Project Linus Day

We had a lovely time on Monday at our Meriden Patchwork Group.  We meet in the Village Hall, usually just for the afternoon.  But as this was our last meeting before the summer break we had  a Project Linus Day.  Wendy leads the group and as she does endless work for Project Linus - making quilt tops from scraps, stash and donated fabrics and orphan blocks, she donates the backing and batting, and much of the fabrics for the tops, quilting them on her long arm etc - the group always makes tops for her at this last meeting which lasts for most of the day..

I haven't been able to go before so I was interested to see how it worked.  Wendy had done SO much preparation, creating kits with an instruction picture to follow.  Each kit was different, some included orphan blocks, others blocks that Wendy had made.  All the sashing strips and cornerstones were cut to size and the border fabric was cut to the right width - we just had to cut them to size once the rest of the top was completed.

During the five hours we were together 9 of us completed 13 quilt tops!

Here they are:

Liberty prints:

 

 I loved this Miffy quilt, the appliqued pictures were delightful.

 

This one included machine embroidered chickens:

 

 This quilt top was made entirely by Carol using lots of her Mother's scraps.

 

 Another one by Carol from her Mother's scraps.

 

 Some great I Spy pictures alternating with Log Cabin blocks.

 

 Batik squares and rectangles in this one

 

 Alternating squares and 9 patches

 This is the one I put together. I love sashing and cornerstones so chose this kit to sew up.  Great fun. The strippy blocks Wendy made are so colourful - an idea I have squired away for future baby quilts.

 

As each one was finished it was pinned to the stage curtains, then onto the window curtains, the last two laid out on a table as by then we were packing up and putting tables and chairs away.

 

Wendy will work her magic on these tops, turn them into quilts and sew on bindings.  Then a willing band of friends will hand sew the back of the bindings.

 

My photos don't really do these quilts justice as it was a dreadfully wet day and  SO dark.. Not like a summer's day at all!

We have Link Up

Amazing, after trying SO many times to add my Wee Bees White Stars quilt to the Siblings Together Link Up it has now miraculously appeared.

Now I want the same magic to work on my Pink, Purple and Orange quilt which I posted to ST a month ago. They can't find it so I am very upset.  Such a lot of work in it. A unique quilt which ai could never replicate. I have filled  in a Post Office form registering its disappearance.  Not too hopeful, it's a long time for a parcel to not be delivered.

Technical issues

Having completed my White Stars Quilt, the Siblings Together quilt I made using blocks donated by the Wee Bees Group, I have had great difficulty putting it onto the Link up for the Charity's quilt total.

So, here, goes, I'm trying again by writing a new post:

This is the April Quilt:

 

Fingers crossed this works!

The friendship of quilters which spans the world

One of my Quilt Blogger friends is Jo Butterfield who lives in Victoria, Australia, not far from Melbourne. Although we have never met we have become friends through quilting, blogging and discovering we have much in common.

Jo is a prolific quilter and supports many worthy causes, including Aussie Hero Quilts. She has made several lovely quilts for this organisation which is run by Jan-Maree.

In Jo's blog post dated Sunday 12 June ( http://jobutterfield.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/aussie-hero-help-needed.html ) Jo has written about the sudden burning down of Jan-Maree's house.  I can't begin to imagine the enormity of such a thing happening.

Please take a look at Jo's post and please help if you can.
Thank you.

Queen Bee duties completed

This morning I finished The Wee Bees April Quilt!
And I am ridiculously pleased with it!

TA DA!!!

 

Three other Wee Bees contributed 2 blocks each to which I added 3 more blocks. Then I put them together, added borders, quilted using mostly machine quilting but hand quilted with Perle thread around the stars to make them stand out.

I made the outer border from 2.5" squares - my stash of squares plus gifted ones from the other Wee Bees.  I think the mixture added a lot to the quilt.

 

The completed quilt measures 60" square, a lot larger than most of the quilts I usually make.

I thought I would have to piece a backing as I don't really have huge pieces of fabric in my stash.

I found the largest piece I had, a bright pink and turquoise spotty number which, with a bit of cutting and piecing, created a backing of the right size.  Because of the busy print the joins aren't particularly noticeable.

 

 

 

As the quilt is already bright and scrappy I felt a quieter binding was needed.

Another rummage in my stash and I found a large piece of white with pale blue wiggly stripes. This was gifted to me by one of my lovely Patchwork Group friends.  It was a piece of a valance she had made for a bed sheet but as it was no longer needed she gave some to me. 

I felt this was just the fabric for this quilt and I am really pleased with the gentle way it completes the quilt. I like re-purposing fabric too so this ticked two boxes.

 

 

I am so pleased that I chose this block style for the Wee Bees April Quilt.

I think the charm of the quilt is all the lovely, quirky fabrics everyone chose for their blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 3 blocks:

Purple centre block

Bottom right pink block

 

 

 

Blue block

 

There was a lot of work involved in making this quilt but I am thrilled with the end result.

I will be sewing on the label this afternoon and then it will be ready to be parcelled up to send to the Siblings Together Charity.

 

Thanks to Nicky Eglinton who asked for Wee Bees to volunteer to make quilts for Siblings Together.

The Wee Bees has now completed three quilts and the fourth is in the pipeline.  I think we have worked together so well, especially as we all live in different parts of the country and have never actually met - other than on line!

Have a look at Nicky's blog: mrssewandsow.blogspot.co.uk