November Recap, Show and Tell

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There was an enthusiastic group at our virtual meeting this morning, thank you to those who managed to join us!

The conversation quickly turned to online mystery quilts and quilt-alongs, so I’ve made a small list of some that were mentioned and some that I found:

  • You should have received instruction emails from the IPS about the mystery quilt by Mary Palmer. The instructions can also be found under “resources – 2020 patterns” at the IPS website (login required)
  • Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt is about to start soon, supplies have been announced. It is called Grassy Creek, and all posts will be on that page as they come available.
  • Fat quarter Shop has a free Block-a-Week for 38 weeks called Sewcialites to which several designers contribute.
  • Alaska Rainbow Quilt-Along by Edita Sitar on laundrybasketquilts.com. The link goes to the first post, all posts can be found by clicking the tag “Alaska Rainbow QA”.
  • A modern row-by-row quilt-along is the Sugaridoo Quilt Along on the Bernina site.

Nikki Foley of the Sewing Shed came in to give us a short talk. She told us how sewing has been a saviour through tough times in her life. She explained how that has given her the energy and drive to work so hard at what she does now and why that means so much to her. She followed it by a photo tutorial for easy Christmas table mats. If you want to make the table mats, find the tutorial on the Sewing Shed website at: Christmas table mats from a star bundle.

This afternoon Nikki was going to open her new shop, too (virtually of course). If you’d like to see, you can find The Sewing Shed on Facebook or Instagram, and there is also a website (10% discount until tomorrow 12PM)

Our next visitor was Mary Murphy who some of you may remember from her visit to us in 2018. Mary makes stitched portraits, and is now involved in a new arts collective/art gallery in Carrigaline. She showed us the space and some of the art work, as well as the craft and design work they are displaying. For anyone interested to know more, have a look at Mary’s website, or visit the Owenabue Arts Collective site.

Then it was time to talk quilts again. Cathy showed us what she is working on: A self-designed quilt with different stars which is all hand pieced and is presently being quilted.

Tracy had recently received paper pieces for an “Ice Cream Soda Quilt” and showed off the first “blossom” she made. She also showed the embroidered pockets for a bespoke advent calendar for her son and his wife.

Joanna showed a lovely quilt she is working on and wants to make bigger.

And I held up my just-quilted log cabin quilt to the camera…

Our next meeting will be on 12 December from 11:00 AM, and it will be a festive one, so find your Christmas hat, and have a mince pie ready! We hope to organise a quiz/treasure hunt for that. It will also be an opportunity to show off your Christmas makes, and wish each other the best for the season, of course.
We will be sending the link for the meeting to up-to-date members only, so please get your renewals sorted…!

Sorry for the lack of pictures so far, to make up here is a short Show and Tell from the photos I received by email:

Siobhan made this log cabin from denim:

Assumpta made paper pieced Santas. They were supposed to be a runner but she made them into individual hanging ones instead:

Tracy Wardle says: “Here’s my offering for this month. I’ve called it “Sweet Like Chocolate” as it was made using mainly fabric from a Moda collection called Double Chocolat. I’ve included a shot of the back as well as the front and also a close up of part of the front. It is quilted on my home sewing machine”:

Eilís Watson made the colourful quilt below. The pattern is ‘Paradise Pinwheels’ by Laura Coons. It uses a jelly roll with background fabric:

We hope to see you all next month!

November online meeting

On By sewofcourseIn meeting announcementLeave a comment

This Saturday 14 November we will meet online via Zoom.

We will start from 10.30 – bring your own coffee/tea and cakes!
At 11.00 Nikki Foley is giving us a demo for Christmas table mats. There will be plenty opportunity to show us your project, too.
So say hello to your quilt friends, and join us.

If you haven’t received the link, contact us by email (or leave a comment below).

If you have a photo of any of your recent makes, please send them by email so they can be included in the Show & Tell post.

Also, please remember to renew your membership! Contact us if you have trouble doing so…

October Recap, Show and Tell

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This morning we met online for our monthly branch meeting. Thank you to those who managed to join us, it was so lovely to see you all!

After a general catch up, Nicky Foley of the Sewing Shed took her phone camera around her shop. From fabrics to threads, and from notions of all kinds to patterns. As well as that the Sewing Shed has a dedicated workshop for up to 5 people, all separated by screens into individual work stations to comply with regulations.

