Joke Buursma Workshop 12th April

Joke Buursma gave her "Mended Circles" Workshop in Villiers School on the 12th April.

This workshop used either bonded or raw edge appliqued circles which were machine quilted using a variety of machine stitches. This was the perfect opportunity to use some of the fancier stitches on some of the machines.

After spending most of the day working on the pieces, eventually the pieces had to be stacked on top of each other and cut through. This part was a bit nerve-wracking in case the pieces were ruined!

This workshop was very much enjoyed by all the attendees. And quite unusually for a workshop, most peoples' pieces were almost finished by the end of the day.

And as can be seen from the picture below, everyone's pieces were all quite different because of the variations in fabric and stitch colour.

April Meeting

Making something from a book/library book was the challenge for April.

Kate O'Donoghue was the winner on the night with her piece made with folded origami type squares.

Meg Kenny had a made a block using some beautiful batik fabrics.


Tracy Watson had a quilt top made in lovely autumnal colours.

Gillian Sheehan made a log cabin wallhanging with pictures of animals as the log cabin centre.

Gillian Killick mad an applique cushion cover.

Joke Buursma was the guest speaker on the night and she did a slideshow presentation on her work. Joke also brought a selection of some of her work and showed how she works through themes i.e. her zebra themed quilts.

March Branch Meeting

The March Branch meeting had mini-workshops as it's theme. Paula Rafferty showed how to make fabric postcards and also how to use the embellisher machine (which had people queuing up to use it!)
Gwen Cortiss showed how to make hexagons using old and new techniques. Phil Dwyer also brought along her hand-pieced pincushion with colour co-ordinated threads.
Claire Lynch showed samples from the Margaret Beal workshop which she recently took at the An Grianan IPS weekend. She also demonstrated the use of the soldering iron with fabrics and how to create buttons with it.

The challenge for March was "Blue and green should not be seen". Maureen Talbot was voted the winner on the night with her beautiful foundation-pieced wall-hanging. The piece was constructed in a very restful blue-green colour scheme.
Alison Bingham nearly forgot to bring a piece on the night, but luckily her hand-made bag fitted the theme perfectly. It was constructed with blue and green squares, and had appliqued flowers.

Tracy Watson's entry had the centre part constructed using a soldering iron on fabrics. Kate O'Donoghue made a very vibrant wall-hanging in denim fabric and bright green fabric. Claire Lynch entered a cushion with 2 appliqued hearts.
Gillian Sheehan entered a small wall-hanging with a metallic centre.

There was a variety of entries for the Show & Tell which was great. Alison Bingham showed a lovely quilt which she made for a friends baby. Paula Rafferty showed her piece which is to be entered in the Links Exhbition.
Maeve Meany showed 3 boards filled with block made by 3 members in the past month - a great achievement!
Claire Lynch showed 2 items; a quilt top and a finally-finished quilt using the fabric from the June Challenge.
Holly showed a rail-fence quilt in very vibrant colours.

Meg Kenny showed her beautiful quilt which had made . The border of the quilt was screen printed with sonograms of her grandson. All the fabrics in the centre of the quilt were hand-dyed and screen printed (with images relating to fertility). She showed etchings and drawing which she used to create the prints. It was a very informative talk and showed how people could interprate their own experiences to design and create their own quilts.

We also had an overseas visitor on the night - Edie from Alaska, who is in Ireland for the next 3 weeks. Thanks to the power of the internet and blogging, Edie found out about the March meeting. She spoke about her embroidery and patchwork, and she also showed the hat she was wearing - which was crazy pieced. Every part of the hat had been embellished with embroidery stitches, sequins etc. Edie has her own blog called the "Sporadic Packrat" which has been added to the list of Patchwork-related blogs over on the right-hand side.

Deadline for Links National Quilt Exhibition

Reminder: Entry forms for the National Quilt Exhibition have to be sent off by Friday 7th March at the latest.

