2 inch squares in the second step.  Your finished block will be 9 inches square.  If you begin with 5 inch squares in the initial 9 patch, you will need 7 inch additional squares in step two and will create a 12 inch square final block.  Enjoy!

                                    

Feb Branch Meeting Show & Tell

What a hectic meeting our February one was. There was a pretty full house of members, including our intrepid quilters who come in from the Aran Islands and Dot and Mary Francis from the USA who were visiting Spiddal for the weekend. Both quilters, they had discovered our meeting through the Fennel Shed Website. It was lovely to meet them and hopefully they enjoyed the rest of their trip to Ireland. They were on their way next day to visit Anne Marie Hobbs in Co. Wexford. 

Members of our branch contributed to a fabulous show and tell.  Here's a little peek:

Western Challenge 2013

Start stitching now!  This year the challenge is to make a sewing kit. Margaret Cunnane brought several samples to the February meeting to get your creative ideas flowing.  

The Western Challenge is to be completed and brought to the May meeting and will then be sent to Malawi for distribution to women there. 

Gaye Grant: From Paper To Quilt

Gaye Grant, of the Fennel Shed in Buncrana, demonstrated again what a great ‘piece maker’ she is. Quilt after quilt showed how she takes the basic building blocks of squares and triangles, works her magic and viola: quilt!

Gaye has a passion for piecing and designing which was very infectious and yes, I think we need a workshop.

 

There were some nifty short cuts or techniques for example using pre-cut squares to produce some squares and ½ square triangles in 3 cuts. (you had to be there!) An aversion to waste means making patches from your cut offs as you go along and using them to border blocks or quilts.