MILLYPENNY

The European Quilt Association (EQA) had a picture exchange this summer where people selected a photograph as inspiration which was then divided into a right and left half. The quilters then had to make 2 small quilters 20 x 40cm (approx. 8" x 16"). the right half of their own picture and the left half of a randomly assigned partner.  I received this photo from my Dutch partner Jopie which was of a tree.  Jopie's inspiration photo. I spent a lot of time mulling over how to make this piece and eventually ended up making this piece using hand-dyed and rust-dyed fabrics. I then used gold and copper metallic paints with my own thermofax screen prints of bark and tree branches to capture the impression of the tree bark and stark branches from the photograph.  The Dutch quilters had an exhibition of their EQA quilts over the weekend, and my EQA partner Jopie sent me on a photo of the two quilts hanging together. 

 The biennial Hands Across the Border exhibition took place at the An Tain Arts Centre, Dundalk from the exhibition from the 31st August to the 4th September.  The Hands Across the Border exhibition is run jointly by the Irish Patchwork Society and the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild.  I managed to get a piece done for this exhibit (was working up to the wire to get this quilt finished in time!).  The theme of this years exhibit was "Hanging Together Again" so I used men's shirts (three of my Dad's old shirts actually) to make most of my piece. It's based on a small laneway in Ennis called Friary Bow. Ennis is full of these old laneways, a lot of these laneways and bow-ways were temporarily closed this year to get a makeover (tiling, better signage of the laneways etc.). This laneway is full of interesting colours and shapes, great contrast with the turquoise storefront than can be seen from the arch.  I used acrylic paints and markers to alter the fabrics in my