The Big Textile Show!

We had a lovely weekend, spending time at The Big Textile Show in Leicester!  We were lucky enough to be invited back to have a (free!) stand at this excellent show.  Many thanks to Jenny for this opportunity.  Paula and Maria were there on Saturday, and Caroline and I took Sunday.  Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos but luckily Caroline took some. 

Here is the project we worked on, a Strippy Snowball design from Stuart Hillard's book, '100 Quilts'.  Stuart was kind enough to give us permission to use this pattern, and lots of people loved it, plus lots of people have taken details of the book so they can put it on their Christmas list.  Good decision. 

Many thanks to all the lovely people who took the time to come over and say hello, and especially to those who brought quilts, fabric and goodies to donate.  It was so generous and rest assured that it will all be put to very good use.  

Look forward to seeing people at Knit and Stitch at the Methodist Church in Lutterworth on Thursday 1st November.  Happy sewing. 

Quilts on their way!

So far this year, we have had a bumper number of donations (over 400 so far!) but the requests have kept pace with them.  

Recently I had a visit from Asha, who works at the Saffron Lane Children's Centre.  

Here we are with a few of the quilts she's taking away.  Saffron Lane is a deprived area of Leicester, and I'm sure they will bring smiles to some faces. 

Then Paula and I had a trip to Doncaster!  I know it's out of our area, but Judy, from Fostering Futures, has moved house and this was a suitable halfway point between Lutterworth and her new home on the Yorkshire coast.  She is still working for the same organisation (lots of commuting) so the quilts will still be given to children in the same area. 

Here we are with Judy and a lovely beach house quilt made by Maria.  It was lovely to catch up with Judy and all her news, and she brought goodies for us.  

She brought a beautiful card made by one of her girls, and inside was tucked a donation which should keep us in wadding for quite a while!  Thank you so much to all those who donated this money.  Every penny will be spent on providing more hugs. 

And she brought this big bag of fabric!  A friend of hers had bought fabric to make quilts, but had decided it would be quicker to donate it to our willing band of sewers.  Thank you so much for all this.  Paula and I had a lovely day, and even managed to fit in a little retail therapy before setting off for home! 

September news

There has been steady sewing here in Leicestershire and the pile of quilts waiting to be delivered is growing.  We were invited to Barleston to do some sewing with a craft group there.  We went over last year, but I'm surprised we were invited back, as we had satnav problems, which meant we ended up in a field and were horribly late!  This time we made sure we were there in good time! 

We decided to do the Accuquilt dogs, and the ladies were delighted.  One of them said they'd thought it would be the same thing as last year, not knowing I have a number of different hand sewn ideas to choose from. 

Here are the ladies, hard at work.  Some of them had to be reminded how to do blanket stitch, but then it's been a long time since we made tray cloths and handkerchief bags in primary school! 

They quickly got the hang of it, and made lots of blocks.  I'd already made some nine patches to go in between, so it won't take long to complete.  They've booked us already for next year, so we must be doing something right!  

Then I had a visit from Penny from Quiltitude with five quilts they have made for Linus.  This one is from the Four Corner Jelly Roll pattern we used last year.  Looks gorgeous.  Thank you Quiltitude ladies. 

Then today I had a squishy parcel - they're the best kinds!  It was from Gemma, who had made three lovely quilts and posted them to me.  Bright and colourful is what we like!  I'll get those labelled and checked straight away, and they'll soon be off to their new owners! 

Sewing day!

Yesterday Rosemary from the Diana Service came round and collected 25 quilts!  The service only had 15 quilts in June, but she said they have just flown out!  She said she usually takes three or four quilts for a child to choose from, and they usually have a hard job!  'But I like them all.  I can't choose because they're all so gorgeous!' Is the usual refrain.  She helps them by suggesting they eliminate the ones they like least, until one is remaining.  Good strategy! 

She loved this quilt, but mainly for its football fabric on the back!  I'm sure some football loving child will love this too. 

Then today, we were able to replenish the stocks of quilts by having. Linus sewing day here in Lutterworth.  We usually see for the afternoon, but hired the hall for the day to get a good run at the pile of UFOs. 

Marjorie is busy putting together the black, grey and red blocks we made at Piecemakers, and Sheens has the blue ones.  Gail started to put together some donated star blocks, although they were a bit tricky to match up.  

Francesca had assembled a spiders web top and wanted to layer and quilt it.  She couldn't come for the whole day, but has taken it home to finish. Julie had a set of orphans to join together, and had brought her Accuquilt cutter and dies to help use up some of the donated fabric.  Maria had a set of elephant blocks to sash and assemble.  I didn't get Rachel's photo, but she wanted to get some techniques under her belt, and succeeded wonderfully! 

