Crumb quilt workshop

 Our local quilt group, Lutterworth Piecemakers, were wanting a Saturday workshop.  Recently they haven’t had great attendance at workshops, so I offered to run one, and make it a fundraiser for Linus.  I decided to encourage people to use up their scraps and make crumb quilts. 

Here are my samples.  

In the end, so many people wanted to come to the day that we made a huge profit of over £300!  That will go well towards wadding and backing.  Madeline and Di very kindly ran a raffle, which was very well supported.  Thank you both of you. 

Here are all the participants, hard at work.  I don’t think anyone made a serious dent in their scrap bags, although Chris made fourteen 6.5” blocks in the day.  Great work!  

Happy New Year!

Here we are, already halfway through January, and my cupboard is looking a bit fuller.  The total of quilts was 439, which is an amazing number!  Thank you so much to those who sewed, those who donated and those who supported for your hard work. 

Another incredible number has come to me from Project Linus HQ.  Since I have been the Leicestershire coordinator, I have managed the making and distribution of 4,900 quilts!  I couldn’t have done it without you! Let’s have three cheers for us! 

In other news, we have decided to move venue for our monthly Knit and Stitch sessions.  These take place every first Thursday of the month from 2-4 pm.  From the February meeting we will be at the Well-being Hub at Lutterworth Sports Centre on Coventry Road in Lutterworth.  This venue has plenty of free parking, level access, a modern room with underfloor heating, its own toilet and kitchen area.  We are sorry to have left the Methodist Church Hall, but it was time for us to move on.  Everyone is welcome, and we ask for a donation of £2 to cover the room hire.  Coffee or tea will be available for a bargain 50p.  Hope to see you there on February 4th. 

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.