Western Branch Exhibition 2013

   At the end of September the Western Branch exhibition opened in a new venue, the ground floor of the Geata na Cathrach building near the Radisson  Hotel in Galway. It was a great empty space that had already been used for exhibitions and our thanks to John Hughes and Sarah Healy who made it available to us.  The quilting elves moved in on Wednesday,Thursday and Friday to give it a final clean and to hang our lovely quilts.With a fair bit of passing trade going to the Tax Office and the Radisson, we hung 5 of our Cú na Mara panels in the entrance hall to attract attention. They really looked spectacular and drew a lot of interest from those attending the Tattoo Convention in the hotel over the weekend. Expect to see a Cú na Mara tattoo on an upper-arm near you some time soon!

    The official opening of the exhibition took place on Culture Night and was performed by the Mayor of Galway City, Padraic Conneely. City Arts Officer, James Harrold who had given us great publicity in culture night brochures, also spoke, drawing attention to the beauty and variety of the quilts. Altogether there were 40 pieces on display and this doesn't include the A3 alphabet quilts which were made as an exhibition challenge and will be donated to COPE Galway for their playroom.There were some traditional quilts such as Agnes Feeney's Double Irish Chain, beautifully hand-quilted; Mari Moran's 'My Country Quilt' also hand-quilted. Sally Marrable made a LUDO quilt which was very playful and sat very nicely beside Isabelle Foyle's 'Tessellations' in zingy colours. Christine Widmer, Veronica Coyne, Mary Madden and Madeleine Jordan showed VERY big bedquilts. Madeleine also had some smaller art-quilts one of them based on zendoodles (don't ask: google it)and new'ish' member Shanna Corrigan showed a whole cloth, sun-dyed piece which she had randomly machine quilted according to where the colours were. Agnes Warren showed a small, foundation pieced Mariner's Compass: 'Lead Me Home' with a lovely Flying Geese border. 

Of the Viewers Choices, the out and out winner was Joan Colleran's Sunbonnet Sue piece: 'A Girl for all Seasons. This quilt was in the post to America the morning after the quilts came down so that the doting grandmother could present it to her grand-daughter in person. Other viewer's favourites included Agnes Feeney's Irish Chain; Margaret Cunnane's indigo sampler: 'Sea Fever'; Bernie Falvey's 'Hearts' and Jackie O'Toole's 'Trip Around the World'. The Alphabet quilts proved a great hit and were quite a spectacle when hung altogether. Ciara Tierney of COPE was pleased to accept them at our October meeting. It's great to have the incentive to finish quilts for such an exhibition. If you can draw visitors in, it is one of the best ways to introduce people to patchwork and quilting because they not only see the variety of quilts but also get a chance to talk to the people who have made them. We welcomed several new members to our September meeting who had been at the exhibition. Time now to put the thinking cap on for a quilt for the National Exhibition in July 2104!!!! It never ends, does it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CharityQuilts

Members of the Western Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society have been busy. Each year the members of the Western Branch make quilts to help local charities and In May they presented a beautiful double quilt to Paul Hayes of the Sunni Mae Trust to be used for fund-raising. Lily Mae came with Paul and received a lovely quilt all for herself.  

 In addition this year members were busy stitching quilts for the Children's Unit at UHG. The quilts were all shapes and sizes from new born to full size. Anne Matthews, of the unit was delighted to accept the quilts which will be given to the children and young people who avail of the Unit's invaluable services.

Western Branch Exhibition 20th -29th September 2013

'GO LEOR QUILTS GALORE

will take place in the 'Geata na Cathrach' Building, Fairgreen Road, Galway.

Official opening Friday September 20th at 6pm. All IPS members welcome.

Open Sat. 21st - Sun. 29th from 10am-5pm each day.

Please check with Western IPS Blog closer to the date for full details.

(The Geata na Cathrach building is on the corner between the Fairgreen Coach Station and the Radisson Hotel, 100yds from train station with plenty of parking in the underground Coach Station carpark.)"

Flora, Fibre and Fabric, a Hands Across the Border Exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens

A number of Western Branch members managed to make the trip to Dublin for the opening of the Hands Across the Border: Flora, Fibre and Fabric Exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens. I travelled in Mari Moran's car along with Liz Nolan and we arrived in plenty of time to enjoy a tour of the exhibition before the speeches began.

There were lots of IPS and NIPG members present for the opening and it was great to see so many familiar faces. The sun shone brilliantly all day long and gardens and the exhibition space looked wonderful.

The selection of work from North and South showed a wide range of styles, techniques and interpretations of the theme so there really was plenty to appeal to the traditional and the contemporary quilt-maker.

The Eastern Branch will also provide workshops for the pubic during the exhibition and this has proven to be a very popular part of IPS exhibitions at the Botanic Gardens in the past. This may even introduce some new members to our guilds.

I've included some photographs of a few of my favourites from the show, but there were so many others. The exhibition was well worth the visit.

Ester Kiely.

 

 

Angela McCormick, Bring Fowers NIPG

 

Ann Fleeton, If Winter Comes Can Spring be Far Behind, IPS

 

Ann French, Flower for the Living (NIPG)

 

Irene MacWilliam, Wonder of Nature, NIPG

 

Madeleine Jordan,  2013 Hope, IPS

 

Margaret McCrory, The Rhyming Weavers, NIPG

 

Mari Moran, Sun Showers, IPS

 

Miriam Gogarty, Moira's Sunflowers, IPS

Researcher Marybeth Stalp at The Quilt Shop Tuam 24th to 27th July 2013.

We received the following message from Roisin McManus of The Quilt Shop Tuam. Anyone interested should contact Roisin direct at  087 6292886.

Hi Quilters,

I have invited Marybeth Stalp to the Quilt Shop this week. She is arriving today. Marybeth is an American Sociologist (and a quilter). She is in Ireland for the last eight months talking with women who craft. She has written a book on American Quilters and is researching to see what is similar and different here. She has interviewed quilters in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Donegal and lots of other places in between. I thought it might be nice if we could be included as part of her research. We have a great community of quilters in the West. If you haven't crossed paths with Marybeth already during her stay in Ireland I would be very grateful if you would agree to meet her so that her time here will be as valuable to her as possible. I have a timetable for the next four days, Wed to Sat, starting at 10am in half hour intervals until 12:30 and again from 2pm to 5. Please let me know if I can schedule you in.

Thanks a million, Roisin

for more info see:
www.marybethstalp.com