Paula took on some of the chickens we made last time.  There were a couple to complete and then the top to assemble.  Di finished a scrappy Bargello which has been waiting for a while to be completed.  Then she kindly layered it up and took it home to finish!  Fabulous. 

Sue and Ann came in the afternoon.  Ann brought her own hand project and Sue started sewing strips for another strippy snowball quilt in pink.  I think she enjoyed the pretty fabrics. 

The knitters were all busy creating loveliness.  They were a little fazed that we had taken over their usual side of the hall, and most of the tables, but soon made the best of what was left, including a child's low red table!  It was a lovely day, and we even had visitors. 

Julie's Mum, sister Lynne and friend came over to support us and have a natter.  It was lovely to see them.  We were sorry that Caroline didn't manage to come - her car broke down.  We certainly missed her, but everyone worked very hard and most people took some UFOs home to finish.  Many thanks to all who came and gave their time and skills.  You're not only talented, but big hearted! 

Busy time

The weather has been very hot, but Linus quilting is less about warmth than comfort, so things have been going on very much as usual. 

I was invited along to Desford Loving Hands, where they make all kinds of craft items for charity, including quilts for Project Linus.  It was lovely to meet Janet, the organiser, all the ladies and recognise Anne, who comes to Knit and Stitch!  It's always good to see a familiar face.  

This group makes dresses for little girls in Africa, and you can see one being cut out in purple. 

Of course, there's lots of chat as well, and nice big mugs of tea, so all is well.  Thank you for inviting me, and I hope to see you again soon. 

Then I had an email from Chris to say their Mum and friends had some quilts to donate.  We arranged to meet, and I was quite surprised to see a man!  I'd automatically assumed it was a Christine, rather than a Christopher!  Apparently, Chris's Mum lives about 200 miles away from me, but despite having contacted several local Linus coordinators, couldn't fix a hand over.  I was embarrassed, as we all know that life gets in the way sometimes, but it seems ridiculous that these ladies had so much difficulty being charitable!  Ah, well, all's well that ends well, and local children will enjoy snuggling under these gorgeous quilts. 

This man is my husband who kindly agreed to help me deliver 50 quilts to Ward 27 of the Leicester Royal Infirmary.  

The nurses there were at great pains to impress upon me the great joy and gratitude with which the quilts imbue to children and parents alike.  This scrappy Bargello quilt would bring some pleasure to any child's life.  

Quilts in

I had a visit from Gail this morning, bringing me 17 - yes, seventeen! - lovely quilts!  She came to one of our sewing days at 'Hannah's Room' last year, the one where we made disappearing 9-patch quilts.  Here she is with her quilt. 

Thank you for the quilts and also thank you for bringing them all the way to Lutterworth.  When I last saw Roxanna, she said she was interested in organising another sewing day, so watch this space for details! 

Busy morning

No sooner had I unloaded all the gorgeous quilts from my car, than I had a phone call from Pip on Ward 10 of the LRI Children's Hospital to see if they could have more quilts!  Of course, is the answer.  So Paula and I loaded 80 of the checked and labelled quilts into the car, and off we went.  We have finally cracked how to get lots of quilts along the paths, through the doors, up the lifts and along the corridors to the children's wards - use a porter's cage with a door! 

This cage had a kind of box at the bottom so the quilt bags didn't slide out, and a door to keep them all inside.  The fact that it had a mind of its own was another matter, but nobody was injured on our way up to the ward! 

Here are me, Pip and one of the nurses with quilts they selected.  They were over the moon to receive so many lovely quilts, and we're looking forward to spreading hugs all over the ward!  

Th en Paula and I headed off to Fosse Park to meet Margaret who had some quilts for me. 

I forgot to take her picture, but here are her lovely bright and cheerful quilts.  Thank you so much, Margaret, and keep up the good work! 

Shepshed Superstars!

I'm always excited when I'm invited over to 'Quilting Together' in Shepshed, as I know I'll bring away lots of lovely quilts and some fun memories.  They are a lovely group and very dedicated to Project Linus.  Last year, there were 99 quilts given to me, and I knew they were keen to replicate or even surpass this number this year. 

Here are the quilts waiting for me.  Nobody knew how many there were, but here was talk of at least 60 or 80 being there.  First there was the important business of looking through some of the donated fabric I'd brought. 

Other people's fabric choices are always more interesting than what's in your stash!  I brought three boxes of fabric and took just the one home.  Result!  

