Mystery Quilt-A-Long

I've never done a mystery quilt before.  After seeing Yvonne's version of the Foothills Mystery by Meadow Mist Designs I knew I was signing up for Cheryl's next Quilt-A-Long.

We were given the option of a sneak peak if we liked to help with choosing our fabrics but I decided to go all out mystery and just pick fabrics I really like.  I've chosen some fat quarters in coral and aqua that I picked up during one of our IPS meetings.  Every month a shop is invited to the meeting and we all get to ooh and ahh and spend a bit on cotton and thread!

Last month the Quilt Shop Tuam was visiting and I can never resist the gorgeous fabrics on offer.  So I bought a bunch of fat quarters without knowing what to do with them and so have decided they need to be made into my version of the mystery quilt!  I'm adding Kona Charcoal and Kona Snow and keeping my fingers crossed this works out for me!  No clue yet as to what will be fabric A, B, C or D! 

We are at fabric selection this month and Pile O'Fabric is offering kits if you are interested in joining along.  Or like me just pull fabrics you love to bits!  Details on Cheryl's blog post here!

Modern Quilters Ireland

Today I have a guest post over on Modern Quilters Ireland (MQI) describing OMG -Organic Modern Quilts a variation within the Modern Quilt Aesthetic if you are interested.  

Some of us from MQI got to meet up earlier this month at the opening of first ever Quilt Exhibition:  Happiness.  It's a funny thing meeting people you only know through hashtags and blog names for the first time.  Lots of smiles and shy Hello's but after about 30 seconds its full on happy chart admiring each others work and getting to know each other a bit better!

The venue was St. Patricks Mental Health Services in Dublin and the exhibition is on until the 26th June if you are in the area you still have a chance to go see it.  There are just under 30 quilts and the space is beautiful for them.

Fiona Roche - Be Positive & Irina de Juan - Supernova Starburst (Bee Quilt)

The exhibition was opened by Paula Rafferty and Cindy Coleman.  Cindy's speech along with some more photos is here on her blog Fluffy Sheep Quilting.  It is a lovely speech on the community of online quilters and worth having a read!

Sarah Flynn-Made to Measure & Catherine Fleming - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Hand quilting by Sarah Flynn

I finally finished my triangle quilt started February 12 months ago!  It was sitting quilted with no binding for such a long time!  All of the quilts really do have a happy feeling to them and I really love Claires Hearts framed with Ric-Rac.  Such a fun quilt!

Ruth Bourke - Good Morning & Claire Lynch - Crazy Hearts

 If you enter the hospital from the main road and come through on the lift, as soon as the doors open you are greeted by Suzanne's minion!  The arms are movable!

Suzanne Pass - Snazzy!

Ana Hutchinson - Energy Spectrum

There were quite a few Bee quilts in the group and we had great fun looking for our blocks in the quilts!

Ruth Bourke - So scrappy too! (Bee Quilt)

Cindy Coleman - Stargazing (Bee quilt)

The use of colour and contrast was amazing and you could sit on the large sofas looking at these beauties for quite a while!

Liz Dunne - Around the World

Paula Rafferty - Colour Blocks

Paula Rafferty - Life Cycle

Tomomi Mc Elwee - Flow

 I hope you enjoyed a look at some of our quilts from our first exhibition!

A Finished Flimsy: So Frosty

Meet So Frosty!  This is a giant block, quilt top approximately 72" x 72".  It is quite bonkers as Tula Pink Acacia Raccoons are popping up everywhere!

I've been playing around with a block design for a Christmas QAL for the Modern Quilters Ireland Group later on in the year and came up with these three designs based on the traditional Snow Crystals block.  I always find it funny with traditional blocks, a tiny change means a big name change on the block so I've called these three Super Frosty, So Frosty and Sub-Zero to try and link them together.  I'm always reminded of the Running Man movie with Arnie when I think of sub-zero!

Super Frosty, So Frosty and Sub-Zero Quilt Blocks!

Changing the colour placement & tiling can give really fun results

I'm working on the instructions for various sizes.  I like the idea of making a cushion!  What do you guys think?  Interested in a Christmas Quilt-A-Long in Sept/Oct? 

For the moment it's my stop on Ho Ho Ho and on We Sew linky party next Thursday the 18th of June and I'll be sharing the instructions here on the blog so you can make this big block version if you like.  Please drop by and join the fun!

Linking up to and the Friday Finishes @ Crazy Mom Quilts and

Local Landscapes

Last week was the first National Quilting week in Ireland and there were local events on all around the country.  The Mid-West branch of the Irish Patchwork Society had an exhibition in the centre of town of 29 small quilts 16” x 40” on the theme Local Landscapes.

I thought you might like to see some more gorgeous quilts from the exhibit!  My quilt was hung with others using all hand dyed fabric.  You might remember my entry was this mini-quilt called Upriver.  It’s inspired by the sun setting on the river Shannon which flows through the city and I cross this river (over and under through the tunnel!) weekly.  Gordon is a rower and there are 5 or so rowing clubs in Limerick and the river is a big part of local life here.

 

  I really love Claire’s skyline and the purples in the fabric make this really gorgeous!
This abstract quilt by Grania Preston makes me smile.  The low volume strips are text prints and the idea is you come into town and pick up all the news and head home again all caught up on the gossip!

Local Landmarks (Bunratty Castle - Ursula O'Sullivan, Tate's Clock - Paula Rafferty and St. Mary’s Cathedral - Suzanne Pass)

Kayaks on the Shannon & Meg Kenny's quilt used a photographic technique to print large format negatives onto fabric and deliberately leaving spaces in the layout used thread to fill in the gaps with quilting later.  One of my faves!

Clarion hotel (one of the tallest building in Limerick) where someone abseiled down it for Age Action Charity in 2013 captured on cloth by Loretta O'Brien.

The Living bridge  in the University of Limerick and detail, such intricate stitching and brilliant use of collage by Louise Mullane.

Series by Paula Rafferty using rubbings from manholes covers and found objects in the city.  One of them, Shannon Foundary, I recognised straight away from a water valve right outside my mum’s front door.

The exhibition space was just beautiful and the quilts so varied it was a wonderful showcase of imagination and local talent.  I hope you enjoyed some photos of the quilts that were on display!

Bee Block Finishes

I have bee blocks to share today.  Between getting 4 quilts ready for the exhibitions this month and the busy day job the bee blocks were last to be ticked off the list in May and I finished them up this last Sunday right in the nick of time on the 31st. 

For modern Irish Bee, Maya asked us for boxy stars in pink and green against a black background, an unusual colour combo and it makes me think I should use black a little bit more.  The blocks are made with this free tutorial from Quiltville.

They go together log cabin style and then you add the black squares on the corners.  Of course for my first block I added the squares to the wrong corners.  Doh!

It does give some interesting design options though like a cross instead of a star.

I see a foxes face in this one though Tomomi and Louise on facebook saw T-shirts!

We all quite like this one though.  Possibilities it has…

For stash bee the request was Churn dash blocks.  Love these!  There is something about a churn dash that is so satisfying to make.

We were asked to make 3 with a low volume background and bright fabrics and 1 the other way around. 

I really like this duck egg blue and flower pattern, something vintage and soft about it to me that reminds me why I wanted to make patchwork  pieces in the very first place.  Tutorial for this one is here on Stash Bee.  Happy weekend everyone!