Move On

The time has just flew!!!! Wow!!!
its time to move on again.
The projects are growing but so is the enthusiasm, Keep up the good work everyone. I have seen a number of the centres and i am so happy ......THEY ARE ALL FANTASTIC. It is going to be a fantastic exhibition.

All the quilts will be on display at The International Quilt Festival Of Ireland in Galway, Ireland 2012. Take a look at the fan page on face book.http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/International-Quilt-Festival-of-Ireland/147863851899807?v=wall

Also thanks to the generosity of Alex from AURIFIL THREAD, quilters in kenya, africa are all quilting their projects for our Patchwork Promises exhibit shown in 2012 at the festival! the entire exhibit is sponsored by AURIFIL THREAD! The threads will be taken over in January by Jim West who will be meeting with Team Kenya!!! Thanks Alex And Thanks Jim!!!

Happy New Year to you all.......

Welcome to the members of Team Japan.

I would like to welcome Team Japan who have just started on the centres. They will be introducing them selves properly but for now here are their names

Hiroko Nakayama 

Kumiko Funaki      

Izumi Takamori     

Noriko Kido          

Junko Iemoto     

We look forward to seeing them in profile!

Team Netherlands

We would like to introduce ourselves to all the Round Robin members.

Our names are: Rita Visscher, Marleen Wijn , Inge Schoonderwoerd (back row)

Jeanne Hamers and Nan de Nijs (front row).

We are all on the board of the Dutch Quiltersgilde, an association with approx. 14.000 members in the Netherlands.  The work that we do for the Quiltersgilde is very busy, and sometimes we do not have time to quilt. The challenge to participate in this Round Robin gives us the opportunity to create 5 very different quilts and we are now in the process of creating the border round the centerpiece.  We all are more or less experienced quilters / teachers. We really enjoy this project very much and we hope that you all have fun in creating these quilts.

Please feel free to visit our website www.quiltersgilde.nl.

PROGRESS REPORT

ROUND 2...     To all the teams of Patchwork promises.

Well done everyone for completing the first stage of Patchwork Promises. 
It is a very exciting time as the centres move on.  Many of you are waiting for the details of the next section...SO HERE THEY ARE
 

• The next piece that is to be added to the centre of the quilt you have received is a border of 6 1/2 inches wide ( 16.5 cms) This is the size of the border before you stitch it on.  The measurement of the quilt with the border on will be 36 1/2 ( 92.75 cms) inches square. 

• There are no restrictions to this piece. add what you think will enhance the piece, and add your own touch to it if you think it works. 
•  All the centres should measure 24 1/2 inches square, but before you decide on your design it is a good idea to check this measurement.  
• It is important to measure the quilt top you receive  through the centre to get the exact measurement, make the borders to this size. Do this both ways .This will ensure there is no disortation in the quilt. Ensure you top is square before you send it on. 

Please e mail me with any questions.

Please send a confirmation email to say that you have recieved these details.

Good Luck and keep up the great work, word is spreading. i have seen a few of the centres now and they are FANTASTIC!!!!

Nikki Foley

TEAM KENYA

Martine Chamorel



I have started patchwork and quilting 3 years ago so I am still pretty a novice ! but I  really got the "virus" and I am interested in trying any technique in any style ! I am a member of the kenya Quilt guild where I act as the librarian , so a lot of opportunity to browse through books! I try to take part in any activity we have related to quilting as it is "therapeutic" for me...
I have been living in East Africa for the last 12 years , first in South Sudan and then Nairobi in Kenya where I take care of my two young kids (5.5y and 9.5 y) and run a transport business.

Progress Report

In the words of our creator of patchwork promises - Nikki  -  "The patchwork promises is about to move on for the first time. some of the Irish, and australians have already moved on...its very exciting.".   


This international challenge is finally well on its way to becoming reality now that stage 2 has started... well done Nikki... and all of the international quilters involved in this project...keep us informed of the progress and we will post them to this blog.... happy quilting..