Nicky told us she will be moving premises at the end of the month. She will be closer to the village, be on the ground floor, and have her own parking. Improvements to the website are also planned. Find the Sewing Shed’s website at: https://www.thesewingshed.ie/

From that we got to talking about the mystery quilt-along Nicky ran over the summer, the “Sewcial distancing project”. Frances showed us her version, made in scraps. The mystery instructions are still (freely) available with videos, find details here: https://www.thesewingshed.ie/blogs/news/stayathome-our-sewcialdistancing-project-part-1

This was followed by Mary Palmer showing us some of her work. In a very varied talk she showed us recent and older work, modern and more traditionally inspired work, and collaborative work. There were photos from her travels to Uzbekistan, prize-winning quilts, quilting she has done for others, and seasonally inspired work based on the drunkard’s path block and much more. If you are not very familiar with her work, some images can be found on her website gallery: http://www.marimudesigns.com/?page_id=73

Someone asked about where to obtain linen fabrics after seeing one of Mary’s quilts including linen fabrics. After the meeting Bernie sent us details of a shop she has visited that sells linen fabrics:

As a sign of the times, we briefly spoke of masks, and Mary showed us an image of a fascinating beaked mask in the style plague doctors reputedly wore. I found it online, if you are interested there are even instructions (HERE), though whether it makes a practical mask I leave you to decide…

Not quite a mask, but Frances shared this image with us:

Finally, I am ending this post with some photos of your makes that I got sent via our email:

Bernadette Keniry made this quilt. She says: this lap quilt was an UFO and travelled to three homes before being grounded.

Also by Bernadette this crochet cape. It was made from an Interweave pattern, lots of patience was required:

Noreen Brazier

Hilary O’Kelly recently made this quilt for her grandson Tiernan. He chose the fabrics himself, many came from his aunt Kate, which gives the quilt extra special meaning.

Tracy Wardle sends us these pictures. She says: I haven’t finished any quilts this month but I have WIP’s. I’ve been working on another UFO this month and the photo is of the backing,  which I’m piecing at the moment. The other thing I’m working on is an Advent calendar for my son and his wife. I can’t wait to show you the finished article but for now here’s a pic of my current favourite pocket.

Moya Geraghty has also send us some pictures. She is doing a block of the month called Superbloom by Laundry Basket Quilts. Picture of the quilt and the first block. Anybody interested in taking part contact her at patchworkplus[at]gmail.com.

Below a picture of a messenger bag made at one of her workshops.

Eilís Watson is making a kaleidoscope quilt (not together yet) using the striped fabric below:

Well, that is all for today. I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and if you do any sewing in the coming weeks share your photo with us next month. We hope to host another online meeting then, too.

October branch meeting

On By sewofcourseIn meeting announcementLeave a comment

Hello everyone,

This Saturday will be our monthly meeting, and since we cannot meet in person we are organising an online version via Zoom:

The meeting link will open from 10:30
Shop: Nicky Foley will give us a tour of her Sewing Shed
Talk: Mary Palmer
Chat: say hello to each other.

Zoom is very easy to use, and can be used from a computer/laptop, tablet or smartphone.
If you haven’t used it before it is worth a try. We have sent an email with the link to the meeting to our members, if you haven’t received it, please contact us. We can also resend links to some helpful video tutorials on using Zoom if you didn’t get them…

If you want to share any quilts with us, please email your photos in advance of the meeting so we can add them to the web post.

We hope to have a great turnout for Saturday!

September meeting recap

On By sewofcourseIn Meeting Recap, Uncategorized, virtual meetingLeave a comment

Online meeting

Since our September 2020 meeting could not take place in person, it was “moved” from the hall to an online meeting on Zoom. Eight of us managed to join the meeting, where we chatted all things quilts and beyond.

Frances showed us her indigo/white quilt top from a star pattern by Marsha McCloskey. She also managed to find the bright top she made from the “Sewcial Distancing” quilt-along by Nicky Foley (Sewing Shed) as well as a “disappearing nine-patch” in progress for a baby quilt.

Marie showed a baby quilt she made with soft blue and yellow fabrics and Beatrix Potter prints (see below for a photo).

We were able to share some of Moya’s (Patchwork Plus) new website, too. She found the time to set it up during the summer (due to Covid), and will be adding more to it. Find the link on our Helpful Links page.

Frances mentioned that she enjoyed the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show (online) which can be found at https://quiltshow.com/.

Also, the quilt galleries as well as (free) workshops and lectures of the Festival of Quilts can be accessed until the next festival in 2021 at https://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/beyond-the-festival-of-quilts/.

