May meeting

 The May meeting was our AGM so we had a lot of official business to do on the night e.g. chairperson's, secretary and treasurer's report, election of new committee etc.
 
One of our new members Caroline Borden very kindly volunteered to join the committee on the night. Caroline is now going to be the Mid-West Executive Rep.

There was a lot of show & tell on the night.

Gillian Killick modelled this patchwork cap that she has made.

Patchwork hat made by Gillian Killick

 

 

Grania and Kate have gotten very engrossed in making quilts using the "Anita's Arrow" block. Grania will be giving a demo on this block at the June meeting.

Anita's Arrow Quilt

Another Anita's Arrow quilt made by Grania Preston

This is another Anita's Arrow quilt that is in progress. Great vibrant colours in this quilt top. 

New York Beauty quilt by Maureen Talbot

 This quilt is being raffled by Paula Rafferty to raise funds to send herself and her daughter to the Fashion Sans Frontier event.

Quilt that is being raffled by Paula Rafferty

Mid-West members printing bags

Spotted in the Limerick Post this week: a photo of three Mid-West Branch members at a recent design-a-bag workshop held at the Limerick Printmakers.

In the photo from left to right are Doris McMahon, Loretta O'Brien and Cecilia O'Doherty.

June Meeting

Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that the June Meeting is going to be our summer party. So hopefully everyone will bring in a plate of food whether it's savoury or dessert!


The finale of the Mystery Quilt will also be taking place at the June meeting, so we'll finally get to see what the quilt is supposed to look like.  Even if you haven't finished your Mystery Quilt yet, please bring your blocks in. It's always interesting to see everyone's colour choices etc. 

We extended last month's challenge to June. The challenge was to make "Do Not Touch" mini-quilts which we will use for the National Exhibition in October.

Eileen Brown will be coming in to give a talk on Limerick Lace. The challenge for the National AGM is to make a piece inspired by Limerick Lace, so hopefully we should all have some great ideas after Eileen's talk.

Grania will doing a demo on "Anita's Arrow".

The committtee are currently working on organising speakers and activities for next year's schedule. If you have any ideas or demo's that you would like to see at a meeting, please pass your ideas onto a committee member or leave a comment on the blog.

"Do Not Touch" small quilts for May Meeting

Reminder: Don't forget that the monthly challenge on this Friday is for small "Do Not Touch" quilts.

We need these little quilts for the National Exhibition in October.

Trip to South Midlands Branch

The Mid-West Branch were invited to be guest speakers at the South Midlands Branch. So on Saturday 21st April , 10 branch members made the trek to Kilkenny. The directions from the South Midlands branch were spot-on, so no-one had any problems in finding the venue.

The South-Eastern Branch were also guest speakers at the meeting.

The South Midlands Branch usually have their meetings on a Thursday, so for the visiting branches they arranged for their meeting to take place on a Saturday. When we arrived at the venue, we found that Frances Sawaya was giving a talk for the 1st part of the meeting, so we had a fun-packed and informative day.

Frances is currently trying to use up her stash, and is also having shoulder problems so can't work on large quilt anymore. This has lead to her using the quilt-as-you go method, the quilt in the photograph was made using this method.

Quilt as you go quilt by Frances Sawaya

Quilt by Frances Sawaya

Show and Tell:

The Kilkenny Cats had to make an appearance at the meeting!

This piece was made at the Jenny Rolfe Workshop at An Grianan.

The South Midlands Branch usually have their meetings on a Thursday, so for the visiting branches they arranged for their meeting to take place on a Saturday.

The show & tell at the meeting was incredible – there was so much work shown at the meeting by all the quilters that we ran out of time to show them all. The work covered all aspects of patchwork from traditional to art quilts, beginners to advanced, so there was something to interest everyone.

And as if that wasn’t enough, after the talk and show & tell had finished, the South Midlands Branch had laid on a fantastic buffet for the visiting branches. If you want to know where to go for great food, it’s this branch!!

Many thanks to the South Midlands Branch for organising this meeting of three IPS branches!

Nancy Doyle - R.I.P.

The Irish Patchwork Society lost a very valuable member on January 1st last when Nancy Doyle of Kickham St, Thurles, Co Tipperary died.  Nancy was married to Tommy Doyle who won five all Ireland medals in Hurling.

She was a very gracious and gentle Lady and a kind thoughtful neighbour. Nancy’s passing is greatly regretted by her loving family – sons, daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren, brother and sister. One of her daughters Valerie Shortt and her sister Kathleen Sheedy are also valued members of the I.P.S.

Nancy joined the I.P.S. Mid-West Branch in the late 1980’s and travelled together with her great friends from Thurles: Phil Dwyer, Bridget Keane, Kitty Mockler and sister Kathleen, to our many meetings and challenges over the years.

We both got to know Nancy very well through our sewing days in Villiers Secondary School, Limerick.  Nancy and those Tipp ladies provided a wonderful knowledge “booster” to those of us still learning the art of Patchwork with their vast amount of knowledge. During our lunch break we all sat around a table with our buffet lunches enjoying the company of Nancy and her friends.

When the South Midlands branch was formed Nancy and her friends still found time to fit in the Mid-West branch meetings along with the new branch in Kilkenny.  We have no doubt that the new fledgling branch gained lots from her attendance.

We will dearly miss her gentle and friendly way as will her travelling companions from Thurles but most of all her daughter Valerie and sister Kathleen.

Until we meet again,

Phil Aylward & Cecilia O’ Doherty

Mid-West Branch

April meeting

 Chairperson Tracy Watson gave a talk on Welsh Quilts at the April meeting. This went through the history and design of the quilts.

 Monthly Challenge:
The monthly challenge for April was to make a project out of one of library books. We had a number of entries on the night.
 The winner was Rebecca Palmer, her quilt is the yellow and blue quilt at the back of the table - unfortunately I didn't manage to get a shot of the full quilt on the night..

Monthly Challenge Entries

Cushion cover by Kate O'Donoghue

Challenge entry

Show and Tell:

Flying Geese quilt top by Alison Bingham

 Alison Bingham showed off this fantastic flying geese quilt top that she has recently completed. Alison incorporated a New York Beauty Block from a NYB workshop with Tracy Watson a few months ago. The use of the NYB block really adds a touch of drama to the quilt and was a great idea. Apologies for the strange lighting on this photo - the projecter was still on!

 

Paula Rafferty showed this quilt made using the Swoon block. The Swoon block has been a big hit recently on a lot of quilting blogs, quilting websites etc. The Swoon block makes a 16" block so you only need 9 blocks to make a very large quilt! For anyone who wants more information on the Swoon block here's a link to the Swoon Flickr Group.

Ger Larkin's daughter (apologies - have forgotten her name!) made this lovely block inspired by the pop group One Direction, and the colour that each band member uses. Ger said that she hasn't used much of the fancy quilting and embroidery stitches on her machine, but it was put to great use by daughter. Each square has used different stitches etc. 

Quilt by Kate O'Donoghue

 Kate O'Donoghue showed this quilt that she made, based on a pattern from a Kaffe Fassett book.

Quilt by Rebecca Palmer

 Rebecca Palmer is currently finishing off this Christmas quilt for entry into the International Quilting Festival of Ireland.











 A friend of Alison's brought in this lovely patchwork bag for show & tell.

Patchwork bag

For anyone who's making the Mystery Quilt here's a sneak peek of some of the blocks....

Mystery Quilt blocks by Tracy Watson

Table runner by Moya Geraghty

Moya Geraghty showed this table runner she has made.