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!

West Awake: Galway Traditions

The Western Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society holds an exhibition every two years and the next one opens on 1st May, 2010 at the Galway City Museum. The exhibition is entitled 'West Awake'. I was thinking about this and wanted to do something that celebrates something unique to Galway.
When I first arrived I walked the Salthill promenade with a friend and laughed when she told me I had to kick the wall at Blackrock as 'it's the tradition' I thought she was joking me but then I stood and watched as almost everyone who walked to this point gave the wall a kick and turned around to walk back in the direction they came!
Despite asking many people about it, the only explanation I seem to get is 'it's tradition'! And so, with camera and tripod in-hand I spent a morning at the wall, asking people if I could photograph 'the kick'. Lots of people joked with me on the day and were curious to find out what I was going to do with the photos.
I've printed a number of these onto fabric to make up a wall-hanging and I will stitch into these further and I think I will quilt in some text as well. I hope to finish this in time for the exhibition in May.

Textile Art Forum Update

Day 4 of the Textile Art Forum residential at Ballyduggan Cottages.

On Thursday I took a walk up 'The Old Town Trail' at the back of the cottages. The 360 degree view from the top was lovely looking down on the lake, back towards the Mourne mountains and on to Downpatrick. I walked back through the Sally Gardens.

Then back to work stitching!

The photo above shows the variety of muted shades of 'Colour-catchers' I have collected from the household laundry and just have to include in stitch projects because they are so nice!

Textile Art Forum Update

Day 3 of the Textile Art Forum residential at Ballyduggan Cottages:

'Buttermilk Cottage' was full of nooks and crannies. This photo was taken from the hallway, through a little window into the kitchen and across to the outside window. Jan's tulips from Amsterdam sit in a jug on the windowsill. The cottage windows were so nice I took loads of photos into and out of them!

I spent the day experimenting with different media (Clear gloss, clear semi-gloss and white matte precoat Inkaid's) painted onto different fabrics (bleached cotton, unbleached cotton and linen). Once these were totally dry I printed onto them using a standard inkjet printer. I then washed the pieces to see how 'fast' the colours remained. This was a good day's work as I learned a lot about the media, the fabric and the printer so that I will know what to use depending on the effect I hope to achieve for future design-work.

The photo above was a sunset over the stone-walls on Inisheer in 2009.

The photo I printed here is of the stone walls at home in the snow with thorny brambles.

The photo here is of my stone walls again at sunrise.

And here they are again at sunset with the sun shining through the walls.

Textile Art Forum Update

Day 2 of Textile Art Forum Residential at Ballyduggan Cottages:

I wanted to work on creating individual 'stones' instead of embroidering/quilting onto a whole-cloth piece as I've been doing lately. I hoped to create a more airy, lighter piece.

I used some 'colour-catcher' swatches I have been saving from my household laundry (because I hate to throw them out as they always seem to be such nice random dyed pieces!). They varied in colour from grey and blue to pink but they reminded me of my stone-walls at home when the sun hits them at different times of the day.

I joined them together by stitching through the spaces between them on water-soluble fabric.

Jan donated some light pink organza for the background, which was just what I needed for the 'floaty' effect I hoped to achieve. I added a foil moon and used the bare branches of the hedge outside my window as the inspiration for my stitched patterns.

The whole piece went into the bath to dissolve the water-soluble fabric as you can see in the photo above! Then I hung it out to dry on the line before lunch!

I like the way it floated about in the breeze, with the lovely stone cottage in the background for the photograph.

This was a satisfying experimental piece to work on.

Textile Art Forum Update

Day 1 of Textile Art Forum residential at Ballyduggan Cottages

The theme for the current series of work by the Textile Art Forum is 'deconstruct/reconstruct'.

My current work is based on the dry stone walls in the West of Ireland. I love these temporary-looking structures which can be easily dismantled and rebuilt. Yet they have stood for years, keeping livestock contained in the fields, marking boundaries between farms, providing habitats for native plants and animals, etc. I like the fact that the these walls were built with the stones found in the fields when they were clearing the land for farming. It was a practical 'make-do and mend' solution to use the materials available on site to build walls.

As well as my contemporary wall-hangings I'm also 'recycling' scraps of fabrics into a colourful quilt. Most of these fabrics are cut from old clothing or left over from other projects so in the spirit of 'make-do and mend' I am making something new.

We discussed eachother's completed pieces and our work in progress and confirmed our plans for the collection of work for 'Make it New' our exhibition which opens at the Lakeland Quilt Festival, Ballyjamesduff Museum, Cavan in September 2010.

With our initial discussions completed and following a lovely shared lunch....it was time to take a walk down Lake Road to see my surroundings. I photographed my walk and was inspired by the light of the setting sun through bare branches, the reflections of the swans in the lake and the sight of colourful boats through the rushes.