Memberships are now due, and should preferably be sent to our branch treasurer (see the email we sent recently). Members that haven’t renewed by the end of October will be removed from our database and will no longer receive emails or the IPS Newsletter…

Finally, we will soon be sending a short questionnaire round (by email) to all our members to see what we can do in the coming months…

Show and Tell

Several people shared their quilt project photos with us, so here is a recap of those:

Marie Sprott made this cot quilt for a friend whose daughter is expecting her first baby in October. The quilt is made up of nine patches plus squares from Beatrix Potter fabric . I did zig zag machine quilting across the 9 patch blocks and I am in the middle of doing free motion quilting in the white areas of the BP squares. As you can see it is being scrutinized by two friends:

Tracy Wardle has finished two projects this month. The first is my 2nd mini double wedding ring – finally, I completed a quilt for my bedroom!

And secondly, I quilted, bound and labelled the quilt I’ve been working on from last year’s Kaffe Fassett workshop up in Newtownmountkennedy. Another UFO down! I downsized it for a throw rather than a bed quilt then added a couple of inner borders before finishing with a Chinese coins border, which I mitred for a nice effect. I experimented with a 3.5″ double fold binding (á la Philippa Naylor) – what do you think? Thanks to Moya at Patchwork Plus for the gorgeous backing fabric, it’s perfect!

Heidi Wischniewski finished her Baltimore Applique Quilt and is “quite pleased with it”:

She started a new project “20 Different Cats Quilt “. Bought the Downloads from Susan Claire @ Gourmet Quilter.com. 12 cats done already in raw edge applique and I’m loving it:

Eilís Watson has truly been busy. She made 5 pixelated heart quilts (tutorial available on Missouri Star Quilt Company). Two (unquilted) are made from 5” x 5” squares and will be gifted to my friend’s two daughters. Two (turquoise and purple/pink) are stitched using 4.25” x 4.25” squares and the little one (floral) was made with 3.5” x 3.5” squares. These three were given to three of my nieces during lockdown:

The other quilt was made for a staff member’s new baby boy. The pattern is from #kitchentablequilting and was part of a lockdown quiltalong. Other quilts, using this pattern can be seen on #tessaqal:

Thank you all for sending the photos and for joining us online this morning! And members, keep an eye on your inbox, we will be in touch soon…

Meeting September

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We are unable to meet in person this Saturday, 12 September. Instead we are having a virtual meeting from 10.30 – 12.00. Please contact us in advance at corkips[at]gmail.com for the details (or leave a comment here).

And don’t forget to send us photos of your makes for our show and tell. We’ll try to share photos at the online meeting as well as in a (by now usual) post here on the blog.

August Show and Tell

On By sewofcourseIn virtual meeting1 Comment

Good morning,

After weeks with a lot of rain (at least in my part of the world) the sun is out again today. So I am quickly putting this together and will be spending the rest of the weekend outdoors. I hope you all have an opportunity to enjoy some relaxing time, too, whichever way you like to spend it.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to visit the Festival of Quilt website, there is still time to do so. With workshops, lectures, galleries and more all freely available online, there is something for everyone. Find the website here: Beyond the Festival of Quilts

Siobhan mentioned in her email that she enjoyed visiting Áine at the Lismore Quilt Company recently. This reminds me to mention our shops again. In these difficult times, do keep our local shops in mind when you are in need of supplies. They are open for business whether in person or by post. Find their contact details on our Helpful Links page.

As well as these posts on the website, we will be keeping in touch with our members by email. If any member is not receiving our emails, but does want to receive them, please let us know. If you don’t know our email address, leave a comment and we will get in touch (your comment will not be posted online automatically, but we get an email message about it). The executive has also recently sent an update by email, but several members had not received it. Again, let us know if you haven’t received it, and would like to.

As the summer is progressing, sewing seems to have taken a bit of a back seat for some of us. There have not been as many photos in our inbox this month. It may also be that I was rather late asking for photos, of course, sorry about that! Anyway, let’s get started.

Ber Higgins sent us several photos of projects she has been working on. I have put her descriptions in the captions:

  • Using up the last of that fabric
  • Some tea cosies with paper piecing inserts
  • Raining colours from Love Quilting magazine (easy way to make flying geese)
  • This one has been sent to Sweden to a new baby girl
Our class with Moya

Assumta Lydon and Siobhan Miller-Stone have been making from the same maze pattern. Assumpta writes: “We have been having sewing days (same cooties by now but did social distance) and have decided to do the same projects.”

