Quilts delivered

The pile of quilts waiting to be delivered has been growing recently, so I have been contacting possible recipients with great success.  Everyone likes a hug you can keep! 

Today I went to the Leicester LGBT centre to deliver some quilts for their young people and some children living with HIV.  

Here is proof of the fact that I'd never make a living as a photographer - fancy posing next to a window!  Never mind, you can at least see me and Project Worker Dennis holding a quilt he had chosen.  It's Maria's Scrappy String as it happens.  Dennis was lovely and made all the right noises and comments about the quilts.  Hope they have the desired effect. 

Nether Broughton

When I mentioned to my daughter that I was off to Nether Broughton, she said it sounded like somewhere in Middle Earth!  It certainly sounds quite old fashioned, but I was going to a quilting group, so was very confident that it would be lovely!  And indeed it was.  I gave a short talk about Linus, and met some lovely ladies, including the fabulous Margaret (who is another Bonnie Hunter fan - must be a lady of discernment and talent!) who leads the group.  She had had an unexpected windfall, and had spent the money on fabric to teach the group Split Nine Patch!  So generous!  

Here she is with a beautiful strippy quilt.  It was made by layering the backing and wadding, then sewing the strips on to the wadding by stitching and flipping, then all is quilted, and ready for sewing together quilt as you go!  How clever is that!  

Here is the pile of quilts I brought back from the meeting.  There were thirty lovely quilts altogether!  Thank you so much ladies, I had a fun evening.  See you again soon? 

Last week we were lucky to be invited to The Big a Textile Show in Great Glen, Leicester.  If you haven't been to this show, then put it in your diary, as it's quite different - in a good way.  There are a variety of exhibitors and traders, from spinners and weavers, dyers, printers, quilters, embroiderers and all kinds of other textile people. 

Here is our stall, which was manned by myself, Maria (pictured), Julie, Eileen and Emily.  Many thanks to these stalwarts, and all the people who came along to say hello and find out about Project Linus.  We'll look forward to seeing you next year! 

Rutland Quilters

Things have been fairly quiet over the summer, Linus-wise, but no sooner have the children gone back to school, than we're off!  Jenny, from Rutland Quilters contacted me, as they had some quilts to donate. She wanted to meet somewhere and do a handover, but I suggested it would be nice for me to come to a meeting, meet the quilters and have a chinwag!  They meet in Uppingham, so yesterday I set my trusty satnav and set off.  It was a beautiful run from Lutterworth, through the villages, Gilmorton,  Kibworth Harcourt, Hallerton, Cranoe etc. and just when I was beginning to think I was going to end up in the middle of nowhere, there was Uppingham!  Good route. 

They are a small group, but have assembled a gorgeous set of quilts. I was particularly impressed that they had been careful to make sure there were some quilts for boys - look at the lovely aeroplane and sky one on the left. Perfect.  We had a cuppa and they had a look through my pattern folder, and then I had an opportunity to admire their work. 

Look at the tiny hexagons!  I think they were half an inch! The colours were more brown than green, and it will be made into a table runner, eventually.  Did you notice the wrist pincushion?  Great idea!

These were all ladies after my own heart.  This one was using leftovers in black, white and pink to make enough fabric for a bag.  It will look stunning. 

And these ladies were sorting scrap squares into sizes, for ease of use.  It's the only way to do it. 

Then, just as I was going, out came these fabulous cushions! 

Cats!  They were an excercise in positive and negative. 

And here are the two together.  Thank you very much for inviting me over, and for the lovely quilts.  I look forward to seeing you again.m

Coffee and quilts

My friend Jane has recently decided to stop teaching patchwork.  This is a shame, as she's a talented, patient and understanding teacher, but it was the right decision for her.  So, what to do with all the blocks, Blue Peters and samples she had amassed?  Make them into Linus quilts, of course!  We met for a coffee and a catch up, and she handed over a total of ten beautiful quilts!

Here she is with a gorgeous ribbon quilt.  You can see the bag with the other quilts in her boot.  If you want to see all the quilts, look on Jane's blog, www.janeweston.blogspot.com where she has photos of them.  Thank you so much, Jane, you're a star! 

Quilts to Cambridge

My daughter Gemma works for a charity in Cambridge which supports young people struggling with their sexuality.  She contacted her local Linus rep to see if there were any hugs to spare, to find there weren't!  Shame!  Luckily I had some, so I was able to deliver some today.  Here she is with a gorgeous quilt.

Having been involved with Linus for several years, and helped with fabric choices, layouts, label sewing and delivery, she was thrilled to be able to be on the other side of the counter (as it were) and be able to receive the love.  And here are some of the young people supported by Sexyouality, enjoying their hugs.

Interesting to see they have chosen a green quilt donated by Hazel, a scrappy windmill, a rail fence sashed in pink, and the red and black quilt which was made by members of Sew Sociable!  

Apparently they were really touched that " some old ladies" we're prepared to make such beautiful things especially for them!  Well, less of the "old ladies" thank you, and maybe we'll send some more!

Another visit from the fairies!

I just popped out earlier this evening to get some milk, when I found the fairies had payed me another visit!  Two carrier bags were outside the front door, one full of fabric (and very heavy) and the other with recent quilting magazines. 

There was a note on top of the large bag, but no identification! 

How kind of you, Good Fairy!  We will indeed appreciate using decent quantities of top quality fabrics, instead of using up scraps, which of course, are wonderful in their own way, but can be very frustrating when they are not quite big enough or the right shape for what you need them for! 

Here is the contents of the large bag.  Two jelly rolls (one with its background fabric and pattern), a huge fat quarter pack in blues and creams (ideal for boy quilts!), a quilt pack, some batik charm packs, some gorgeous animal novelty fabrics, plenty of cream fabrics (you can never have enough neutrals), some blue yardage, wool, an advent calendar, more fat quarters and decent cuts of fabric, some 2" squares and some batik blocks!  I will take all this to Knit and Stitch next week, and share it amongst the Linus ladies there.  They will be delighted, and put it all to very good use.  Thank you so much, Good Fairy, and a Merry Christmas to you too!

More quilts where they belong

Last week I was contacted by Asha, who works for the NHS Partnership, working with vulnerable children in the Saffron Lane area of Leicester, as they needed more quilts.  Had I got any they could have?  The answer was, of course!

She came round to my house on the way back from a training day and collected 30 quilts.  

Here she is with a gorgeous Scrappy Bargello quilt.  I hadn't met Asha before, but she remembered quilts coming in to her office and tracked me down.  I'm delighted that the quilts will all be finding good homes.  That leaves me with 'only' about 30 quilts left, but I'm sure there are plenty in the pipeline!