River of Dreams - then and now!

I promised you posts with photos from the exhibitions that have been on in Limerick these past few months.  Every year the Limerick Quilt Centre (biggest quilt shop in Ireland) puts on an exhibition called River of Dreams.  (Limerick was founded on the banks of the Shannon River, also the largest in the country!)

I finally got some time on the computer to process the photos and found that I hadn't shared photos of last year's exhibiton at all, even though I had a quilt in it!  So here are some of my favourites from last year and this year, all in one post.

The exhibition is held in the old chapel of the convent that is now the Limerick School of Art and Design.  It is a really beautiful bright airy space.  Last year a brass bed, dressed of course with a quilt, was in the centre of one of the 3 display areas.  This year a wooden hand quilting frame filled the space, while the frame was nice I just loved the old brass bed!

This is me in front of my Layer Cake quilt I had published in Make Modern Magazine.  It is the only quilt I made specifically for mum who normally 'borrows' those I make for myself.  The exhibition was in July last year and last September, sitting in Boston airport, while on our way to the states for my cousins wedding, mum asked me when she was getting her quilt back.  I had a blank face for a bit thinking mum's quilt??? and then it dawned on me - I had forgotten to collect if from the Limerick Quilt centre after the show!  Luckily Karen had been minding it for me and I got it back in October.  Wouldn't have wanted to explain to mum if it had gone walkabout!

Somehow I managed to misplace the guide from last year so don't know who made these beautiful bargello quilts.  I've signed up for a bargello workshop with our branch of the Irish Patchwork Society this November so am really looking forward to giving it a try.  I really like the solids version and the depth the black gives.

Paula Rafferty's quilts - I love the skull!  It makes me quite dizzy if I look at it too long!

Meg with her husband Dan admiring this amazing landscape quilt with improv fields, fussy cut horses, bridge, sheep and the Fastnet rock lighthouse in a beautiful purple sea!

The heart quilt below was made by Imelda as a Valentine's present for her husband and I really liked the colours in these two different house sampler quilts.  The Limerick Quilt Centre offers classes and quite a lot of people start with the house quilt on point below.  My first quilt was a charm pack sewn together but quilts 2 and 3 were both sampler quilts too.  Seems like a rite of passage somehow!

Tomomi's beautiful stained glass quilt with close up!

Onto 2016 and in working through the photos I found a big difference in the show, while still quite traditional in nature, there were more modern works and a bigger variety of works this year.  This vase made from 1/4" hexagons really caught my eye and my mum loved to bits this beautiful Peacock wall hanging!

by Gwen Cottis

by Regina Moloney

I really liked the little birds that were dotted about the place too.  A lovely touch and a fun element to the show.

Some of the more modern pieces.  This drunkards path blew me away with all the work in it and I love how the border meets the centre baubles!

by Amanda Kenny

by Ann McInerney

Hard to resist a scrappy quilt! I think the Ohio star is my favourite traditional block and I really like how it was used here within the bigger star.

by Susan Hogan

Maya's Storm at sea, another traditional that I am drawn to very much!  Hoping to make one for G's mum as a wedding present! Another Ann McInerney quilt.

Maureen Talbot's squares quilt from a Brigitte Heitland (Zen Chic for Moda) design and I really like the freshness of the colour palette in the lone star by Anne Merrigan.

Star of the show for me though is Tomomi's amazing bookshelf quilt.  Now I might be a little bit biased.  Tomomi is my friend and I am in constant awe of her beautiful quilting.  This quilt started out as a bee block for Modern Irish Bee over on the Modern Quilters Ireland blog and we each made 2 blocks for Tomomi using Kona Ash and the fabric as a theme on the bookshelf.  I made a photography section using cameras and a horror section using Halloween fabric (both on the second row).  Tomomi added the bookends and bookshelf framing and I love it to bits!

Below are the results of a project my friend Suzanne Pass did with her son's class.  They made a block each with HST and had brilliant fun visiting the show and finding their block.  I must be a big kid as I did the very same thing when I saw Tomomi's bookshelf quilt, went straight for the ones I pieced!

Mum really enjoyed the show and told me off for not having anything in it this year!  I didn't get Flower Power finished in time but hopefully next year ...

Thank you Limerick Quilt Centre and all the makers for a wonderful show again this year!