Trip Along Donation Quilt Finish

Hi everyone! I am here to say a big thank you to all of you who helped on making this project work. It is a long time ago that I asked you to help me make a quilt. I asked you to make a "Trip along" block. This week was the big day to finally finish the beauty. Are you ready? Here she is ...

In total there were 12 blocks made and it was fun to put them together. Absolutely gorgeous and colorful. It was so exciting to look at all those different prints.

This week I took the quilt around Galway and lucky me I had beautiful sunshine. So my first stop was at the beach. I went to the life guard tower in Salthill. I really tried my best to make a lovely picture but the wind did not make it easy. Finally I went to the changing room to unfreeze my fingers but I had to put her up to the Galway hooker.

The finished beauty measures 39'' x 51''. She is quilted in diagonal lines on every second square with a yellow thread on the front and a white on the back.

For the binding I used a purple fabric with dots. This time I tried something new for me and sew the binding from the front. After a good press I stitches as close as possible to the binding to fix it to the back. This worked really nice and even the corners look really neat.

On the back I just used a simple stripy fabric from Ikea I had in my stash. It reflects the colors from the front.

Isn't she colorful? I love this pattern and all the colors used. She really brightens the day. So now she is waiting to be given away

A huge thank you to all the ladies who helped me to make this beauty. It was hard to let her go but I am sure she will find a lovely home where she gives a huge hug to someone.

Calling All Teachers!

Regularly we get emails from new Irish quilters asking for beginners classes.  Sadly we are not able to run these classes as a collective guild since we are scattered throughout the entire island of Ireland.  However, its an excellent opportunity to link up new MQI members with more experienced teachers in their local area.

If you are a teacher and you are not already listed on our Find A Teacher page, please email Cindy (fluffysheepquilting[at]gmail[dot]com) with a little description of yourself and what you offer as well as links to your blog or FB page.  We would be happy to add you to our growing list.  

Image from Just Jude's Ferry Floor class.

Many of you are also branching out and offering quilting services.  If you are one of these people, please also get in touch with me (above) and describe your small business.  I would be happy to create a new tab on the blog so folks can get in touch with you as they finish their projects.

Image from Husqvarna.

Thanks so much!

Cindy

Sign Ups: Modern Quilters of Ireland Bee 2014

Signups are now open for the scrappy Modern Quilters of Ireland 2014 Bee!  We had such a wonderful time last year I hope many of you re-join us for more fun.  Here's how this is going to work:

Each person will choose a month to be queen bee.  That queen bee will write a blog post for the first of the month describing the block they would like, showing photos of the test blocks they made, linking to tutorials and giving fabric preferences.  Each bee mama can request up to two blocks at 12.5x12.5 inches unfinished (or equivalent).  The hive members will then rummage through their stashes and make blocks according to the mama's wishes.  Hive members are to have their completed blocks in the post by the last day of the month.  Our bee will run from Jan 2014 through Dec 2014, including all summer months.

A sampling of bee blocks from our 2012-2013 bee.

For those not interested in committing to a full year of blocks, please join us on your own and treat this as a Block of the Month club.  Add your blocks to the flickr group too! We would love to see what you create.

To sign up, we will take the first 12 qualified people (see below) who leave a comment on this post expressing interest.  If you are a no-reply commenter, please be sure to leave your email address as well.  I (Cindy) will then get in touch with you to organize postal addresses, choosing months, etc.

To qualify, you need to be a member of the Modern Quilters of Ireland, living within the Republic of Ireland or in Northern Ireland.  Membership is free, but we will ask that you hop over here and complete the membership form so we can get in touch with you moving ahead.  You also need to follow this blog closely as you will need access to monthly posts giving you instructions to make your block.  Please also join the flickr group to chat, ask questions and post photos of your finished blocks.

Many thanks, ladies.  Please email me (Cindy) with any questions you might have: fluffysheepquilting(at)gmail(dot)com.  Happy stitching!