Christmas Table 2011

This year I used a silver table cloth with the black charger plates for each setting and two silver charger plates at each side of the center piece. Using a large fish bowl for the center piece works well with any table setting  as you can use a large candle and surround it with any colour of baubles you like, I used a mix of black and silver glitter baubles. I used some black and silver flowers to make a garland to sit around the base of the fish bowl, and  I also used a black table runner with silver design on it, across the center of the table. Of course no table is complete without the crackers. I also used last years chair covers to complete the look.
Hope you all had a very enjoyable Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

RDS 2011

The Craft Council of Ireland had a wonderful display of work from various artists. The felted sea gulls looked amazing.  There were some other really nice pieces to be seen here as well.

 The Irish Patchwork Society also had a wonderful display of quilts from members. Thanks Kathy for taking my picture with my entry. The theme this year was Branching Out. Congratulations to all the quilters and to the designers on there outfits for the Festival of Quilts, they really looked impressive.

I think these costumes where made by one the colleges. Do you think birds influenced these designers.  I loved the white lacy effect and the ruffles.

Seams Sew Simple

I have some exciting news to share with you. I have been working very hard to open a new business. Seams Sew Simple will be opening soon.  I intend to teach beginners patchwork classes from my home in Roscommon. I will also be able to supply fabrics, battings and notions for Patchwork. Here are some of the my first delivery. Cream on Cream and tiny cream hearts on pink background are good blenders for childrens quilts.
These fat quaters are only €2.50.





Christmas Range

I made some pot stands from my christmas range. The metalic colour adds a luxourious feel to the berries. I also used up some metalic fat quaters to the back for extra interest. I used heat resistant batting which I hope to be able to supply once I get  my class room set up.









The Christmas Range includes these lovely metalics in red, green and black. They are €3.00 a fat quarter. The designs include berries, flowers, ivy and christmas trees.


I also have in stock Warm and Natural Batting at €12.00 per metre.
If you require any further information please feel free to contact me, or drop by for a cup of coffee and a chat.

Photo Transfer

I transfered a photo of my Grand-niece Orlagh onto fabric using a computer. Put a black border on it and made it into a cushion. I was also able to put the date of her christening on it as well.  She is just so cute.

Ricky Tims Kaleidoscope

Watched Ricky Tims on http://www.thequiltshow.com/ demonstrating his kaleidoscope quilts. I decided to give it a go and here is the result. The top right section has been sewn together. I loved the method of making this piece but it has lots of thick seams which may be difficult to stitch through if I decide to quilt it.

Sun Flower

This is a picture I took today of my late blooming sun flower. The  barbecue behind catches the sun and creates a lovely shadow. Below a close up of some flowers my cousin Joanne sent me. I love the pure white colour.  I think these would be the subject of my next pencil drawing.

September 2011

The first meeting of the Galway Branch of the Irish Patchwork Society got off to a great start on the 10th. We got our hands made for the Cead Mile Failte, and Mogs McDonnell brought along her garments, which she made for the Fashion Show at the Festival of Quilts Birmingham. It has been a busy month with my twins going off to college, and my youngest going back to school.  On a sad note my husbands mother died on the 24th after a very long time of suffering pain from leg ulcers. RIP. We are all going to miss her very much.

Paper Cloth

 Paper cloth is made using a layer of fine fabric, PVA glue and tissue paper. Here I have used two colours of tissue paper, silver and pink. I stamped a cheap luggage tag cut the hole off and glued that down as well.  Added some paint and silver foil to finish




Here is a close up of the stamped tag.

Here is the final finished piece. I cut around the tag and stuck it to a card. I put a piece of silver ribbon down the left hand side.

I followed  the instructions from my new book Stitch Alchemy.  Really good fun, why not give it a go.

Christmas Cards Hand Made.

I know it's a bit early but I was just looking at the new stuff I bought on holiday, and you know how it is when one thing leads to another. I never plan my cards, I just get all my stuff together and see what happens. Each of the designs are different. I never seem to have two of everything anyway. 

Pencil Drawings

I had a very relaxing holiday in Florida this year and even got to see a real live turtle at Turtle Beach in Sarasota. Did some pencil drawing as well. Need more practice on the lizards. The bugs are a cheat, used a stencil I bought at Jo-Ann's. Good way to practice shading.

Judge's Comments

I received my quilt back from the Festival of Quilts Birmingham. I was really pleased with the judge's comments. "Nicely Balanced Piece with good use of Colour and Great texture." and "Great Colours and use of stitch." Sadly I did not get to see it at the Festival this year.

IPS National Exhibition

 Members of the Western Branch of the IPS travelled to Dublin to visit the National Exhibition, which took place in the Botanical Gardens. On arrival we had to top up on the tea and coffee, and who could resist all these wonderful pastries.

Here is Ester Kiely's beautiful Quilt.

I loved the colours in these two pieces.

It was very obvious that the quilts had been hung with great care and attention. I loved the combination with my own quilt Poppy Love. The butterfly above was fabulous.

Caution: Sun glasses needed for this one

Following Laura Kemshall's DMTV show I got out my hand dyed fabric and gave it a go. This first Photo shows the four different pieces I used. These were all dyed on the same day using the same dye lots, so it was easy to get a good colour combination.

