Okay everyone, I want you all to listen up!!!!! (I sound like a mom don't I!!!!) A very good friend of mine (some of you have been reading her blog) Sherry is nearing the finish line and is about to launch the first issue of Irish Quilting!!!! Sherry has been working feverishly over the past few months and the end is in sight, all of us who know her are sooo excited for her, she is presenting us quilters here in Ireland with a venue to display our work and a resource for future quilters on this Emerald Isle. The photography will take your breath away, the quilts are travelling all over this beautiful Island to be photographed in some of our most scenic areas. So please, please, please watch out for it and buy yourself a copy!!!!!Before I head off to visit my family for a couple of days, I wanted to give a verry public shout out to Sherry and thank her for allowing my two quilts to be included in her magazine. There are stories behind both of those quilts and how they came in to being and then showing up in Irish Quilting. I was chatting with Sherry today and we both had a right chuckle over her anxiety and excitement for the next two weeks and my disgracefully high credit card bill which of course is all quilt related, the UPS man has been making alot of deliveries to my parents house lately!!!!!!! Let's just say the children's piggy banks are going to be surprisingly empty by the end of the day!!!!!! The excitement in Sherry's voice was palpable!!!!!
There are many talented patchwork quilters here in Ireland. When I first moved here (almost eight years ago) I looked for quilt shops or even fabric shops, thinking it would be a nice way to meet other women and get better settled. There was nothing...... I forged ahead and we built our home and set up doing Bed & breakfast. I started reading blogs about quilting and searching out online suppliers of fabric and notions that would ship overseas. There was nothing here in Ireland. There were no groups advertised, no where to take classes and worse no where to buy fabric. This is how I met Sherry!!!! You have to work very hard overhere to get involved in quilting, it is an underground activity that desperately wants to move above ground. Everything is word of mouth and it can take forever before you speak to the one person who knows somebody who has a cousin that does quilting!!!!! I hope that this magazine will help showcase some of the very talented Irish women on this Island!!!!!!
So, Cheers Sherry, to you from the bottom of my heart:Slàinte agus go raibh mìle maith agat!!!!
***** Please note that my accent mark is backwords and I couldn't find the proper one on the keyboard, many apologies to those of you who speak Irish and who will notice my mistake!!!! My children pointed it out immediately, these children never stop ganging up on me!!!!!!
2 comments:
oh! I am in tears just reading this. You know, I haven't breathed in a moment of my favorite blogs in weeks and this eve, I thought I would take a sec and peek around and see who and what I was missing...and here you are sounding my horn!! Well I couldn't do all this without ya'll. Here's to many more quilting friends and feats in Ireland! xo
Dear Anne Marie,
Don't attempt to stretch the block. It will only cause you grief. I second the idea about adding to the inside of the red narrow strip. It is worth a try. Otherwise you could add an outer border, but that would draw attention to the problem. Frequently this problem occurs in block exchanges and I( add sashing with an addition of the same fabric to the outer perimeter of the non-conforming block.
When in the US, remember to pick up the tools of the trade, too. I would suggest several fusibles, a surgical seam ripper, Thread Heaven, Clover's white marker, metallic gel pens... if you have trouble finding them in Ireland(Good for marking dark fabrics. Also the French company Bohin has a new ceramic making pencil that was the hot item at the last Quilt Market. The HP photo transfer sheets are great, too
Enjoy your time back in the United States.
Irene
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