Then there was the equally important business of tea and cake.  I must say, Mr Aldi bakes exceedingly good scones - especially when they are spread with jam and clotted cream!  Yum! 

Then the quilts. The tally mounted as they were held up, admired, photographed and put into piles of ten.  Eighty, ninety, a hundred, a hundred and ten, a hundred and twenty - a hundred and twenty one!  Amazing!  Although I took photos of all of them, I'm only going to put some on the blog, or I'll run out of space! 

An alphabet panel cleverly bigged up to a good size. 

Squares on point, arranged in a cross design. 

A selection of HSTs arranged in windmills. 

A medallion made from a central block and lots of small orphans. 

Another medallion with bordered little animal blocks as a centre. 

Is this Chinese coins or a jelly roll race?  Either way, it's fun. 

Good use of blocks and 2.5" squares. M

This is a blast from the past - a Rocheberie Mystery quilt from way back when!  

You can't beat rail fence, and this sashed version looks great. 

Lots of small blocks in toning colours - looks almost like Tula Pink blocks! 

Rainbow Mile A Minute, arranged in stars!  The quilting on this one is lovely too! 

Robot fabric bigged up by a striped insert.  Perfect! 

Strips and squares in a very satisfactory arrangement. 

Another old friend - Bonnie Hunter's 'Allietare!'.  Such a great design. 

And Bonnie's Scrappy Bargello, another favourite scrap buster. 

And finally, a great way to use hexagons.  They are always tricky to know how to make up, and this is a good idea. 

So, 121 quilts.  Thanks particularly to Eileen for packing lots of quilts carefully in my boot, so I was able to see out of the back window over the beautiful piles of quilts on the back seat!  Happy quilting ladies, and see you next year, if not before! 

It's a dog's life in Barwell!

Paula and I were delighted to be invited to the U3A Craft Group in Barwell again, to do some sewing with these lovely ladies.  The projects have to be hand sewing, as the centre where they meet insists that all electrical equipment used has a current PAT test certificate.  That's no problem for me, as all my Linus equipment and my own sewing machine have valid stickers, but I can understand that people who only use their machines infrequently outside the house wouldn't think it was worth the cost.  No problems as I can always come up with a hand sewn project. 

This time it was dogs! I had cut out some dogs using the Accuquilt cutter, and provided each person with a dog, an ear, a piece of white fabric and a choice of thread to blanket stitch the bonded dog onto the fabric!  The nine patches had been made at a Knit and Stitch session, and add a bit of interest, as well as using up some of the donated scraps!  

Here everyone is hard at work.  

And here are the blocks which were completed on the day and sewn together in strips by Paula.  I aimed to make the quilt 7 X 7 blocks, and have a few more completed and nearly completed blocks to add.  It's amazing that although the dogs are all from an identical template, their positions and ear placements seem to give them their own personalities!  I'll post more pictures of this quilt once it's completed. Thank you very much ladies for your welcome, your hard work and the kind donation to funds which you gave me.  See you in 2019!

Hospital visiting

I had a call from Susan at the LRI Paediatric Intensive Care Unit that they would like more quilts.  I rounded up Julie and Maria and we braved the LRI car park (and the rain!) to take 30 quilts there.

Here are Dawn, myself and Susan with a couple of quilts they pulled out of the bags.  They were delighted to receive them, and said how much colour and individuality they bring to the ward.  The children love them, and the parents love them too.  They have a high turnover of patients and they said these would be soon giving out hugs!  I was very glad that Julie and Maria could be there to receive such fulsome praise for their efforts!  Well done! 

Elephants!

Today I had a visit from Helenka, who works for East Midlands Foster Care.  We have met before, and she remembered coming to my house to pick up quilts, but she was rather shocked when I showed her her photo on this site, and it was 2014!  Time flies when you don't concentrate!  

She was delighted to pick up 50 quilts, and especially liked this one with elephants on it, as elephants (who never forget you) are part of her organisation's logo!  What a coincidence!  She was very keen that I impress on all who are involved with Linus how grateful they are for the quilts and how much they are valued by staff, parents and children.  She says whenever she visits a young person, the quilt is there on their bed, for all to see.  That's exactly what we like to hear!  Thank you Helenka, and I hope it's not another four years before we meet again! 

An ill wind

Poor Jill-Marie has had a miserable winter and been poorly for most of December and January.  I was sad to hear this, but glad that all this time at home has resulted in seven quilts for Project Linus!  

She always makes bright and cheerful quilts, and says they give her lots of pleasure in the making. 

Thank you so much, Jill-Marie, and I'll look forward to seeing you and Colin at some local quilty event soon!