And then there were - not very many!

 Since the pandemic, I have been donating quilts to our local food bank.  I’m very grateful to them for taking the time to give extra support to the children in our locality.  They took 20 quilts, which has left my cupboard not exactly bare, but sparse! 

I put the labelled and checked quilts in charity bags of ten, and as you can see, there are two full bags and a few more waiting to make a bag up.  So far, we have had 421 quilts donated to Project Linus here in Leicestershire, and we still have most of December left!  

I don’t really expect many quilts this month, but you never know! 

Busy November

 Things have been very busy this month. Firstly Paula and I went up to Shepshed to share some of the donated fabric with the ladies at Quilting Together.  

They aren’t backward in coming forward, which is a good job, as my fabric boxes have been very full 

 

The cleaners have complained about the threads on the carpet, so they now spread a sheet on the floor before tipping it all out.  Some people though, can’t wait! 

They not only rootle, but they willingly sort it all back into the right boxes - each with a bit of space in, thank goodness! 

We had been invited to do some sewing with Crafty Stitchers (formerly Leicester Embroiderers Guild).  They had decided that sheep and hedgehogs would be ideal for a handsewing day.  People chose which they wanted to do, and Alison had kindly cut out the papers for us.  She also showed a nifty way of pinning the papers, so many thanks to her. 

There were 15 people altogether, and they provided a tasty shared lunch for all. 

Here is Paula with the Blue Peters and supplies.  

Here they are with their day’s work.  Most people decided to finish off their blocks and several people took another.  They will all be used in Linus quilts. 

This rather dark picture is of myself and Gemma, who works for Women’sAid, meeting in a car park part way through her school run.  We Linus coordinators certainly get around!  They have quite a few children in their refuges at the moment, and Gemma took 40 quilts for their snuggling pleasure.  Good job! 

Visit to the LRI

 Today I contacted Pip in Ward 10 of the Leicester Infirmary to see if she would like any quilts.  (I imagined she did, because I last took some over last October!) She said, yes please and bring them any time, so I got in my car straightaway.  

When I got to the ward, Pip could not be found.  A kind nurse looked everywhere for her, so eventually I left 50 quilts for her when she reappeared. 

Here is the kind nurse who searched for Pip.  Hope the youngsters enjoy their quilts! 

Visit to Kenilworth

 My friend Pauline runs a U3A patchwork and quilting group in Kenilworth.  The group kindly decided to make up some Linus quilts as a project this year, and then they invited Paula and I along to receive the quilts and do some Linus sewing. We were delighted!  We decided to make some sheep blocks, and they all set to and made some gorgeous blocks. 

Not all the sheep are complete, but hey, it’s not a race!  We had a good chat about everything from the Festival of Quilts to Ada Lovelace! I really hope they invite us back again sometime! 

And then there were the quilts.  All were gorgeous, from the orphan collection to the appliquéd.  Thank you so much ladies.  There were 17 quilts altogether, but a special thank you to Anna who made 10 of them! 

Here is a close up of some of them.  Happy sewing, ladies, and hope to see you soon. 

Visit to Shepshed

 I always look forward to seeing the talented quilters at Quilting Together in Shepshed.  Once a year I go over and collect their beautiful quilts and take donated fabric for them to make more!  It usually goes very well, but this time I was a bit preoccupied and completely omitted to take any boxes!  The ladies were very understanding, and let me have delicious cake and 37 lovely quilts.  

This is a quilt made from tumblers cut by Julie. 

Bright and cheerful is what we like. 

Interesting arrangement of squares. 

Quilts don’t have to be complex to be stunning. This one is stunning. 

Lots of transport on this quilt. 

Wonky stars make a great centre for this quilt. 

A great central panel framed. 

Here is a great collection of orphans who are playing very nicely together. 

This is an unusual quilt for Anne.  She’s a very scrappy quilter normally, but must have been seduced by these gorgeous panels.  A clever use of hexagons for the border. 

The hexagons are offset.  I haven’t worked out how they’re done.  Clever. 

This is a four corner half jelly roll quilt.  Eileen made it, but wasn’t convinced about the method!  Looks great to me. 

A delicate quilt in soft colours. 

Another great boys’ quilt. 

All the quilts were lovely and I’ve made a promise to return with fabric soon. 

 

Autumn

 Quilt donations have been a little more steady this year - thank goodness, and I have been able to keep up with quilts in and quilts out.  Yesterday I had a call from Hannah, at Jay Fostering, to say that she was down to her last two quilts and could they have some more!  I was delighted to pop over and bring her 30 quilts, and she was equally delighted to replenish her stock.  

Here she is outside the office, and you can just see one of the bags of quilts through the door.  