  • Assumpta
  • Siobhan

Heidi Wischniewski shows her Baltimore style appliqué blocks. As she says, eight finished, another four to go:

Tracy Wardle has finished her ‘practice’ mini double wedding ring quilt. It finished at about 6.5″ x 8.5″ and is hand quilted. She has chosen its background and now only has to find a frame:

Lastly, here are my own sewing efforts. As you can see, I have not had enough of log cabin quilts quite yet. The top on the left is finished at 36″ square and is made from my own pattern. After finishing, and looking at the photo, I really would like to change one of the fabrics, but it will have to stay since I won’t be unpicking!
The one on the right is a work in progress and got a photo session in the garden this morning. It uses batik fabrics, both from a set of 2½” strips I got several years ago as a present and strips I cut myself. I used the odd strip cut at 1¼” wide at irregular places as well. The piece measures approximately 32″ at the moment, but I intend to keep going for a while yet. There are still plenty of strips left!

I hope you enjoyed seeing everyone’s projects this month. I intend to keep making these monthly posts while the situation on meetings doesn’t improve. So keep sending us your photos at any time, and I’ll add them to the next Show & Tell post.

Have a lovely weekend,
Sandra

July Show & Tell

On By sewofcourseIn Meeting Recap, virtual meeting1 Comment

Hello everyone,

I hope you all get to enjoy some sunshine today! And then when you come indoors you can sit down (with a cuppa maybe) and enjoy the photos I received this month. There are some beauties as usual!

At the end of the month I had planned to go to Birmingham, but of course the Festival of Quilts has been cancelled this year. It will be held online instead. The advantage of that is that anyone can “go” of course. There will be a virtual quilt show/quilt competition, free to view lectures and how-to workshops, and ticketed Masterclasses via video link. Starting on 30 July, find the show at “Beyond the Festival of Quilts“.

Again, please support our favourite shops when you need supplies. We may not always be able to travel to actual shops, but all our usual quilt shops can be contacted by phone or website, find their details at our Helpful Links page. And while you’re browsing our website, have a look around (click on the links at the top of the page), there are quite a few inspiring things to find. Anything missing that you’d like to see, let us know…

So let’s get started with our Show & Tell:

Carol O’Brien sent this Aztec design quilt that she finished:

Louise O’Hanlon has been working on the quilt below. She had this panel for ages and decided to make an attic window wall hanging. She is now in the process of trying straight line machine quilting.

Assumpta Lydon says: “This is a half square triangle quilt, which I love working with. Must put binding on yet.. It must be my mood these days as I seem to be gone onto greys!”

Tracy Wardle has gone miniature. She wrote: I don’t have anything finished to show at the moment but here’s a photo of the mini Double Wedding Ring I’m working on. The embroidery scissors are for scale – the rings make a piece about 7″ x 5″. It is made with bias strips appliqued onto a background. I’m just making the tiny 4-patches for the cornerstones. I hope to have it completed for the next time. Hope everyone’s well and enjoying the summer.

Marie Sprott has made a colourful small quilt for the cancer project quilts for hope. The top was given to her ages ago so another ufo done.

Hilary O’Kelly wanted to use her vast collection of batiks, so she designed her quilt around that idea. The top is done, she hopes to complete it over the coming weeks, hand quilting it.

Siobhan Miller Stone sends this photo of her quilt top:

Heidi Wischniewski sent photos of two projects. The first is made for a challenge the Wild Threads group are doing. The theme was “Look Down”, whatever that means for each of us. The second picture is another completed block of the Baltimore style applique:

Frances McCarthy sent a photo of this top (I gave you a sneaky glimpse last time). It was started at Marsha McCloskey’s workshop years ago, the pattern is Massachusetts Cross and Crown. Fabrics indigo dyed at a Southern Branch Meeting even more years ago, when we met at Coláiste Choilm. Borders to figure out.

If I get any of your lovely photos next month I intend to make a post again, so keep those project pictures coming. Also, if you have any other news that you’d like to share with all of us, do send us an email.

Have a lovely weekend, and take care.

Sandra

Photos wanted for July

On By sewofcourseIn meeting announcement, virtual meetingLeave a comment

I hope you are all enjoying your summer, even though the weather is not all that hot and sunny…!

Although we normally wouldn’t have a meeting in July, I have decided to put a virtual Show & Tell on our website this month if I receive some photos from our members. Next Saturday is the second of the month, so I am aiming to make the post for that day.
If you have any photos of your quilt-related activities, please send them to me in the next few days. Alternatively, if you have been doing other crafts, or if you want to share anything else, send it on and I will share it with you all.

Email your contributions to our usual email address (leave a comment if you need help).

