On Saturday, I had the pleasure of taking my mom to visit the CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery for the Cork Textile Network’s PLAY Exhibition. It was the last day of the exhibition, and all of the works were stunning! Both my Mom and I had an amazing time!
Registration Deadline for AGM
A quick reminder that the registration deadline for the National AGM is September 2!
The form is here:

The Quilt Challenge is “Witches and Castles!” I’ll be brainstorming my entry!
Hands Across the Border 2017
The Irish Patchwork Society
and The Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild present:
“Hands Across the Border 2017”
“Aurora”
Southern venue to be confirmed
Northern venue is Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, June 2017
Exhibition Rules and Conditions;
All Irish Patchwork Society and Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild Members are eligible to enter
- The quilt must consist of a minimum of two layers, although any technique may be used.
- Size: quilts can be made to a maximum of 1 metre square.
- The quilt has a free choice of edging treatments.
- No glass fronted, framed, mounted quilts or quilts made from kits will be allowed.
- The work should have been completed in the last two years.
- The quilt must have a 10 cm (4 inch) hanging sleeve, (with sufficient fullness to accommodate the hanging rod).
- Please ensure that your quilt is labelled on the back at the bottom edge with the following information: Name of the Quilt, Name of Quilter, Postal Address.
- The quilt should not have been exhibited prior to submission to this exhibition.
- Quilts made by more than one person at any stage of construction should identify all of those involved.
- Quilts are not for sale during the exhibition.
- The decision on which quilts may be hung rests with the exhibition centres, whose decision will be final.
- The quilts are covered by the IPS insurance once the quilt is received by the hosting branch.
- By entering your quilt you agree to have it photographed for publicity purposes and the catalogue of the exhibition.
- Each quilt must have its own bag labelled with the name of the quilt, the name of the maker and your branch / guild.
- Quilts will be released at the end of the exhibition period and not before that time.
- Deadline for quilts to be received is Saturday 4th March 2017. No late entries will be accepted due to cataloguing and photographing of quilts.

Error in August Block of the Month Instructions!
Thanks to Susan for spotting this one!
Cutting instructions for fabric one should read cut 2.5 x 3 inch rectangles. (Currently reads 2.3 x 3). I will fix the handout and repost it!
Edited to add: Download the correct instructions here.
Summer Challenge 2016

As we’re about a month to go before our September meeting, I thought we’d do a bit of a check in on the Summer Challenge.
You’ll remember that this year’s theme is:
Revolutionary
We’ve left this open to interpretation for our members. This means you can create a quilt using circles, drawing inspiration from the 1916 Rising, or even using a patchwork technique you’ve never done before. We’re looking forward to seeing what you create!
Feel free to make anything you’d like–a bag, a quilt or a mug rug. There’s no limit but your imagination.
Like last year, we’ve decided that this year’s prize for the challenge is a sewing machine service to be performed during our October meeting by John O’Donnell.
I’ve set up a Pinterest board with some images to spark your inspiration. Find it here.
August 2016 Block of the Month
It’s time to debut our next block! I’m excited to show you how to make the Sister’s Choice Block!

Originally designed to be a 10 inch block, I changed the design a little bit in order to work out to a 12 inch block, and make it easy to cut out the pieces.
Download the instructions here.
I’ve also created a step by step slideshow of how to construct the block, that you can see here:
2015 Block of the Month
While I’ve been put the finishing touches on August 2016’s block, I’ve also spent some time over the summer updating our YouTube Channel to include all of the slideshows from our 2015 Block of the Month.
Be sure you take a moment to subscribe to the channel to be notified when we post a new video!
2016 IPS National Exhibition
On Sunday, July 17th, I had the pleasure of attending the Irish Patchwork Society National Exhibition, “Evolution.”
What an amazing exhibition!

Two exhibitions were running in the space when I visited. One was “Distance,” a collection of quilts from Austria, Latvia and Ireland.




Below is a slideshow of all of the quilts in this part of the exhibition:
Next, I walked through the IPS National Exhibition, “Evolution.”








Below, is a slideshow of all of the quilts involved.
Congratulations to all those who participated. I hope you had the chance to see the quilts in person, the photographs did not do the exhibition justice!
Congratulations to all of the Southern Branch members who participated as well!
Congratulations Cathy!

Here are some more detailed photographs of her amazing quilt:




Way to go Cathy!
