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.

Quilts for vulnerable children

I had a call yesterday from Micheala from Catch-22 to see if I thought the children she works with would be eligible for Linus quilts. If, like me, you've never heard of this organisation, have a look here to see the kind of work that they do. As far as I'm concerned, vulnerable children like these are the ideal recipients of Linus quilts, as not only do they need the hug, but they also need the quilt!

Michaela kindly came to my house, and took 12 of the largest quilts I had (for young people aged 16 and over) and six cot quilts, as some of these youngsters are already mums. So if anyone out there has any large quilts or a good pattern which knits up big, please let me know!

Happy babies

This week I managed to make a delivery of 35 quilts to ADAPT, the charity working with premature babies and their families. Sue Williams came over and took a large pile of quilts away with her. (Actually, 35 isn't as big a pile as you'd think, as lots were the small prem quilts and cot quilts, so not too big!) Sue was delighted, and said they would soon be finding new homes. She was as good as her word, and has sent me these photos of small ones enjoying their quilts!

This little one has chosen the quilt which was made by Caitlin, our youngest Linus quilter, at only 7 years old!

This youngster is delighted to have this cute cot quilt with farm animals on it.

And here is (possibly) a future textile artist, busy examining the quilt's construction!

I was so glad to see these quilts going out and giving hugs, as this year has been another bumper year for Project Linus in Leicestershire. So far, I have received 299 quilts! Is there anyone who has a quilt which can bring the count up to 300? Hoping so!

New Linus year

It seems a bit strange to be starting a new year in September, but I started as Project Linus co-ordinator in September 2005, so it makes sense to me!

This year has been another fantastic one for Linus in South Leicestershire. I have been delighted to have had Jackie Pyle and Mandy Allen on board this year, whose dedication and hard work is no doubt reflected in the fact that the total for this year is a whopping 185 quilts! These have been donated to the women’s refuges in Leicester and Hinckley, the Diana Project based at Glenfield Hospital, ADAPT, a charity for premature babies at the Royal Infirmary and General Hospital, the Children’s Hospital and the Paediatric Oncology Unit, which are both at the Royal Infirmary.

Jackie is a whizz with the rotary cutter and has made up lots of kits. She is also very talented at getting orphan blocks to go nicely together to make tops. Mandy is a whirlwind who has not only made quilts, but organised two sewing days this year (one coming up on 21st September at Lubbenham Village Hall 10-4), taken quilts out to the Royal Infirmary and organised lots of publicity too. Many thanks to these wonderful ladies.

So the totals in the side bar are looking a bit sad so far. Only one quilt received, and that was made by me!

This is a fungly quilt, which was made as a challenge on Tonya's blog. You had to choose some ugly, some boring and some fun fabrics from your stash and make traditional blocks from them. It's a way of using up fabrics which would lurk at the bottom of your stash, and I think, in this instance, have made a fun quilt for an older child. If you fancy making something a bit different, look at her blog for more detailed instructions. (Can you spot the block which turned itself round when I wasn't looking?!)