AGM Challenge 2012

The Irish Patchwork Society's AGM will be taking place on the 6th October 2011 in the Strand Hotel, Limerick. 

The challenge for this year's AGM is to create a piece inspired by "Limerick Lace". 



AGM Challenge: Create a piece inspired by “Limerick Lace”. 

Size Limit: 15” maximum on any side

Some information about Limerick Lace. 

Limerick Lace  

One of the earliest known Irish styles, Limerick Lace was from the outset a commercial venture, brought to the area by Charles Walker who established a training centre and workshop in about 1830. By 1850 it had become popular and prized by wealthy and fashionable ladies all over Europe.
It is extremely light and delicate in style, with designs embroidered in tiny stitches onto a very fine mesh backing cloth. Usually the backing mesh was stretched over frames and the stitching applied to the taut fabric, but some was worked without the use of a frame.

 There are two varieties of Limerick Lace. Tambour Lace which is worked with a hook and Needlerun Lace which is worked with a needle. The Tambour is so named because the net is stretched across a frame which is like a tambourine. Stitches are then worked on to the net in a cotton thread with a fine steel tambour hook. The pattern is drawn on paper and placed in front of the worker or held underneath the net.

The Needlerun Lace is also worked on net where the stitches are darned with a sewing needle. Sometimes there is a combination of tambour and run work on the one piece of lace. One of the collars in the Museum shows both techniques. The run lace always has a lighter appearance. As in Carrickmacross Lace, it usually has caskets in the design which are spaces to be filled with a variety of fancy stitches.

Little Limerick lace is made nowadays, but a lot was made in the years between the establishment of the factory and its demise in the early 20th century and antique pieces are still quite widely available.

Links:

Irish Lace Museum 

Esther Fitzgerald 

International Quilt Study Centre News

 
Happy New Year and welcome to the January 2012 Quilt of the Month.

The calendars have been turned to 2012, a week has passed, and many New Year's resolutions have already been abandoned. We applaud those who can make a resolution and have the discipline to stick with it. While people may not always associate discipline with art, indeed that is exactly what it takes many times: rising to write at 3 a.m., painting on a cloudy day, or in Michael James' example, not leaving the studio until the piece was done. In his Day Book series we see the rewards of discipline and craft combined with creativity and purpose. Enjoy this month'squilt and share it with your friends.
This is one of the quilts shown in the new exhibition A Tribute to Ardis James.

International Quilt Study Center & Museum
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1523 N. 33rd Street
Lincoln, Nebraska USA 68583

An Grianan 2012

Hello All,

We are getting close to An Grianan now and bookings are at a viable stage.  We have had to drop four of the teachers as they were not booked, but there are still five great teachers available, and it is sizing up to be a great weekend.  

We were hoping that at branch meetings over the next couple of weeks, members could be reminded of an Grianan at meetings.  So, could you remind chairs of the branches to announce the details again (which are in the last newsletter and also on the website).

The tutors' workshops which still may be booked are: 

Susan Briscoe, 

Jenny Rolfe, 

Joke Buursma, 

Terri McNeill and 

Ann O'Rafferty.  

It is important to send in the application form a.s.a.p. and to indicate 2nd preferences as some of these are almost full (most especially Jenny Rolfe).  Please as well remind people that they can come and do their own thing for €200 for bed and meals.

The shop will be the Limerick Quilt Centre (Maeve Meaney).
 

An Grianan Weekend 17-19th February 2012

Don't forgot the bi-annual An Grianan residential weekend is taking place on the 17-19th February 2012.

Full details of the workshops and application form were in the Autumn Newsletter. Details of the workshops are also on the blog.

Festival of Quilts 2012 - Amended Competition Rules

A few (minor) alterations have been made to the Rules and Regulations for the quilt competitions at the Festival of Quilts next year. By clicking on the link at the bottom of the post, you can download the up-to-date version. The key differences are to do with the definition of exactly who can claim to be an “amateur” rather than a “professional” quilter. 

The organisers of the exhibit (Twisted Thread) also hope to encourage more people to participate by entering a quilt. The stance at The Festival of Quilts is to welcome all comers! Every single quilt on display will prove to be the absolute favourite for at least one of the visitors, and it would be a particular privilege to show work from someone who has never yet entered any competition anywhere. So many quilters simply don’t want to get involved in what they see as the fad and fuss of entering a quilt show – after all, their work is simply to be shared by family and friends. They like to think of the Festival of Quilts visitor as being part of a very large, international family so please don’t be put off. The message is simple. Please enter a quilt!

The programme for next year's event is pretty well advanced. Full details will be available in mid February when bookings will be going live. There’s lots of exciting news to convey but you might already know that they will be featuring a huge Pauline Burbidge Retrospective which also features brand new work. 


I wish you happiness over the Festive Season – but keep quilting
With kind regards
Andrew JM Salmon
Managing Director

CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED ENTRY FORM