Member Profile: Meet Moira!

I am so very excited to introduce Moira!  I first saw her work at the National Exhibition of the Irish Patchwork Society, themed "Branching Out".  I thought it was just spectacular, so she is here to share it with you too.  Take it away, Moira!



The basics
Name: Moira Byrne


Current Home: Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland…on east coast just 12 miles from Dublin City Centre, Bray was a popular Victorian Seaside resort but became a commuter town for Dublin quickly with waves of new houses up to the recent Celtic tiger crash.


Family: One husband and grown up (38 year old) son, three grand kids 18, 12,9 and one great grandchild


Pets: two bold dogs

Poppies and Daisies

Poppies and Daisies Detail

The details
What is your day job? Environmental Awareness Officer with Wicklow County Council


What is your current dream job? What I have.


What did you want to be as a child? A doctor.

An tInbhear Mhór faoin Gréine

An tInbhear Mhor (detail of sun)

What is your favourite time waster? Looking at quilts and looking at quilting on the internet.


What are you working on now? A quilt for my friend Ann.  It’s an Amish Braid quilt made in Japanese
colourful fabrics and plum, with trapunto Japanese /Chinese characters.


What do you want to be working on right now? What I’m doing.


Do you have other hobbies beyond quilting? Reading, the internet, painting and drawing.


Do you play sports? Which ones?not a chance!


What is your strongest positive personality trait? I like people.

Apples and Plums

What is your greatest fear? Not using all the fabric I have bought!


Is there anything in your past that would shock us (that you’re willing to share)? Not a chance!


What started you quilting? I always sewed..clothes, furnishings etc but I wanted to paint in fabric

Spring Tulips

A Quick-fire Round….What is your Favourite
place to holiday: Lucca in Italy
food: Raspberries
book: A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipal
band/song: Sitting on the doc of the Bay, Ottis Reading, and my hubby’s Ukelele Group
colour: Anything from Mauve to Purple
saying: It’s easier to be forgiven than to get permission and Is binn an t-anlann an t-ochras (Hunger is the
best sauce)
fabric line: All of them
sewing tool: My sewing machine

Bog Music

Member Profile: Meet Judith!

Everyone, please meet Judith.  She is an amazing quilter, stitcher, crafter who has an amazing ability to recycle textiles into beautiful quilts or bags.  Judith, tell us  more about yourself please!  

The basics

Name: Judith Hollies

Hometown: Belfast, N.Ireland

Blog address: http://judith-ragstobags.blogspot.com/

Flickr name:Rags to Bags

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustJudeDesigns?ref=si_shop

Family: Husband, 3 daughters (16, 13, 10)

Pets: Dog - Poppy

The details

What is your day job? S/e Patchwork & Quilting Tutor & Designer

What is your current dream job? Fabric Shop Owner

What did you want to be as a child? Nurse

What is your favourite time waster? Playing with fabric

What are you working on now?  Project samples for next term’s programme, Stained QAL, Blog Cushion Tutorial, Pattern writing

What do you want to be working on right now? Designing new handbag

Do you have other hobbies beyond quilting? Reading, running a charity quilting bee called Bee Blessed

Do you play sports?  Which ones? Used to play badminton at county league level.

What is your strongest positive personality trait? Patience & listening

What is your greatest fear (nothing morbid or spooky…in a lighter sense)? Losing the use of my hands

Is there anything in your past that would shock us (that you’re willing to share)? Plenty!

What started you quilting? An old singer treadle machine left to me by my nanny (got me sewing from a young age) and a box of scraps given to me by my husband’s aunt (got me making duvet covers & then quilts).

A Quick-fire Round….What is your Favourite
place to holiday: Tuscany(never been!!)

movie: You’ve Got Mail

food: Pasta

book: The Help, Thirteenth Tale, Sarah’s Key

band/song: Gabriel’s Oboe (Enio Morricone – Theme tune from the film The Mission)

colour:Purple

saying: Carpe Dieum

fabric line: don’t have one
fabric designer: don’t have one

sewing tool: Mr Pfaff
completed sewing project: Carry case for my daughter’s Flute

quick finish sewing project: Doorstop

project completed by you: Doll quilts sets for nieces for Christmas

project when you need a quick finish: Handbags or pencil cases (because they are usually my children’s last minute requests for friends’ birthday presents!)

Will You Show us Photos of Your:
First quilt – never!

Ugliest quilt – never!

Favourite quilt: don’t have one favourite, but here are a few that are up there:

Judith, thank you for sharing your quilts and bags with us.  We're all sure to find a bit of fresh inspiration here!

Member Profile: Meet Sonya!

In an effort to get get to know our members a bit more and to start a little chatter, we will post weekly profiles of MQG Ireland members.  Let me introduce you to our first brave volunteer, Sonya.  Take it away....

