Don’t miss our AGM this month, it has been too long…! We will meet this Saturday, May 14, from 10 AM, in the hall of the Sacred Heart Church, Western Road, Cork.
Members, see your email inbox for details, agenda and plans for this meeting.
And don’t forget to bring your wonderful Show & Tell items!!
Tea and coffee will be available, we’ll have something to go with it of course as well.
Shop: Lismore Quilt Co.
Speaker: To be confirmed
Yesterday we met with a lovely group of ladies (as always).
Our speaker Clare Newell introduced us to the Crisp Packet Project, and her involvement with it. The project make emergency “blankets” out of (you guessed!) crisp packets. These emergency covers are handed out to homeless people to provide them an extra insulating cover to keep them warm and dry. Clare is in touch with a Cork charity who hand them to the people needing them.
Crisp packets (OPENED, WASHED AND DRIED) are joined together into large sheets by pressing them briefly with an iron, using a sheet of baking paper. Then polythene is added on both sides (more pressing). This “fabric” can also be used to create duffel bags or toiletry pouches. Such valuable items from waste products!
Clare is happy to accept help, but if you are saving your crisp packets for her, please wash and dry them or she cannot use them!
Find more about the project on Clare’s social media pages: Facebook – Instagram
Show & Tell:
Mairead showed us covers she is making for covers for baby incubators for CUH. She is using any dark (heavy) material for these, so if you have any dark flannel or upholstery fabric, let her know. Several “penny rugs” were shown off, everyone has been very inventive with those wool scraps! Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of them!!
Next meeting, May 14, is our AGM, please all come and support our branch. We will be in touch by email with details.
Just a quick note to remind you all that we will be meeting tomorrow, from 10AM.
We hope you will be able to attend, please bring any show & tell items.
Last week 34 people attended our meeting, and it was lovely to see you all together.
Our speaker was MaryAnn Browne who spoke about her stitching life, illustrated by some of her lovely work.
Show & Tell had some more treasures:
Our next meeting will be on 9 April, details will be emailed nearer the time.
Tomorrow, Saturday March 12, we hope to welcome you all at our usual venue, the hall behind the Sacred Heart church, from 10 AM.
Our speaker will be MaryAnn Brown. If you are not familiar with her work, have a look at the Winter 2021 Newsletter (issue 157) where the cover shows work from the pyramid workshop she recently gave at An Grianan. She will be speaking on “My Life in Stitch, a Sewer’s Journey”.
Our shop will be Lismore Quilt Co., who will be bringing the usual lovely selection of fabrics and notions, as well as some new stock.
Since there were only a couple of branch members present online last month, we have decided to not offer a zoom option this month.
Also, we are a bit short on committee (wo)man power this month, so bear with us… and lend a hand if you see that we could use it.
Hope to see you all there, don’t forget to bring loads of projects for our Show & Tell!
It was great to see so many of you turning out to attend the meeting in person, some of whom we hadn’t seen for years! There were also some people attending online, some of those from other branches… an advantage of online meetings.
Annie Hogg gave a very interesting talk on natural dyes and pigments. She told the stories of plants like woad (blue), weld (yellow), madder (red) and oak galls (black), with an emphasis of their history and their importance and use in an Irish context. Annie has a website https://www.anniehoggstudio.com/, and can be found on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/anniehogg_thewildhedgeinkco/.
Show and Tell had a few gems from Assumpta, Heidi, Ailbhe and Bernie. Thanks to Siobhan for the photos:
Sandra also finished a quilt top recently, but since it was the only “virtual” finish it wasn’t shown during the meeting. Inspired by the fat quarter that was sent for the summer challenge, she found enough coordinating batiks in her stash to make this Jewel Box lap quilt:
Aoife Carr from the North Eastern branch showed the online group a cushion she has made called Spring Bunnies in Love, depicting appliqué bunnies on a strip-pieced background. The free pattern can be found at https://flamingotoes.com/spring-bunnies-love-pillow/, a lovely project for spring or Easter.
Our next meeting is planned for 12 March, as always keep an eye on your email inbox for updates.
This Saturday February 12th, we will have our IPS Southern branch meeting. This will be a “hybrid” meeting, so you are welcome to come to the hall at the Sacred Heart Church (our usual venue), or join us online – see your emails for the link.
It looks like we will be able to use the kitchen this time (as well as the toilets!), but please bring your own mug. Alternatively, the coffee shack is at the entrance to the car park.
From 11:00 we will have our speaker, Annie Hogg. She is an enthusiastic speaker with a wide knowledge of inks made from plants and other natural materials. She is sure to inspire any lover of colour (aren’t we all)!
Aine Foley will be bringing her shop, the Lismore Quilt Co.
