Early days
The Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild was founded by our President Deborah Baillie. The first meeting was in March 1979 in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra. Meetings have continued to be held at this venue.
In the 1980s the guild made three group quilts. To see more about them click on the Guild Quilts button.

Quiltfest. 1989
In 1989 to celebrate the Northern Ireland's Patchwork Guild's first ten years Quiltfest, a large exhibition with a weekend of talks and workshops was held in Stranmillis Training College, Belfast. Teachers and Speakers were from England, Scotland, Ireland and within the Guild.

10 Years On a 36 page colour booklet showing members' quilts was published. The cover left shows a guild quilt designed by Jane Lloyd and made as a group quilt by members of the guild.
An open competition of blue and white star blocks had contributions from all over the UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and the USA. The ten winning blocks were made up into a wallhanging for the Northern Ireland Hospice Chapel. The rest of the 240 blocks were made into a quilt that was raffled, a large quilt to cover the Physio plinth, lap quilts and cushion covers for use in the Hospice.
A video of the weekend was produced and Quiltfest sweatshirts with the guild logo were a great success.


Millennium Exhibition. Quilts in the Cathedral. June 2000.
This exhibition, in the historic Cathedral in Dromore Co Down was a meaningful celebration of the year 2000. The theme for the quilts was Ecclesiastes 3 v.1-8. It was inspiring to view the different interpretations.
Ninety three quilts, each one a unique example of the quilter's art, hung from rafters, balcony, pillars and walls.Visitors to the Cathedral were amazed at the beauty of the individual pieces and how together they created such an impact. The exhibition attracted over 3000 visitors.
The exhibition travelled to five other venues; Greenisland; Carrickfergus; Holy Trinity Church, Glencraig, Craigavad; St George's, Belfast; and St Patrick's, Ballymena. This was a very successful as it gave an opportunity to visitors from all over Northern Ireland to view and enjoy the work.

Round Robin Quilts for Nepal. 2003
During 2003 a number of guild members made 21 Round Robin Quilts. Created on the 'round robin' principle, five people worked on each quilt, using a particular format to give uniformity. The first person worked the central motif, the next a border of triangles, the next a border of appliqué, the next a border of squares and finally it went back to the first person for the final border and quilting. It worked surprisingly well and gave some unusual and sometimes unexpected results. After exhibition in the Island Arts Centre, Lisburn these hangings were taken by Jane Lloyd to the hospital in Nepal.

click on thumbnail to view the Round Robin quilts

Tactile Quilts for Blind Children. 2003
In early 2003 the guild was approached about the possibility of making tactile copies of famous paintings for Jordanstown School for the Visually Impaired. In June two blind pupils from the school came to a guild meeting to receive 6 hangings.


click on thumbnail to view 5 of the 6 tactile quilts

25th Anniversary Meeting. May 2004
To celebrate our 25th we had a show and tell of members' first quilts.This was followed by a buffet meal attended by 14 out of 19 past chairmen. Among them was Laura Jones the first Chairman.
Every guild member received a present of pieces of red and white fabric. Members were challenged to produce a new piece of work of any size using these fabrics for the December meeting.

President of the NIPG Deborah Baillie cut the anniversary cake. An anonymous donor donated money for the cake which was made and iced by guild member Anna Campbell.

Monthly Meetings
The Guild normally meets on the first Saturday of the month in the Parochial Hall of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra. Meetings open at 10.15 am with tea or coffee. There is a comprehensive guild library of books and journals. At most meetings there is at least one stall selling patchwork related items.
At 11.00 am the meeting proper opens. Usually it is a speaker using slides to illustrate her subject. Occasionally if the speaker has travelled by car the presentation may be a display of actual work. Most months these speakers take workshops on Fridays or Sundays. Details of the programme for the current year can be found on the programme page.
We have had speakers and teachers from USA, Germany, Holland, England and Ireland.Over the years membership numbers have fluctuated but at present we have just under 100 members.

Hands Across the Border 2007
This is a biennial exhibition organised alternately by the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild and the Irish Patchwork Society. The NIPG ran the 2007 show with the theme 'Hanging Together'.

The annual Joint Guilds Textile Exhibition is held during the summer in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra. This shows work from the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild, the Northern Ireland Embroidery Guild, the Lace Guild, the Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild and the Machine Knitting Guild.

Membership details
Year membership £20.00
Visitors are welcome to talks and workshops. There is a small visitor's fee.
no fee on entering the UFTM for a guild meeting
Apply for further details by email.

Links

Northern Ireland Embroidery Guild www.nieg.org.uk

Irish Patchwork Society www.irishpatchwork.ie