I cut the pieces into 4.5" x 1.5" rectangles. Sorted them into piles of matching colours and then sewed four pieces together to make 4.5 inch squares. Now the fun begins, I lay them out on the floor and try to find a nice composition. Getting all the kids involved as well. Best to walk away and come back for a fresh look. Not sure if I stitched them back in the right order or not. Rail Fence is a good way to practice your 1/4" seams.

This is the finished piece. Its hard to judge where to place the pieces. I see some now that I could have placed differently but I'm not fond of the ripper so I may leave well alone. 

Drawings, chocolates and birds

I've drawn these pictures after watching the latest video on Linda Kemshall's "Design Matters TV".  I'm not very good at drawing and they make it look so easy. I've used water colour paper and water colour pencils for these. I guess I'll just have to keep practicing. By the way, its a weed I picked from a hedge along my road. It's about to burst another leaf, or a least it was until I picked it. I cheated with the pear, it is from a picture rather than the real thing

 And now for something completely different. Very low fat had made sweeties. I am making these for my chocolate quilt which I hope to have ready for the International Quilt Festival of Ireland next year. I used a  Clover Round Large Yo-Yo Maker  for these beauties and then decorated  them after stuffing.

Clover Round Large Yo-Yo Maker




Here is my latest Bird. He is made from my hand dyed fabrics. Great way to use up scraps. I put some berries  in his beak for added interest.

Disney Pinnocchio Quilt

Ok I know its been a while, so I'll show you what I have up to. Here is a Disney panel I bought at a lovely Quilt shop called Queen Ann's Lace. They are based in Kissimmee, so be sure to look them up if you are going to Florida for a holiday. I added the dark blue stars between each panel and I will add a nice red border before quilting. 

Quilt Deal

Check out www.quiltdeal.com to sell anything  related to patchwork or sewing. I have added a small wall hanging, although I don't really expect to sell it, I thought it would be fun to try. I made two purchases from the site from two very nice american ladies. One was a bundle of fabric and the other a variety of lace.

The Orchard

Ok so it is four long weeks since my last blog. But May has been a really busy month. The Queen came to Ireland, Obama came to Ireland, Bin Laden got killed and I turned 50.

It also means that I have been working on something and here it is. My very first quilt to be sent to the Festival of Quilts. (I hope you are proud of me Teresa?). All that remains now is for me to fill out the registration form and post it when the forms arrive back. There is one downer to all of this, I will not get to see my own quilt hanging in Birmingham, so I hope those of you who are lucky to attend this year will stop by and have a look for me.

 These are the hand dyed fabrics from the workshop at the IPS.



 I bleached out the shapes and filled them in again with oil sticks. I used free motion quilting all over with some hand stitching for the leaves.

Same process for the pear. With lots of french knots



 and red sparkly  thread for the free motion quilting.

  Hand stitches creates the shading at the bottom of the Apple, and variegated thread used in the free motion quilting shows up really well.

And finally the pear with free motion circles gives more interest to the skin.

Workshop with Loretta O'Brien

 Here is Loretta holding a picture of the technique she is teaching us today at the IPS workshop.












We had to bring some photo's with us to choose from. Here you can see a my picture of the Mona Lisa. Using tracing paper to transfer our designs onto graph paper. We were able to enlarge our pieces or focus in on a smaller portion of the whole picture.











Here you can see I have marked out some pattern pieces, which will form the features of the face and create some shadows.                                        

Here is my almost finished piece. She is not an exact likeness but  I am pleased I managed to create a face. I also tried another technique and used stitch on a stone like cloth to see what other looks I could create. This technique requires a lot of concentration and getting the right fabrics is not an easy task. But I think with a little practice it would get easier. Loretta gives a good workshop and we had great fun.

Branching Out at the Galway Museum

Here is a short video of my opening speech at the Galway Museum, John Killeen our guest speaker opened the exhibition. 

The Heritage Quilt

Here is the article published in the Connaught Tribune to day relating to the handover of the Heritage Quilt to the Galway museum. The official opening of our exhibition will be held on Saturday 16th April at 3pm.

Friday Night Fix

Here is the first page of my altered book. I have been watching DMTV with Linda and Laura Kemshall. The Friday Night Fix is a series of six work along video tutorials on altered books. I started with one of my kids old school books. It had shinny pages and as you can see my attempts at achieving a nice starting base has not been very successful. Although I like the feel of this page after applying gesso and colour pastels I'm finding it hard to get a suitable theme. I had started out thinking about flowers.

 This page does nothing for me and could it get any worse, the answer is yes have a look at the next page.

 I tried to apply some texture, but I hate it. The following are some of the other pages in the book. As you can see they have some nice pictures of bees. But not enough through out the book, it changes subjects as you would expect a school book to do.

This is a book I started before the Friday night fix where I glued three pages together. I do like the effect of this page but its as stiff as board and very wrinkled. The moral of the story is to follow the instructions and get the right book to start in the first place. So I have not given up on this process yet, and have purchased a very nice little book on flower arranging written in French. It cost €1 and I bought it from a stall along the river Seine.