MILLYPENNY

The Modern Quilters of Ireland group (MQI) regularly hold swaps. The swap this summer was to make a tote bag for each other and add a gift. Bags had to be posted last week so should be arriving to everyone involved this week. Everyone involved in the swap had to make a mosiac of what of bags they liked, list of likes and dislikes etc.  This is the bag recently finished for the modern quilters of Ireland tote swap. Just put it in the post today, so hopefully my swap partner will have it tomorrow. Hope she likes it! When I got home from work this evening, a parcel was waiting for me - which contained my tote bag from the swap. Thanks a million to Irena for making me such a fabulous bag and the very generous gifts. I have to try to get a photo of the bag in daylight tomorrow Wonder what the next MQI swap will be??

I've almost finished a new Christmas quilt. It feels a bit weird working on a Christmas quilt so early,but at least this way the quilt will be finished in time. The pattern was adapted from a Christmas quilt in Quilt Now magazine. Om 

The 1st ever National Quilting Week of Ireland takes place from 1st-7th June. There will be various quilting exhibitions taking place throughout Ireland for this event, including the Irish Quilters Showcase. This exhibition will be opening on 22nd May in the Blasket Centre, Dingle, Co. Kerry. I have an quilt in this exhibit titled "Stone Walls of the West".

Last week I received my quilt "In the Street I was Lost" back from Contemporary Quilters UK. The theme for this quilt was Dislocation and it started out on display at the Festival of Quilt 2014. This exhibit travelled to a number of different venues and exhibits throughout the year. In the Street I was Lost This year's Contemporary Group Challenge is "Elemental". I haven't started making my piece yet, but do have an idea in mind for it.

A few weeks ago, I spent the day at a Fabric Flower Workshop with Gillian Travis . The previous night Gillian had given a talk and show and tell to our quilting branch . It was a very inspiring talk, as Gillian showed how she got inspiration for her everyday surroundings and holidays, and showed how she uses photo's and journals in her work. I was very inspired by her talk and got lots of ideas for future projects from it. The flowers were fairly tricky and labour intensive to make, so I don't think I'll be making massive bouqets of fabric flowers anytime soon, but it was nice to know how to make them. I currently have only 1 finished flower, but have about 5 more in various stages of completion. Hopefully, this week I might get a chance to finish them off.

As part of the 1st ever National Quilting Wee k in Ireland, there are lots of quilting exhibitions taking place around the country. The Mid-West Branch, the quilting guild I'm a member of, are having a branch exhibition on the theme of "local landscapes" in a few weeks time. We have a size limit on our pieces of 16 x 40" (portrait or landscape format). The exhibition runs from 2-6th June, with the official opening on Tuesday 2nd June at 7pm in Ormston House, Limerick. I currently have two pieces made for the exhibition, and have plans to make a third one.

I made this quilt "Gender Stereotype" for the Cork Textile Network "In Unison" exhibition that was held in December. Most of the fabric in this piece was jelly-printed. Not printed with the gelli-plates but with a block of real jelly (Chivers Jelly) which works surprisingly well for printing. I have a number of quilts in progress at the moment, but most of them can't be shown yet (round robin projects, exhibition quilts etc.)