Modern Quilters Ireland

Closure of Modern Quilters Ireland

2017-07-18T21:40:00.000+01:00

As you may know, Modern Quilters Ireland was originally set up in 2012 to bring together like minded quilters in Ireland for the exchange of ideas and inspiration and to create a community of people interested in the Modern Quilting movement which was becoming more popular in other countries around the world at this time also.

We are entirely grateful for the time, energy and effort that members have put into Modern Quilters Ireland. You have participated in swaps, bees, meetups and created wonderful quilts, and through this a strong modern quilting aesthetic has developed among our community. Some of the most important highlights for us were the exhibitions hosted in St Patrick's Hospital in Dublin. The first one took place in 2015 (gallery here) and a second took place this year, you can find a lovely slideshow Ruth has put together below.

I hope through each of those activities you have met some wonderful like-minded people as we have, have found friendships and can take the time to nurture those relationships as time moves on.

Unfortunately, as our lives have all become busier we have now made the decision to close the MQI as it seems the majority of members have decided to focus their precious time and energy on other activities and the numbers participating in various activities have dwindled.

We very much hope that the spirit of the group moves on and that we reconvene in another way if/when the opportunity presents itself.

In the meantime, from a practical perspective, the remaining ongoing activities will continue elsewhere - the Bee will continue via the Facebook page (link here), and the swap will conclude as planned.

We would like to thank, in particular, Ruth who has taken responsibility for running and maintaining the MQI group, activities, blog and social media for the last number of years and has done a fantastic job re: same, and also Fiona and Anna who also participated in managing the MQI for a period when we stepped back from same a few years ago.

With the best of wishes to all our quilting friends,

Cindy and Sarah.

Modern Irish Bee – July block for Leda!

2017-07-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

JULY BLOCK – STAR FLAKE

Hi everyone! My name is Leda and I live in Dublin... I studied fine art years ago but since learning how to sew I have become obsessed with quilting! I have changed my mind a million times when deciding what block to make and almost drove myself up the walls, but have finally settled on this one. This block is actually similar to the carpenter star we made previously, it's the same amount of pieces in the same size (2.75”) just laid out differently. I'm sending white fabric to you all – 3 cuts in a small, a medium strip and a large square which was easier for me than a fat quarter because the amount needed was more than fat quarter size and I was bungling my numbers on fabric amounts. Math is absolutely not my strong point! Colour wise I'm attaching two quilt pics for the colour combos I like, I keep changing my mind on colours too but blues, green, pinks and corals I love. I think it looks best to put the darker colour as the outside star but see what you think. No yellows or purples please, I love them but they just don't seem to suit our flat. And call me crazy but I hope to hand quilt each block to batting then use the quilt-as-you-go method to attach them all. Thanks a million & can't wait to see how they turn out!

~ FINISHED BLOCK 18.5” // EACH HST 2.75, 2.25” WHEN FINISHED ~

Fabric amounts:

Col A (outer star): 3 x 6.5” squares
Col B (star points): 1 x 6.5” square
Col C (inner star): 1 x 5.5” square

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

WHITE:
- Trim largest square to 13” then cut into 4 x 6.5” squares
- Cut rectangle strip into 4 x 7.25 x 2.75”
- Cut 11” square into 4 squares of 5.5”. Place 3 of these squares on top of each other &
cut into 4 equal squares of 2.75” and place the other 5.5” one aside. You will have 12 x
2.75” squares plus 5.5” one.

COLOUR A:
- Cut 3 x 6.5 squares
- Cut 4 x 2.75” squares

ASSEMBLY:
(TRIM ALL HST'S TO 2.75” & PRESS SEAMS OPEN)

1. Pair 3 x 6.5 Col A squares with 3 white of same size to make 8 HST's from each using method in diagram. You will have 24 HST's of Colour A.
2. Pair Colour B square with white & repeat as above
3. Pair Colour C with 5.5” white and make 4 HST'S using method below

Assemble in this order

Fun Exhibition at St. Patrick's!

2017-06-26T11:02:00.003+01:00

Morning Modern Irish Quilters. Hope it is a sunny Monday where you are. Our exhibition at St Patrick's has been extended for another week and finishes this Friday 30th June if you haven't had a chance to see it there is still time!

In the meantime for those not in Dublin this week here are some photos I took at our opening earlier this month. Next week when the exhibition is closed I'll post a slideshow of all the quilts! Thank you to those who travelled to attend the opening and to Paula for representing us in the opening speeches.

We had a lots of variation in quilts this time with 2 quilts by a 9 year old and a 12 year old in the exhibition. Well done Cathal and Isobel!

Thank you also to Imelda who gave her time to do a tutorial of a drawstring bag. The fabric was donated by our Modern Quilters group and out of 21 kits there were only 2 left!

We have been invited back again in 2019 and on behalf of us all I would just like to thank St. Patrick's Mental Health Services for giving us the opportunity to exhibit our quilts. We loved taking part and hope to have more bright, happy and fun quilts to share again in two years time!

Summer Swap 2017

2017-06-12T08:41:00.000+01:00

Sign ups open for our Summer Swap!!!!!

Sign ups are now open for our Summer Swap – Binding or handsewing kit. I received this fabulous binding kit from Erin as an extra to the summer tote bag swap two years ago. It looks like a fun project for a summer swap!

The pattern is on the lella boutique blog found here

Extras are great fun and always welcome but shouldn't break the bank. An extra like a nice piece of fabric, a fat quarter, a favourite sewing notion to the value of €5, a fat quarter worth of scraps or a small handmade item would be ideal. Chocolate is always welcome but if you are going to send sugary goodies please put them in a plastic bag so as not to melt all over your beautiful creation!

The sign up form is here and as always our swaps are open to all sewing levels and is beginner friendly so don't hesitate to join up!

To participate please make a mosaic of items you like, to give your partner an idea of what to make! Our previous post How our swaps work has step by step instructions to make a mosaic using images from Pinterest.

