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:
Ed and Holly’s weddingIda’s Christmas card
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:
ChristinaTracy
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.
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…
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:
Marie’s Christmas tree panel, finally quilted and finished as a wall hanging
Two Christmas candle wall hangings by Noreen and Heidi. Heidi’s blue background features French knot “sparkles”, while Noreen added buttons to the larger snowflakes.
Trish made this waistcoat for a friend.
Mary’s star quilt, front and backBag and cushion by Trish, the small wall hanging star by Marie is ready to be finished.
Tracy stitched this little Hen-rietta. She is a 9″ square mini quilt, a hen free-motion quilted on silk. It’s attached to mount board ready to give to a friend as a birthday card.
Heidi took part in the EQA Picture Swap Challenge, these wall hangings are her own and her partner’s, inspired by two halves of one photo.
Quilts by Trish, Noreen, Mary, Eilís, Heidi and Fionnuala
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.
This month we are holding our meeting at the Cork International Hotel, located at Cork Airport. The room has a large screen that can connect with our online members, so everyone can be catered for. Of course, the meeting will be fully compliant with the latest regulations. COVID certs will be checked by hotel staff, and there is a limit to the numbers allowed to attend. Attendees will also be required to sign in at the door for contact tracing and everyone will have to wear a mask unless eating or drinking while sitting down.
To make sure that the meeting goes smoothly, we ask EVERYONE to fill out the form we sent you by email. This helps us to know who will attend in person (first come, first served, there is a limit of 25), who hopes to be there online (we will send you the link on the day), and even who is (unfortunately) not able to come this month.
Here are the details:
– Saturday 11 December, from 9:30 AM at the Cork International Hotel (Cork Airport Hotel) – Wear your mask/face covering unless eating or drinking while sitting down, and bring your Covid cert! – Shop: Patchwork Plus – entry €5 (members), to include a raffle ticket and coffee/tea and biscuits (mince pies) – Christmas shenanigans (e.g. quiz) – Show & Tell, you can also send us a photo in advance – ONLINE: We will send out the link on the morning, shortly after 9. Keep an eye on your email if you are joining us on Zoom!
For the first time we organised our meeting in person as well as online, and we even managed (imperfectly) to connect the two!
It was lovely to see so many attending the church hall this morning, even if the facilities were limited… I’m sure to see the quilts in Show & Tell “for real” must have been quite a treat, as well as shopping for fabric, of course.
Online we had about 10 people, and it was greatly appreciated that we offered this option too.
Assumpta spoke about the Passage West Creates shop, that she found herself manager of, with great enthusiasm. By the looks of the display tables they have a lovely selection of handmade items for sale in the shop, as well as brilliant community activities. Definitely worthwhile to check out if you are in the area, or if you are too far, visit their online shop: https://passagewestcreates.ie/
Our summer challenge, using a fat quarter that was sent to our members at the start of summer, had quite a few entries. We will be drawing a winner from all entries and will announce the winner in an email. Some were shown in the hall, others sent to our email address. And the Show & Tell had a wonderful array of quilts, cushions and other items:
Many of us have been making for Christmas, too:
Some links that you may want to have a look at:
Eilís made her tops (in the slide show above) from mystery instructions by Bonnie Hunter. Find out more about Bonnie’s new upcoming mystery at her website, it is called “Rhododendron Trail: https://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/rhododendron-trail.html
The “Merry Christmas” box above is from a pattern by Lynette Anderson. Lynette has quite a distinctive style, she has patterns (some free) and has designed fabric lines etc. Find out more at: https://lynetteandersondesigns.typepad.com/
Our next meeting will be the Christmas meeting, planned for 11 December. Keep an eye on your emails to find the details nearer the time. In the mean time the committee will be scratching their heads over quiz questions and other festivities…
This Saturday, 13 November, we will be hosting our monthly Southern Branch meeting. For the first time since “forever” we have booked the hall and we will be holding our meeting in person!
