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.

River of Dreams exhibition in Limerick

The annual River of Dreams exhibition will be opened by the Mayor of Limerick on Friday 10th June at 7pm in the Franciscan Church on Henry St., Limerick. All are invited to attend.
If anyone wishes to submit a quilt get it to Maeve Meaney at her shop The Limerick Quilt Centre before Saturday 4th June!
The exhibition will run from 11th to 19th June.
Maeve will hold a sale in her shop until 17th June (see www.quilt.ie for more info).

May: AGM, plans for 2011/12 and Spanish Tapas

May is the last meeting for our quilting year 2010/2011 and so we hold our AGM at this time.

The AGM is our chance to review the year with reports from the Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer.

Special thanks too to Theresa O'Riordan from Limerick who brought her shop to the meeting which generated great interest.

Special thanks also to Colette who put in a lot of work to create a new Library system which will make it easier to manage the library in the future. Remember, if there are any books you would like to see in the library collection, talk to Colette about adding them to our catalogue.

Joan announced the committee's plans for a coachtrip to Dublin on the 9th July to see the National Exhibition at the Botanic Gardens, followed by lunch and some retail therapy in Liffey Valley before coming home again. The trip is open to all members, contact Joan if you wish to travel.

The bus will depart from Galway Cathedral carpark on Sat 9th July at 8.15am, stopping at Athlone IT college for another pickup on the way. We hope to arrive at the Botanic Gardens at approx 11am. Lunch in the restaurant there is at 1.30pm and we will depart Liffey Valley at 5.30pm for the return trip.

Cost including lunch is 25Euro.

Future plans for 2011/2012 include:

Sep: Agnes Warren is our speaker and will give us tips on using technology and the internet to fuel our passion for quilting! 'Rags for Linda' will provide the shop and our workshop in the afternoon is a 'quilting bee' to make our 'hands' blocks for the 'Céad Míle Fáilte' quilt for the upcoming International Quilting Festival of Ireland in 2012.

Oct: Ann Fahy is our speaker. Our workshop in the afternoon is a 'quilting bee' to get started on our exhibition for the upcoming International Quilting Festival of Ireland in 2012. Shop to be confirmed. Those of you wishing to get involved in the design of this exhibition of quilts should contact chairperson Lynn Naughton.

And our May meeting finished up with 15 members heading off to 'Cava' on Dominick Street for Spanish Tapas. Olé!

So enjoy the summer hols! And for those of you going on the coachtrip....see you on 9th July!

Viewer's Choice Award at our recent Branch Exhibition

At our recent Branch Exhibition 'Branching Out' at the Galway City Museum we asked the public to vote for their favourite quilt in the exhibition. A lot of people commented they found this a difficult task as they liked so many quilts for different reasons. However, one quilt received the overall majority of votes and that was...

'Up the Garden Path' by Mogs McDonnell
Here Chairperson, Lynn Naughton, presents Mogs with a bundle of fabrics for her next stunning creation!

Mogs explained the quilt was made for her son Jimmy who is a writer, poet and great fan of Macnas and the Arts in general. On the back of the quilt are some Macnas-type masks and one of Jimmy's poems.

And here are some additional detailed photos of this wonderful quilt.

May: Western Trophy Challenge

Our Western Trophy Challenge this year was to create an A4 piece using any craft discipline but to include stitching somewhere.

And the winner (by viewer's choice) was...

Bridie Mahoney who was presented with the Trophy and a voucher by Chairperson, Lynn Naughton.

Here are some of the other entries for the challenge:

May: Show & Tell

Today's 'Show & Tell' included the following items:

Theresa O'Riordan

Mary McDonnell

Margaret Cunnane

Lynn Naughton

Johanna Tyrell

Cindy Coleman

Official opening of "Branching Out" at the Galway City Museum by John Killeen of "Lets do it Galway"

Chairperson Lynn Naughton has a wonderful blog with lots of interesting news. And thanks to her husband there is a great video clip of the opening speeches at the "Branching Out" exhibition at the Galway City Museum. To see the video please see www.lynnnaughton.blogspot.com/2011/04/branching-out-at-galway-museum.html

Please note early closure of 'Branching Out' exhibition at the Galway City Museum

Unfortunately our Western Branch Exhibition 'Branching Out' has had to close at short notice as the Galway City Museum is closing for renovations. Apologies to anyone who intended to travel next week to see the exhibition. Some of the quilts on show will be selected to travel to the National IPS exhibition in the Botanic Gardens in the summer so perhaps you will have the chance to see them there.

Western Branch members love to blog!

Since creating our westernips blog we've had lots of positive feedback from our own members and other IPS members around the country. The blog has also allowed patchworkers from abroad to make contact with us before they travel to Ireland and we have had some enquiries from those who want to plan their trips to Galway around their love of quilting. Creating a blog on http://www.blogger.com/ can be done in a few easy steps. Some of our own members have already joined in the fun. It's a great way to share information about your favourite techniques, books, websites, work in progress, etc. Sometimes someone else's research on-line can provide you with just the inspiration you needed for a new project! Be sure to check out members blogs for regular updates and consider encouraging them to keep blogging by clicking 'follow'. The on-line patchwork, quilting and textile art community is a very friendly one, so why not join in? Cindy Coleman is the latest Western IPS member to let us know about her blog and you can read all about her activities on http://www.fluffysheepquilting.blogspot.com/.