Sign ups will be open until next Sunday, 18th June, and partners will be assigned by Wednesday 21st June latest. You'll then have all summer to make your item for your swap partner, and posting dates will be Monday 4th through to Wednesday 6th September.

You can customise your binding kit with some patchwork or play with fabric choices for a fun project for your partner! The most important thing is to have fun!

This swap is open to members of Modern Quilters Ireland residing in and outside of Ireland. If you are not currently a member, and want to join up (membership is free) please find the information and link to the registration form here or email us at mqgireland@gmail.com.

Please post your mosaic to Instagram using the hashtag #mqisummerswap. The sign up form is here. I hope you will sign up and enjoy making for each other this summer!

Louise
Swap Mama

Happy National Quilting Week!

2017-06-01T14:11:00.001+01:00

It's the 1st of June and time for National Quilting Week and also time for our Modern Irish Bee block which follows in the next below!

Don't forget our opening of our fun exhibition next Tuesday 6th June at 6pm at St. Patrick's. We don't get the chance to get together often so please mark the date, we would love to see you there!

On now and coming up over the summer quilt exhibitions like the following:

Modern Irish Bee - June Block!

2017-06-01T14:10:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone,

My name is Catherine and I am currently living in Belgium with my husband and 2 young children. I discovered quilting while pregnant with my first who is now 3 and I made a crib size quilt for her. I’m self-taught and it’s only in the last 7/8 months that I discovered various Facebook quilting groups and with their discovery my blind not sure if I’m doing this right world blossomed into I really love doing this and learning basically everything from wadding, thread, needles, fabric types, not to mention the different techniques and myriad of blocks.

I chose a block by Gerri Robinson from her Quilted Living Book. Gerri kindly gave me permission to share her block with you and to resize it. It’s called Tumble and I love how light and summery it appears.

It uses 4 fabrics, 1 white background and 3 shades of one other colour in light, medium and dark to create the tumble effect. You can choose which colour you’d like to use based on your stash.

The instructions can be downloaded here!

Block Size 18" Finished.

Let's talk about neutrals!

2017-05-11T11:46:00.000+01:00

In modern quilting, neutral background colours are often white and grey. Kona White, Snow and Bone being really popular in the whites and Kona Ash being the most popular grey.

In the colour intensive course I did with Stiched in Color, Rachel Hauser gave us White, Black, Grey and Brown toned colours as neutrals. Some of those tones are cream, champagne, beige, and tan. I know modern quilters usually shy away from brown but when used with bright colours like yellow or neon green it can really work! Try thinking of brown as dark orange and maybe you might use it a bit more?

Instead of the starkness of black I have loved using Kona Navy and for a while seemed to making only navy based quilts!

From time to time I get bored with solids and go low volume too for a change - I think low volumes fall into the neutral category!

This past year I have really enjoyed playing with colour trying out Charcoal, Iron & Steel, Orange, pale Blues like Fog or Cotton Sky and even loved the darker purple-grey colour of Smoke.

I stumbled across a free download by Lila Rogers of Make Art that Sells and she identified the neutral colours to include that ground artwork as:
• Cool grey
• Orange
• Cream
• Navy
• Black
• Sky grey-blue
• Olive
• Red

I am happy to say that in the last year most of these I had tried but not Olive or Red. I'm liking the look of Olive so maybe that might be the next colour exploration. What about you - any go to neutral you use all the time for your quilt backgrounds? Tempted to try any of these?

Modern Irish Bee!

2017-04-28T12:32:00.000+01:00

Oops I forgot to post Aprils instructions on the blog! Those of us in the Bee have been making the Carpenters Star for Gerardine in red & white according to these instructions by Cherie if you are following along!

To make up for the oopsie and as its a Bank Holiday weekend and some might like to get a head start I’m posting Aril late and May early today!

This month’s block choice is from Genevieve and she has chosen a type of chain block that looks like fun to make. Would be a perfect block to keep in mind for using up scraps at some stage too and I think its a lovely choice for a bee block!

To make this block you will need :
No half-square triangles or flying geese!! Only 3 inch squares

Overall blue theme– can use small print

Colour	Cut one strip (Or shorter strips in multiple of 3”)	Cut long strips into 3” squares
Very light blue or white	3” wide by 24” long	8
Mid-blue	3” wide by 57” long	19
Dark blue/navy	3” wide by 66” long	22

Put together with ¼ inch seams. Seven 32 squares across, row by row then join rows.
Press seams open.

Block size around 18 inches un-finished. 17.5” finished when pieced into your quilt.

Happy May Bank Holiday Weekend!

Meet Longarm Quilter Liz Dunne

2017-03-30T14:52:00.000+01:00

Ever wondered what’s involved in getting into Longarm Quilting? MQI member Liz Dunne has just launched a new site to reflect her Longarm Quilting services but also showcase her Etsy shop and media coverage. Liz can be found online at Made in Ireland Quilts and has written a post on getting started with Longarm Quilting for us – thank you Liz!

-------------------------------------------

I have been a longarm quilter for 7 years now and the learning curve was a lot steeper than I ever imagined it would be. Not only do you have to have the machine, which is quite the expensive investment but you must have the tools that go with it. The rulers, marking pens, pantographs, thread, wadding/batting, backings, stencils, preview paper, micro handles and plenty other tools that I won't bore you with, but just to give you an idea.

You need to be spending large volumes of money to be able to get wholesale accounts in Ireland so a lot of money goes into buying the tools you need to keep going. I know some longarm quilters are exclusively longarm quilters and some are longarm quilters that do some teaching. I am a longarm quilter that makes quilts to sell also.

I did a lot of my training in the US as I lived there for a few years but nowadays with Craftsy and iquilt.com, you don't need to be able to physically go to a class. Having said that I know most people enjoy going to a physical class, as there is the social aspect to this too. I personally love online classes because you have them all the time to refer to. I just need someone to give me a kick in the butt to make sure I do them all! I currently have a queue of online classes I have bought to do.

