Exhibit Synopsis
This exhibit is our “official welcome” exhibit to the International Quilt Festival of Ireland. With over 350 blocks sent to us for our first festival, we are anticipating receiving hundreds more to increase the exhibit to nearly one thousand! Quilters trace their hands and write personal messages on their block. The exhibit is placed at the entrance in the Town Hall in our Quilter’s Village.

Qualifications
Anyone is welcome to submit a block. The color scheme is green and white, a white or green fabric hand with a contrasting color background. Any shade of green can be used and each block embellished as you wish. Please write your name, where you are from and the date you made this block.

Size Requirements
Blocks are 10” square and we ask that you do not finish off the blocks with a border, but add wadding/batting for the middle layer.

First Place Award
There is no cash award for this exhibit and all blocks will be kept as part of a permanent exhibit with the IQFOI.

Suggestions
Because this exhibit is open to all quilters from around the world, and because the quilt blocks might only take a few hours to complete, we are suggesting you contact your quilting friends and make this as a Saturday project or part of your quilting guild project. If you are Irish or come from Irish ancestry, please write this information on your quilt block so it becomes more of an information block as well. Quilters take time to read these blocks and some are quite emotional with the messages that are printed on their piece. Create something that represents you and where you are from.

Exhibit Synopsis
Prize winning quilts will be on display in this invitational exhibit. We are inviting the grand prize winners from quilt shows around the world to send us their quilt. Within this exhibit, we are also honored to have one dozen quilts from the Hoffman Challenge as the golden nugget within the extraordinary entries we will showcase.

Qualifications
You must have won a first place or grand prize for your quilt in a major show or festival and provide for us the required information so we can post it with your quilt. Only prize winning quilts will be allowed into this exhibit.

Size Requirements
There are no size requirements for the items in this exhibit.

Suggestions
If you or anyone you know has won a first place award for your quilt, please submit the information to us. This will be an extraordinary exhibit and we anticipate one of the most popular within the festival.

There is no prize for this category. We appreciate that your award winning quilt will be seen at our festival, so there is no exhibit fee and we are paying for the postage and insurance for your quilt to be sent to us. Please fill in the exhibit form when submitting a quilt to this category.

Exhibit Synopsis
For many of us, the 1970’s create a vivid picture of bell bottoms, disco, leisure suits, the Brady Bunch television show, etc. This exhibit will feature quilts that capture that era. We will enhance the exhibit experience with music from the 70’s and our staff will be dressed accordingly.

Qualifications
You may submit not only a quilt for this exhibit, but also 3-D items like a fabric lava lamp, etc.

Size Requirements
There is no size requirement for these quilts

First Place Award
$500.00

Suggestions
Go on the internet and on Google type in the 1970s and then click images. All kinds of photographs will come up and maybe one of them will inspire you to create your quilt. It is endless the variety of things you can create, so let your psychedelic imagination run wild!

Exhibit Synopsis
We all love games, whether hide and go seek or board games like Monopoly. And who can resist a puzzle with all kinds of intricate pieces. Now is your chance to create a quilt with this special theme. The exhibit will feature different pieces of furniture and items to show each quilt in a unique way.

Qualifications
Quilts must have something to do with any kind of games and puzzles.

Size Requirements
You may enter quilts or 3-D fabric items.

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
It would be loads of fun to create fabric objects for this one. Take large pieces of a fabric puzzle and put it together, create a fabric checker board. The ideas are truly endless. If you decide to do a quilt, the brighter the better.

Exhibit Synopsis
Graffiti and tattoos are common all over the world and we will showcase quilts that have been inspired by these different designs and art forms. The exhibit will have the sounds of the street as a background and the feel will be edgy with a distinct mood.

Qualifications
You must include a photograph of the tattoo or graffiti design when you submit your quilt or your entry will not be accepted.

Size Requirements
Quilt perimeter must be at least 96" and no more than 220" and can be hung vertical or horizontal.

First Place Award
$500.00

Suggestions
Consider going to a tattoo parlor and ask if you can look through their photograph album. Also walk around your city and see if there is some wonderful graffiti on the walls. You are allowed to use photographs you find in books or on the internet, providing you have written permission to do use the work and have provided this information to us with your submission form.

Exhibit Synopsis
We believe everyone has their own spiritual beliefs and one is not greater than another. We will feature this exhibit in the extraordinary Galway Cathedral, and showcase the quilts near the beautiful main alter of the church. We feel no matter what the quilts represent spiritually, visitors will be touched by the solemn atmosphere.

Qualifications
All quilts must have a spiritually related theme.

Size Requirements
Quilts must not exceed 60” x 60”

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
Judaism, Taoism, Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism, Muslim, Metaphysics are all welcome themes for this exhibit. Share your belief in a quilt!

Exhibit Synopsis
We are very happy to be hosting the International Quilt Festival of Ireland in a country that is so well loved around the world. This exhibit will feature the talented quilters from Ireland and give all who visit our festival an opportunity to see how extraordinary these quilters are.

Qualifications
You must live in either the Republic of Ireland or in Northern Ireland to qualify to participate in this exhibit.

Size Requirements
There are no size requirements for this exhibit.

First Place Award
There is a €500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
All quilters who live in Ireland are invited to participate. Tell your friends and show off your best work in an international exhibit just for you!

Exhibit Synopsis
This exhibit will feature up to 20 different quilts from male quilters from around the world. In a woman dominated industry, male quilters will have an opportunity to highlight their work and showcase themselves at our international festival.