UPDATES FROM TEAM IRELAND

Nikki Foley

i have finished my centre. i enjoyed doing it so much, but it took 3 attemps to finish it, my first two ideas went out the window. i wanted to capture something that was me. I feel that i have managed it now...you knowwhat they say..3rd time lucky!!!! i am so excited and i am looking forward to recieving the next round...this is fun

Romi Buhles 

my center is 75% complete . I want to put a border around but not sure what . tried a few things but not happy yet. looking forward to see the other center pieces. no worries will have it finished in time.

Paula Rafferty

Centre nearly done, looking good, just some more blanket stitch to go on and some tidying up to do and it'll be on it's way to Romi. Looking forward to starting work on the next section,

Alison Baxter

 I have finished my centre block and I am going to pass it on at the Knitting and Stitching Show.

Team Australia - Location Map

Team Australia Locations

Here is a map of Australia and the locations of the Australian Quilters taking part in Patchwork Promises are marked on it.   You can see how far the quilts will be travelling between the Quilters. 

                                               

TEAM AUSTRALIA

Alan R Tremain

“I learnt to sew when I was four and have been sewing ever since but it wasn’t until I was 25 when I made and sold my first quilt while working as a Wardrobe Master for a large theatre in Sydney. As a child I grew up with waggas so quilting seems a natural progression for me to follow.”
Alan has now created Oz Quilt Design and Oz Quilt Sewing School on the Central Coast north of Sydney where he tutors as a Pfaff Creative specialist and Martha Pullen licensed Heirloom Tutor, “ I love creating my own quilt designs including machine embroidered quilts and then seeing them come to life. Being a Master Dyer means I never want for any shade of fabric.” As the 2009 Scholarship recipient of the Quilters Guild of NSW Inc, Alan completed fascinating quilt research and studies in the Wild West of USA and Hawaii and is now producing ‘recreated’ quilts for both collectors and museums, using knowledge and technical skills gained from these experiences. “Being a male quilter gives me a different perspective on design especially when it comes to Australian colours as seen in many of my commission works.”

Beth Miller

Beth Miller has been involved in quilt making for 30 years and has been an accredited teacher since 1991. Recently she has retired from teaching to concentrate upon her quilt pattern business. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally for many years and has received numerous awards for her work including first place in the 2006 World Quilt Competition in the Innovative category.

Her early work was predominately pieced geometric designs, but in more recent years she has concentrated upon hand and fused appliqué using the Australian landscape as inspiration.  She has continued with pieced designs but prefers more contemporary quilt making.

Qualifications in screen-printing and fabric decoration help Beth to create bright and unusual fabrics.  Her method of free rotary cutting and template use produces unique and interesting patterns and designs.

Pam Holland,

Author, Tutor, Designer, Photographer, Cinematographer, Judge and Illustrator. 

After a career as a photographer, and fashion designer Pam has been working in the quilting industry for over 20 years.  She  travels 10 months of the year to far flung places teaching the art of quilting.   Her experiences in teaching and travel have been the inspiration for most of her quilts                                                                                          and has given her the reputation of shaping something new from the already established.

Drawing, writing and filming while she travels form the basic plans that she uses to create quilts when she’s home in the studio.  Pam has been lucky enough to win numerous International awards, and currently has 3 new books in the process.      Pam lives in the Adelaide Hills  in South Australia and is married and Mother to 13 children who all live close by with their families.           

Linda Tucker



Linda has been interested in all things crafty since a child and took up patchwork in the early ‘80’s hoping it would be a relaxing hobby. How wrong she was! Linda has completed more quilts than she can remember and still has a good stash of UFO’s.
About 10 years ago she took up fabric dyeing and started her own business selling her hand dyed fabric. She has taught many a dyeing and painting class as well as traditional and contemporary quilt techniques. Linda’s main love is for raw edge appliqué and free motion quilting and embellishment.
Linda moved from Mildura after both she and her husband retired and now lives in the High Country of Victoria on 12 acres of paradise.

