Monthly Meeting Notes
Visit to Krefeld in August
The start to our Branch’s quilting year was rung in with a wonderful trip to Krefeld, Dusseldorf, in Germany. Ten members from our branch and two members from the Limerick branch travelled to Krefeld for two workshops with Claudia Pfief.
The workshop with Claudia consisted of getting the courage to free cut material while simultaneously putting one's piece together. We all found that with Claudia’s help and encouragement we could create a piece which was only limited by our imagination. Some teacher’s pets finished their piece in the one day! We all worked with silk, bought at Claudia’s shop, and we all had a wonderful time thinking out - or not thinking about - how we go about cutting the pieces.
The second workshop was with Edith. We worked on a piece which Edith designed. It was all about paper piecing this day and we all enjoyed the day, though some of us were rather tired from too good an evening the night before!
The third day was free of workshops and Claudia accompanied us to the famous Krefeld Silk Museum. We sat in rapt fascination while we were told the history of the House of Krefeld, with Romi translating for the rest of us who are linguistically challenged.
After that we went off to Linborg where we had a substantial lunch, followed by a visit to the Castle, where one noisy member received the appropriate torture!
A very big thanks to Romi Buhles for a very well organised trip and many thanks to Claudia for being a lovely hostess, full of knowledge, humour, good coffee and great lunches.
Gloria Loughman Workshop
Oh! We lucky people! On the 15th September members from our branch, and some from the Limerick and Cork branches, gathered at the Manor West Hotel for yet another wonderful workshop, this time with Gloria Loughman. Gloria was a great, gentle teacher, who guided us through our drawings and cutting and also gave us a useful short talk about threads. We all ended up with colourful and diverse pieces. A very good day was had by all.
September 2010
The ‘Show and Tell’ was great as members seemed to have kept themselves busy through the summer and a few UFO’s were put to rest.
Terri McNeil was the guest speaker and she told us all about her started quilting and showed us an array of quilts, finished and unfinished. Terry told us that she loves working on the Irish Quilting Magazine and recounted some hairy stories about the race to deadlines. Terry loves teaching and she feels she is contributing and at the same time getting inspiration.
After this inspiring talk it was time for tea and shopping from Nikki Foley’s shop to replenish our depleting stash.
The summer challenge was won by Sharon Hodgekiss and the Shamrock challenge was won by Rita Kelly.
October 2010
After the business of the day was concluded with the ‘Show and Tell’, we had four demonstrations of quilting.
Jan Murray showed different ways of doing hexagons. Jan showed how to make hexagons using paper and by making them starting with a square. Jan also showed us the English way of putting hexagons together, and the French way. A few contributions on the theme were also put forward by Mary Scanlon.
Nikki Foley gave a demonstration of the Manx quilts and patchwork which are put together by first tearing long pieces of fabric the width of the individual’s thumb. No scissors involved and could possibly be done on airplanes!
Sharon Hodgekiss demonstrated us how to apply appliqué from start to finish. She showed a beautiful square and worked on a cushion cover. Sharon stressed the importance of using a stabiliser such as stitch and tear when doing appliqué.
Sarah Noonan demonstrated the beautiful art of Japanese quilt making. Sarah showed how to make best use of the fabric chosen to finish a stunning quilt.
All this was extremely thirst making work, so tea was next on the agenda, and the judging of the Challenge. The winner of the Challenge was Jan Murray with her leprechaun.