Hands Across the Border Exhibition 2015

The Hands Across the Border Exhibition is a joint Irish Patchwork Society and Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild Biennial Exhibition.

The exhibition will open in the magnificent Belfast City Hall in May. It will then be on display in the Botanic Gardens, Dublin for the month of July.

The theme for this exhibition is "REFLECTIONS".
Quilt can be no larger than 1 metre square

Quilts must be with the organisers by 31st March 2015 (further details to follow).

• All Irish Patchwork Society and Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild members are eligible to enter this exhibition. 
• The quilt must consist of a minimum of 2 layers.
• Any technique or combination of techniques may be used in the making of the quilt.
• The quilt must have been completed within the last two years.
• A quilt made by more than one person must list all names.
• A hanging sleeve must be securely stitched to the top back of the quilt. A label must also be stitched to the quilt back.
• No glass fronted or mounted work will be accepted.
• Entries will be photographed and may be used for a possible catalogue and or publicity purposes.

Villiers Sewing Nights

The weekly Villiers sewing nights are starting up again this week (Wednesday 14th January).

To all our members (including new members and beginners), please feel free to attend our Villier’s sewing evenings. 

They’re a great way to socialise with members and get help & advice and help on your quilting. 

Wednesdays 7pm – 10pm.  Cost: €5.
Venue: Craft room, Villiers School.

January Meeting

For our January meeting, a local group the Sew What Quilters were invited to be the guest speakers.

The Sew What Quilters are Phil Walsh, Phyl Awylward, Aine Duggan, Marie Gibson, Gillian Killick, Gillian Sheehan and Alice Quaid.

The ladies brought a large and varied selection of items which showed their creativity and patchwork skills over the years.
The group meet up weekly, and are inspired by working together and sharing their fabric stash, but throughout out the talk, you could still see that each member of the group had their own unique style, different use of colour etc.

Quilt top by Gillian Killick

Show and Tell:

Trish O'Donnell showed a gorgeous quilt she made from a jelly roll.

Fabric on the night was by Teresa Riordan.

Photos to follow shortly.

November Meeting

November Meeting

Miriam Gogarty (Eastern Branch and past IPS Chairperson) was the guest speaker at our November meeting. Miriam is a very prolific quilter and brought lots of items for show and tell, and did a fabulous job entertaining us at this meeting.

Here's just a small sample of the work that she brought with her on the night.

One our previous branch challenges was to complete a 12" square using some challenge fabric. A lovely array of blocks was completed for this challenge, blocks were then donated to the branch to be made up into a quilt. Luckily one of the branch members Imelda O'Grady volunteered to complete the quilt top. This quilt was then donated to the Bumbleance Charity.

Doris and Imelda showing group quilt

Imelda with the Branch challenge quilt.

A number of members also donated quilt to the Bumbleance charity. The Sewing Shed were the shop on the night. Nikki Foley (The Sewing Shed) collected the quilts on the night for the charity. The 2 photos below shows all the quilts donated on the night, a lovely array of brightly coloured children's quilts.

Donated Bumbleance Quilts

Here's the guest speaker Miriam Gogarty explaining how she made this particular quilt. 

Miriam is well known for her landscape quilts, so showed us a number of her different versions of landscapes.

Show and Tell:
 Suzanne Pass brought in her Minions quilt and cushion which she has made for her son. Anyone who has seen the film Despicable Me will be familiar with the very cute minions.

 Another member with a fantastic heart themed quilt. 

Phil Walsh, Gillian Killick and Chairperson Cecilia O'Doherty

Gillian Sheehan brought in some lovely items as well for show and tell. Her is friendship braid quilt.

Gillian also showed this lovely wall-hanging. Apologies for the blurry photo.

Maureen Kenny showed this lovely applique cushions which I believe were started at the Ann O'Rafferty Hand Applique workshop back in October. 

Tracy Watson showed this lap quilt she has made. Tracy is making two identical quilts for her daughters. 

Mary Morrissey showed this lovely pink and purple railstrip quilt which she has made as a Christmas present for her daughter. 

Mary Enright showed us this lovely Christmas wall-hangings she has been making for Christmas gifts. Wall-hangings made using the Twister Tool

December Meeting

The December Challenge was to either make a Christmas stocking or a wine bottle gift bag. There were some lovely and creative entries for this challenge. Phyl Awylward won the Christmas stocking challenge and Imelda O'Grady won with her fabulous wine bottle gift bag. The wine bottle holders, also part of our challenge, were undoubtedly put to very good use during the holidays!

Christmas Challenge Entries

Christmas wine bottle gift bag

Frances Shanahan and Imelda O'Grady 

A selection of some of the table runners on display at the meeting. Imelda O'Grady made ten of them as Christmas presents for friends and family .

Show and Tell:
There was a lot of Christmas themed items on the night. Here's Phyl Awylward with her Christmas wall-hanging. Last year Mogs McDonnell gave a Christmas Nativity workshop to make this item.

Here's Marella Moloney with her crazy patchwork Christmas-themed wall-hanging. 

Some of our members are also involved in a Christmas cushion swap with the Modern Quilters Group. Here's Louise Mullane with her cushion .

Louise Mullane

 Ruth brought in her Christmas cushion which was made as part of a Christmas Cushion swap .

Frances Shanahan showed this very striking orange coloured wall-hanging.

Marella also brought in this lovely log-cabin format quilt. 

Imelda showed this great wall-hanging that she recently completed. 

Liz Stanley showed some of her Christmas creations. Liz showed us her very impressive Christmas placemats.

Siobhan Bermingham spoke to us about two adorable quilts made for a doting grandmother for her two granddaughters, aged one and four. Adventures had and to be had by the two little girls were appliqued onto the quilts in the form of a quilted story board.

Mary Enright showcased her quilt made from material purchased in Texas, made in six months for her daughter Brenna.

Ruth Bourke with her friend Louise Mullane displayed a variety of seasonal inspired pieces from cushions to table runners to Christmas decorations.

Our raffle went down a treat given that there was a prize for everyone in the audience! We finished the evening with a homemade buffet, provided as always by our very generous members.

 

Phyl Awylward, Ann Kiely and Joan Commons