As well as classes, you really must have that hands-on practice and that can be expensive too as you are using wadding/batting and fabric for top and backing and all that thread too. I had the rare opportunity to be able to quilt for a charity in the US and got plenty of practice on quilts that would eventually be given to children in hospitals and sheltered accommodation etc. I took this responsibility seriously and put a lot of effort into those quilts and that effort paid off as I got the practice and am now a comfortable, less nervous longarm quilter.

Longarm quilting to me is an enhancement of a quilt and for that reason I choose threads that blend into the fabrics. You need to be careful not to blend in too much with your quilt top and forget about your quilt back, so choosing a backing colour like your quilting thread choice is probably something a lot of quilters don't really bother thinking of, but it is certainly worth considering.

I did a training retreat in Salt Lake City with Handi Quilter and we all brought in a quilt top to show to award winning quilter Suzanne Michelle Hyland and I would say that 70% of the quilt tops she looked at she suggested using monofilament thread. For those of you that don't know what monofilament thread is it is a see-through thread and Suzanne was suggesting it because if there is too much contrast between your thread and different parts of your quilt then it just won't look right and suggested using see through thread. I'm personally not the biggest fan of the monofilament look as I don't see anything wrong with seeing your quilting thread but traditionally your quilting thread should not be too obvious so as not to take away from the overall pieced quilt top.

There is so much to learn about in longarm quilting and each year they bring out more and more tools and rulers! We can't have them all but practicing as much as we can will keep the skill in check and in tune and progressing all the time.

MQI Sewing Day Recap!

2017-03-06T12:40:00.000+00:00

This past Saturday we had our meet up day in Limerick. It had been over 2 years since our sewing day in Galway so it was really lovely to get to spend the day sewing and chatting with Modern Irish Quilters we might only know through Instagram!

Our venue being in Limerick meant that quite a few of us only had to travel over the Shannon to meet up but some came from Wexford, Dublin and the Kingdom of Co. Kerry! We were hit with tummy flu and last minute family commitments so our number of 15 signed up for the day dwindled to 7 but we made the most of it!

We spent most of the day talking, and eating chocolate goodies and talking some more! Having a smaller group meant that most of the chat was all of us together which also meant there wasn't a moment when one of the seven of use weren't chatting! Seven told us all about his recent visit to QuiltCon and we are all thinking about saving to go ourselves in 3 years time. Paula filled us in on the European quilt shows and shared with us quilt stories from her recent exhibition in Mexico city.

We had a brilliant show and tell. Seven showed us a modern quilt with metallic looking silk fabric and his brilliant I'm OK quilt. Every block has I'm OK in it in some new from, from text to Morse code to Braille - this was really fun to get up close to!

Aideen shared with us her paper pieced cushion.

I really love this and want to make one giant sized as a one block quilt for our sofa!

Paula showed one of her quilts from Mexico from her Momento Mori series and explained to us the old Catholic tradition of carrying a reminder of death with you to make you live each day to the fullest. Paula's series of skull quilts are made up of her favourite objects and this one is made up of lots and lots of individual lady birds layered on top.

We also got to see the skull Share Jane quilt that Paula co-ordinated a huge collaboration of over 100 people to make blocks for 3 different versions of the traditional Dear Jane quilt. This was stunning to see in person.

Rita showed us a modern advent wall hanging for Christmas time and had photos of a fantastic modern quilt she made for her sister. It took her 6 months to make a double sided wedding quilt. It took me two years to make a one sided Swoon and Paula trumped us all by taking 7 years to make her sisters wedding quilt!

We all oohed and ahhed over this Fleur de Lis pattern which Rita is making by machine and hand piecing fabrics from her life, like table cloths and clothes. The softness of the palette and vintage feel appealed to us all.

Louise is working in her Rainbow Rose made with a low volume background and is adding borders to make a bigger quilt. She shared with us also some fabric printing pieces and her progress on a piece for Aurora, the IPS co-exhibition with the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild in May

I didn't know what to bring for Show and Tell so I settled for my favourite quilt. I can't tell you why this little Charm Pack Cherry with Noteworthy and neutral fabrics is my favourite, it just makes me happy when I pick it up. I like it so much our Basset hounds haven't had even a sniff at it (Charly our Jack Russell may have sat on it once!) and being only 5ft tall it keeps me warm watching telly but is useless to anyone else in the house!

My second piece was this quilt I'm hoping to have finished for Fun's April 27th submission date! It's a play on traditional blocks made modern and I had so much fun with colour on this one. Only 1 block was left traditional (the Ohio star!), everything else has had a modern slant applied to it. We decided a dark grey binding might be the way to finish it off.

Suzanne shared her progress on a piece of Jupiter and its moons and we talked about facing rather than binding it in black to not lock in that gorgeous red curve.

And on the day, despite all the talking and eating, I don't know how she did it but Suzanne finished a jelly roll quilt top!

Seven kindly held it up for photographing and we decided we liked it better vertical than horizontal.

Thank you to all who helped out to make our sewing day a success. Suzanne made tote bags for us all in red and green Cath Kidston fabric, Louise and Seven brought scrummy home baked goodies and Paula kept us well topped up with tea & coffee!

Photos shamelessly robbed from Louise and Aideens instagram feeds!

Given our number we all got spot prizes in the raffle to add to our goodie bags!

Suzanne, Louise, Aideen, Rita, Seven & Ruth with Paula behind the camera!

Thanks to Aideen too who gave me a box of biscuits all the way from Sneem bakery which I have enjoyed immensely writing up this post! Hope to see you all again soon!

March Bee Block for Erin–Washington Star

2017-03-01T08:00:00.000+00:00

Edited 18/03/17: updated to correct numbers of squares to cut!

Greetings Hive mates!

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Erin, and my family and I moved from Washington State 3 years ago to Cork. As we’re moving back to Washington in June, I asked if I could get one of the earlier months for the Bee.

