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/.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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).
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…
The annual River of Dreams exhibition has moved to Facebook this year. If anyone wants to participate, your photo needs to be messaged to them through Facebook, closing date TODAY (so sorry for the very late heads up there). Quilts from the last year (or tops!!) can be entered. Find them at https://www.facebook.com/riverofdreamsquiltexhibition
Whether you participate or not, do go over to them next week if you can, and view the “exhibition”, all entries will be displayed on their page from Monday 22 June.
And remember, tomorrow we have our June Show & Tell right here on the website, any last minute photos very welcome!!
Ordinarily, we would have our next meeting this Saturday, 20 June. I know, a third Saturday… I really don’t remember why, but I decided to keep to our original dates anyway. As we have done the last couple of months, I hope to create a blog post to showcase our creative activities online. Please send us your photos, description, and/or message to our email address (contact us if you need help). I will place anything I receive and there is no need to worry about the quality of your photos either. A photo from your phone is good enough for this. Tops or progress photos are fine, too, it doesn’t have to be a finished quilt. It will give us a chance to see what everyone is up to while we cannot meet in person.
I have been in two minds whether I should continue to make a monthly post throughout the summer. Normally our June meeting is the last meeting before our summer break, but I wonder if people would prefer to keep in touch a little bit more than usual in these strange times? Do let me know your thoughts on this! After all, I am not doing this on my own, without you all sending me photos I cannot make a post.
If you haven’t seen our previous posts, find them here:
Whether I hear from you or not, I wish you all a lovely summer. Let’s hope the sun comes back! And I’ll be in touch again before our planned meeting on 12 September with an update.
Last month we had a very successful “meeting” right here on the blog, and I have had feedback from a few of you saying how much you have appreciated the post. So today we are doing it again.
Before I start the Show and Tell, however, I’d quickly like to mention our shops. We always have a shop attending our meetings, and of course they are now missing out on an opportunity to show you their latest wares. As far as I know ALL of our regular shops are open, sending out fabric, elastic (masks anyone?), notions, etc. depending on their collection. So please keep them in mind when you are looking for any supplies. At the moment it may be best to ring them up and discuss your needs. Find links with details of our regular shops on our “Helpful Links” page, they all have a phone number to find on their page.
Also, even while we are not meeting, the committee is still in place as before. If you have any request or idea or question, or just want to say hello, feel free to contact us. Email works well, or find us on Facebook: Southern Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society, or leave a comment here on the blog. Also, if you know of a member who doesn’t get our emails, but now does want to stay in touch that way, please let us know!
Lastly, with the latest advice to wear a face covering while shopping, I will be sewing a couple this weekend. Frances gave me a link to a pattern from Emily Lakdawalla that looks at least as if I won’t need to readjust it while wearing… There are other links in our “Sew at Home” page, too.
So now for our Show & Tell, sit back, relax, and be inspired!
Marie Sprott (she was the first to send in this photo, even before I asked for any) – Below is a picture of a cot quilt I made for my cousin in Waterford whose daughter had a lovely baby boy called Cian on 10th March. It is made up of squares of Beatrix Potter fabric plus some with teddy bears and rabbits. The darker border around it has dragonflies.
Assumpta Lydon – The Christmas Tree was quilted and the binding stitched on. Pattern by Tina Curran. I loved doing this!
Siobhan Miller-Stone – This is a finished top. If you look carefully you’ll see this is a “Jack’s Chain” pattern:
Louise O’Hanlon – Hi everyone. This started out as a jelly roll I purchased. Put it all together and it looked awful. Nothing matched. Unusual for jelly rolls. I decided to buy some plain fabric and cut it all into HST’s. Not too bad now. A present for my niece’s 50th birthday.
Hilary O’Kelly – Since last meeting I have no completed project as I have made fabric masks for my family, friends and community here. Sorry, no photos, because as soon as they are finished they are handed out or posted. I want to thank Maeve in Limerick for having her stock of elastic!
Carol O’Brien – This is the project we were given by Moya and Mary last September. It is a William Morris design.
Noreen Brazier – The Ballincollig Monday night patchwork girls answered the call to make face masks/covers, so we were kept busy since last month’s virtual meeting.
Anne Kelleher – my first grandchild arrived at the end of February just before Covid so I have a couple of baby quilts.