Project Linus UK usually have a theme for quilt donations every year, and this year it is Disappearing 9- patch.  I found a very good tutorial by Leah Day which makes a lovely ‘controlled scrappy’ look. 

This design was made by ladies at Knit and Stitch.  Looking good! 

Fabric donation

 Today I went up to Leicester to visit Crafty Sew and Sew.  They are a sewing workshop near the Curve Theatre.  Freya had contacted me to say they had some scraps left over from their recent sewing classes, and was I interested in having them.  Of course the answer was yes!  

Here are Freya and partner in their studio, and you can see there were several bags of scraps for me to take away!  There were all types of fabrics in the bags, and some pieces which I would definitely call ‘fabric’ rather than scraps, plus one or two garment pieces which obviously weren’t up to scratch, but will cut up beautifully!  Thank you so much for thinking of Project Linus, and be assured we will make good use of it! 

Reaching children in need of comfort

I have been delighted recently to be contacted by several school learning assistants, play therapists and nurture room coordinators who have heard about Project Linus and are keen to bring extra security and comfort to the young people they come in contact with.  I’m so heartwarmed by the fact that they are prepared to go the extra mile and contact me in their spare time to make a difference!  Shout out to these amazing ladies!  

Here is Kelly who was amazed to be able to take two quilts for her nurture room and three more for some Ukrainian refugees who have recently arrived in her school. 

This photo was taken in the fabulous play therapy room at Rushy Mead School in Leicester. 

Karen is the Play Therapist and she was generous enough to alert a member of staff from the specialist autism provision to take the quilts she hadn’t chosen!  Luckily, all the quilts are gorgeous!  

Then today we had Donna (and her lovely husband Darren) from Braunstone who popped by for a cuppa and took three quilts for her family room.  Donna has just started a new job and is very enthusiastic about bringing as much colour and comfort into her charges’ surroundings as possible.  She’s even promised to invite me round to see the quilts in situ later in the year. 

Here is Deborah who took the time to come over from Wigston to collect quilts for her youngsters. 

 

Emily is in Loughborough and her quiet room is called ‘The Glade’.  You can see why.  We had arranged to meet my brother for lunch in Loughborough, so I was lucky enough to be able to visit Emily’s little den! 

Here she is -tickled pink - with a hedgehog quilt!  Perfect for her room. 

Busy May

 We were delighted to be invited back to Barwell U3A Craft Group to do some sewing.  This group is very friendly and hard working, and we were pleased to see them again. Unfortunately they have lost some members over the last two years, which seems to be true for many groups.  I think some people have become comfortable in staying at home, and there have been no new members, because there have been no meetings! Well, the ladies who came were lovely! 

We were making hexagon sheep, which proved to be achievable in the time. 

Julie and Paula came with me, and here are the results of our labours.  Great work.  

 

Then today we went along to Ward 27 at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, where Chandni was ready to receive some more quilts.  Here are some nurses, Paula and I ‘smiling’ for the camera! 

Quilts out and in!

 This month I was contacted by Lily from The Kite Trust (an LGBT+ charity) to see if I had any larger quilts for a group of teenagers who were going on a residential.  As it happened, I had some larger quilts donated recently, and I had put them to one side for just such a purpose.  

Lily came over to collect them, and chose this lovely scrappy quilt for the photo.  The residential is this weekend, and I hope they don’t get inconvenienced by Storm Eunice! 

Earlier this week we were invited to a sewing day by the lovely Quilt Together group in Shepshed.  We always love visiting this group as they are all lovely (and talented) ladies. 

Here are some of them having a well earned rest, except for Lesley who is beavering away. 

Julie, Caroline and Paula joined us.  I think it’s the lunch they particularly like! 

Marion, Eileen, Ann and friend struggled somewhat with my kits.  Marion eventually enjoyed making this tumbler quilt! 

I took lots of kits and a box of backing fabrics.  People usually have bits and pieces to add to the mix, but yardage for backing is always appreciated. 

And here are some of the results of all that hard work.  Caroline proved to be a master at choosing orphan blocks to go together.  These were from the 12” bag. 

This tumbler quilt went together well. 

This is another quilt put together by Caroline.  She actually emptied the 6” orphan bag completely! 

Log cabin blocks put together beautifully. 

Another set of orphans finally get a family. 

Julie had made some kits from 2,5” strips for this 4-corner jelly roll quilt.  Quick, bright and cheerful! 

More orphans get to play nicely together. 

Finally, some red and white HSTs find a great design.  

Thank you so much Quilt Together ladies for a lovely day.  Lots of tops made up, several kits taken away, and a lot of fun as a by product!  See you again later in the year.