Forty-six!

I was invited back to 'Quilting Together' the very creative group in Shepshed, and they didn't disappoint.  Apart from lovely ladies, fresh cream cake and talk about sex (well, testicles counts as sex, don't they?!) there were 46 quilts for me to take away with me!  And these weren't just ordinary quilts, but really gorgeous, imaginatively designed ones.

I always take orphans, panels and fabric, and the ladies have great fun sorting through it and getting inspired!

 

Here are the quilts waiting for me to take away with me.

 

I haven't posted all the quilts, just a random sample.  (I've found I've used up my allotted amount of photos on Blogger, so have had to delete some.)  This is a particular favourite - you can't beat a string quilt!

 

'Just' squares, but so effective.

 

The perennial problem with donated blocks is that there are never enough!  This design solves that problem admirably, by alternating the transport blocks with cowboy fabric, and then adding a different border top and bottom.  Clever!

 

The fabric for the border is really cute, and I love the way that three different colourways of the same design have been used.  Way to go!

 

I think this tree of life was a panel, but it's been beautifully bordered by flying geese.

 

Another set of just four orphans, but they look perfect amongst these colourful nine-patches.

 

More orphans, some mile a minute, some stars and a few squares within a square but all unified by the delicate pink sashing.  The blue binding just pulls it all together. 

 

This was a choppy star quilt.  Looks good with the sashing and cornerstones.

 

A trip round the world in a controlled colour palette, made extra special with multiple borders.

 

Half square triangles with a few quarter square triangles, unified by all being blue!  No sashing, no borders, no nonsense, just lovely dark blue binding.  Perfect.

 

Another choppy star, this time with striking sashing and offcuts used as a border.  Waste not, want not!

 

More excellent use of scraps.  Strippy blocks alternated with framed motifs, then with a jazzy orange sashing.  Perfect child's quilt!

This quilt started life as a panel, but the pictures have been bigged up by side pieces and then sashed to make a bright and cheerful quilt.

Another set of strippy blocks and framed motifs, this time on point.  This setting always adds loads of movement and fun to a quilt.

 

Friendship stars floating in a blue sky.

 

More scrappy blocks and motifs, this time with a bright piano keys border.  What a fabulous use of scraps!

 

Here's a panel, just simply quilted in curves across the design.  Perfect.

 

Another panel, which will be treasured by a lucky child.

 

I'm sorry I can't remember precisely who made which quilt (although I know Anne, Helen and Jay made quite a few of them!) and if I haven't included your quilt, don't think it wasn't gorgeous, just that I made an arbitrary selection.  I'm looking forward to seeing you all again soon, and wishing you all a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year!

Oh my goodness!

I knew I hadn't been keeping up to date with my Linus blogging, but was shocked when I saw it was May when I last posted!  I hope nobody thought we were inactive -very far from the case!  So far this year I have received 273 quilts, which have been distributed to ADAPT, Surestart, Kettering and Leicestershire Looked After Children's Services, Leicester Paediatric Oncology, Leicester Royal Infirmary and Nottingham Paediatric Intensive Care Unit! Here is Debbie who works with Looked After Children in Leicestershire.  She wanted larger quilts if possible, as most of her children are teenagers.  I was happy to oblige!

 

 

And here is Kayleigh who works at the Leicester Paediatric Intensive care Unit.  She recently moved up here from Southampton, and she worked in the PICU there.  The first thing she said when she arrived on her first day, was, 'Where are the Linus quilts?'  In Southampton, they always put a Linus quilt ready on each bed when it was made up, and she wasted no time in looking on the Project Linus UK website and getting in contact with me.  (Strangely, I am the nearest rep to Nottingham!)

 

 She took 30 quilts, and then forwarded me photos of them ready for their new owners.

 

 In such a stressful situation, it must be comforting for parents and children to have a lovely quilt.

 Here is a cot, complete with quilt.

 

Without the quilt, this room would look very functional and quite scarey.  Well done, Linus Ladies!

Sewing day in Churchover

Project Linus is a charity which seems to inspire so many people, and this week has seen several of them!  Julie, who lives in the village of Churchover, kindly offered her village hall for a Linus sewing day.  What a treat - a whole day's sewing and no interruptions!  The hall was well equipped (it even had a bar, but we resisited the temptation to investigate it!) and there was plenty of space.

 Jill wanted to get to grips with Mile a Minute, and there were plenty of crumbs and strings for her to practice with.  Julie took a bag of small squares and arranged them beautifully into a charming cot quilt top.

 Paula chose a bag of 12.5" orphans, and would you believe it, when she took them all out, there were 23!  Why oh why is it that leftover blocks never seeem to be in useful numbers?  But it didn't faze Paula: she took the 6.5 bag and made a four-patch for the final block!

Here is the final arrangement - fabulous!  Some of the blocks look as if they were made for a sampler or sew a row, but they play beautifully together.

 












Jane discovered that the snooker table was a perfect size and height for layering up quilts.  She layered up this panel and another top, quilted one and took them home for binding. 

Julie started by sewing half square triangles into windmills, but once the snooker table was free, decided to take advantage of the opportunity to practice layering up.  She got on so well that she was able to start to quilt it too!  

Liz was happy putting orphans together, and sewed them on her gorgeous Featherweight sewing machine. 

 Debbie, a new quilter popped in and brought her first ever quilt to donate to Linus!  How generous is that!   

 And talking of generosity, Sue has given me this beautiful little Singer Starlet (with all the attachments and even the manual!) for people to use at Linus workshops.  She is a starlet herself!  Thank you so much, from me, from Debbie (who was the first person to use it) and from all the children whose quilts will be sewn on it!  And a big thank you to the ladies who came to the sewing day.  We'll have another one later in the year.

Quilts out and in

Some while ago, I was contacted by Chloe, who lives abroad and wanted to make some quilts for Linus.  Her question was, would I accept them from her?  Of course, the answer was a resounding yes, please!  Well, it's taken a while to get them delivered (via a local friend) but yesterday they arrived safely, and boy, was it worth the wait!

Here are the three cute little prem quilts, made from gorgeous Easter fabric and Paddington fabric.  Perfect for new babies.  Thank you so much for making these quilts, Chloe, they are perfect!

Recently I was contacted by Mary, from Surestart, to see if they could have quilts to give out to the children they work with.  I was happy to say yes, and so met her outside Frankie and Benny's at Meridian (lots of parking there, and it's near her home).  Here we are with a quilt Paula made.  It clashes a bit with my coat!

And I just had to share this beauty with you.  Paula put it together (she is tireless!) but lots of people made some of these scrappy blocks.  It looks so bright and cheerful, and is a good size for a teenage boy.  Many thanks to Paula, Chloe and all the people who have worked for Linus this month! 

Bumper pile of donations

The pile of Linus quilts was getting rather large, so I rang Sue from ADAPT to see if she needed any more quilts. She was keen to take as many as I could give her, which was a total of 40 quilts! (There were actually more, but I had run out of labels!)

Here she is with a lovely gender-neutral quilt, which Paula made, as an example. (You can just see one of the piles of quilts on the settee behind her.) She said there were 1,600 premature babies born in Leicestershire last year, which means an awful lot of quilts! Have a look on ADAPT's website and see the work they do.


Mandy also took 5 quilts to the Looked After Children's Services in Kettering, but I forgot to take a photo. As you know, LAC are very close to my heart as they often don't have loving families, and I think they need a special hug which only a quilt can bring.