Fun Day at St Peter's

On Saturday I took part in a Fun Day at The Parish Centre at St Peter's here in Derry with my friends Mary and Louise.  We teach patchwork here and so we hung quilts made by the ladies who had taken part in the classes.  We all had a lovely day, meeting old friends and new. 

Mary and Alison

The quilt on the left is Reach for the Stars by Pat McAteer.  The one with the pale pink border is Hidden Stars by Anna Rita Harkin and the small blue one is Circles by Pat Pauley.

The quilt in the background is what Mary will be teaching in September with the Lynne Edwards "New Sampler Quilt Book".  This particular one was made by Mary's friend, Hazel Canning. 

The two smaller quilts are Reach for the Stars by Majella Dillon and Magdalen McAteer.  The large one is called Stepping Stones by Philomena Friel.

The first quilt is 'Springtime' by Caroline Kuan.  The next two are Sampler Quilts by Mary Douglas and Alison Miller.  Finally, then it's Reach for the Stars by Majella Dillon.

This is my friend Heather taking a photo of my sister Claire's quilt Reach for the Stars.  Far left is a Log Cabin by Majella Dillon and then Stepping Stones by Mary Douglas.  The fourth quilt is Squares by Pauline McCaughey and finally Stepping Stones by Margaret McCurry. 

I'd just like to thank everyone at St Peter's who helped make this possible. 

This was a lovely way to show off all the quilts that everyone has made this year.  We'll definitely have to do this again. 

Bye the way, this is our new timetable for September 2012.

Bye for now.
Sandra

The International Quilt Festival of Ireland

I'm afraid this post is going to be quite a long one but I hope you'll enjoy it.  Last week I travelled to the first International Quilt Festival of Ireland in Galway with my friend Mary and lots of other quilters with the Foyle Women's Information Network.  We all had a fantastic time.

All the ladies from our trip

On the day we arrived the weather wasn't great but we got a good look around to find our bearings.  That evening we all went to Bunratty Castle for a Medieval Banquet and had a wonderful time.  It was great fun, the food was lovely and the entertainment was fantastic.

Bunratty Castle

This young lady greeted us at the door and later did some wonderful singing.

The singers and players

The following day, the weather was bright and sunny and the university grounds where the festival was held were lovely. 

One of the biggest things for me at the Festival was attending a lecture given by Ricky Tims about machine quilting.  It was lovely to meet him after watching him on The Quilt Show for so long.  He was a complete gentleman, very generous with his knowledge and tips.  He was also very entertaining, and it was also lovely to see his quilt 'in the flesh', so to speak, as well.

Ricky Tims

Bohemian Rhapsody by Ricky Tims

Amazing quilted feathers

 I also met the lovely Pam Holland while at the show.  Her quilt Drysdales' Dame was great. 

Drysdales' Dame by Pam Holland

It was in the section called Patchwork Promises.  The quilt was made as part of a Round Robin in the artist's home country and then returned to the original artist for quilting.  The promise part involves donating the quilt to charity after having displayed it in its home country.

Another quilt that I liked from this section was one by Terri McNeil.

Emigrant Reflections of Home by Terri McNeil

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Close up of pieced border and quilting

I absolutely love at batiks and I love to free-motion quilt, so this was one of my favourite quilts of the show.

Mary and I taking a break

I spoke of the lovely grounds in the university earlier. Well here is The Quad.

This is my favourite Miniature quilt from the show.  A beautiful log cabin.  I have no idea how anyone sews strips this tiny. Amazing!

Home at Last by Carolyn L Koler
Amherst, Ohio

Chocolate Decadence was the name of one of the other exhibitions and this was my favourite here.

Chocolatte by Birgit Schuller
Riegelsberg, Germany

 I just loved the quilting on this piece.

I'm afraid that I'm going to have to add my other photos on another night as it's getting late here.

Bye for now.

Sandra

Quilting, Quilting and More Quilting!

Last week I made a big effort to quilt some of the things that I have made recently. 

Firstly, I finished another calico practice piece that I have had on the frame for ages.  I enjoy the freedom of working on the calico as I can try out things that I have drawn in my sketch book.

I then quilted my Hidden Stars quilt with a spiral design.

This quilt was made from a Layer Cake called Etchings by 3 Sisters for Moda.  Absolutely beautiful fabric to work with and gorgeous designs.  I loved the greys in this collection. 



Next, I quilted one that I had made for my youngest son quite a while ago.  It's made from fabric that I bought in The City Quilter, which by the way is an amazing shop.  They designed the Times Square and Subway fabrics themselves. 

I quilted the centre with alternating parallel lines, a ribbon effect in the red border and I stippled the outer border.  It was a learning process for me as I got fed up having to stop and start the different designs every time that I had to roll the quilt on my frame.  So I then quilted all of the centre in one go.  I then rolled it back up and quilted the narrow border down one side across the bottom and up the other side.  Then finally I quilted the outer border in the same fashion.

This little quilt makes me very nostalgic for my trip to New York.  Maybe I'll be able to go back some day. 

Outside Grand Central Station

This reminds me of going to work in Grand Central every morning to demonstrate quilting at a Tourism Ireland Exhibition.

I'm really enjoying the new things that I'm learning on my Gracie Frame.  Now all I have to do is make and sew the bindings on the quilts. 

Bye for now.
Sandra