An Post C Both Sides Postcard Exhbition

An Post C Both Sides:
An Post are running a 12 month programme in which the public are asked to design and send in a postcard.The postcard must be regular size : 5.5 inches x 4 inches (14 cm x 10cm) sent through the postal system and stamped.
You have complete artistic freedom in your self expression, be it visual or literary.There is no set theme, just the criteria tocommunicate for the price of a stamp and use a postcard as a medium.Most of the entries will probably be painted, so would it be nice to see textile art entered in this competition.

Come on IPS members, get working on making your postcards now!

The small scale of the postcards will also mean that you can try out new techniques.You can send as many postcards as you wish - just remember each card must be stamped and individually posted.
It could be an idea to get the Post Office to stamp and frank the postcard, and then place it in a cellophane packet to ensure that it arrives at its destination safe and sound.

Anyone can enter at any time during 2008. Even though there is no set theme and you can enter whatever you wish, the exhibition is focusing on particular communities during each month:

• January - family members
• February - Sports people
• March - Health, well-being and caring
• April - Travellers
• May - Older people
• June - Business People/Unemployed People
• July - Prisoners
• August - MigrantsSeptember - Politicians
• October - Education and Learning
• November - Farming Communitiy
• December - Artists/Individuals

Entries to be sent to:An Post C Both Sides, PO Box 2009, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath

By submitting your postcard to C Both Sides, you grant the project all copyright and other rights with respect to that information at theirexclusive discretion. C Both Sides reserves the right to select, edit and arrange submissions for exhibition and publication.There are more details available from the An Post web-site at http://www.anpostcbothsides.ie/

The web-link for the An Post Press release about the competition is:http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/About+An+Post/Media+Centre/Press+Releases/2007/AnPostCBothSides.htm

Joke Buursma Workshop 15th March

Joke Buursma will be hosting a "Mended Circles" workshop for the Mid-West Branch on the 15th March.

This workshop is about applique by machine, and then embellishing using the embroidery stitches available on your sewing machine (or just zig-zag stitch).
You will make colourful asymmetric applique combinations, embellish them with stitching, and then sew them together in different combinations. This technique will give an unexpected but fantastic result.

There are a few places available so contact a committe member if you wish to book a place on the workshop.

February Meeting

Ann Bradshaw was the guest speaker on the night and she showed how her work has progressed from traditional to contemporary patchwork.

Ann showed her early pieces and how some of her City & Guilds pieces were designed.

Ann then displayed samples of her dyed fabrics and told how they were done e.g. which colour dyes were added. She passed around samples of her dyed pieces so that people so see clearly how the fabrics were dyed, stamped, foiled etc.

Ann also showed how to use thermofax screens, a method that most members probably weren't familiar with. In the picture below Ann is demonstrating how easy it is to further enchance dyed fabric by using the thermofax screen to apply images.


February "LOVE IS" Challenge:

There were 8 entries for the "LOVE IS" challenge,which was very apt considering that Valentine's Day is nearly upon us again.

There were two winners on the night as there was a tie with the votes. Claire Lynch and Grainne O'Connor both won.

The quilt made by Claire Lynch was made from a number of different blocks which incorporated applique, suffolk puffs, embroidery etc. A border of appliqued hearts finished off the quilt.

Grainne made a wall-hanging which she said showed the four stages of love (starts out great and then fades a bit). The hearts were made using the chenille technique. The background fabric was free machined stitched with words all relating to love.

Rachel Banting entered a denim cushion with a log cabin appliqued heart . The fabrics used in the heart were from clothes belonging to her daughters when they were toddlers.
Teresa entered a cushion which was made from a Valentine panel.

Paula Rafferty entered a log cabin pieced cushion cover which was done in two colours - white and hot pink which was very eye-catching!

Kate O'Donoghue entered a small sewing bag. This bag was made from a pattern in a recent edition of "Popular Patchwork" magazine - it was from a folded piece of fabric which then formed a number of pockets.

Gillian Sheehan's piece which had machine stitched into the message that "Love is Tea in Bed".

Gwen Cottiss entered a pin-cushion, this was made for a friend of her's which is the reason it's in a plastic bag in the photograph.

Tracey Watson entered a sketchbook cover which was based on her love of walks by the sea.