Author: corkips

October Recap

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There was such a buzz at the meeting last Saturday, and what a turn out! It was great to see everyone.

We were joined by Moya Geraghty of Patchwork Plus, whose shop is always a big draw. Moya gave us a fascinating and inspiring talk entitled ” Sure, I haven’t a Notion – Current trends in Patchwork and quilting”

Moya Geraghty, Patchwork Plus

Also with us were Adam and Jack from the Singer Sewing Centre, Waterford, who expertly serviced more sewing machines than I could count in the course of the meeting. Many thanks to them for coming along. If you didn’t make it to the meeting on Saturday and your sewing machine is overdue for some TLC, then check out the website here https://www.sewingmachines.ie/

Adam and Jack from the Singer Sewing Centre, Waterford

And, of course, we had our usual amazing Show and Tell of our members’ work…

Ann Pasley was delighted with her adorable Reindeer mug rug; Assumpta Lydon showed us her completed quilt from Lena Pugachova’s Improv Curves workshop last month; Heidi Wischniewski showed off her Improv Curves quilt, cute (and useful!) trinket trays and a ‘manly’ quilt in autumnal colours; Bernie Kelly brought in a beautifully hand quilted baby quilt panel; Noreen Brazier showed us an I Spy quilt. As an Early Years Education specialist she had added a matching bag of squares, each with a different texture, to match to the jars on the quilt – amazing; Marie Sprott also brought in her completed Improv Curves quilt as well as a quilt she has very kindly made for the local priest; and finally Tracy Wardle showed us her completed quilt made for her Row by Row Block of the Month (course is still available to purchase!), and two Christmas items – a Shoo Fly Christmas tree wall-hanging and a Leaf and Berry table runner – both for upcoming workshops, contact Tracy at twaddle1164@gmail.com for details.

As part of Show and Tell Mary Palmer showed off one of the Quilts for Ukraine that she and lots of our members have been working on in the last while. The next Sewing Day for Quilts for Ukraine is Sunday 20th November. Please note that Mary will also be having two Open Sew Days on Sundays 30th October and 27th November.

All of these sewing days will be held at Knockavilla Community Hall. Contact Mary Palmer here marimu.designs@gmail.com or call +353 87 948 1567 for more details or to get involved.

Mary Palmer with a Quilt for Ukraine

Next meeting is our Open Meeting on Saturday 12th November, same time, same place. This meeting is free to attend, we’ll have a shop, demonstrations of various patchwork techniques, tea/coffee, cake and chat! Why not come along and meet up with like minded thread-heads?

Coming Up: October Meeting

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Our October meeting is coming up this Saturday 8th October and it’s a packed schedule!

Venue: Sacred Heart Church Hall

Door opens: 10am

Door fee: members €4, non-members: €8 (you are welcome to attend two meetings as a non-member)

Shop: Patchwork Plus

Speaker: Moya Geraghty. “Sure, I haven’t a Notion!” a talk on what’s trending in quilting at the moment, tips and tricks and gadgets, oh my!

Machine Maintenance Q&A: Bring your questions about how best to look after your sewing machine for the lads from the Singer Sewing Centre to answer

Show and Tell: Please bring your creations to inspire us

Coffee and Tea: Provided. Bring along some sweet treats to share

Library: A small selection from the library will be available for your perusal. Don’t forget to return previous borrowings!

Sewing Machine Services by the Singer Sewing Centre Waterford: We are very fortunate to welcome the lads from the Singer Sewing Centre, Waterford to service members’ machines this Saturday. It’s not too late to add your machine to the list!

* Please note, you must be a fully paid up member to avail of this opportunity. Contact us for details.

Sew While You Wait: While we are waiting for our machines to be serviced, we thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of hand sewing together, so do bring along a project to work on.

It’s renewal time! It’s not too late to renew, if you haven’t already renewed online at https://irishpatchworksociety.wildapricot.org/Join-us.

Please bring along your printed and completed forms to the meeting. Subscription fee is €50 (cash or cheque, if paying at the meeting) Forms will be available at the meeting.

See you on Saturday!

September Recap

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Well, what a start to the year we had! We welcomed so many members back after the Summer break and we were all clearly raring to go. Lots of people renewed their membership – yes, it’s that time of year again! But if you haven’t yet and you’d like to there’s still time. You can join online on the website https://irishpatchworksociety.wildapricot.org or you can bring along your completed form (available to print on the website) and subscription fee of €50 to the next meeting on Saturday 8th October. Contact us if you need more details, we love to see you.

