August: Quilts by 'Ready Thready Sew' at the Tuam Arts Festival

The 3rd Annual Quilt Exhibition by the members of Tuam's quilt group, Ready Thready Sew, was held during Tuam Arts Festival 20th to 28th August 2010.
The group produced a riot of quilts large and small from pram quilts with coordinating soft toys to full bed size quilts and everything in-between.

Nora Brennan, a Western branch IPS member, entered a number of lovely quilts along with a really striking Cathedral Windows cushion in black with vivid silks in the 'windows. Nora bought the silks in Kathmandu and her inspiration was the multi coloured powders used by Hindus to paint their bodies and faces during the celebration to the God of Springtime. See the photos below for Nora's inspiration and resulting cushion.

The following photos are just a few of the many other quilts included in the exhibition.

(info provided by Sally Marrable)

August: A bundle of joy for Grandma Poth

Congratulations to Western Branch member, Sandlin Poth, on the birth of her gorgeous grandson, Stetson Skye Poth on 4th August, 2010.

The lucky boy looks very happy wrapped in his quilt made by Grandma.

Tuam quilt group, Ready Thready Sew will exhibit their work at the Tuam Arts Festival

The Tuam Arts Festival will run from 20th to 28th August, 2010. Tuam quilt group, Ready Thready Sew, has made 3 "community" quilts to display, among others, as part of the festival. This quilt, which was made with turquouse fabrics left over from the main community quilt, is approx 52 x 63 inches and is destined for Crumlin hospital. The main quilt, in many shades of blue, is bed size and will be raffled in aid of St. Vincent de Paul. A further small quilt is also destined for Crumlin.

Headford Quilts on the way to California!

A delegate from the Morgan Hill, California twinning committee visited Headford recently and made contact with Mogs McDonnell. The South Valley Quilt Association organises a major exhibition each year and they were hoping to show some quilts from their Irish twin-town, Headford. Mogs contacted the quilters who meet at her studio, "Bolg na Talun" to submit their work and 9 pieces were parcelled up and are now on their way to California. Here are some of those quilts.

"The Irish Chain" by Nuala McHugh

"Snail Mini Trail" by Mogs McDonnell

"Margarita" by Teresa Fahey

Maybe other towns/groups could look towards their twin-towns abroad for other possible quilting collaborations?

For more information on the South Valley Quilt Association see http://www.svqa.org/.

Headford Quilts on the way to California!

Some more of the quilts on the way to Morgan Hill, California for the South Valley Quilt Association's exhibition in September.

"Letters Home" by Ester Kiely

"I'm gonna marry a lighthouse keeper and keep him company" by Lila McHugh

"Forever and Ever" by Mary O'Grady

"Cat-A-List" by Mogs Mc Donnell

"A light in the dark" by Mogs McDonnell

An innovative stitch-related workshop with "Sampler Culture Clash"

I was one of a number of tutors involved in the "Support for Women" project at Leitrim Design House over the last year.

The project was aimed at women who have been impacted by conflict in their lives and it was a multi-disciplinary, multi-media, cross-border project.

Throughout the year they participated in self-development, creative journalling, creative textiles, painting, glass-making, printing and mixed media collage workshops. The project culminated with an exhibition of their work at "The Golden Thread" gallery in Belfast which will now travel to Leitrim Design House, Carrick-on-Shannon for an opening on August 19th at 5.30pm (all are welcome!).

On 22nd of July I travelled with the women to Belfast to participate in a workshop with David Littler and Yusra Warsama (also known as "Sampler Culture Clash"). Here our written and spoken responses to the exhibition were recorded to create a soundtrack to accompany the exhibition. The words were also translated into cross-stitch samplers and the patterns also fed into a piano player machine to create music!

The photos show some of this work in progress. The workshop was very enjoyable and provided me with a totally new perspective of stitch-related art. Very interesting stuff!

For more information see http://www.sampler-cultureclash.blogspot.com/.

For further information on the exhibition "Changing Art and Minds" see http://www.intoleitrim.com/.

Ester Kiely

September Workshop: Stitching on soluble fabric

The workshop planned for September, after our Summer break, is "Stitching on soluble fabric" with Ester Kiely. Here are some samples of how Ester has used soluble fabric in projects:

Detail from "Love Letters" where soluble fabric was used to create the stitched 'envelopes'.

A bowl created by trapping sheer fabrics between two layers of soluble fabric and free-machine embroidering using metallic and plain threads.

Miniature bowls created by stitching into soluble fabric with a variety of coloured threads. Vintage lace has been included to further embellish the one on the right.

Detail from "Jewelbox" a wall-hanging where 3D boxes were created by stitching onto soluble fabric.

Soluble fabric is easy to use and fun to experiment with. Once you master the basic steps of placing the fabric in a hoop and creating a grid with your free-machined stitches you are free to experiment and discover the potential for trapping threads and sheers, suspending pieces in a web of stitches, creating your own machine lace, stitched drawings, 3D objects, etc. This technique can also be used to create texured surfaces for your patchwork and quilting projects. The class is suitable for all skill levels.

For the class you will need:

• your sewing machine (you do need to be able to drop the feed-dogs or cover them with the plate provided)
• darning foot (this works best with a closed circular darning foot so that it does not catch in the thread)
• selection of threads, sheer fabrics and snippets of interesting fabrics
• embroidery hoop (some extras will be available to share on the day)
• your usual sewing accessories (scissors, bobbins, pins, etc)
• possibly some small bowls or other 3D shapes to use as moulds to shape your piece
• soluble fabric (some will be available to buy on the day which will be sufficient for you to create 3 or 4 sample pieces of work)

Lakeland Quilt Fair, Cavan County Museum 3-30th September

The above photo of the programme for the Lakeland Quilt Fair is difficult to read here, but you can request a copy by ringing the Museum at 049 8544070.

This is the 10th year of this fair and Frances Sawaya has put together a great programme to suit everyone. It includes two exhibitions:

• Make it New - An exhibition of new work from the Textile Art Forum
• Now and Then - An exhibition of traditional bed quilts with a modern focus

There are workshops running from 5th to 23 September by Nikki Foley, Pat Archibald, Pauline Openeer, Gloria Loughman and Amanda Northey-Damms.

The following shops will also be selling supplies at the fair:

• Farmhouse Quilts, Wicklow
• The Cotton Shed, Portadown
• The Fennel Shed, Buncrana
• Just Cotton, Athboy
• The Sewing Shed, Kerry

Corrib Quilters on a day-trip to Limerick Quilt Centre

On the 1st of July, with the sun shining the Corrib Quilters set off on a day-trip to Limerick. After a visit to the Hunt Museum and a spot of lunch we hit Maeve's shop "The Limerick Quilt Centre" (http://www.quilt.ie/) for a bit of retail-therapy! Maeve has a great selection of fabrics and we enjoyed looking at them all! Little Lara came with us and despite a long day, she participated in all the fun!

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?

Workshop for the public at Galway City Museum

As part of the Western Branch Exhibition in the Galway City Museum Toni Foley, Mary McDonnell and Anne Marie Horan gave two workshops to members of the public on Saturday 22nd May.

It was decided to teach the basic building blocks of a four-patch and a half-square triangle. By adding a border everyone went away with a 14"square piece.

All pieces were pre-cut and it wasn't long before everyone was sewing 1/4 inch seams. The photo shows the finished pieces of Maire, Marie, Pauline and Angela.

The workshop stimulated a lot of interest in the participants and also in visitors to the exhibition who were walking through the Gallery.

Thanks to Breandan and all the Museum staff for their help and here's hoping the Western Branch gets some new members in September!

Ann-Marie Horan

Castle Quilters Roscommon: Workshop with Mogs McDonnell

Today Mogs McDonnell travelled to Roscommon to give a stained glass-window workshop to the Castle Quilters in Roscommon. A great day was had by everyone involved and as you can see from the photo a lot was achieved in the class. Mogs also teaches a wide range of patchwork and quilting skills to all levels from her beautiful stone-built studio 'Bolg na Talun' near Headford, Co. Galway.

"Quilts 1700 - 2010" Exhibition at the V&A Museum, London

If you get a chance to see this exhibition at the V&A Museuem in London before it finishes on 4th July, I highly recommend you go. The exhibition is divided into 5 'rooms':

• The Domestic Landscape
• Private Thoughts - Political Debates
• Virtue and Virtuosity
• Making a Living
• Meeting the Past

It is well laid out with a good mix of historical and contemporary work.