Branch meeting June

On By sewofcourseIn Meeting Recap, virtual meeting2 Comments

Today would be our June IPS Southern Branch meeting, and again we are having a virtual gathering of ladies, showing what they have been up to in the past few weeks. Before we start, a few announcement that may be of interest:

First of all, keep our shops in mind when you are looking for supplies. Many shops have a website, or they can be contacted by phone or email. With the travel limits and shop opening rules relaxing, shops should be getting more accessible, too.
Moya from Patchwork Plus let’s us know that she is open for business by arrangement. She will also be running workshops during the summer, contact her by phone or email. Find her contact details as well as for other shops on our Helpful Links page.

Cork Textiles Network have organised an online exhibition of member’s work. The Exhibition is called “The Abandoned Project” and can be found from their website: http://www.corktextiles.com/Events/the-abandoned-project.html. The works shown are projects that were left unfinished for one reason or another, and finished in lockdown. And the virtual gallery looks amazingly realistic!

Lastly, the River of Dreams are usually holding their annual quilt show in Limerick around now, but they have gone online, too. The “show” will be open from Monday 22 June on Facebook. I am not sure how that will work if you are not on Facebook yourself, but do visit if you can access it.

I have had some lovely feedback on our online “meetings” and if I receive any Show & Tell photos over the summer I am more than happy to put together a post or two. If nothing else, I am inspired so much myself! Since we have no dates set for meetings in July and August, I will aim for the second Saturday of each month, but if life gets busy I may move the date somewhat. I will let you all know by email and here on the website. However, feel free to email me photos at any time. I will keep them until I can make a post anyway.

So, a bit later in the day than our real meeting would have been, but here is finally our June Show & Tell, in the order that I received your emails:

Ber Higgins is sending these photos. “Pattern was “Have your cake ” from Love Quilting magazine. It’s quilted to within an inch of its life as I’m trying to improve my free motion quilting skills”.

Assumpta Lydon: “Would you recognize me!! Trying to finish a project started with Mary Murphy, Carrigaline.Baby Quilt was request from a friend and I love the pattern.”

Next I’m showing you a sneak peak of Frances McCarthy’s project. She showed me a preview of her work in progress, but didn’t want to share it here before it was further along. So I am not showing you all the detail until Frances is ready to show it off, but here is a taster… (hope you don’t mind, Frances)!

Maura Warren is showing off her first string quilt. “I really enjoyed it, now it needs backing and quilting. All to come hopefully during summer.”

Louise O’Hanlon has finished a baby quilt made for her daughter-in-law’s sister. An easy quilt made from a panel. Added borders and hand quilted. Her husband loves dinosaurs.

Rosemary Murphy sent us the photo below. “Some placemats I have made for my daughter and a special one for my two year old grandson.”

Carol Cave is showing this wonderful collection of quilts:
– Baby “I spy” quilt for my new grandson Marcus
– Another Corona quilt
– Maddison star
– Autumn colours
– Loved the design Tracy had made last month so made a blue version
– Blue wave wall hanging

Tracy Wardle writes: “The white quilt is called “Dancing Stars” and is currently part of CTN’s online and exhibition “The Abandoned Project”. I had this quilt designed and all of the fabrics for it set aside and then left in a box for…..about 8 years …and finally picked it up again during Lockdown. The detail gives a better view of the quilting and some of the Trapunto stars.” Anyone interested to see more of this exhibition, follow the link at the beginning of the page.

Tracy also sent this blue quilt top, which “is from a workshop organised by the lovely Apple Tree Crafts ladies in March last year with Kaffe Fassett. These fabrics also languished in a box until I rediscovered them about a week and a half ago and fell right back in love with the gorgeous colours. I plan to finish it with a Chinese Coins border. Happy sewing, everyone!”

Heidi Wischniewski is next: “I finally finished my Grandmother’s Garden Wallhanging after nearly two years.
The hexagons leaves and tendrils are all handstitched.
I did free motion quilting in the end.”

Mary Barry says: “The attached picture is the quilt top that I’m working on at the moment, stars and pinwheels (Missouri Star Quilt Co pattern).”

Moya Geraghty sends a photo of this colourful quilt:

Sheila O’Sullivan is currently working on two cushions:

And lastly we have this lap/baby quilt from myself. I started it more than a year ago, but I finally finished sewing on the binding in the last couple of days. Machine pieced with hand and machine quilting. The pattern is based on a Log Cabin variation (I love Log Cabins!) and I am finishing up the pattern for it at the moment…

Again, I hope you have enjoyed