We welcomed the very talented Lena Pugachova who gave us a wonderful Show and Tell of her wide ranging and beautiful work. From traditional to modern, full size to mini and all the colours of the rainbow. We were all transfixed by her inspiring work and we hope to have her back soon. Take a peek at just a small selection of her wonderful work in the gallery below.

Lena with her Improv Curves baby quilt

It was a pretty difficult act to follow but we then had Show and Tell from the members….

We started with a classic Irish Chain quilt from Assumpta, made as a raffle quilt – tickets anyone? Next was a fabulous EPP quilt from Sheila, hand pieced AND hand quilted. This was followed by a stunning quilt from Michelle, with origami flowers, made for her brother. Clare wowed us all with a beautiful applique row by row quilt in tribute to Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee. Next Joanna showed us a gorgeous blue and white zig zag quilt made for a friend’s grandchild. Then we had an amazing memory quilt from Louise, made from her mother’s friend’s scarves as a special gift. Finally, Heidi delighted us with three pieces – two of which had just returned from their travels in various exhibitions – first an amazing rose quilt, then a piece made for Old Roots New Shoots and finally, a wall-hanging called One Sky.

And the day wasn’t over yet for some lucky campers. After the meeting, Lena ran a fantastic workshop on Improv Curves. All participants were thrilled with the results. Thank you, Lena xxx

Lots of happy faces after Lena’s Improv Curves workshop

Are you impressed by Lena’s designs? She has a new pattern out now in her Etsy Shop, just in time for Halloween…..Spooky!

Coming Up: September Meeting

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Lena Pugacheva – Improv Curved Piecing

After our sultry summer break it is time to break out the needles and pins again! Our first Branch Meeting of the year is this coming Saturday 10th September.

Venue: Sacred Heart Church Hall

Door open: 10am

Shop: Lismore Quilt Company

Speaker: Lena Pugachova

Show and Tell: Bring along your most recent work for us to coo over

Coffee and Tea: Provided. Bring along some sweet treats to share

Library: A small selection from the library will be available for your perusal

Please note that if you haven’t already renewed or joined online via the website, that you can renew your membership at the meeting. Please bring along your printed and completed forms with the subscription fee of €50 (cash only if paying at the meeting). Forms will also be available at the meeting.

We welcome Lena Pugachova to our first meeting of the year. Lena will be our speaker and is also giving a workshop on Improv Curved Piecing in the afternoon. Workshop was full as of June 2022 but enquiries can be made via our email corkips@gmail.com.

See you there!

April branch meeting going virtual

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We hope you are all well, and coping as best you can with the current situation.
As you will expect, there will be no branch meeting this Saturday, and no-one really knows when we will be able to get together again. So as a community we have to limit ourselves to online contact.

In my last post I asked you to send us a picture of your current project (finished or work-in-progress) to add to a gallery on the website. I was hoping that we would have lots of photos and it would feel like a virtual show and tell. However, so far we have received exactly ONE photo to fill the page…!!!
I will be making a post on Saturday to show off that one photo (I will be adding a couple of my own), but I would love to see others send me an image showing what they get up to in their crafting time. I am NOT looking for professional photos, I do NOT need that heirloom quilt showing off. But maybe that baby quilt you are sewing the top for, the wall hanging that still needs binding, that new pattern you are sewing up, even the crochet you have been doing to try and relax in the evenings….. Share it with us, please, and let us feel as if we are meeting while browsing the photos on the website.

So get your phone/camera out, and take a picture. Describe what the picture is and send the photo to us. We all would like to see!

And to get us all some inspiration for sewing/quilt making, I have been working on the website, too. We have made a new page: “Sew at Home” where you can find ideas and links to patterns, most of which are free. If you know of any other links that can be added, do let us know and we can update the page.
Also check out our older pages, “Block of the Month”, “Back to Basics” and “Downloads” have some good project ideas, too.

So, stay home, stay safe (and keep sewing)!
Sandra

March branch meeting cancelled

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With the ever evolving covid-19 situation, the committee has decided not to proceed with the meeting this Saturday, 14 March. It’ll be hard to be 1m apart when looking at fabric!