When I first moved here in April of 2014, it was quite a culture shock. I was quite isolated, as my twin sons were only 16 months old at the time. For the first few months here, I hated it. It wasn’t until I discovered Modern Quilters Ireland and the Irish Patchwork Society that I found my people, began to make friends, and enjoyed living in Ireland. To say these two groups saved my sanity is an understatement. I’ve met some amazing people, and learned new skills in the process.

I’d love it if you could help me commemorate my time here in Ireland by following my instructions to make the Washington Star block:

Yes, I’m asking you to use the colours of the Irish flag! I thought it was a great way to commemorate my time here, by making a barn block I found on the ‘net called the Washington Star. I wasn’t able to find any sort of instructions for it. So, I broke out my quilting design software and came up with this:

You’re going to need three green fabrics, a light, medium and dark, two orange fabrics, a light and a dark, and a white background fabric—I used Kona White. Feel free to use prints, solids or a mix of the two. These instructions will make an 18 inch block.

Cutting Instructions:

White Background Fabric:

Four 5 inch squares

Four 3.75 inch squares

Twelve 2.75 inch squares

Dark Green Fabric:

Two 4.75 inc squares

Five 5 inch squares

Medium Green Fabric:

Eight 2.75 inch squares

Four 3.75 inch squares

Light Green Fabric:

Eight 2.75 inch squares

Two 4.75 inch squares

Dark Orange Fabric:

Four 2.75 inch squares

Orange Fabric:

Four 3.75 inch squares

To Assemble Corner Units:

Begin by taking your four medium green 3.75 inch squares and draw a line from corner to corner. Layer on top of your white 3.75 inch squares and sew a 1/4 inch away from the line on both sides. Cut on line.

Press open and trim to 2.75 inch square.

Using the photo as a guide, take your HST, medium green 2.75 inch squares, dark orange squares and your 5 inch white squares and arrange as shown.

Sew the units in a row together.

Sew your rows together. Repeat for a total of four corner units.

To build Diamond in a Square unit:

Take the eight light green 2.75 inch squares and twelve white 2.75 inch squares and draw a line from corner to corner.

First, you’ll be building one all white and dark green diamond in a square unit. Take one dark green 5 x 5 square and four white 2.75 squares with the diagonal line. Place two squares on opposite corners. Pin and sew directly on the line.

Next trim excess fabric more than 1/4 inch away and press open. Repeat with remaining corners for a white and dark green diamond in a square unit.

Next, you’ll be making the same unit, but when you work with opposite corners, you’ll be using one white fabric and one light green fabric. follow the same process as above to make FOUR units total that look like this.

To make Half Quarter Square Triangles

Take your light green 4.75 inch squares and and draw a line from corner to corner. Layer over the dark green 4.75 inch squares and pin. Sew a 1/4 inch away on both sides of the line.

Cut on the line and press open. Trim to 3.75 inches.

Next, you’re going to make a half quarter square triangle using these half square triangles. Take your 3.75 inch orange square and draw a line from corner to corner. Layer this square on the half square triangles made previously. ENSURE THAT YOUR DRAWN LINE INTERSECTS THE HALF SQUARE TRIANGLE. Sew 1/4 inch away from both sides of the line. Cut on the line and press open.

To trim this unit, take your ruler and line up the 45 degree line up on the seam line. Your final measurement of this half quarter square triangle will be 2.75 inches, so be sure to line up the light green/dark green seam on the 2.75 inch mark as show in the photo below. Rotate unit to trim to
2.75 inches square.

Once units are trimmed, you’ll be sewing these together in pairs, matching dark green triangles. Make four units total.

To begin sewing your block together:
First, sew your multicoloured diamond in a square units to the previous unit made. Ensure that your light green triangles of the diamond in a square unit touch the orange triangles of the other unit.

Next, arrange your units using the photo as a guide. The white/dark green diamond in a square unit goes in the centre.

Assemble as you would a nine patch by sewing all the units in a row together.

Press the seams in opposite directions so you can nest them in the next step.

Sew your rows together, and you’re done! Great job!

Modern Irish Bee 2017

2017-02-01T00:30:00.000+00:00

Welcome to our 2017 Bee! We have 9 people signed up to make and swap blocks for each other this year and will be sharing our fabric picks and finished blocks in our facebook group MQI Modern Irish Bee. It is a closed group but all Modern Quilters Ireland members are welcome to join! In case you would like to make any of the blocks we are swapping I’ll be posting the instructions at the first of every month between now and October. This year we are making 1 big block maximum size 18” and Annette is our first Queen Bee and starts us off with a great choice!

Hello fellow Bee Members

I'm Annette from Galway and I am delighted and excited to be in a bee for the first time. I searched for days to find a block that I liked and finally came up with this one. I hope you enjoy making it for me. Ruth very kindly up sized the block to 18 inches thanks Ruth.

Enjoy Annette.

Fabric Requirements:

Where it is white any low volume fabric, and the rest any bold vibrant colours.

(You will need Background fabric in low volume, colour 1 and vibrant colours 2, 3 & 4.)

You can find the full instructions here to view or download as a PDF:

http:www.mccallsquilting.com/patterns/details.html?idx=8056

The pattern is written with 4 colours and 3 different sized pieces. Replace the pieces on the pattern as below to make your block come out as 18.5” unfinished, 18” when finished in the quilt.

1A: (colour 1, piece size A) 3.5 x 6.5 X4

1B: (colour 1, piece size B) 3.5 x 3.5 X12

2B: (colour 2, piece size B) same as above but in a different colour 3.5 x 3.5 X4

3A: (colour 3 piece size A) 3.5 x 6.5 X4

4C: (colour 4, piece size C) 3 1/2" x 9.5 X4

Follow the instructions, using the strip and flip method to add squares 1B to the corners of 3A and 4C to make the long pointed sections and assemble the block as follows:

You will have 4 corners each measuring 9 1/2”x 9 1/2”.

Arrange as per the instructions and sew together to create an 18 1/2” x 18 1/2” block.

5 sleeps until Christmas!

2016-12-19T10:12:00.001+00:00

This year our top picks for Christmas is brought to you by Louise @mullanelou. Thanks Louise for sharing your Christmas list with us !