At the hall we will be checking COVID CERTS, and MASKS will have to be worn except when sitting down with your coffee. Unfortunately the kitchen will be locked, but there is a coffee van outside or you can bring your own flask.You will also be asked to sign in at the entrance with your contact details. For those who are not comfortable to attend the meeting we will be having a zoom connection, the link will be sent in the coming days. We hope to “beam” our speaker and the Show & Tell via zoom for those at home.
If you want to renew your membership at the meeting, please bring exact fee if possible (cash or cheque, €50 for general membership) and consider filling out the form in advance. Non-members will no longer receive emails after this meeting.
When: Saturday 13 Nov, 10:00 – 12:30 (usual door fees apply) Where: Sacred Heart church hall, Western Road, Cork Speaker: Assumpta Lydon Shop: Patchwork Plus Show & Tell – bring your quilts! Raffle
CHALLENGE Remember the gorgeous fabric we sent out for our summer challenge? Well, summer is truly over by now, so anyone who has made something using their fat quarter is asked to bring their item to the meeting or email your photo to us. We will be drawing a winner from those taking part.
While many are looking forward to meeting in person this Saturday, we are aware that not everyone will be comfortable to leave the safety of home (yet). So we have set up an online meeting as well, see the link in your email.
You will be welcome in the hall from 10.00 AM, the online meeting will start at 10.30 AM. We are hoping to be able to get a connection with the hall at least for the speaker and the Show & Tell.
Any photos for Show & Tell and for the challenge (!!) can be emailed to us in advance of the meeting, we can show them online either at the Zoom meeting or on the website afterwards.Of course you are very welcome to bring your Show & Tell to the hall as well!
We had a good turnout yesterday, and everyone was very happy listening to Irene MacWilliam. She showed us a wide variety of her quilts and had many, many stories to tell. A very inspiring and interesting lady!
She uses a lot of free machine appliqué and stitching as well as other decorative techniques. She also uses techniques like fabric dyeing, screen printing, stamping, sun printing, etc. Her work is greatly varied: Some of her work deals with conflict and the effects of it on children and families, other pieces show a brilliant sense of humour. She has also made numerous “year quilts” depicting world events, and journal quilts.
Our own (short) show and tell was lovely, too. See the photos here:
Friendship braid with prairy points by Colette
Strip-pieced hexagons by Assumpta
Table runner by Sheila
In the afternoon, Tracy gave a workshop to a good few of our branch members. We all got a little bit in the Christmas spirit…! I think everyone ended up with a finished item, and I am probably not the only one intending to make more of these versatile trays as gifts and for use around the house, and not just for Christmas.
Our next meeting is planned for 13 November. Since government guidelines will most likely have changed by then, we will update everyone by email what form that meeting will have…
To receive updates of the branch, please renew your membership so that we can keep sending you emails (tick that box), and keep an eye on your inbox!
Just a short message to everyone, reminding you all we have our meeting tomorrow and we hope all of you can be there! We are starting at 9.30 and will have Irene MacWilliam talk about her work from 10.00. Find the link in your email inbox (if you are signed up to receive emails…)!
Our new year started today with a lovely meeting, even if it had to be online.
We had Suzanne Pass give us a personal tour of last month’s Festival of Quilts. Lots of photos of quilts and much background information. Suzanne sent four quilts to the show which were very personal to her, and they looked wonderful.
There were also a few photos sent in for our Show & Tell:
Assumpta made this quilt for a friend’s son who had a baby girl in Australia
Suzanne Pass showed these blocks which was a block of the month pattern in the Midwest branch
Colette is participating in a journal quilt course and showed these three recent quilts
Lastly, Tracy announced that she will be having a Row-by-Row sampler class, which will start in October. Anyone interested can find more details on her website, or contact her directly (or contact us and we’ll pass you on):
We will be announcing our plans for the coming months to our members by email. Information on renewals will be sent, as well as plans for future meetings.
Anyone who would like to (re-)join the Irish Patchwork Society can contact us for information (see About Us page or find us on Facebook). You can also leave a comment here so we can respond to you (comments will not automatically be published so they will not appear publicly if they are not meant to). You can also find more information on the Society’s main website at https://irishpatchworksociety.wildapricot.org/.
Southern Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society 