Bring your items for Show & Tell, too. To make it easier for the committee to remember who showed what, please sign in your show & tell items at the door.
For anyone joining us online, please email your show and tell photos to us in advance of the meeting.
With the new rules in place we will not be checking covid certs, but we recommend you bring a face covering.
Today’s meeting was well attended, thank you to everyone who joined us! It was lovely to see several IPS members from other branches, too. There are some advantages to online meetings!
Our speaker was Mary Palmer, and she told us the story of the quilts made as part of the government’s “Keep Well” campaign. The Quilters Guild of Ireland (QGI) together with the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI) initiated the project on the theme of “Home”. Many people from all over Ireland, members and non-members, joined in, making blocks and putting them together into tops, then quilting them. Initially it was thought that maybe they could make 3 quilts, but the interest was overwhelming and in the end there will be 22 quilts made!! Two quilts are still in the process of being finished, with some late blocks.
The quilts will be used to benefit women’s shelters and mental health services, either directly or by using them in raffles etc. This may still take a few years to get the most funds from the quilts.
Before that, it is envisaged to display the quilts around Ireland in exhibitions, and give some attention to this successful project. We will let you know when there is more information on this.
Below an example of one of the quilt tops before quilting. This is the only one I have a photo of since this is the one I joined together for the project. Obviously, many, many people were involved in this project!!
If you are inspired to make similar blocks for yourself, find more information on the Quilters Guild of Ireland (QGI) website as well as the free patterns (scroll down on the page), which are accompanied by videos on the QGI YouTube channel.
For Show & Tell not many photos were sent in, but we had a few lovely ones:
Tracy has been busy machine quilting for cards and small wall hangings:
She also took part in the IPS Christmas postcard swap. She made a red card with swirls and holly leaves and berries, and received a card made by Christina Merrick, with an appliquéd mouse holding a teddy on Christmas morning:
If you’d like to try and make a fabric postcard yourself, find a tutorial on the IPS website.
We also got talking about quilt settings and from that several books were mentioned: Though not new books, these two were loved and used: “Quilting Makes the Quilt” by Lee Cleland and “Setting Solutions” by Sharyn Craig:
If you would love to be inspired by Christmas quilts, have a look at the Dutch Quilters Guild’s YouTube channel (Quiltersgilde Nederland). There are two videos (slide shows) available with galleries of Christmas quilts by members. A feast for the eyes and language independent. Look for the image below, literally translated “Presentation Christmas Quilts” part 1 and part 2:
Lastly, a couple of announcements from our local teachers/shops:
Tracy (tracedesign.ie) has new classes planned for spring, contact her directly (0872379682 or twaddle1164 <at> gmail.com) or let us know and we pass it on:
* Wed 16 February: The language of flowers (one day zoom class). Full day free motion workshop including kit.
* Wed 9 March: Easy machine trapunto (one day zoom class). Full day workshop.
* Wed 4 May – 1 June: Feathering the nest (5 weekly mornings – in person or zoom, TBC). Learn to machine quilt all kinds of feathers.
Moya (Patchwork Plus) gave us details of her upcoming sale in the shop. The sale will be on for four days with booked slots, from 29 January till 1 February. Please book a one hour slot (max. 4 people per slot) by contacting her directly (0877986872).
Our next meeting will be held on 12 February, Annie Hogg will be our speaker, she is an engaging speaker with a wide knowledge on natural dyes and inks, and their uses. The committee will be looking at the situation in advance of the next meeting, before we decide whether we will be having our meeting mixed (online + in person) or online only. As usual, keep an eye on your emails, or follow us on Facebook or here on the website.
Happy New Year!
We start this Saturday, 8 January, with our first meeting of the year. We have decided to hold the meeting online-only this time.The meeting will start at 9:30, the link has been emailed to our members.
Mary Palmer will be our speaker:
Last spring and early summer quilters throughout Ireland contributed their time and energy toward making the ‘Home’ project a success. Mary will be sharing the story, patterns, and quilts with you this coming Saturday morning. Come join us!
As usual any Show & Tell photos can be sent to us in advance of the meeting. Remember, if you’re not sending any photos, we’ll have nothing to show…
We hope to see you all on Saturday!
Our meeting yesterday had everything: in person, online, quilts, shop, quiz, Christmas outfits….
Thanks to Frances for putting the quiz together, there were some groans, but not too many 😉
Below photos of the Show & Tell, both from online and in person contributions. I hope you are inspired:
Leaving you with wishes from all in the committee for a joyful Christmas and a very happy and creative New Year!
Our next meeting is planned for 8 January. Members, keep an eye on your email for details.
Southern Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society 