Finding inspiration for colour choices

This simple arrangement of Sweetpeas and Sweet Williams in a jam jar is my starting point for a colourful lapquilt. Watch this space for signs of progress. But I warn you..... it may take a while!!

Say hello...

Another pillow for my favourite movie-fan. We're on a bit of a roll now!

Exhibition opening Friday 20th 6pm

 

The Western Branch of the IPS Exhibition 'Go Leor Quilts Galore' opens on Friday at 6pm in Geata Na Cathrach, Fairgreen Road, beside the Revenue Offices. It will run from the 21st to 2th September from 10am to 5pm each day. Admission is free and it promises to be a great show of quilts. Drop in if you get the chance!

Birds and Blossoms

Quilt in progress...machine appliqué, free-motion machine quilting, 100% cotton fabrics, approx. 40inch square.

Beginner's Patchwork Classes starting in Claregalway!

If you've ever thought of making your own patchwork quilt, now is your chance to learn! I kick off classes for beginners on Tuesday evenings from 19.00 to 21.00 at 'Space to Create', Cois Chláir Shopping Centre, Claregalway. The course will run from 2nd October to 13th November. By then you should be well on your way to snuggling up in your own quilt for Winter! Call me on 087 6193870 to book your place.

Bolg na Talún: A day in the studio of Mogs McDonnell

Bolg na Talún is the name of the quilting studio of Mogs McDonnell, near Headford, Co. Galway. This stone-built studio tucked behind the picturesque thatched cottage is like a little piece of heaven and I thoroughly recommend booking yourself into a workshop with this talented quilter....you will not be disappointed.

Mogs welcomed my sister and myself through the traditional half-door to her studio, where a wood-burning stove warmed the studio for a morning workshop.

Mogs comes from a long-line of tailors and some of the beautiful old sewing equipment is on display in the deep window-sills of her studio.

Mogs runs regular classes for beginners and advanced patchworkers and can also create a customised workshop to suit you or your group.

My sister and I enjoyed a relaxing hand project, learning how to create the 'cathedral window' pattern which we made into pin-cushions. Mogs also sells a range of fat-quarter fabrics to choose from for your workshop project.

For more information see the Crafts Council of Ireland's profile page for Mogs at

http://www.ccoi.ie/index.php?Itemid=280&option=com_staticxt&reference=1400&staticfile=detail.php

Beginner's Patchwork Classes Monday Nights 18.30-21.00

Half-square triangles can be used to make star-shaped blocks. This first class on Monday 26th September, focuses on a quick technique suitable for hand or machine stitching. It is very suitable for beginners.
This is the first 2.5hr class in a series of 5. You can do only one class (25Euro) or sign up for all 5 classes (110Euro) - it's up to you. Each class stands on it's own as one technique....but if you put them all together and you've got the makings of a sampler quilt - your very own family heirloom!
The class takes place at Groundworks Studios, Lyrr Building 3, Mervue Business Park, Galway. Phone 087 6193870 for more information.

What makes a successful quilt?

.....when someone small and very cute decides to snuggle up on it! This is Zoey, a visitor, who obviously feels very much at home here!

Places available at 2hr Beginner's Patchwork Class on Friday 20th May

This 2 hr class is suitable for beginners and will take place on Friday 20th May from 10am-12pm.

‘Half-square triangles’ can be hand or machine-pieced. This simple technique creates two squares at a time. Combine these with a light background fabric as shown above and you will soon have a 12 ½ inch block. You can use this block to make a simple cushion cover or continue to make enough to create a cot, lap or bed quilt like the one shown in the photo above.

Bring the following supplies, if you have them:
 100% cotton fabrics (Hickey’s, Pippa Blue, Rags for Linda are suppliers in Galway see links to these websites in the right-hand column of this website)
 ‘sharps’ sewing needles
 neutral (cream or light grey) cotton thread
 sharp fabric scissors.

But don’t worry if you don’t have any of the above I will have basic equipment to share, scraps you can use free of charge and ‘fat-quarters’ of fabric you can purchase for 2-3Euro each.

Class notes will be provided.

If you'd like to join this friendly workshop (coffee and biscuits provided!) contact me asap at esterkiely@gmail.com there are only 2 places still available!

Hand applique class at Pippa Blue, Galway

This 2 ½ hr class is suitable for beginners.

Hand appliqué is a technique used in many quilts to create floral and other patterns. We will provide basic sewing equipment for you to share to help you get started. We will applique a pattern to a background square to form a 12 ½ in block, which you can put with others to make a sampler quilt like the one above.

You can bring the following supplies, if you have them:

 100% cotton fabrics (Pippa Blue has a selection of ‘fat quarters’ for sale)

 sewing needle

 neutral (cream or light grey) cotton thread

 sharp fabric scissors.

Notes will be provided.

Why not join us for a Sunday afternoon class (This class will be re-schduled for a later date, perhaps in February see below for details of how to find out more) and learn some of the techniques to help you make your own family heirloom quilt? For more information

 Call into the shop Pippa Blue, Middle St. Galway.

 Phone 091 566972

 Book online at www.pippablue.com (sewing classes)

'Tread softly, tread bravely'

This baby quilt/wall-hanging is now completed. It was inspired by the WB Yeats Poem, ' He wishes for the cloths of heaven'. It is intended as a quilt to wrap and protect the newborn, cushion the falls of a toddler, protect the growing child on their journey to adulthood and remind them of their parents' unconditional love.