The basics

Name: Sonya Mulligan  

Hometown: Originally from Blarney Co Cork

Current Home:  Whitechurch Co Cork. About 10 miles from Cork City, but rural – surrounded by farms (we are not farmers), we live on a half-acre in a detached dormer bunglow.

Family: 1 Husband & 2 kids, a girl 5 & a boy 3

Pets: We have a cat & a couple of wild cats that have adopted usJ

Sonya's First Quilt

The details

What is your day job?  I'm a housewife.

What is your favourite time waster? Having a cuppa with the girls/etsy.

What are you working on now?  Where to start, I have started a big quilt for my sitting room or maybe my bed. I have the pattern & all the fabric for a quilt I have promised my son. I am  making two baby quilts for friends & I have started a couple of baby size quilts – Im trying a more modern approach with them. Then there is a dress I started last year & stopped when I got to the bit about the zipL

What do you want to be working on right now? My hall, I want cool fabric to cover 4 cushions & a foam seat I have….but  I have no inspiration at the moment. I would also like to be finishing that dress!

Do you have other hobbies beyond quilting? I go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, but I am not super fit or thin. I just like having the, me time. I am always reading something in bed but haven’t been stuck into a book in ages.

Do you play sports?  No, I think I would die if someone kicked a ball at me.

What is your greatest fear? Has to be coming out of a public toilet with my dress tucked into my knickers – even typing this is making me cringe.

Is there anything in your past that would shock us (that you’re willing to share)? I'm sure there is plenty, but we hardly know each other so I'll share another timeJ

What started you quilting? My friend Sarah from Fairyface Design, just looking at all her fab work everytime I called just made me want to give it a go & now I love it….thanks Sarah.

Sonya's Favorite Quilt - front

....and the back.

A Quick-fire Round….What is your Favourite
place to holiday: Califonia

movie: A few good men

food: pizza

book: the time travellers wife

band/song: Coldplay

colour:blue

saying: he/she didn’t lick it off the floor

fabric line: petal pushers
fabric designer: Michael Miller

sewing tool: rotary cutter
completed sewing project: a lap quilt I made for my daughter
quick finish sewing project: elephant pin cushion J

Sonya, it was a pleasure getting to know you a bit better.  Thank you so much for sharing a giggle with us!  

Launching the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland!

Are you an Irish modern quilter?  Want to join into a supportive community of like-minded people to exchange techniques and inspiration?  Join the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland! 

We just love modern quilting.  We love the use of color, the bold fabric patterns, the clean lines. There is something very special about the basic, simple nature of modern quilts that makes it attractive to both beginners and experienced quilters.  To learn more about modern quilting, head over here.

What will we do?  As a guild, we have a great opportunity to thrive as a quilting community.  For example, we could host block/fabric swaps or bees, create charity quilts or have fabric shopping field trips. 

This summer/fall we will hold our first meeting.  There we can decide if we want a quarterly, semi-annual or annual retreat.  We will decide how often we want to meet and what we want to do at these meetings (discussed in more detail below).  We would also like to start small local evening/weekend sewing groups all over Ireland so that talented folks who live near one another can get together with other members of MQGI.

At the first meeting this summer/fall, we will be looking for volunteers who would like to contribute to the board of the MQGI.  It’s going to take a small bit of time from 4-5 individuals to really get things going.  We will need a chairperson, a vice-chairperson, a treasurer, a secretary and a public outreach officer.  If you are interested in any of these positions, email mqgirelan(at)gmail.com.

We are totally open to suggestions, but at our regular whole-guild meetings, we can choose to include any/all of the following activities:

Deal with guild business

Show and tell of member’s projects

Fabric swaps

Host speakers (trunk shows and/or instructional)

Workshops

etc

If they are weekend long meetings we could have free sewing sessions, UFO finish offs or hold workshops in appliqué, fabric dying, improve piecing, quilt labelling, quilting math…what ever we want!

It is anticipated that several guild members will have fabric shops.  At each meeting, we would like to invite those shops to host pop-up shops for all members to have an opportunity to browse and shop to their heart’s content.

It is the goal of the guild to keep fees as low as possible.  Once we decide how frequently we want to meet, where we are meeting and for how long (an afternoon vs a weekend), we can determine an average cost of membership.  


As you know, there are already two wonderful societies within Ireland to support Irish quilters: the Irish Patchwork Society and the Quilter's Guild of Ireland.  MQG is not exclusive to members of these organizations, but instead encourages you to become members of any or all groups!  Sarah is a member of the QGI and Cindy is a member of IPS.  The focus of MQG, however, is specifically modern quilters which makes it unique.

To join in the MQGI please complete the form below.  Please also become a follower of the blog and join the flickr page as these will be the primary methods of communication moving forward.  If we get 10-15 interested people, we will start organizing an introductory meeting.  Hope to see you all there! 


Best wishes,


Sarah (Fairy Face Designs) and Cindy (Fluffy Sheep Quilting)
Founding members and interim organizers