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. 

First donation of the year

 The quilts were starting to pile up, so I looked in my records to see who was next for a donation.  I realised that it was December 2020 since I had seen Asha and she had taken quilts for the Health Visiting Team In the Saffron Lane area to distribute, so I gave her a ring.  It turns out that she is on secondment from her job, heading up a team recruiting foreign nurses to the NHS, but still keeps in contact with her health visiting colleagues and was keen to come over. 

Here we are, in my hall, with some of the bags containing a wonderful 80 quilts!  That’s a lots of hugs! 

Four hundred and ninety one!

 We are at the beginning of a new year, and I can reveal that last year saw 491 quilts donated to Project Linus in Leicestershire!  Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to that fabulous total, whether by sewing quilts, donating fabric or blocks or buying items from the rummage box.  Every little helps, as they say, and they’re definitely not wrong!  

One year ends and another begins.  As soon as I turn to a new page in my record book, the quilts start coming in. 

This is a very poor photo of Katharine from the Craft Centre in Market Harborough who had gathered up donated orphan blocks and made five gorgeous quilts!  

Knit and Stitch sessions are still going ahead in the Methodist church on Bitteswell Road in Lutterworth, from 2pm every first Thursday.  Come along and say hello! 

Wishes4kids

 I had a lot of quilts ready to give out, since my lovely sewers had been beavering away during lockdown and I hadn’t been able to make the usual donations.  I decided to to find some more recipients, so rang Wishes4kids, a local charity which brings joy to children with terminal illnesses or who have suffered trauma of various kinds.  I spoke to the lovely Gary who was in the process of filling 200 goodie bags as Christmas gifts and was delighted to hear that I had quilts to add to the bounty. He was even willing to come over and pick them up!  I got 130 quilts ready for him, and he took them all! 

He was amazed when he chose this beauty for a photo, quite understandably.  His charity, which is based in Leicester, does its best to grant children’s wishes.  These range from activities to meeting celebrities. It was a pleasure to meet such a generous and lovely person.  Carry on the good work, Gary!