Honor Mangan – I started this quilt at class with Moya from some batik fabric I had… We found this zigzag pattern in an old magazine… It now awaits batting, etc. whenever we get back to class. I’ve been busy making masks for family, friends and a batch went to my son in Ethiopia..
Heidi Krug-Wischniewski – I’ve been working on Grandmas Garden for the last 2 years and finally finished the middle bit with over 500 little hexagons, all hand sewing:
Heidi Krug-Wischniewski – My second one: Long ago I had cut out 10.5 inch batik squares for the backing of my Batikquilt, but I never used them. .Now I have and this is the result:
Heidi’s third one: This is an Appliqué which I finished last week, cutting out nearly 200 little tiny leaves and sewing them on:
Carol Cave – Here is photo of my Corona quilt. I have chosen the colours of the coronavirus that pop up on TV behind the news readers. It was a sew along project with Nikki Foley called #sewcialdistancing project.
Marie Sprott – Double bed size. Quilt made from two Moda Jelly rolls. One is an autumn selection and the other an off-white one. The sashing I already had, of course….. Pattern came from Missouri Star Quilts called Summer in the Park.
Marie Sprott – Below left is my appliqué from Sandra’s class earlier in the year. Finished at last but not sure what to do with it, either a small wall hanging or cushion cover. I also made this Greek Cross block for a cushion out of scraps last Monday. Just for something to do. I have also knitted two tea cosies and finished a jumper I started last year. I have found eborrow books great as well, especially the eaudio ones. I just plug into my book and am read to while sewing, knitting, ironing etc… Great!!
Tracy Wardle – This month I’ve been concentrating on making masks for front line workers and the vulnerable with the group Masks 4 All Ireland but in between I’ve been amusing myself by making little baby quilts for charity – these two tops are ready for quilting. I also completed 2 more postcards – this time I went with Appliqué- one for my mum-in-law, who always loved violas and one for the team in the care home where she’s looked after:
Rosemary Murphy – This is a wall hanging that I have recently completed, started about two years ago after a class with Nikki from The Sewing Shed.
Sandra Jansen – Some of you may remember I bought these (quilt) fabrics to make a top. Well, at least I started it. It still needs hemming though. In the mean time I am enjoying the Great British Sewing Bee (Wednesdays on BBC1) while knitting a “hitchhiker” shawl. Am I glad I don’t have to sew against the clock though!
Sandra Jansen – I have also finished this small “bug” drawstring bag from a pattern in a Japanese book that I had on the shelf for ages. A bit of a puzzle especially since I wanted to add a lining, but the measurements and templates at least were not in Japanese…
Moya – This is a quilt made with Solaire fabrics (the greys) and I substituted the oranges for pinks and reds:
Moya Geraghty – I have been happy experimenting with ombré fabrics. I have made 5 blocks using a quarter metre of the yellows into reds and purples, and of the yellows into blues and purples. I have also been laying out my winding way blocks made from ombré fabrics.
Aine Foley – I’m trying to work my way through a sizeable pile of UFOs – some of which have lain dormant for so long they’re antique!! It’s funny how, for me, it’s something small but tricky that holds me up, like a zip in a bag, buttons for a cushion or a more detailed border for a quilt!! Am making progress… now how about that pile if wool that’s lurking at the back of my press…!
Anne Walsh – Just finished
Sheila O’Sullivan – My project for May is a small wall hanging. I’m looking forward to trying some free motion quilting here. Best wishes to all.
Eilís Watson – I’ve been primarily working on Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt ‘Unity’ #unityquiltalong. We’re currently on Round 7. This border will feature 34 of the 8.5” block (pictured). I’ve also included a picture of my progress to date.
Eilís Watson – ‘Stained-glass affect’: I finished this quilt last weekend. Stacked nine fat-quarters on top of each other, made 2 horizontal cuts and 2 vertical cuts. I then moved the fabrics around so that each ‘block’ had 9 different colours and added black sashing between all the pieces.
Well, ladies, that was today’s show and tell, I hope you enjoyed it. Wishing you a lovely weekend, and some creativity to relax with in the weeks to come. And if you have any new projects to show for next month’s “meeting” on the 20th of June, send it any time before then and we’ll create another post.
For those who read the blog, but not their emails…
We are putting together another post of “Show and Tell” instead of our meeting tomorrow. If anybody has a photo of any current or recent project (or more than one), please forward them to us at the usual email address.
Many thanks, we hope to see your work at the meeting tomorrow!