Qualifications
You must be a male that has made the top, but it can be quilted by another person. Whether that person is a male, female or yourself it doesn't matter. If it has been quilted by another individual please give credit to that individual on the registration form.

Size Requirements
There is no theme and no size requirements for this exhibit.

First Place Award
$500.00

Suggestions
Submit your best work gentlemen. We are thrilled to showcase talented male quilters from around the world!

Exhibit Synopsis
The focus of this exhibit is to showcase the talents of children who quilt. This theme does not necessarily have to be about school, but it will be exhibited with the sounds of a school playground in the background as you walk through the exhibit. We are encouraged by the talented children who are carrying on the craft of quilting and we would like to showcase their work to our international quilting community.

Qualifications
Children who enter a quilt must be 16 years old or younger and have an adult who will register their work into this exhibit.

Size Requirements
There are no size requirements for this exhibit.

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
If you have a child who quilts, we would be thrilled to have their work in this exhibit. We kindly ask that parents or grandparents do not participate in any of the work on the quilt, but we do encourage you to guide them through the process of making a quilt. It can be a fun process for everyone involved and look forward to seeing the quilts.

Exhibit Synopsis
When one visits Ireland you can’t help but know that one day during your stay, it will rain. Rain is theme for this exhibit and a soundtrack of rain falling in the background of soft relaxing music will set the mood as visitors stroll through the exhibit.

Qualifications
Quilts for this exhibit must relate to the subject of “rain.”

Size Requirements
Quilts for this exhibit will be 3’x4’ and will be hung vertically with the shortest end at the top.

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
There are all sorts of designs that can be created with rain as the theme. It can be raindrops on a window, people sitting in the rain with umbrellas, or a traditional quilt embellished with raindrops. Wet your imagination and come up with an unusual idea.

Exhibit Synopsis
For every healthy, productive artist there are two or three others with some degree of physical challenge. For some, the illnesses are life threatening, such as cancer, brain injuries or stroke. For others, it could mean the debilitating loss of the use of part of the body or even the loss of a body part itself. It could also mean the loss of critical senses such as the loss of eyesight or hearing. Some of these artists were born with their challenges, or began to suffer from them at a very early age. Still others were stricken later in life, and have virtually had to relearn many simple everyday skills that most artists take for granted.

The common thread through the lives of these individuals is that regardless of the degree of physical challenge, each person is a practicing artist working in the textile media. This exhibit is a celebration of the works of these artists. Barbara Williamson is the featured fiber artist this year.

Qualifications
The only qualifications to enter a quilt in this exhibit is that you are physically, mentally or emotionally challenged in some way and you are willing to tell your story in a brief synopsis that will be posted with your quilt. Quilts cannot have been shown in any previous major exhibition within the last year.

Size Requirements
Quilts must be a minimum of 10" high x 10" wide and no more than 48" high x 36" wide

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
If you know anyone who is a quilter or you are a quilter who qualifies for this exhibit, please submit a quilt to us. Encourage any mentally challenged quilters to participate and help us showcase their quilt.

Exhibit Synopsis
The room for this exhibit will be completely dark except for black lights that will hang from above the quilts on display. We will see day-glo yellows, oranges, greens, whites, etc. as they come to life under the black light. This unique exhibit is sure to generate lots of fun for visitors as they walk from quilt to quilt.

Qualifications
There is no theme to this exhibit except that the colors in the quilts must be tested to capture a true day-glo feel. Florissant colors will show up the best on your quilt and you can you use them in parts of your quilt that you want to accent the most.

Size Requirements
Quilts for this exhibit can not exceed 60” x 60”

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
A visit to your local art shop to see day-glo colors might be your first stop before visiting your fabric shop. You could create a small snow scene and use darker colors, but your white snow is captured in the black light and shows off your quilt. You could use a day-glo blue and create something to do with water, or day-glo green and create highlights in a field. It is endless where your creativity can take you with quilts for this exhibit.

Exhibit Synopsis
We are creating an underwater experience with this exhibit, where quilts relating to the ocean, 3-D fabric items, a soundtrack of underwater sounds will play, and even water images on the ceiling and walls transform the exhibit in to a unique underwater spectacle.

Qualifications
You may enter a quilt, 3-D fabric sea creatures, starfish, seaweed, shells, etc. that would be appropriate for this under the sea exhibit. You may enter as many items as you wish, as this exhibit will be in a very large room and will accommodate many items.

Size Requirements
There are no size requirements for the items in this exhibit.

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
Here is an opportunity to do something fun with your quilting friends! Spend the day creating fabric 3-D creatures or things that you would find in the ocean. If you already have a quilt that is appropriate for this exhibit follow the guidelines for submitting your quilt. Whatever you decide to do for this exhibit, have a great time!

Exhibit Synopsis
Quilters are never at a loss for words and now they can send a message as they create their own personal QR Code quilt! Visitors to this exhibit can scan each quilt to read the message.

Qualifications
Quilts for this exhibit can either be pieced together to create their QR code or photo transferred. All finished quilts must be designed so the QR code is easy to read on an Iphone or other device.

Size Requirements
All entries must be a 3’ x 3’ square.

First Place Award
There is a $500.00 cash award to the winning entry.

Suggestions
To get your message transferred to a QR code, visit this website and create your quilt. http://createqrcode.appsot.com It will be fun to see the kinds of messages that our quilters want to convey.