Here are the top five sewing related items on my Christmas list….
5. Accuquilt Go fabric cutter
Available in the full version, baby and electronic would you believe from Amazon or directly from Accuquilt.com

4. Funky sewing themed 2Gb USB keys
They come in a range of colours on Amazon.com

3. Specialised Rulers
I know you can get by perfectly well without them but if it can speed up the cutting process a little bit I think they might be worth a try. One such ruler is the half square triangle bloc-loc ruler

2. The Quilters Planner 2017 – Calendar and Diary
This looks like a great way to plan and track your quilty exploits for the coming year. It’s filled with Project planners, WIP lists, design tools, quilters references, free motion tips, Cloud 9 fabrics colour card, quilt inspiration and patterns from some great bloggers

Sample of Project planning by diaryofaquilter.com

1. 360 Crafters bag and Crafters Tote
This looks like an nice alternative if that “Sew together bag” is still on your to do list! Both can be found on Amazon.com

-Louise

2016-12-12T12:10:00.005+00:00

Happy Monday Modern Irish Quilters! Sign ups are now open for Modern Irish Bee 2017.

If you haven't taken part in a Bee before here's some info on what it's all about!

How our Bee works
Online Quilting Bees are usually made up of 12 members, 1 member for each month of the year. Each member takes their turn at being Queen Bee. The Queen Bee chooses a block she would like the hive mates to make for her. It can be an existing block or a design of your own. The Queen Bee writes instructions on how she/he wants the block to look, fabric choices, colours etc. This typically involves testing the block, noting areas where any changes are to be made or difficulties encountered, to help the Hive have an easier time making the blocks.

Instructions are given to the Hive on the 1st of the month and the hive mates make the block from fabrics in their stashes and post the blocks to the Queen by the end of the month. Specific colours or fabrics are not allowed unless the Queen wants to post them to the hive members in advance. The idea is if the Queen wants a blue and white block then the hive mates pick appropriate blues and whites from their on hand fabrics.

Hive mates post images to the Facebook group, or on our Flickr group and Instagram to share progress.

Choosing a Block
The Queen may design her own block as long as it is tested and instructions are provided to make it. The Queen may choose a block from a free online tutorial and reference the original tutorial in the instructions and note any changes to be made. Blocks from published books or paid patterns should not be used, as every hive mate would need to buy a copy to make the block. Photocopying or emailing a paid pattern is not permitted and infringes on the rights of the author/publisher. Special tools or fabric required to make the block may not be requested unless the Queen provides them to the hive mates in advance of her turn as Queen Bee. It is expected that hive mates have access to basic quilting supplies, sewing machine, rotary cutter etc. and are comfortable piecing a 1/4" seam.

Bee Rules
We are making 1 block per month this time around and the maximum block size is 18". A 12" block can be requested or can be resized up to 15", 16" or 18" as you wish!

The Bee is open to quilters of all sewing levels. Beginners have to learn new techniques to complete the blocks throughout the year. It is a great opportunity to try new things and blocks you might not normally think of. The sign up is form here, and we have asked for sewing skill level in the event we can put more than 1 Bee group together. We will try and match skill levels where possible.

Background fabrics may be low volume or any colour family you wish. A specific fabric or colour from a specific manufacturer should not be specified unless the fabric is being provided. Please give the hive mates guidance on how to choose the colour for the block for example bright white like Kona white or off white like Kona Snow. All fabric used in the blocks should be quilt shop quality 100% cotton.

A photograph or fabric pull can be very helpful for hive mates in choosing appropriate fabrics from their stash. Please take a photo to guide us in the right direction!

If you are unsure of a fabric please post a picture to our Facebook group or Instagram (#modernirishbee) and the Queen Bee can tell you if it will work or not. It's better to ask than disappoint the Queen who may have to relegate your block to the back of the quilt as it will not work with the other blocks!

Please post your blocks on time before the end of each month and if for any reason there is a delay please let the Queen Bee know when they can be expected. It's not fair to expect people to make blocks for you when you haven't made for them.

Please do your very best workmanship and only send out what you in turn would be happy to receive. When sending your blocks in the post please put them in a ziploc or water resistant bag to prevent them from getting damaged in the post.

Join in!
To take part in Modern Irish Bee 2016, you need to be a member of Modern Quilters Ireland (its free - join here!)

Please sign up to take part in the Bee using this form and if we do not have enough people for more than 1 Bee the first 12 sign ups will be accepted. Places fill up fast so don't wait if you want to participate.

For those not able to make the commitment to a full Bee please make the blocks along with us and share to the Facebook, Instagram or Flickr groups. All members are welcome to join in the fun!

-Ruth

Sign ups are now open for our annual Christmas swap!

2016-11-04T12:20:00.000+00:00

It's that time of year again! Welcome to sign ups for our annual Christmas swap.

We're keeping it small again this year to avoid any extra stress at this busy time of the year. We've chosen to swap a covered notebook!

Cindy has kindly allowed us to use her tutorial and you can find it here on our tutorials page or directly on Cindy's blog @ Fluffy Sheep Quilting here!

It could be a blank sketchbook for your swap partner to save all those quilt ideas, a lined notebook to list all the lovley projects we want to make or a 2017 diary to plan and keep track of big events! Whatever size notebook you have, Cindy's tutorial is flexible and adaptable.

To sign up please fill in this form! I love the Christmas swap and we always make such lovely things. The postal date is 19th December so it will have time to arrive for those in between days, after Christmas and before New years.

This swap is limited to MQI members resident in Ireland so as to avoid any issues with post at this busy postal time of year. Sign up close Friday 11th and partners will be assigned over the weekend. I hope you will join us for our 4th Christmas swap!
-Ruth

Giveaway - pack of 100 EPP paper templates family pack by Tales of Cloth

2016-10-06T16:00:00.000+01:00

Hand sewing is back in a big way. You may have noticed the popularity of EPP (English Paper Piecing) patterns over the past few years. Willyne Hammerstein's Book Millefiori Quilts sold out everywhere due to the popularity of the La Passacaglia Quilt on the cover. A quick look on Pinterest will show you just how good this quilt can look in modern styled fabrics .

