November 2008 Meeting - Talk by Frieda Oxenham

Our guest speaker on the night was the lovely Frieda Oxenham who travelled over from Scotland on Friday to give a talk on "Artist's Trading Cards" at the meeting.

Frieda explained all about Artist's Trading Cards (ATC's) which some people weren't familiar with. To accompany her informative talk Frieda had a slideshow on her ATC work. She also brought folders of ATC's which had to be seen to appreciate the detail and work that had gone into them.

There was a very good turn-out for the talk on the night and after the talk, people were even more looking forward to the ATC's workshops which which were on the Saturday & Sunday.

Niikki Foley brought a Christmas wall-hanging that she had recently made.

A gorgeous stip-pieced quilt was displayed at the Show & Tell.

The November challenge was the English Paper Piecing Block. Gwen Cottiss was voted the winner on the night with her gorgeous paper pieced star cushion.

Other entries for this hand-piecing challenge included this block.

Another entry was this pastel hexagon pieced cushion constructed with velvet fabrics.

The November meeting is on this Friday 14th.

Don't forgot to bring your finished quilts with you on the night for the Exhibition! The "Regeneration" exhbition will be on in Istrabaq Hall, Limerick City Hall from the 24-28th November 2008. Hopefully there'll be loads of entries and at least 1 piece from every Mid-West Branch member.

The November challenge is the "English Piecing Block".

Also, International quilter Frieda Oxenham is flying over from Scotland on Friday morning. Frieda will be giving the talk on Friday night about her work and Artist's Trading Cards.

Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards are miniature arts of work made to a specific size - 2.5" x 3.5" (64 x 89mm).

These cards are never sold but are instead swapped.

There are a number of book about ATC's (specifically fabric ones) on the market e.g.:
Artist Trading Cards Workshop: Create, Collect, Swap by Bernie Berlin
1,000 Artist Trading Cards: Innovative and Inspired Mixed Media ATC's by Patricia Bolton.

Frieda Oxenham is giving two 1-day workshops this weekend on making ATC's, which should be extremely interesting.

Knitting & Stitching Show

Just a reminder that the Knitting and Stitching Show is taking place this week in the RDS from Thursday 30th - Sunday 2nd November.

October Meeting

The challenge for October was the log cabin block. This challenge was won by Fran O'Donoghue.

The theme of the October meeting was mini-demonstrations on finishing quilts for the November exhibition:

Gillian Sheehan gave a demonstration on hand quilting.

Claire Lynch showed how to put on a hanging sleeve.

Paula Rafferty showed to do machine quilting.

Holly Hogan showed how to attach binding.

Hopefully all mid-west branch members are hard at work finishing off their masterpieces for the November exhibition. Don't forget to bring your quilts to the November meeting for collection for the exhibit.

September Meeting

The September meeting was the first meeting back after the summer break.

The Fainne Quilters group were the guest speakers at the September meeting. They brought a large and varied number of quilts for Show & Tell.

Made with the same pattern, Paula Rafferty made this larger version. The chicken wall-hanging was made by Catherine Kirby. This piece won 1st prize at the wallhanging section at the Tinnahealy quilt show.

The log cabin quilt was made by Linda Broderick. This is only Linda's fifth quilt and it is all hand-quilted.

New IPS Kerry Branch

A new IPS branch has just been started - the Kerry branch! This group will be having it's 1st ever meeting on the 26th September.
Meetings will be held in the Keel Community Centre, Keel, Castlemaine, Co. Kerry at 7.30pm.

List of events for the Kerry Branch:
Sept 26th - there will be a talk by Executive Member and a free pattern. Challenge - Autumn Leaves. Shop to be confirmed.
Oct 24th - Moya Geraghty Talk & Workshop. Challenge - Pumpkins. Shop by Moya Geraghty.
Nov 28th - Talk by Julie Shanahan on "The poetry of patchwork. Challenge - Fireworks. Shop by Nikki Foley.
Dec 12th - Demo - Fun - Party. Challenge - Christmas Fairy.
Jan 23rd - Invite Cork Branch to attend and show quilts. Challenge - Snowman. Shop by Moya Geraghty.
Feb 27th - Mary Palmer Workshop. Challenge - Jack Frost. Shop by Nikki Foley.
Mar 27th - Speaker to be confirmed. Challenge - Daffodils. Shop by Maeve Meany.