Patchwork Classes with Abbeyknockmoy ICA

2010 sees the ICA celebrating its centenary. To mark the occasion, the Abbeyknockmoy ICA group decided to make a patchwork wall-hanging. I met with the group to discuss what kind of work they wanted to do and they decided to make a wall-hanging where each of the 8 members of the group would choose their own colours to make an 'Ohio Star' block. A central block will be made with the ICA logo and ICA colours will also be incorporated in the hanging. On 11th March the group began their first class. They learned how to measure and cut the pieces required to make each block. For most of them this was their first time using rotary cutters, rulers and self-healing mats. With a bit of practice they all grew in confidence and were looking forward to the next stage....learning to piece the blocks in class 2 on 18th March.

Textile Art Forum Update

Ah! What could be better than a whole week in a beautiful cottage in Downpatrick, near a lake, looking towards the snow-capped Mourne Mountains with nothing to do but eat, sleep, share ideas and be creative? Maybe 2 weeks of the same!

I'm just back from my residential week with the Textile Art Forum, where 4 of us lived and worked towards creating new work for our upcoming exhibition 'Make it New'. The work will be exhibited first at this year's Lakeland Quilt Festival in the museum at Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan in September, 2010 (http://www.cavanmuseum.ie/).

I have loads of lovely photos from my week at Ballyduggan Cottages (http://www.ballyduggan.com/) and I will post them over the coming days and weeks here and on the http://www.textileartforum.blogspot.com/ page. The photo above (thanks Jan for catching me absorbed in my work!) shows my lovely little workspace at the cottage beside the fireplace.

Right now, I have a lot of catching up to do at home! I'd better start by putting away all the stuff I brought with me to Downpatrick!

Art Auction

Artist: Sarah Mitchell
Title: Cooloola's patterned fish I
Medium: Hand-coloured lino cut (editioned to 5)

I'm delighted to be involved in organising an Art Auction on 18th April, 2010 in the Westwood Hotel, Newcastle, Galway.
Proceeds from the auction will be shared between the artists and Claregalway Educate Together National School, with no additional fees and no hidden costs for the buyer! Pre-auction bids can be taken and artwork is available to preview at www.claregalwayeducatetogether.ie

John Behan, RHA, Lynda Cookson, Clare Cryan, Joan Hogan, Charlotte Kelly, Sara Susan McNeill, Sarah Mitchell, Vivien Murray, Marja Van Kampen, Michael Viney, Joan Webb, Kenneth Webb and Annie West are just some of over 50 artists involved.

The work will be exhibited for viewing from 12 noon on 18th April and the auction will begin at 2.30pm. It promises to be a wonderful event so mark your diaries!

Drawing and painting

My final run of 5 classes with artist, Jim Kavanagh http://www.jimkavanagh.com/ finished in January. We worked on a technique to capture the qualities of cloth as it drapes. It was an interesting project to work on and probably appealed to me so much because it was fabric-related! We were asked to position a 'precious object' in front of a draped cloth. So I chose a glass bowl of threads in front of a red shot-velvet. With more practice, I'm sure I could improve on this, but here are the photos of my charcoal drawing and my oil painting of this subject. I learned a lot from Jim and hope to go back for more lessons at a future date.

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Have you heard of Etsy.com? It's a website where craftmakers sell their work. It also sells vintage and recycled items. I have found some lovely, special presents for friends and family there. By clicking on the link above you can enter a free giveaway for some Etsy samples at the Grossgrain blog. You can also go directly to Etsy.com to shop for handmade items.

I intend to open my own Etsy shop soon so watch this space for more news on that! It's one of my 2010 goals! It's another way to link up with other Irish sellers on Etsy to promote Irish Craft online.

The Dolly Tub bags

Suzanne from 'The Dolly Tub' at Claregalway indoor Sunday Market sent me some photos of her lovely bags to show you. I love them all and have trouble picking a favourite to put on my wish-list!

Vintage sewing notions

Although I've lots of projects on the go I've nothing ready to photograph yet, so this is just a photo of some vintage sewing notions arranged on a shelf in my work-space. Some are flea-market and charity-shop finds, some were given to me by friends and family but I love them all. I don't know what it is about old sewing needles and cards of buttons that I find so inspirational!

Finding treasures at the Claregalway Indoor Market

There is a new indoor Sunday market in Claregalway Business Park. There are a good few stalls spread over two warehouse-like rooms selling new and secondhand furniture, clothing, toys, jewellery, books, household items, bric-a-brac, craft, food, etc. It's a bit cold in there, but if you wrap up well and warm up with a cup of coffee and homemade sticky bun you'll be alright!





I particularly liked 'The Dolly Tub' stall. Suzanne makes handmade soaps, bath products and candles which are all beautifully presented in delicate, vintage-inspired packages, tins and teacups. But I especially loved her bags made from felted woollen blankets and embellished with felted flowers and transferred images. Check out her website at http://www.thedollytub.com/.