Paper pieces has a starter and a full set if you don't feel like making your own templates and they also have kits to go along with Katja Mareks New Hexagon. The paper templates for the New Hexagon are much bigger than the tiny La Passacaglia templates and make it easier to sew with a running stitch rather than the EPP method of folding fabric over a paper template. The gripping movement required to hold the pieces and whip stitch sew them together can be tough on the hands! Tracing around the template and sewing with a running stitch is apparently what Willyne uses to make her tiny pieces!

On Katya's blog there were quilt a longs in 2015and 2016 using blocks from her book and she is doing another using her perpetual calendar of 365 Hexagon blocks. I think this would make a brilliant 365 project and could be fun to attempt to make one a day!

Jodi at Tales of Cloth has also created a set of shapes that all work together and hosted a challenge on instagram #shapefamilychallenge and it is really cool to see what people have come up with.

And we have 1 packet of family shapes to giveaway here on the blog!

To win this pack of 100 shapes just leave us a comment telling us if you have ever tried EPP before and what would you make with this set?

Entries close at 5pm next Thursday, 13th October, when Random number generator will pick the winner !

Summer Swap Update

2016-09-09T10:53:00.001+01:00

Our summer swap is in the post! By now all those signed up for the swap should have posted their #onehourbasket (free pattern by @kelbysews)!

This is just a sample of the photographs posted to Instagram #mqisummerswap. Click on the link to see more and join in the conversations we've been having! Aren't they fabulous?

Thanks a million to all who took part in our summer swap and a big thank you to Aideen and Cindy for looking after us all so well!
-Ruth

Modern Irish Bee

2016-08-08T15:43:00.001+01:00

After the busy few weeks with our Rainbow Rose quilt a long and 1 hour basket swap, it's time to get back to our Modern Irish Bee. This year we are doing a round robin style bee, each person adding a bit to the quilt they receive in the post and passing it on. There are quilts in various stages but I think we are on officially on Round 4!

For those playing along please link up your progress on Round Robin or Medallion Quilts to be in the draw to win a 20€ voucher from Fluffy Sheep Quilting by clicking on the blue button below.

The link up will remain open until next Monday August 15th when random number generator will pick a winner!

We have winners!

2016-08-02T09:36:00.003+01:00

Congratulations Lisa, Lena and Kathy who linked up to our final Rainbow Rose linky party!

Lisa's beautiful quilt top wins the fabric bundle from LoveFabric.ie!

Lena's value study version wins the bundle of magazines from Fluffy Sheep Quilting!

And last but not least, Kathy's colourful pinwheel version wins the prize specially collated in Japan by Tomomi of Slaney Handcraft!

Congratulations to our winners and thanks again for all who took part in our Rainbow Rose QAL! big thanks again to our sponsors!

Click on images below to visit our sponsors shops:

Rainbow Rose QAL - Final Link up and Giveaways!

2016-07-20T00:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome to our final link up of our Rainbow Rose Quilt-A-Long! We have been exploring the colour wheel by making this block the Rainbow Rose based on the traditional Dutch Rose block!

For all our posts on the color wheel and with complete instructions to make this block in 2 sizes for a baby quilt or a bed quilt see our QAL tab at the top of this blog or follow the links below:

June 1st: Fabric Selection & Introduction to the Colour Wheel

June 8th: Cutting & Piecing the middles, Warm & Cool Colours
June 15th: Piecing the corners, Tints, Shades & Tones
June 22nd: Piecing the centre star, Complimentary Colour Schemes
June 29th: Assembly & optional Applique borders, Analgous, Monochromatic & Achromatic Colour Schemes

Now its time for the Prizes!

Prizes!

We have three prizes for our final link up party:

a fat quarter bundle to the value of €20 from LoveFabric.ie.

3 month's of Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine from Fluffy Sheep Quilting

And a prize all the way from Japan from Slaney Handcraft. Tomomi has collected some patchwork related items while on her recent trip for us to giveaway in our final linkup!

To win our prizes, link up a photo, instagram or flickr image, or a blog post of your finished quilt top or finished quilt of the Rainbow Rose by clicking the blue linky button below.

The linky party is open until the 30th July so there is still time to finish up some quilting and piecing! Random number generator will choose a winner to be announced on August 1st!

Thank you to all our very generous sponsors. Please share the love and visit our sponsors by clicking on each of the photos below!

Click on images below to visit our sponsors shops:

Winner!

2016-07-06T13:45:00.000+01:00

Congratulations Abigail @Cut and Alter who won last weeks prize of 30 Euro voucher sponsored by Just Sew Now! Abigail was the first to link up this beautiful version of the Rainbow Rose and won the 5th prize of our Quilt-A-Long!

To review past instructions to make your own Rainbow Rose block see the Quilt-A-Long tab at the top of the blog page and remember to come back on the 20th for our final link up party!

We will have three more prizes to giveaway. The link up will be open until the 30th of July so there is lots of time to catch up and finish your quilt top if you need to! Random number generator will choose 3 people who have linked up finished quilt tops and finished quilts to win prizes from Fluffy Sheep Quilting, Slaney Handcraft and Love Fabric.ie. Mark it in your diaries and see you at the final linky party!

Thank you to all our very generous sponsors. Please share the love and visit our sponsors by clicking on each of the photos below!

Rainbow Rose QAL Week 5: Assembling your quilt top!

2016-06-29T00:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome back to week 5 of our Rainbow Rose QAL

First up congratulations to Yvonne @ Quilting Jet Girl who won last week's prize of the QAL, a fat quarter bundle from Sew Crafty Fabrics by linking up a polka dot Rainbow Rose!

For our schedule see the QAL tab at the top of this page. We are exploring the colour wheel and making this block, the Rainbow Rose, in your choice of 2 sizes to make either a 40” x 40” baby quilt or a larger lap or bed quilt 80” x 80”.

