Irish Patchwork Society

First of all, I must apologise for the delay in making this post.  As my own small camera is wonky, I used my husband's and of course the lead for downloading could not be found. 

Anyway, I spent a wonderful weekend with the ladies from the Eastern Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society.  Everyone was very welcoming and gracious.  I must thank Elaine, Gwenda, Bernedette, Sidella and everyone who came to the workshop. 

The ladies made some lovely pieces in the circles workshop with gorgeous batiks.

Ladies from the Eastern Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society

I hope to see you all again soon.  Perhaps in Galway at the Quilt Festival.

Bye for now.
Sandra

New Batik Wallhanging

I finished putting the binding on the wallhanging that I was telling you all about recently and I had promised to post some photographs of the finished article.  So here it is.

Batik Circles Wallhanging

I still haven't thought of a name for it yet so I haven't put on the label. 

Close up of the free motion quilting & satin stitch

This is my favourite technique at the moment.  I have always enjoyed doing reverse applique but this also brings in the circles as well.

I will be going to Dublin next week to teach this at the Irish Patchwork Society's Eastern Branch.  I'm really looking forward to going as I met such a nice group of ladies the last time that I went down.  They were so welcoming. 

Well the rest of my day will consist of some rather boring paperwork but then I'll get packed and ready for the start of my first class tomorrow.  So it's nice to look forward to a new term and new possibilities. 

Talk to you later.
Sandra

The Festival of Quilts

I came back from the Festival of Quilts late on Saturday night, exhausted but happy.  It was fantastic as usual.  Lots of amazing quilts, exhibitions and stands.  I am really pleased with all my purchases and I will put some of these in a later post.  The holders of some of my favourite stands kindly allowed me to photograph them for my blog, so here we go.

Fiddlesticks Fabrics

 I bought some wonderful fabrics here.  Karen's shop is in Ballyclare so I'll have to visit soon.

The Aurifil stand had some good price deals for the show.  As I always use it for piecing, I treated myself to a cone and a couple of pretty 40w threads for quilting.  

Aurifil

I had a lovely chat with Sherry of Irish Quilting magazine which proved to be very popular.

Irish Quilting

 I also met the very gracious Jennie Rayment who kindly allowed me to photograph herself and her quilts.  I bought two of her books, 'Foldy Rolly Patchwork Pzzazz' and 'Serging for Softies'.

Jennie Rayment

The Irish Patchwork Society had a wonderful exhibition to mark their 30th Anniversary and one of my favourite pieces from this was by Elaine Doyle called 'Birchfield'.  I also met lots of the girls from the Eastern Branch.

'Birchfield' by Elaine Doyle

The Tentmakers of Cairo had a wonderful exhibition.  It was mesmerising to watch the gentleman sewing with such speed and skill.

Cairo Tentmaker

Cairo quilt

One of my favourite exhibitions was by a Russian girl called Marina Mamonova.  Her quilts had so much texture and I found her work very inspirational.  The photographs won't do them justice.

'Broken Dreams'

'Bay of Joy'

'Bay of Joy' close up

The circles above were made with woven strips.  It gave so much texture to the piece.

I was delighted to see that an Irish girl had made this amazing winning quilt.

'Dear Jane, It's the 21st Century'
Valarie Mullally, Ireland
Winner Contemporary Quilts
2nd Prize Amateur Quilt of the Year

My friend Margaret Ashford from Derry made this amazing miniature four-poster bed with the little married couple reading the papers.  One is our local paper The Derry Journal and the other is Irish Quilt and Craft Magazine from The Fennel Shed.

Relaxing

 And finally, the winner of the miniature section was a wholecloth quilt, with trapunto and free motion quilting.

Kumiko Frydl
'Blue like a Wedgewood'

These are just some of the things that I liked at the Festival of Quilts this year.  Another brilliant show. 

See you soon.
Sandra