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. 

  

1913 Tapestry Project

Angela, our guest speaker from the 1913 Tapestry Project, explained the origins and history of the Lockout at our last branch meeting, and then told the story through slides depicting the various scenes that have been designed for the ‘tapestry’. To learn more about the project, you can visit their website or view the video below.

Tapestry Documentary Promo from DCTV on Vimeo.

Techniques being used by other groups include appliqué and embroidery to translate a conceptual sketch into a tapestry panel.  It was great to see shots of the various groups in action and of the fruits of their labour. The choice of fabrics needs to reflect the colours of the times and it was interesting that the designers/artists added women to some of the scenes. 

 After her presentation Angela unfolded ‘our’ panel. It is of a public meeting, with a podium and crowd gathered in front.

Angela also provided us with a paper pattern with samples of suggested colours and fabrics. Best of all we also got a bag of suitable scraps.

At our last meeting Ann Fahy had kindly donated a box of fabric pieces and scraps. A lot of them were plain colours and having grouped them in similar coloured bundles many of them were snapped up. This left some of the duller bundles which of course may be perfect for the muted colours needed for the 1913 panel. The Panel will be brought to next month’s meeting and a rota organised with members for completion. We need to hand it over in July and members agreed to work into June to complete the project. There was great excitement in the room at being part of recording history. Over the years the members of the Western Branch have worked on many different group projects so I look forward to the co-operation to come.    

Thanks to Angela for taking the time to travel down to us and we look forward to the work.