Prizes!
This weeks post is sponsored by Just Sew Now who have sponsored a prize of fat quarters to the value of €20 to a lucky winner who links up to this weeks post on assembling our Rainbow Rose Quilt top!

To win the bundle, link up a photo, instagram or flickr image, or a blog post of your progress on the Rainbow Rose block by clicking the blue linky button at the end of this post. Random number generator will choose a winner to be announced next week! The linky will be open until midnight next Tuesday and the winner announced next Wednesday!

Piecing:
We're onto the home stretch and the part where it all comes together! Cue the A-team music! Di-di-di-da!

1. Layout the pieces we've made as follows:

2. Sew into rows and finally sew the three rows together to make the Rainbow Rose Block.

3. Before trimming our border pieces measure across the length of your block in three places : at the right, middle and left side. Take the average measurement and use this figure to trim your border fabric for the two sides of the block. If you have maintained a perfect 1/4" seam the block will measure 32 1/2" x 32 1/2" and the bed quilt 72 1/2" x 72 1/2".

4. Sew the side borders to either side of your block.

Large lap quilt & smaller baby quilt version!

5. Measure again across the width of your block at the top, middle and bottom and taking the average measurement trim the top and bottom border. If you have maintained a consistent 1/4" seam it will be 40 1/2" for the baby quilt and 80 1/2" for the bed quilt.

6. Complete the quilt top by sewing on the top and bottom border.

7. Now I quite like the minimalist look of this block, floating in all that background space, but if you like a more traditional treatment and a fancy border, here are some options for using your leftover triangles and stash of Rainbow fabrics!

Hexagon with squiggle or Orla Kiely inspired orange peels!

Options for borders if you wish - shown here the 72" block with border options to finish at 80" x 80"

The templates to make the applique pieces for each of these 3 options for both the baby quilt and lap quilt sizes can be downloaded here .

Remember to print at 100% with no scaling to end up with the right size templates. A 1" checkbox is included for reference. You can use any applique method you wish. Templates are sized for raw edge fusible applique e.g bondaweb or the Crafted Applique method by Lara Buccella. If you prefer to needle turn applique please add your seam allowance when cutting out your fabric shapes. Hexagon Flower templates are correct size for the EPP method.

My placement of applique squiggles on a corner of the larger sized quilt!
Yes there is a piecing mistake in my corner block, I had to unpick! Can you spot it?

And you are done!
Except for the basting/quilting and binding, labeling and gifting if you like...

Exploring the colour wheel
Last week we looked at complimentary and triadic colour schemes. Other colour schemes that are fun to play with are:

Analogous - fabrics used are from colours side by side on the colour wheel like red, red orange and orange.

Monochromatic - all the fabrics used are from the same colour and vary in lightness only. You can have great fun playing with gradients and ombre effects.

This colour scheme could be fun to try in each of your applique borders if you like and add to our rainbow blend & complimentary colour centre. You'd have lots of exploring colour theory in just one quilt as an an end result!

And lastly, Achromatic - think of a Black & White photo. B&W in photography is sometimes referred to as greyscale. Using tones of grey with black and white can make for a very beautiful quilt.

I had the privilege to make some blocks for a Share Jane quilt project co-ordinated by Paula Rafferty. The Share Jane concept is for lots of people to make blocks of the Dear Jane quilt, a really old quilt design made up of small squares. It's a quilt made over 150 years ago by a lady called Jane A. Blakely Stickle and contains over 5600 pieces. It's a sampler quilt of 4.5" blocks (169 of them!) with a triangle border (adding it all up to 225 patterns in total). Taking this traditional sampler project and re-colouring it, Paula designed 3 very striking quilts!

An Achromatic version with a happy accidental pop of colour:

Photo by Ruth Bourke. Image used with the permission of Paula Rafferty

A Rainbow version:

Photo by Ruth Bourke. Image used with the permission of Paula Rafferty

An Irish version based on the colours of the Irish Flag

Photo by Ruth Bourke. Image used with the permission of Paula Rafferty

Doesn’t this traditional quilt look very modern with Paula’s colour treatments?

Remember to link up a photo, Instagram/Flickr post or blog post on any progress on your Rainbow Rose to win this brilliant prize of a fat quarter bundle from Just Sew Now Click on the blue button below to add your image.

For our final link up opening on the 20th July we will have three more prizes to giveaway. The link up will be open until the 30th of July so there is lots of time to catch up and finish your quilt top if you need to! Random number generator will choose 3 people who have linked up finished quilt tops and finished quilts to win prizes from Fluffy Sheep Quilting, Slaney Handcraft and Love Fabric.ie. Mark it in your diaries and see you at the final linky party!

Thank you for quilting along with us and exploring the colour wheel. I hope this will be of use to you in making your own quilt designs and can see that applying your own colour treatment to some traditional designs can make for some very fun quilts – Modern Traditionalism at its best! I hope you enjoyed it and thank you too to all our very generous sponsors.

Please share the love and visit our sponsors by clicking on each of the photos below!

Rainbow Rose QAL Week 4: Centre Star

2016-06-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome back to week 4 of our Rainbow Rose QAL

First up congratulations to Imelda who won our third prize of the QAL (by linking up to last weeks post), a fat quarter bundle from the Quilt Shop Tuam!

For our schedule see the QAL tab at the top of this page. We are exploring the colour wheel and making this block, the Rainbow Rose, in your choice of 2 sizes to make either a 40” x 40” baby quilt or a larger lap or bed quilt 80” x 80”.

Prizes!

This weeks post is sponsored by Sew Crafty Fabrics, who have sponsored a prize of fat quarters to the value of €20 to a lucky winner, who links up to this weeks post on piecing the centre Star of our Rainbow Rose.

To win this bundle, link up a photo, instagram or flickr image, or a blog post of your progress on the Rainbow Rose block by clicking the blue linky button at the end of this post. Random number generator will choose a winner to be announced next week! The linky will be open until midnight next Tuesday and the winner announced next Wednesday when we move onto assembling our quilt!