I hired the i-touch audio visual guide available at the door and was very impressed with how it increased my enjoyment of the exhibition. It had photos of a selection of the quilts which allowed you to zoom in and see the stitching, which wasn't always possible to do in reality because some items were displayed on beds and you couldn't get close because of barriers. It also included some interviews with the contemporary makers which gave a great insight into their inspirations and methods of working.

I was particularly struck by the video accompanying a quilt made by men in Wandsworth prison which was commissioned by the V&A for the exhibition. I was surprised by how vulnerable these men seemed and their obvious enjoyment in sewing the quilt contradicted my own preconceived expectation that the prisoners would be tough, uninterested and unwilling to express their feelings.

There were plenty of other colourful, imaginative and beautifully constructed quilts all of which I will savour at leisure as I bought the accompanying book to take home!

The V&A is a wonderful museum with so much to see. There are fantastic giftshops, bookshops and tearooms. There is a giftshop immediately as you exit the exhibition, with lots of specially created patchwork fabrics, gifts, books and sewing notions inspired by the exhibition. Resist if you can!

For more information visit www.vam.ac.uk and www.vandashop.com for the quilting fabrics.

(Ester Kiely)

"Down the Road" an exhibition by Cork Textiles Network

Any of you travelling to Cork in June? Check out this exhibition which opens on 3rd June and runs until the 17th June at St. Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork. For more information on the work of Cork Textiles Network see www.corktextiles.com

May: Western Challenge Trophy presented to Johanna Tyrell

"Hearts for Ella" by Johanna Tyrell wins the Western Trophy Challenge.

Miriam Gogarty (Executive Chair of IPS), Johanna Tyrell (Western Trophy Challenge winner) and Veronika Feldmann (Chair of Western Branch of IPS).

Miriam Gogarty was invited as this year's judge for the Western Trophy Challenge at 'The West's Awake' exhibition in the Galway City Museum.

Miriam complimented everyone on the work displayed and the overall presentation of the exhibition. She also gave a special mention to a number of quilts in the exhibition, which she admired for a variety of reasons.

However, one quilt stood out for it's workmanship, choice of colours and the warmth of the sentiment inspiring its creation. With great pleasure Miriam and Veronika presented the award to Johanna Tyrell for her beautiful quilt 'Hearts for Ella'.

Congratulations Johanna from all your friends in the Western Branch!

May: Show & Tell

Celtic quilt by Monica Lannon.

'Lara's Quilt' was made by Brenda Maloney for our littlest member Lara Feldmann!

Margaret Cunnane finished the 'Jacob's Ladder' quilt, which she started at Linda McMulkin's workshop.

May: Show & Tell

Lynn Naughton showed us a selection of the fabrics she dyed at last month's workshop with Nikki Foley.

Lynn decided to use these fabrics as a starting point for some experimental techniques she is learning from instructional videos at www.lindakemshall.com (Design Matters TV).

The fruit shapes were created by cutting a stencil from freezer paper and ironing it onto the fabric, bleach (or in this case toilet cleaner!) was applied to remove the dye, then the fruit was coloured in using Markal sticks (some info on how to use markal sticks can be found at www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/projects/markal/index.html).

Lynn has created totally original fabric, with lovely shading, using these techniques and intends to continue her fruit theme to make a quilt/wall-hanging.

May: Show & Tell

Lynn also told us about some interesting tools for free-motion quilting that she has started to use as recommended by Leah Day (at www.daystyledesigns.com and www.freeemotionquilting.blogspot.com).

Supreme Slider costs approx $30 and sits on the bed of your machine. The bottom surface is non-slip and adheres to your machine-bed. The upper surface allows your work to glide freely as you machine-quilt. It has a hole to allow the needle to stitch as normal.

These quilter's gloves are made from a light breathable cotton yet they have rubber tipped fingers to allow you to grip the fabric for free-motion stitching. Some of us have used other gloves, gardening gloves or even footballer's gloves which can be a cheaper alternative, but they are sometimes a bit uncomfortable to wear. Lynn recommends these 'Machingers'.

These and other tools can be found at www.daystyledesigns.com.

City Tribune writes about "The West's Awake" Exhibition

A number of photographs from the opening of the exhibition featured in this week's City Tribune.