I also found a stall selling cotton and silk fabrics by the metre and some vintage lace. I bought pink and purple shot-cottons for €5/mtr. And 2 reversible woven curtain fabric off-cuts for €2 each. I love the vibrant mix of colours in these: lime green/turquoise and pink/orange. I'm looking forward to including these in future projects.

UFO sightings in 2010

The start of a new year often prompts a tidy up of my workspace. I hoped to be inspired to get cracking on some new projects. I was..... but some UFOs (un-finished objects) were spotted! So I need to also fit these into the plan for 2010.

I gave the primary school children in Claregalway Educate Together National School some fabric paints and asked them to paint something that showed how their school was special. They did an amazing job and then learned how to use an old hand-cranked Singer machine to add a border to their work. I promised to put these together and bring back the quilts to hang at the school or to use as picnic blankets. I really want to get these done for the children to see their work.

This 'bowl' wall-hanging was started at a Kaffe Fassett workshop in Dublin some years ago. I like it a lot, but it's been sitting there and forgotten for quite a while!

This is my current hand-piecing project I sew when I meet with my quilting buddies, the Corrib Quilters, every week. It's been growing slowly and I'm on the last row. It will be approx 40 x 40 inches when complete. It is my first curved piecing project and is made totally from scraps with no particular placement plan for each colour. Perhaps I'll complete it in time for the exhibition in the Galway City Museum in May?

Here's hoping 2010 will see these all sewn-up!

The Betty Draper Evening Gala Gown GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Betty Draper Evening Gala Gown GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Check out this website for beautiful hand-made clothing.

And yet another custom-made cushion

This cushion was made for my Wizard of Oz-loving niece who recently had an interesting meeting with a SWAT team in Mexico (don't ask!). One side says 'There's no place like home. Click your heels like Dorothy or call the SWAT team like Mairead'. The other side has a transfer of a print by street-artist Banksy, where Dorothy's basket is being searched by a SWAT-like policeman. Lots of blue gingham, Wizard of Oz print fabric and red ribbons were used in the making of this one.

Another custom-made cushion

This is another cushion for my niece who just graduated from industrial bio-chemistry. This time (with the help of my husband!) I took the periodic table of elements and searched for the chemical notations that would come closest to spelling her name. So one side says 'Brihgid's cushion'. I know she likes the combination of red and black so I used these colours and added satin ribbons and covered buttons.

Custom-made cushions

Here's a cushion I made for my computer programming niece for Christmas. One side has a keyboard with the phrase 'No place like -> home' added to the keypads. The other side says 'Jess chillin' with a little picture of her favourite 'Mario' character added below. Pinks and purples are her favourite colours so I used these and added some girly ribbons to tie it.

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone!

GROUNDWORKS Studios is now officially open!

GROUNDWORKS Studios was officially opened tonight by James Harold, Galway Arts Officer. The launch exhibition was well-attended and ran for the entire weekend. All of the hard work in getting the premises to this stage paid off as the exhibition looked great. For more information on the group see http://www.groundworksstudios.com/

Christmas pudding anyone?

I'm getting a little bit silly now with Christmas just around the corner! December's meeting of the Western Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society (http://www.westernips.blogspot.com/) tomorrow is the Christmas party and the challenge is to make a Christmas gift item. So here's my version of a Christmas pudding teacosy.

GROUNDWORKS launch event 11th December

"Jump for Joy" and "The Rocker II" are 2 of my pieces selected for inclusion in the GROUNDWORKS launch exhibition from 11th to 13th December. A wide variety of work from contemporary textile and ceramic artists and GMIT graduates will be on show. The opening is from 4-8pm on Friday 11th at the Lyrr Building, Mervue Business Park, Galway. Come along and join us for a glass of wine!

Christmas Craft Fairs

A photo of some of my notebooks and brooches at the Christmas Craft Fair at the Menlo Hotel, Galway yesterday.

I was very impressed with the variety and quality of local craft at the show. I particularly liked:

• Wire sculptures of windblown Hawthorns and figures mounted on found objects by Glenn Gibson (http://www.glengibson.net/)


• Beautifully soft hand-knitted shawls and scarves by Agnieszka Rupnik (www.2knitornot2knit.blogspot.com)


• Delicately embossed ceramics by Louise Browne (http://www.livinggingerdesigns.com/)


• Lovely bear illustrations by Morgan O'Brien (http://www.morganobrienart.com/) whose work I remember from the programme for the Baboro Children's Art Festival in the past.

And there were lots of other goodies like home made cakes, jewellery, painting, pottery, etc. This was the first time this fair was held and it has the potential to grow if more people knew about it! It would be a wonderful place to get unique, handcrafted gifts from local craftspeople so hopefully it will happen again next year and the crowds will come!

In the meantime I prepare for my next fair at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Saturday 19th December.