Martin Wright

I spent my young adulthood dabbling in the arts and crafts. Everything from ceramics and textiles, to painting, drawing and the performing arts.
     Moving to Sydney in the early 80’s I found employment at The Australian Opera Company as a seasonal dresser and eventually moved into their workroom as a costume machinist. During the following years I had the pleasure of working on many theatrical productions including the Sydney seasons of “Cats”, “Les Miserables”, “Phantom of the Opera”, “Beauty and the Beast” and the original production of  “The Boy From Oz”, as both dresser, costume machinist and department supervisor. I was also the Theatre Costume Supervisor at Fox Studios Australia.
      On moving to the Sunshine Coast in 2002 I discovered the world of quilting by attending local quilt shows. I was gradually fascinated and entranced by the medium. I found exhilarating the enormous variety of techniques and traditions available at my fingertips and now wonder what took me so long to discover this wonderful, heart-warming art form.
I have been embraced by the women of The Mountain Quilters based at Peachester on the Sunshine Coast and am currently their president. I am also employed by the incredible Elizabeth Wallace from Aussie Patches in the area of sales and product demonstration, travelling Australia selling and promoting quilting and patchwork products to the nation. Being published in “Down Under Quilts” in 2009 was a highlight.
I am honoured to participate in Patchwork Promises and look forward to the journey with you all.

TEAM AMERICA

Joan Sheridan

In 2006 while looking for a solution to a sewing dilemma Joanie stumbled upon two quilting sites. From that moment forward she has been immersed in nine patches and sampler quilts. 

She has participated in and hosted nine patch and sampler swaps totaling thousands of blocks. You can find her "International Swap Quilt" in blues and whites in Jennifer's pattern book, "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts". 

Joanie has taught precision piecing using the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini as a model. 

When she is not piecing nine patches by the dozens she is busy lining up trunk shows and workshops using her own quilt design 

Through swapping she has become quite adept at placing orphan blocks in pleasing arrangements and enjoys helping others find unique ways to utilize their stash of blocks. 

 Nancy Mahoney

Author, Teacher, Fabric Designer and award winning quiltmaker, Nancy has enjoyed making quilts for over 20 years. Nancy has also created over 75 quilt patterns for various fabric manufactures. Nancy has authored 10 books since 2002 - she has also designed 12 fabric collections. Her latest is called "Nellies Garden" - which will delight quilters who love reproduction fabrics and floral enthusiasts alike.

Nancy enjoys combining traditional blocks and updated techniques to create dazzling quilts. Nancy`s favorite techniques include precision machine piecing, quilt design and machine applique. When she is not designing and making quilts Nancy enjoys travelling to guilds and events around the country teaching her piecing and machine applique techniques, and visiting gardens. Visit Nancy`s website at http://www.nancymahoney.com/

Peggy Bass

Peggy began quilting in 1996 whilst living in Louisiana. She has been sewing since high school but had never thought of making a quilt. Peggy also does spinning and weaving so quilting was a natural thing to turn her hand at. Peggy is a member of The Quilt Show and her screen name is weaver 49 and she has a member blog on the website

Kaye England


Kaye began quilt making and fabric collecting in earnest in the early 1980`s, but was influenced early on by a family of needle workers. She now designs fabrics for Wilmington Prints and heads her own publishing company, Kaye England Publications. Kaye travels the world conducting sell-out lectures and workshops showcasing her wonderful and infectious fabrics, patterns and quilts, as well as her unique and honest outlook on life. Kaye can also be seen on several episodes of HGTV`s Simply Quilts.
Kaye has been described as a colourful individual generating enthusiasm and excitement in her work and having great fun in the process. Despite a hectic teaching schedule, Kaye always finds time to quilt. She has written 13 books and recently produced 3 feature length instructional DVD using her Nifty Notions “Cut for the Cure” rulers called More… Smart Piecing Techniques & Plates-A-Plenty.
Kaye was born and raised on a farm in Glasgow, Kentucky. She now resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has two children and six grandchildren.

Jolene Miller

I have been sewing since I was 9 years old, graduating from college with a degree in Textiles and Clothing.  I started quilting almost 30 years ago, this was back when everything was done with cardboard templates and a lot of hand piecing.   As time went on and we were introduced to the rotary cutter, and machine piecing and quilting became more acceptable, quilting started taking over more of my time.  I enjoyed traveling to study with many of the top quilter’s in the United States in order to improve my skills. 