Our April meeting is planned for 18 April (3rd Saturday because of Easter). We’ll monitor the situation over Easter and let you know about the April meeting nearer the time.

If you know anyone who might not get our emails (or read the website or follow our Facebook), please pass on the message.

We’d rather be very cautious now, given that there does seem to be community transmission in the Cork area.

February workshop

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For those who are attending the afternoon workshop in February, find the list of requirements below.

For members who would like to join us for the workshop (and who haven’t already done so) please send us a message so we can add you to the list.

Hand Appliqué – afternoon workshop (Sandra Jansen)

We will be working on a block of your choice similar to these:

I will bring patterns and instructions. I will be showing different techniques used in the making of appliqué blocks. We will make a start on the blocks, but they will probably not be finished in the afternoon. However, you should have enough skill to finish them in your own time.

If you rather come and work on your own appliqué project, you’re welcome, and I am happy to help and advise where needed.

PLEASE BRING:

Fabrics: Good quality cotton quilting fabrics (lesser quality may fray too easily)

For a Baltimore style block:

  • One square background fabric minimum 14” x 14”, or a FQ
  • Small pieces (5” minimum) or FQs in greens, pinks, reds, maybe some accent yellow or purple (for traditional Baltimore colouring), or in colours of your choice.
  • A FQ in green for stems (I will also bring some to share, but you may prefer your own green)
  • A piece 6” x 6” minimum for the vase (if making the vase block)

For the Hawaiian style block:

  • One square background fabric 14” x 14” minimum, or a FQ
  • One appliqué fabric same size as the background piece

AND for all blocks (Don’t buy anything if you don’t have it. Most things can be shared, and I will bring a selection of items needed for us to use on the day!):

  • Sewing threads in colours close to your appliqué fabrics. The colours don’t have to match exactly. If you need to choose, take a slightly darker rather than a lighter thread. Often a light, medium or dark neutral will be okay. The finer your thread the easier to make (almost) invisible stitches. Polyester, cotton, silk sewing threads can all be used.
  • Tacking thread, white if you have it. Any slightly stronger thread will do. I will be bringing for those who don’t have any.
  • Pencil, also (if you have it) white/light pencil if using dark appliqué fabric.
  • Sharp sewing needles: The thinner the needle, the easier to make small stitches. But you will want to be able to thread it! Bring a needle threader if you want.
  • Pins
  • Scissors for fabric AND scissors for paper, also small (embroidery) scissors that cuts well at the tip (only if you have it)
  • Thimble (if you want to use it)
  • Reading (sewing) glasses. If you need to use glasses, I won’t be able to bring those…
  • Iron and (small) ironing surface (can be shared)

January meeting

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Happy New Year, everyone!

We will have our next meeting this Saturday, 11 January, at the Sacred Heart Church, Western Road, Cork, from 10 am.

Shop: Appletree Crafts

Speaker: Helen O’Shea – “Pathways in Textiles”

Show & Tell: Show us what you’ve been making recently

We will also have John O’Donnell from the Waterford Sewing Centre to service machines during the meeting. PLEASE let us know as soon as possible if you want your machine serviced, so John will know what to expect.

December meeting recap

On By corkipsIn Meeting RecapLeave a comment

Last week a great number of members turned up for our festive Christmas meeting.

First of all we have to say thanks to Ann Prendergast for all her hard work in making the quiz!! It was great fun, and you had many of us stumped at some point! Most of us joined in, and no-one got ALL the questions right… The winners got to share a bundle of fabrics.

The festive raffle kept on giving with a record number of prizes, so we had many winners there, too.

The challenge had about eight entries of wonderful Christmas table items, and the (random) winner received a sewing machine service.

And then a large number of quilts were shown off at our Show & Tell. Many quilts were Christmas themed, as we would expect at this time of year, but many others were shown off, too. And of course, all lovingly made! Some have been sprinkled throughout this post, all can be found below:

Thanks go to Moya for bringing Patchwork Plus to the meeting.

Lastly, thanks to all those that had been baking or buying festive snacks for us to enjoy, to Mai for manning the coffee/tea, to Cora for manning the library, and to the committee for organising the meeting, adding the picture round to the quiz and bringing in the (non-alcoholic) spiced wine to add to the Christmas atmosphere.

Wishing you all a very happy time at Christmas whichever way you will be celebrating this time of year, and we hope to see you all again in the New Year. Our January meeting will be on the 11th.