Piecing : Lastly we come to the centre star!
1. Take the remaining 4 background fabric squares 5" x 5" for the baby quilt or 10" x 10" for the bed quilt and cut in half along the diagonal. Remember if you are not used to handling bias edges you can starch your squares before cutting to make them easier to work with and avoid stretching out of shape.

2. Gather up your remaining coloured triangles - you should have 4 left from the corners and 8 left from the middle sections. You will need 16, so from your colour wheel fabric, choose colours to blend with what you have.

It can be helpful in choosing the fabric to arrange your on hand pieces into a star shape, so you can see what works best together and what colours you are missing.

3. Again, to make the triangles needed cut 5" x 5" square or 10" x 10" from your fabric.

4. Cut in half along the diagonal to make two identical triangles. You will have extras and can use them to make a label for the back of your quilt if you like!

5. Pair the colour triangles for the star points with a background fabric triangle, by placing right sides together. For the remaining colour triangles pair as per the diagram or your chosen layout in step 2. Place right sides together.

6. Sew along the diagonal edge using a 1/4" seam and press open or to the side as you prefer.

7. Trim to 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" for the baby quilt or 9 1/2" x 9 1/2" for the bed quilt.

8. Sew the 4 HST for the centre in a pinwheel formation by sewing in rows and then sewing the rows together.

9. The star points will make up the bottom section of the blocks we made for our middles. The star is set opposite the outer wheel in terms of colour. The orange and yellow points of the star are pointing towards the blues, purples and pinks and the greens against the reds.

Sew the star points to the bottom of your middle sections as follows:

The star points will then be sewn on to the centre block next week when we look at final assembly & borders!

Exploring the Colour Wheel:

Colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel are called complimentary colours - they have the most contrast with each other and in reality clash quite a bit but still somehow manage to go together! If you want to draw attention to something, using high contrast like complimentary colours, will attract the eye. A classic complimentary colour combo is the Christmas Red & Green. I'm quite partial to Blue & Orange though not so much Yellow & Purple!

Orienting our star within our colour wheel this way just adds a bit more contrast to the colour placing and I hope makes for an interesting quilt block!

A split complimentary colour scheme is a variation on complimentary. Instead of using a colour directly opposite on the wheel, use the two colours that are on either side of your opposite colour. e.g. Instead of Red and Green, use Red with Blue-Green + Yellow-Green.

A tetradic scheme uses 4 colours that form a rectangle on the colour wheel and is composed of 2 pairs of complimentary colours. As such, it can be overpowering if equal amounts of the 4 colours are used! Using one of the colours as an accent in small amounts can be more pleasing!

A triadic scheme uses 3 colours that are equidistant on the wheel like Purple, Orange and Green or Yellow-orange, Blue-green, Red-purple. This can be a really fun combination to play with!

Next week we’re onto final assembly and completing our quilt top!

Remember to link up a photo, Instagram/Flickr post or blog post on your Rainbow Rose progress to win this brilliant prize of a fat quarter bundle from Sew Crafty Fabrics! Click on the blue button below to add your image.

Thank you to all our very generous sponsors. Please share the love and visit our sponsors by clicking on each of the photos below!

Click on images below to visit our sponsors shops:

Sign ups open for our Summer Swap

2016-06-20T11:03:00.000+01:00

------------SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED - Thanks to all who signed up to swap!--------------

Sign ups are now ~~open~~ for our Summer Swap. Aideen and Cindy have chosen a fun, stress free project this summer - the one hour basket! The idea is to make a small basket for your partner, big enough to store a few fat quarters or a hand sewing project. The pattern is by @Kelbysews and is free to download from Craftsy here!

Extras are great fun and always welcome but shouldn't break the bank. An extra like a nice piece of fabric, a fat quarter, a favourite sewing notion to the value of €5, a fat quarter worth of scraps or a small handmade item would be ideal. Chocolate is always welcome but if you are going to send sugary goodies please put them in a plastic bag so as not to melt all over your beautiful creation!

The sign up form is ~~here~~ and as always our swaps are open to all sewing levels and is beginner friendly so don't hesitate to join up!

To participate please make a mosaic of items you like, to give your partner an idea of what to make! Our previous post How our swaps work has step by step instructions to make a mosaic using images from Pinterest.

Sign ups will be open until next Saturday, 25th June, and partners will be assigned by Monday 27th June latest. You'll then have all summer to make your item for your swap partner, and posting dates will be Monday 5th through to Wednesday 7th September.

You can customise your basket with some patchwork or play with fabric choices for a fun project for your partner! The most important thing is to have fun!

This swap is open to members of Modern Quilters Ireland residing in and outside of Ireland. If you are not currently a member, and want to join up (membership is free) please find the information and link to the registration form here or email us at mqgireland@gmail.com.

Please post your mosaic to Instagram using the hashtags #mqisummerswap. The sign up form is ~~here~~. I hope you will join us in making for each other this summer and thanks to Aideen and Cindy for looking after us as Swap Mamas!

-Ruth

Summer News Update

2016-06-17T12:09:00.003+01:00

Our second exhibition is titled “Fun”. Thanks to St. Patricks hospital for having us back and thanks to Claire Lynch whose quilt Crazy Hearts is our poster quilt this year! We’ll be looking for quilts by next april and the opening will be during National Quilting week in June so keep it mind over the summer as you are brainstorming fun things to make!

Our summer swap will be open for sign ups on Monday. This year we are making the 1 hour basket. It is a fun free pattern that won’t take up too much of your time away from the summer sun and leaves a lot of room to the imagination if you want to make a patchwork version or use some really fun fabric. Check out this pinterest search results for inspiration and come back next Monday to sign up! Post date will be in September so you will have nearly 10 weeks to make – no excuse for not signing up really!

As there is quite a bit going on with our QAL and Summer Swap I’m extending the date to post our Round Robin Bee to the end of June, 30th if that’s ok with our Modern Irish Bee!

Happy summer everybody!
-Ruth