Tread Softly, Tread Bravely

Photos of a small baby quilt in progress, inspired by the WB Yeats Poem "He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven".

'Jigs and Reels' A quilt finished!

The photo shows the finished quilt top before layering, quilting, binding and washing.

The quilt was finished in time for a fabulous 21st party in July.

I brought the quilt to Frances Conroy in Maam to have it quilted with an all-over swirly love-heart pattern in pink. Frances did a fantastic job and had the quilt ready in time for me to complete it by adding a candy-stripe binding.

As with most of my quilts, I machine-washed it and cool tumble-dried it. As I use cotton wadding I like the slight crinkly shrinking that happens when a quilt is washed. I think it helps to give it a warm, soft, cosy look. Also it comforts me to know that the quilt can now stand up to normal everyday usage and be thrown in a washing machine (at a 30 degree wash) as often as necessary.

I hope to take a good photo of the finished quilt soon and show it here. So watch this space.

'Jigs and Reels' a quilt in progress

It always amazes me how secondary patterns start to form when patchwork blocks are put together edge-to-edge.
Sometimes it is difficult to visualise in advance how a quilt will look . The pattern for this quilt came from the book "Clever Quarters Too" but the quilt photographed in the book is totally different in dark red, green and cream.
As with every project I learn a lot as I work my way through it.
For example, I hadn't really paid attention to the fact that each block is made up of 21 pieces within a 9in square! With 30 blocks required for the quilt that's a lot of small pieces to sew together (630 to be exact!). With a pieced border as well, it brings the total number of pieces in the quilt to 806!! This seems a little daunting!
The challenge would have been obvious had I read the pattern through before I started (lesson no. 1!). However, in a way I'm glad I just jumped right in, as it meant I just got on with it. By approaching it like a production line, it came together fairly quickly! And it wasn't as complicated as it looks! Honest!

'Jigs and Reels' a quilt in progress

Discussions about this quilt started some time ago. My niece's 21st in July required a special gift and so I made a trip to Maeve Meaney at the Limerick Quilt Centre with my sister and sister-in-law to select some fabrics. We had a warm welcome from Maeve who put the kettle on as we arrived! Then my sister and sister-in-law set to work on selecting some special fabrics. As my niece is studying traditional music and dance at the University of Limerick, a music theme was going to show up in the quilt somewhere. With all the family history of knitting, sewing, lace-making and embroidery through the generations, a sewing theme became an obvious choice as well. The light and dark turquoise floral prints brought back fond memories of my mother's sense of style. And the old-fashioned floral/stripe fabric was so pretty we couldn't resist. The block-pattern and overall quilt design was chosen from the book "Clever Quarters Too" by Susan Teegarden Dissmore.
Cutting of the fabric started in May and here is the first block ready for assembly. More photos to follow

Abbeyknockmoy ICA group completes quilt!

The enthusiastic ICA women in Abbeyknockmoy have made a fantastic job of their centenary quilt! Tonight was their final class where they learned how to attach the binding and the hanging sleeve to their completed quilt. They will add the final hand-stitches to the binding and the sleeve on the back of the quilt on their own and then they will have completed their project.

So my work with this group comes to a close. I enjoyed the classes hugely and was extremely impressed with this dedicated group of new patchworkers. They rose to all the challenges of getting to know unfamiliar sewing machines, making quarter-inch seams, accurate piecing, machine-quilting and lots more.

This was a wonderful group to work with....not just because they came to every class equiped with wonderful home-baking to tempt me!! I was very warmly welcomed into the community hall in Abbeyknockmoy every week and loved every minute of the 10 classes we had together. I hope our paths will cross often in the future around the local area and at future patchworking events in Galway and beyond!

"The West's Awake" exhibition opens at Galway City Museum

We gathered at the Galway City Museum on a sunny Tuesday evening to celebrate the opening of "The West's Awake", an exhibition by the Western Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society. The Mayor of Galway, Declan McDonnell complimented the group on the variety of work displayed. Sandlin Poth presented the Mayor with a cushion inspired by the marble tiles in the Galway City Cathedral. For more photos and information about this exhibition which runs until the end of May see http://www.westernips.blogspot.com/.

Patchwork Classes with Abbeyknockmoy ICA

In our third class we were ready to look at adding 'sashing' around each block. As the group wanted to include the colours from the ICA logo we looked at both blue and green as possible sashing options. The majority voted to use green as it created a 'fresher' overall look to the piece.

We began cutting the strips to the desired sashing width and stitching the blocks together in rows. In class 4 we will add the rows together and hopefully make our own ICA logo for the central block. All along we have been using a stitched logo which was given to us just to see how it might look.

Everyone seems pleased with the progress so far and looking forward to the next step.

Patchwork Classes with Abbeyknockmoy ICA

Tonight was this group's 3rd patchwork class. Liz arrived with her block already pieced together! Gold star for enthusiasm!

Liz

Brid quickly completed hers soon after.

Patchwork Classes with Abbeyknockmoy ICA

Kathleen

May

Patty

Theresa

The group worked together on the colours chosen by Annette and Phil who couldn't attend tonight and soon we had 7 finished blocks and one almost there! A sample ICA logo was used to help us get an idea of the central block, which we need to tackle next. We might still swap the blocks around until we are happy with the layout. We still need to add sashing between the blocks and a border in ICA colours. But the group achieved a lot tonight. For most of the group members this is their first attempt at patchwork. Pretty impressive work I think!