"Branching Out" an exhibition by Western Branch IPS members opens at Galway City Museum

We had a wonderful time at the opening of our exhibition on Saturday 16th April, a very sunny afternoon at the Galway City Museum. John Killeen of "Lets do it Galway" opened the exhibition for us and had high praise indeed for the creativity and craftsmanship involved in the variety of work on show. UPDATE: THE EXHIBITION CLOSED EARLY DUE TO RENOVATIONS AT THE GALWAY CITY MUSEUM. APOLOGIES TO ANYONE WHO DID NOT SEE THE EXHIBITION DUE TO THE SHORT NOTICE OF CLOSURE. Here are just some of the photographs from the event. Chairperson, Lynn Naughton, thanks John Killeen for opening the exhibition and presents him with colourful prints by Irish artist Simone Walsh (www.simonewalsh.net).

Veronika, Anna and Lara Feldmann with "Rhododendron Rose Tree" by Veronika.

Naomh Muire Quilters (Bernadette Falvey, Mari Moran and Tanja Alanko-O'Malley) with their piece "Hope".

Margaret Cunnane with 'Soleil d'Or'.

Mogs McDonnell with "Up the Garden Path".

Marian and Irene Kavanagh with "Folded Flowers" by Marian.

Mari Moran with "Cave Women's Flowers".

Margaret Cunnane and Catherine Geraghty.

Madeleine Jordan with "Taste of the Seasons".

Emer and Johanna Tyrell with "Merci Matisse" by Johanna.

Joan Colleran with "30 Years A-Growing".

Jackie O'Toole and her daughter with "All Things Bright and Beautiful" by Jackie.

Isabelle Foyle and her grand-daughter Nora.

Colette O'Donnell with "Harmony".

Cheryl Breeds with "70's by Nature".

Bernie Falvey, Colette O'Donnell, Margaret Cunnane, Josephine Helly and Lynn Naughton.

Bernie Falvey with "Bouquet of Love".

Aine Ui Dhomhnaill and her son with "Abi".

Clodagh, Emily, Grainne and Agnes Warren with "Back to Basics" by Agnes.

And finally a really BIG THANK YOU to the organising committee (Margaret Cunnane, Mari Moran and Johanna Tyrell) for putting together such a wonderful exhibition, creating posters, invitations and catalogues, advertising it in local press, etc. We all appreciate the work you did so THANKS!

Jim West tells the group about the International Quilt Festival of Ireland in 2012

Jim West moved to Ireland a year ago and now lives in Oughterard. He joined the IPS and attends the South Western Branch meetings. Jim has been working with Failte Ireland and NUI Galway to fulfil his plans to host 'The International Quilt Festival of Ireland' in Galway in June 2012. The festival programme opens with a gala dinner at the Radison and then the NUI campus will turn into the 'Quilter's Village' for the weekend hosting workshops with International and Irish tutors, a number of open and juried exhibitions, quilt-supply shops, craft and food market, flea-market, restaurants, cafes, pub, cinema, music and dance displays and lots more. Jim welcomed questions from all members and hoped everyone would participate by submitting quilts to the many exhibitions planned. Jim also invited the Western Branch committee to meet him at NUI during the week for a tour of the campus to get a greater understanding of the scale of the event. The committee will report back to the members on how we propose to get involved. In the meantime please see www.iqfoi.com for more information. Further details on how to book your place at the workshops or submit quilts to the exhibitions will be available on the website on June 7th 2011.

April: Workshop with Loretta O'Brien - from photo to quilt

On a previous visit to Galway, Loretta O'Brien showed us some of the fabric portraits she had created and of course we all wanted to know how she made them. So in April 2011 Loretta returned to Galway to give a workshop and teach us the steps involved.

Working from photographs which we had enlarged to A3 size, we traced the design using tracing paper, baking parchment or clear plastic.

By placing our tracing over graph-paper with small squares we were able to count the number of squares in the height and width.

We then moved to graph paper with large squares and plotted out our image by scaling the line drawing up to the larger paper. Although this is a slow process it is one that really helps to create a very good likeness of the original photo.

Loretta gave us an outline of what to do next.

• Copy your paper template so that you have a paper pattern to cut into the individual templates.


• Iron bondaweb to a piece of fabric larger than the template piece.


• Cut out your fabric using the template.


• Iron your fabric pieces to a background.


• Using monofilament (clear thread) on the top and in the bobbin, stitch the pieces in place using a blind hem stitch (----^----^----).


• Add in any details using free-machine lines, etc. in an appropriate coloured thread.

Below you can see some of the drawings in progress: