Millypenny

Hand Blocks for IQFoI

2012-01-26T01:46:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished quilting a hand block for the International Quilting Festival of Ireland (IQFoI) which is taking place in Galway in May. At the festival they're going to have a welcome banner made up of hundreds of hand blocks from around the world).

Last time I checked, the deadline for submission of the blocks was the 1st February; so I was hurrying to get the 2nd block finished last night. Have just checked their website and you can now submit blocks up to the 1st March.

To make the blocks I made a monoprint of my hand, added my name and town using alphabet stamps and then free-motion quilted the block.

I got a print of my mother's hand to make the 2nd block, and made it in the same way, just used the stamps to go around the hand this time.

Diamonds Quilt

2012-01-25T04:24:00.000-08:00

This is what I'm working on at the moment - a throw quilt using 12 fat quarters. I've had a fat quarter pack of "Sugar Snaps" collection in my stash for a few years, so finally chopped it up last weekend.

You can't really tell from the photo, but this quilt is seriously bright! Think it might be the brightest quilt that I've ever made. Not sure that I like it too much at the moment, but maybe when it's quilted I might come around to liking it more.

Have adjusted the layout slightly from the photo, and got the borders added last night, so hopefully tonight I can get it basted...

Patchwork in Perspective Quilt

2012-01-25T04:18:00.000-08:00

I finished this wall-hanging just before Christmas - keep forgetting to take a decent photograph of it for the blog though!

The quilt was started last summer at a Lynn Edwards workshop on "Patchwork in Perspective".

Happy New Year

2012-01-16T04:15:00.000-08:00

For 2012, I had great plans to finish off my UFO's before starting any new projects, but last night I started cutting out a new quilt! Ooops... Ah well, in my defense I did finish 2 quilts over the Christmas holidays and have another 2 quilt tops ready to be basted, so that is progress!

Here's one of the quilts that I finished off a few weeks ago - The pattern was from a quilting book called "Living Large" which has some really nice patterns in it. The fabrics were by Anna Maria Horner - I had 12 fat quarters of one of her collections for ages, so finally got to use them on this quilt.

I also got a hand block finished up for the International Quilting Festival of Ireland (IQFoI).This is an in-progress photo - I painted my hand with green paint and used that to get a real "hand-print" for the block. I've added further details with stamping, quilting etc. I've finished stitching the block so will try and get a photo of that up tonight.

Through The Window (Burren Inspired)

2011-11-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

I'm currently a member of the International Quilt Challenge. Every two months we have a different challenge, the most recent challenge theme was through "Through the Window" so here's what I submitted for that challenge.

A contemporary quilting group I'm involved with (Genesis Patchwork) are currently working on a group project about the Burren. So I decided to use my "Through the Window" piece as a sample piece for my Burren project. I have a number of photographs of old church windows and ruins so I took 2 of this photo's and turned them into a thermofax screen. Then I screen-printed the windows onto hand-dyed fabric.

This photo of a window in Carron Church was used to create one of the thermofax screens

More Burren photo's

2011-11-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

I spent Saturday of last weekend driving around the Burren trying to get more inspiration for the upcoming Genesis group project. So took more photo's of stone walls and other various things spotted during the drive.

My favourite Pfaff sewing machine has been in for repairs for ages (3 months and counting!). It was even sent to the UK a few weeks ago because no-one here can figure out how to fix it.
I do have another sewing machine I can use but it's not much good on free-machining. So I finally decided to bite the bullet and ordered a new one - which will be delivered next Thursday or Friday.

An Grianan weekend

2011-10-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend up at An Grianan, Termonfeckin, Co. Louth with some contemporary quilters from North and South Ireland, which was great fun. It was lovely to be able to spend a whole weekend on craft-related activities with food served up to us.

My sewing machine is currently in for repairs so instead I spent my time dyeing fabric and working on my sketchbooks and altered books.

The 5 members of the Genesis group (that I'm in) all managed to get up to An Grianan. We are planning a group project for next year and needed common fabrics, so we all did our dyeing at the weekend. Each of us dyed 5 metres of fabric, this fabric will be then divided equally amongst the Genesis members at our next meeting. So each of us will end up getting 4 metres of fabric from the other members, which should ensure that we have plenty of fabric for our project.

Apart from a horrible drive home (in extremely wet conditions) I'm already looking forward to next year's residential weekend for which plans are already underway. Yay...

Through the Window

2011-09-26T02:47:00.000-07:00

The 2nd challenge for the International Quilt Challenge has just been announced - it's "Through the Window". I actually quite this like this theme, and I have a number of photographs of windows so have plenty of inspiration to work from.

Photo taken at Noughaval Church in the Burren

Kilfenora Church

Light and Shadow Challenge

2011-09-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

I'm a member of the International Quilt Challenge group, and for our 1st challenge we had to create a quilt on the theme of "light and shadows".
The deadline for the 1st challenge was today. I'm just after posting my challenge piece over in the International Quilt Challenge blog.

My piece was based on a photograph I took in Fuengirola, Spain while on holiday there a few years ago. One of the footpaths in the town had a number of coloured concrete balls all the way up the street which caught my eye. I've always meant to make something textile-related using the photograph, so this challenge was the perfect excuse to use the photograph.

Here's the original photograph that was my inspiration for the light and shadows challenge

Festival of Quilts 2011

2011-08-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here a few photo's of quilts which caught my eye this year at Festival of Quilts.

4 Seasons by Ineke Berlyn (Contemporary Quilts Section). This was a really bright and cheery quilt.

High Maintenance by Cherry Vernon-Harcout. This quilt was really clever in using the lines of an electricity pylon to create a quilt. I have loads of photographs of electricity pylons and transformers so this quilt really caught my attention.

The Miniatures section this year was really interesting - a nice mixture of traditional and contemporary styles. I loved this one called "Untitled" by Linda Brassington - it was really simple and elegant.

This quilt was amazing, log cabin style, but it was all knitted! "Double Delight" by Pauline Law, Kloof, South Africa. The piece in the catalogue says that it was hand-knitted and hand-quilted with thick thread and wool.

Jette Clover workshop - FoQ

2011-08-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

I did a two day masterclass with Jette Clover at the Festival of Quilts last week. Can't remember the exact name of the workshop now, but I think it was "layering with collage".

Was really looking forward to this workshop as I love Jette's quilt and collages but I didn't find the workshop that useful. Jette was a lovely person but there was an awful lot of wasted time in the workshop. And I hate workshop lists that make you bring stuff you don't use!

This photo shows 2 ATC-sized collages we had to make. At the start of class we had to pick a piece of paper from a bag. You then had to use the word written on the paper for the 2 days. I got "Heritage", which I wasn't too mad about working with. One of the mini-collages had to be about your word, while the 2nd one had to be the negative of it.

This photo shows the 2 collage pieces I made, bit of a rush job as we only had about 2 hours to get these pieces done and sewn at the end of the 2nd day!

Off to Birmingham tomorrow!

2011-08-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

Finally got my mystery quilt top stitched together - this was from a mystery quilt project from the Mid-West Branch. It's a large quilt though, so will have lots of fun trying to get it quilted later on.

I'm off to Birmingham tomorrow afternoon for 5 days at the Festival of Quilts (yay!). I'm doing a two-masterclass with Jette Clover - been getting the requirements list items ready today...

Notebook - recycled papers and cover

2011-07-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

The only craft related item I got finished over the weekend was this recycled journal. I'm currently doing an online visual journalling book-binding class.
This notebook was made from a damaged book (just recycled the cover) and scrap papers (lots of security envelopes, scrap paper etc).

The main reason why I didnt get much done this weekend was becuase of this new addition to the family:

It's my new puppy (name to be decided)who seems to be very fond of chewing things (even fingers) as my Dad found out... lol....

Branching Out Exhibition

2011-07-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

The official opening of the Irish Patchwork Society's "Branching Out" Exhibition will be held tomorrow at the Botanic Gardens, Dublin.

I'm planning on making it to the opening tomorrow, so long as I don't sleep it out!

My quilt "Spring Growth" was one of the quilts chosen to be put on the exhibition invitation which was a very nice surprise to get in the post last week...

Lynne Edwards Patchwork Perspective Workshop

2011-06-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

About two weekends ago, I went to a 2-day workshop with Lynne Edwards. The workshop was "Patchwork Perspective". I went to the workshop with the intention of making a cushion cover, but got a bit carried away and decided to make a wall-hanging instead.

The drafting of the pattern, cutting out freezer paper templates etc. took a lot of time so I only ended up with three blocks completed at the workshop. So, since then I've been making the rest of the blocks for the wall-hanging.

This photo shows some of the blocks made by all the participants at the workshop.

Finally got the top completed last night, so hopefully I'll get the quilting started at the weekend.

Notebook Cover

2011-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

I made this notebook cover last month for my friend Meg. The notebook cover is a mixed media - the front has spoon templates made of organza, while the back is made up of pieces of security envelopes.

Paper Lamination ATC's

2011-05-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

I recently completed my EQA "Circle of Friends" piece which was made from paper lamination. This year's EQA piece was black & white, with up to 30% of a certain colour (Ireland's colour is orange).

ur was orange).
I used the left-overs to make these ATC's.

Altered Books

2011-05-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Linda & Laura Kemshall recently had video clips on their DMTV about making altered books. I found 2 old books in second-hand shop in Galway a few weeks ago that I'm using. 1st stage is to reduce the number of pages in the book by glueing pages together, adding stitch to the pages, and then adding gesso or gel medium to the pages. It's taking a while to get the pages prepped as you have to wait for the gesso or gel medium to dry properly before adding colour to the pages. So I've been putting a coat on the pages every time I get a chance, but haven't got very far at the moment.
I'm going to use one of the books as a sketchbook for an upcoming quilt project that I'm working on.

Messenger Bag

2011-05-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

Here's another messenger-type bag that I finished recently. It was made using some Japanese Echino fabric that I love.

I showed the bag at May meeting of the Midwest branch, so here's a photo of that.

Blooming Tulips Wallhanging

2011-05-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

I did a workshop with Ferret back in March. The workshop was "Tulips" using a variation on a stack & whack technique.

I got the top pieced together at the workshop so it just needed to be quilted.

Finally got this wall-hanging quilted last week ago.

But I still have a 2nd quilt from the Ferret workshop to machine quilt...

Spring Growth Quilt on exhibit

2011-04-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

My quilt "Spring Growth" is currently on exhibit as part of the Mid-West Branch "Branching Out" Exhibition. The exhibition is on in the Old Benetton Building on the corner of Henry Street and Sarsfield Street and runs till Saturday 23rd April.

"Branching Out" ATC's

2011-03-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

Haven't got much sewing over the past few days - just finishing up the Spring Issue of the Irish Patchwork Society Newsletter for the printers. Did manage to get a few ATC's done though - they're made using fabric scraps (some from my as yet unfinished "Branching Out" quilt)!

Have got a few more postcards done for the "Branching Out" exhibition as well, which I'll be putting in the post next week. Photographs to follow next week.

Genesis Group Swap Bag

2011-02-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

I'm a member of a small contemporary quilting group called "Genesis". I had the idea of each member taking it in turns to give out small swap bags at meetings filled with various different items. The challenge will be for all members to produce something for the next meeting using items from the bag.

For our 1st Swap Bag challenge, I came up with the swap bag contents - which was a pieced of hand-dyed screen-printed fabric, square of metallic fabric paper (from an Arts & Craft Shop) and a stick-on magnet. Finished items are due at our next meeting on the 6th March.

I

Last weekend I had a go at using up the Swap Bag contents - ended up making 3 items from the contents. I embellished my fabric strip with thread, pieces of the metallic fabric paper, tiny squares of dyed (and used) colour-catchers. Also put the piece under the embellisher to add bits of organza, ribbon etc.

When I had the fabric embellished enough I decided to make a fabric cuff - I have thin wrists and don't wear bracelets or bangles as they're always too big for me. Making my own fabric cuff ensured that it fitted perfectly. The photo below shows a close-up of stitching and emellishments on the fabric cuff.

I stitched together the leftover fabric strips with a zig-zag stitch and then made an ATC and a brooch.

The brooch has an additional embellishment of a a stitched ant (its stuck on using the magnet).

Branching Out Fabric Postcard

2011-02-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

Here's the 1st fabric postcard that I've finished for the IPS "Branching Out" Fabric postcard exhibition.

The postcard is made from fabric paper, two scraps of screen-printed fabric and a hand-dye. The screen-printed fabric is actually a piece left over from my Branching Out quilt - which is still in the construction stage!

I have a few more postcards nearly completed - all I have to do is add the edging. Hopefully, I'll get them done over the weekend.

Messenger Bag

2011-01-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

I finished this messenger-type bag over Christmas. Used a pattern from a Japanese craft book: ISBN-13: 978-4834729467

Made most of the bag out of a long Japanese fabric panel that I got at FoQ a few years ago - decided I might as well use it up.

The bag of the back uses most of the panel piece - almost prefer it to the front..
The

Leather-Effect Journal

2011-01-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

This is the finished journal with the leather-effect cover (actually made from a brown paper bag).

The pages in the journal were all recycled from various sources e.g. business envelopes, unused pages from old copies etc.

The alphabet letters on the cover are made out of grungeboard. I've had a pack of them sitting in a drawer unused for about 3 years, so it was great to finally getting around to using them. They did make the cover a bit stiff though, so I'm going making a 2nd journal but leaving the grungeboard letters out.

New Year

2011-01-06T01:24:00.000-08:00

Didn't made any New Year's Resolutions, but probably should have made a resolution to post more often on the blog! Didnt realise it had been so long since I last posted....eeek.... Will try to post at least weekly if I can.

I had great plans to make loads of stuff over the Christmas break but didnt get much done - had a nice break though!

Got 1 bag finished - will post photos of it in the next few days.

Also I started making a few journals using the instructions in the last issue of Cloth, Paper Scissors - create a leather effect cover out of a brown paper bag.
I made 1 journal following the instructions in the magazine - 2nd journal is a different sized journal but made using the leather-paper technique.

This photo shows the crumpled-up paper ironed onto pelmet vilene:

Paper after being painted with brown acrylic paint

Vision Quest

2010-12-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

I've just finished my quilt for the upcoming Hands Across the Border Exhibition. The theme for the exhibition was "Dream-catcher". The exhibition will be on Jan-April in the Armagh County Museum, and in September it will be on display in the Phoenix Park Visitors Centre.

For this quilt I used all hand-dyed cotton fabrics. On the purple fabric, I used 2 thermofax screens of a dreamcatcher and Indian imagery. I used discharge paste and thickened dyes on the fabric.

The right-hand side of the quilt (pink fabric) was machine quilted with more Indian symbols (2 circular patterns). Once the quilt was finished I thought the quilt was lacking something, so decided to roller gold acrylic paint on the circles. I've wanted to add paint to a quilted piece for ages - the Kemshall's use this technique a lot and it looks fabulous!

Quilt had to be handed up at last Friday's guild meeting, so I was frantically trying to get everything finished in the last few days. Label got sewed on Friday evening, the night before that I was putting the hanging sleeve on... Whewwhh.....

Now I have to get cracking on a quilt for the National Exhibition 2011...

Tribal Fever

2010-11-02T14:37:00.001-07:00

Finished another quilt top 2 weeks ago. This one was made from a Jelly Roll, pattern from the book "Jelly Roll Quilts" by Pam Lintott. Think the top was made over a weekend and then it was put away for about a year! But seeing as I'm on my UFO-busting streak at the moment - got it out and finally finished it.

This photo shows the back of the quilt. The backing was a dark brown fabric which I've had in my stash for a good while. Used the left-over scraps from the jelly roll to make the strip in the middle and around the label. I always seems to forget to sew on the label, so this time I sewed it on before I had the binding finished.

May have overdone the quilting just a little bit! I did plan on quilting it in a fairly large squiggle pattern, but found myself doing a fairly small squiggle quilting pattern instead (couldnt help myself). Even ran out of thread half-way through quilting it and had to go to the Limerick Quilt Centre for an emgergency purchase of light pink thread.

Christmas Wall-hanging Partridge in a Pear Tree

2010-11-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

I seem to be making a very early start on my Christmas decorations this year! This wall-hanging was started in November last year, but for some reason I got tired of it and put it away. I've been trying to finish off some of my UFO's lately so decided to get this quilt out again and finally finish it. Turns out that after putting it away for nearly a year, it only took me 3 evenings to complete it!

Got the quilt pattern in a Canadian quilting magazine and thought it was very cute - the little hanging pears and 1 partidge really set it off.

Nama-Rama

2010-09-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Finally finished my paper lamination piece from the Sarah Welsby masterclass Festival of Quilts. The paper used were newspaper cuttings about Nama and the property crash in Ireland. Also used a few colour photocopies of Monopoly money. The piece was free machine quilted with little houses to continue the property theme.

Update on 6/10/10: Just found out that the quilt won the "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" Challenge at the Irish Patchwork Society AGM last Saturday.

Gloria Loughman Workshop

2010-09-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

Spent last Wednesday down in Tralee at a 1-day workshop with Gloria Loughman. Workshop was called "Playing on the Surface". Gloria said the workshop was usually a 2 or 5 day workshop so we had plenty of work to fit in for 1 day.
Didnt get anything finished - had a load of strips - work in progress, but now know how the process works.

Gloria was a great tutor, picked up plenty of tips from her. She had a large number of quilts and samples with her, and didnt mind people photographing and examining them which was very nice of her.

I already had her first book "Luminous Landscapes" but she had patterns & books for sale on the day, so picked up a copy of her 2nd book "Quilted Symphony" (which she autographed). Havent finished reading the book yet, but it's well laid out and goes through the process of how she makes her quilts in small sections.

National Exhibition

2010-09-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Went to Cork yesterday to attend the opening of the Irish Patchwork Society's National Exhibition.

I entered my Graffiti Graz quilt in the show, so here's a photo of it in situ.

EQA Square

2010-08-22T12:54:00.001-07:00

The EQA exhibition this year at the Festival of Quilts had nine different colour 12 inch squares from the EU countries. Ireland got the colour blue.
The photo shows the Irish entry - my square is on the middle row on the left.

Paper Lamination Workshop

2010-08-22T12:34:00.001-07:00

I took a 3-day "Paper Lamination" Masterclass at the Festival of Quilts with Sarah Welsby.
We were in the Virtual Studio for the 1st two days which was interesting as the show was being put up around us - plenty of hammering and drilling noises taking place.
I was a bit like a zombie for the 1st day which was caused by lack of sleep (hadnt slept for about 24hrs by the time I got there).

Really enjoyed the workshop - I already had the Committed to Cloth Paper Lamination book but think that you had to see the process to really understand how it worked.

In the workshop we made of paper lamination samples and Sarah also showed us how the paper laminations could be used as a screen which I think will prove to be very useful.

Cushions

2010-08-16T04:45:00.000-07:00

I think I lost my sewing "mojo" over the summer, so the only sewing I've done is to make a few cushions and bags.
I promised my mother some cushions for the sitting room - so finally got around to it after about a year (eeek!).

Am heading to Birmingham tomorrow for the Festival of Quilts - will be doing a 3-day "Paper Lamination" Masterclass which should be really good. Only downside is that the flight is a 6am and I have to drive up Dublin during the night to get the flight.

Japanese Books

2010-06-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

Ordered these books from Amazon.co.jp a few weeks ago. My camera unfortunately decided to pack it in yesterday, so no photos until my new one arrives (hopefully I'll get it sometime this week!).

Beaded & embroidered bag (another Japanese pattern)

2010-06-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

The book is another Japanese one (part of the Heart Warming Life Series). I've had the book for a number of years and have made 1 other bag out of it, so decided to try out another one. All the patterns in the book have the addition of beading or embroidery (even for the hexagon bag on the cover).

Bag from Machine Made Patchwork Book 2

2010-06-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be making a few larger quilts for entry to various shows etc. so of course I went off and made a few bags. Ooooops....

I made this one from Machine Made Patchworks 2 once I figured out the instructions (seeing as I don't speak Japanese!).

The bag is made from all my hand-dyed fabrics (there's a few screen-printed ones & a bit of dyed velvet in there too). I bought the pink handles from a bag handle supplier in Australia - wish I'd ordered a few more coloured ones from them.

Once I'd got the bug for looking at Japanese patchwork books (which I love, because they are so cute) I ordered a few more (5 in total) from Amazon.co.jp. Only ordered them last Thursday and got them on Monday. I'm still reading through them, but there's some projects in them that I'm definately going to make.

Some Views of Ennis

2010-06-05T05:47:00.000-07:00

Sunny Days

2010-06-05T05:39:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you get out of your chair on a hot day - seat gets robbed in about 2 seconds flat!

Houston Station Graffiti

2010-05-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

This is the 1 piece of stencil graffiti I spotted in Dublin yesterday. Didnt really get a chance to look around - was up for a committee meeting, so as soon as that was over I got the next train home to Ennis.

Disappearing Nine-Patch Block

2010-05-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'm currently the editor for the Irish Patchwork Society Newsletter and have just fnished getting the summer edition ready for the printers. I had a few empty pages to fill over the past few days, so was racking my brains trying to come up with a pattern or tutorial I could include. Then I thought of the disappearing nine-patch block which I thought would be perfect to include as any level of quilters (even beginners) can make it.

I only meant to make 1 sample block to take step-by-step photos of, but got a little bit carried away and ended up making 8 blocks.
I used 3.5 inch squares for my blocks, so my top is big enough for a table runner - might make a few more blocks to lengthen it though.

Colour Connections

2010-05-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to making the quilt top for the EQA "Colour Connections" Exhibition that will be shown at the Festival of Quilts. This year the member countries have to make a 15.7 x 15.7" (40x40cm) square piece. Each country got 1 colour and you were only allowed use up to 10% of another colour. Ireland and Austria got the colour blue, while the UK is Yellow. Only 9 quilts are chosen from each country, so I doubt if mine will get chosen as it was a last minute job (i.e. last night and this evening) but I just wanted to enter it. Just after sending off the entry form & photo to the Irish EQA rep.

The piece is made up of hand-dyed blue fabric (left over from my City & Guilds final assessment quilt), ribbon yarn, a blue sweet wrapper, blue felt balls, organza, blue net bags (from fruit & veg). Luckily I have an embellisher machine which really speeds up adding the layers.

Still have to attach a binding to the piece, but that won't take long. Might add a bit more stitching & beading when that's done.

The contemporary quilt group that I'm in (Genesis), decided that all 5 members would enter a piece in this competition so I really wanted to get this finished.

Galway Graffiti

2010-05-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

I was in Galway last weekend to see the Western Branch "The Wests Awake" Patchwork Exhibition.
You dont see much stencil graffiti around, so the few bits I saw in Galway caught my eye.

Printed Bag

2010-05-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

I made this bag about a month ago using a pattern from "Bend the Rules Sewing" book by Amy Karol. It's the 3rd time I've used this pattern as it's such a handy-sized bag.
I spent a day back in February with two friends printing and stamping on fabric (which was great fun!) and ended up with some lovely fabric at the end of the day. I used all hand-dyed fabrics for printing on, and decided I had to use up some of the printed fabric after spending all that time working on it.

2010-05-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the final assessment piece in my City & Guilds Course - just after emailing the photo's off to my assessor. So hopefully, that's the C & G course done & dusted!!
The quilt is made with all hand-dyed fabrics and is basically a selection of wonky style log-cabin blocks.

Bags!!

2010-04-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

Been on a bit of a bag-making spree lately.
I got a present of "Carry Me - 20 Boutique Bags to Sew" from a friend so had to make something from it. Made this bag from the book.

Ineke Berlyn Workshop

2010-02-18T12:53:00.001-08:00

I took Ineke Berlyn's workshop "Sheer Landscapes" at the weekend course, which I really enjoyed. Ended up with 2 finished pieces from the workshop.

Last weekend I went up to An Grianan for the bi-annual Irish Patchwork Society weekend.
The workshop involved working making a sheer landscape using organza, sheers, cotton fabrics etc. bonded to a sheer organza background. Ineke brought clear A4 display frames with her (available from stationary shops) which were a really good idea to frame textile pieces, especially sheer ones where they would be enhanced by the light passing through.

This photo shows the finished pieces from the workshops:

2010-02-09T11:44:00.001-08:00

This is a small quilt that I finished before Christmas. I bought the pattern off the Oh Fransson website.

I have all the pieces cut out to make the small quilt in a larger size for myself, so one of the days I'll hopefully get around to finishing it.

Graz Graffiti Quilt

2010-02-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a online City & Guilds course with the Kemshalls for the past few years. Thought I'd be finished the course in 6 months to a year, but it's taken me much longer thanks to my dilly-dallying and doing absolutely nothing on it for months.
Anyways, I finally got myself motivated to finish Module 9 a few weeks ago - went for the contemporary wall-hanging option.
I went to Graz about 1 1/2 years ago for a friends wedding and was fascinated by all the stencil graffiti there. The graffiti wasn't done on any of the monuments, old buildings - mostly found on side streets, walls down laneways etc. Tooks loads of photos of the stencil graffiti and have wanted to make a quilt based it since, but couldnt decide what to do until a few months ago.
So finally finished the quilt about a week ago - it had to be applique based for the course otherwise I would have done a painted version.

I've even started my final piece for Module 10 - it's going to be a wonky log-cabin style wall-hanging.

2009-12-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

Journal covers made as part of the "Remains of the Day" Class that "Dispatch from LA" is running at the moment.

Lynn Kenny Workshop

2009-10-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Some samples I made at a recent branch workshop given by Lynn Kenny. The workshop was on using fabric and paper to stitch on.

Halloween ATC's

2009-10-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

I had a bit of spare time 2 weekends ago, and decided to make a few ATC's. Seeing as how Halloween is nearly upon us again, I decided to make a few Halloween-theme ATC's. I got ordered some black & white skeleton themed fabric on-line last year, which came in very handy for making these ATC's.

I made over 10 ATC's but forgot to take a photo of them before swapping - photos are of the remaining ATC's.

EQA Celebration Banner from Ireland

2009-09-02T02:19:00.000-07:00

Irish Celebration Banners which formed part of the EQA Display at the Festival of Quilts. Mine was the 2nd one on the left - made entirely from left-over fabric etc. Fabric & chiffon scraps etc. were put on using the embellisher machine. Vegetable net bags were also attached. Flowers were from a broken flower lei - attaching using some coloured buttons.

2009-07-01T11:30:00.001-07:00

I made this bag recently using a pattern from "Patchwork Style" a Japanese craft book.

Sun Printing

2009-06-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

I've had a set of Pebeo Setacolour paints for years, but have never got the chance to use them (usually because of a lack of dry sunny days). However, I finally got them out today and gave sun-printing a go.

Started out with 3 squares of fabric - then got carried away and made loads more. I used old keys, buttons, ferns, alphabet stencils, net etc. The heavier items seemed to work better i.e. keys, buttons, stencils and left a stronger effects.

Pincushion Organiser

2009-05-16T03:17:00.000-07:00

I found this great free pattern for a pincushion organiser from http://ohfransson.com. It was very quick to make - made it up in an evening.

For the May challenge of the patchwork guild that I'm in, we had to use an A4-sized squre of floral fabric that we were all given. I used my square to make this pincushion.

I entered the organiser in the monthly challenge and won.

Broadband

2009-05-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

Finally got mobile broadband yesterday! Yay..... I've been stuck in the dark ages up till now using a dial-up connection all along which was getting slower and slower.
Hopefully, this should mean that this blog will get a lot more attention from me i.e. more photos and posts.

2009-05-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

I finished this quilt back in November for a local Mid-West Branch "Regeneration" Exhibition.

Batik Quilt

2009-03-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

I havent been had much time for sewing at the moment - up the walls at the work. At least once I get past the deadline of 31st March I should have a bit more time.
One thing I did manage to finish was this batik quilt - part of a kit I bought from the Limerick Quilt Centre. Had the top pieced together in an evening so it was a really one to make.
Also decided to stipple quilt this one - I don't normally like that stitch but thought I'd give it a try seeing as a more detailed pattern would be lost with the batik patterns.
I was surprised that the quilting came out so well, probably due to practising on the baby quilt a week or two beforehand.

I'm currently making a banner for the EQA Competition "Celebrations". Have the banner made just need to back it and bind it. Photo's of it won't be put up till after judging which is in mid-May.

Baby quilt finished and sent off to France

2009-03-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

I finally put the label on the baby quilt last week. Also, sent it off to France on Thursday to my brother and sister-law for the new baby (due in 7 weeks).

2009-02-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

Baby quilt

2009-02-02T13:06:00.002-08:00

My brother & sister-in-law are expecting a baby the 1st week in May so I decided yesterday that I'd get started on making a baby quilt.

It's a bit bright but luckily babies like bright colours! I've got most of the blocks made at this stage, so a few more evenings & the quilt top should be done..

Fabric postcards

2009-02-02T12:55:00.001-08:00

I'm in the middle of completing a few fabric postcards - have to finish off the edges in a few instances.

This finished postcard is made from fabric scraps bonded to Fast2fuse and then machine quilted. The gold square was cut out from some papery type material I got in a craft shop; got a pack of various coloured sheets for about €3 which was pretty good value!

Sea Journey Quilt

2009-02-02T12:43:00.001-08:00

I just finished making this quilt "Sea Journey" on Friday night. It was a bit of a rush job to get the binding and sleeve on as I had to drop it in Limerick to be collected for a quilt show taking place at the end of the month.
The quilt was based on a photo I took of a boat in Douranenz, Brittany last May.

I enlarged a drawing of the scene and made a stencil of it using freezer paper. It was then painted using blue fabric paint.
The 3 blue squares on the right-hand side were then machine quilted with a scene of the boat.

2009-01-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

These two fish related ATC's were the first ATC's I ever made (back in November '08)

These 3 ATC's were made in a series. It is made out of stitched pastel coloured fabric strips with extra embellishments (wool, felt and organza) added using an embellisher machine.

This ATC was the first one that I received in a swap. It was made by Anita Mahon who is also in the Mid-West Patchwork Branch. Anita used real bog cotton trapped under a piece of organza in her piece.

Fabric paper

2009-01-26T12:39:00.000-08:00

At the Frieda Oxenham workshop which I went to in November, we were told how to make fabric paper which she uses in some of her ATC's.

Fabric paper is made by liberally coating cotton fabric (cheap calico is fine) with PVA glue (diluted 1:1 with water), then add tissue paper or napkins (only use the 1st layer), more PVA glue and paint if required. It's a bit of a messy process, and it needs to be done on plastic sheeting. After making the paper it is then left to dry overnight. When it's dried out, put the fabric paper in between two sheets of parchment or greaseproof paper and iron it. This flattens out the paper and gets rid of the creases.

The fabric paper below was made from 3 different types of Christmas napkins - 1 with poinsettas, another with the Christmas tree and the script one was used for the background.

Some of this paper and other "fabric paper" ones were used to make Christmas Tree ATC's. The advantage of using this "paper" is that it doesnt fray, can be glued, is fairly sturdy and can also be stitched on.

This one was made using squares of coloured kitchen paper (left over from another experiment). The red flowers were cut out using a flower punch and then added to the squares.

The black one was made from a black & white patterned napkin. Colour was added with diluted walnut ink.

Artist Trading Cards

2009-01-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Back in November, I attended an "Artist Trading Cards" Workshop with Frieda Oxenham. I really enjoyed the workshop and every since then have been making a few ATC's in between other projects.

The photo below shows the ATC's that I made during the workshop.

Marbling fabric using shaving foam

2009-01-19T06:06:00.000-08:00

I got the DVD of Quilting Arts Season 3 in the post last week so spent most of the weekend watching this. Just as well the weather was too bad to do much else or I might have felt a bit guilty!

They had a section on using Shaving Foam to marble fabric which caught my interest. Looked very easy to do - all you need is a can of shaving foam, a A4-sized plastic protector, fabric paint and fabric. I had a look in a cupboard and found a really old can of shaving foam that belongs to my Dad so decided to give it a go last night.

I only tried 2 A4-sized pieces of fabric but it was a really quick way of adding colour to fabric.
Next time though , I'll buy some cheap unperfumed shaving foam as the smell of the other stuff was a bit sickening.
I still have to get the shaving foam off the fabric as the instructions said to leave it to dry for a few hours. So I'll do that when I get home from work this eveing, and heat set the fabric.

1st post

2009-01-19T06:05:00.001-08:00

After reading countless blogs I finally decided to take the plunge and start my own. Now just have to find time to get organised, take photo's and write up a few posts.