I started teaching locally about 1990, for guilds, quilt shops and at quilt shows. I purchased an existing quilt shop in 1996 and owned that for over 11 years.  I felt as the owner of the quilt shop I needed to have the answers to any question asked.  So I worked on learning as much as I could about every aspect of quilting.  Since I sold my shop I have continued to do teaching.  I enjoy the technical aspect of quilting and teach precision in most of my classes.  I want all my students to be better quilters when they are finished with my class.  I believe there should be joy in the process of making a quilt, but you should also be pleased with the technical outcome.  I like all styles of quilting, from traditional, reproduction, to contemporary.   I live in southeast North Dakota and farm with my husband.   My children are all grown so I finally have the time to devote to my quilting interests.

TEAM IRELAND

Nikki Foley
Creator and member of Team Ireland.

As a teacher, Nikki Foley works with traditional patchwork for her classes and patterns, her own personal work however is more towards art quilting . She likes to use hand dyed fabric, and loves colour.
She is  currently working with Kona Bay Fabrics on her first fabric collection, which has an Irish theme.

She is passionate about patchwork and quilting, and her aim is to promote the craft all over the world but in particular Ireland. Visit the website for her buisness http://www.thesewingshed.ie/

She is currently working with Jim West  from http://www.sewmanyplaces.com/ on  the International Quilt Festival Of Ireland http://www.iqfoi.com/ . This is where the exclusive patchwork promises exhibit will be shown.

Paula Rafferty

Is a full time Art/Craft/Design Teacher and Textile Artist working mainly in Patchwork, she joined the Irish Patchwork Society in 2002 and hasn, stopped quilting since.


She make two types of quilts, Art Quilts, and what she calls  her  'therapy quilts ' which are traditional quilts with lots of repetitive stitching which soothes the soul and keeps her calm.

 paularafferty.blogspot.com

Romi Buhles

Romi is a dedicated quilter. She loves to work with bright colours and is always on the look out for new ideas. She works with traditional styles but makes them her own, and she also loves to make art quilts.


She has her own buisness as a long arm quilter
http://www.quilting.ie/

Terri McNeill,
Creative Director of Irish quilting magazine, Terri is a very experienced quilter. Her never ending talent for design shows in many of her quilts that are published in the magazine.
She is a committed teacher, passing on her skill to many students each year.
Soon Terris patterns will be available for  purchase.






 
 
 

 

 

Alison Baxter

Alison has been Patchwork and Quilting since 1996.  She joined the Irish Patchwork Society in 2000 and is a Co-founder of the South Midlands (Kilkenny) branch, which opened in 2005. She has been a member of both Branch and National Executive Committees.  Alison opened her own Patchwork Shop called "All Patched Up" in 2006 but for a variety of reasons she has now sadly closed it, although she still has great fun running workshops and weekly classes.  Alison has exhibited quilts in the IPS National Exhibition over several years and won the Viewer's Choice for her quilt "Blue Pagoda" in Tinahely Quilt Show. 

Alison likes traditional designs and feels very honoured to be asked to join in such a wonderful and exciting project as "Patchwork Promises".

For Charity

Each quilter that takes part in the round robin will get to nominate their charity. As each quilt will be used to raise money for 35 charitys....In just a matter of days the round robin will comence, as each quilter begins to prepare the centre of their quilt.

WELCOME

Welcome to patchwork promises. The very first International round robin.
This blog is for the participants of the project Patchwork Promises and anyone who wishes to follow.
This creative idea has been created by Nikki Foley.

PATCHWORK PROMISES is an international round robin, in which 7 countries are taking part. Ireland, America, Australia, Netherlands, Kenya, Russia and Japan.  5 top quilters have been chosen from each country. Each person has carefully selected fabric to represent their unique style and country. Everyone taking part will begin with a centre, then the quilts will be passed around, within each country, until each person on the team has added a piece. At the end each country will have 5 quilts, totaling 35 quilts. These when finished will be part of a unique quilt festival 'THE INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL OF IRELAND'  in June 2012.  http://www.iqfoi.com/

Follow this blog to get information on the quilters taking part from each team. The progress of the project and catch the latest information as the weeks go by.