Do you teach patchwork and want to help make quilts forSiblingsTogether?

I have a lovely friend, Sheila Donnachie, I just met for the first time this August though I have been 'talking' to her online for several years.   She runs fabulous quilting classes up in Ayrshire in Scotland and an idle comment last year had her students helping me out making blocks for these quilts last year.

Now over to Sheila to tell you in her own words what she is up to with her students for siblings together this coming year:

Some of you may recall that earlier this year, many of my students contributed blocks to Nicky's Siblings Together drive. Recently, Nicky asked me if I thought we could go one better for next year and perhaps come up with a quilt. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a plan. I have asked for 20" quilted blocks -  just nine of these will join together into a pretty decent 60" quilt. I have planned four different colour options and have already had lots of blocks pledged (and some already made!!)

 My role will be to join the blocks using QAYG strip techniques and then bind them too.

 Here is the block I have come up with -

and how such a block will look in a quilt -

The ladies in my classes always rise to a worthy challenge and I have no doubts that together, we will pull this off too.

Well done Sheila for taking this on!  There are pledges for three quilts already and Sheila is working towards making a fourth.   Thank you so much my lovely Scottish friends in Ayrshire for such a brilliant effort.

Do you run local patchwork and quilting classes?   Would you be willing to lead your students in making blocks/quilts for Siblings Together?   We have online tutorials we have used and can suggest or you can come up with your own.  We would love to hear from you if you would like to join in - please leave a comment!  

Welcome to the Siblings Together Quilt Group blog!

Welcome to the brand new blog for the Siblings Together Quilt Group!  Myself, Maria, Sewlovetosew and Nicky, mrsssewandsow decided it would be great to have somewhere as a base for the group: somewhere we can help keep the quilting community's motivation going to make quilts for the children helped by the Siblings Together charity.

We would love the blog to be a place for all you quilters to inspire others by sharing  photos and stories about the quilts you've made for the charity. Here is a place we can ask each other for help when needed, whether that be for blocks for a group quilt, donations of supplies or perhaps a call for people in a locality to get together to make some quilts.

Some of the lovely Siblings Together quilts.

Many of you may already be involved with making Siblings Together quilts and will know about the charity, but for those who are new to the world of Siblings Together quilts here's a quick explanation of what it's all about.

Siblings Together is a charity founded by Delma Hughes, which works to bring together siblings, separated by the care system in the UK.

The Siblings Together charity website explains that there were about 65,000 children in care in England in 2010 and over 40,000 of these children will have been separated from a brother or sister. This separation is often in addition to the breakdown in relationships with parents, which often happens with children in care. For more information please visit the Siblings Together website, which can be found using this link.

Delma and her team arrange summer camps where the children can get together to spend valuable, fun time with their siblings. In Delma's words:

 

"Our camps are incredible; they are often the first time in years many have shared more than an hour's contact together.   It is often quite emotional for them, they know what they have lost and our camps make sure they can enjoy a wonderful shared experience together without social workers, residential staff or foster carers' intrusions.  They can be a 'family' even for a short time.  This can often be life changing for them."

So, where do our quilts come in? It all started in 2012 when Lynne from Lily's quilts discovered, at a chance meeting, that Delma was trying to find out whether it would be possible to get people to make a quilt for each one of these children on the summer camps to keep, their very own home-made quilt.  Lynne decided to try and rally together a few quilters to make some quilts, by posting on her blog, and starting a Flickr group. Not surprisingly the quilting community responded wholeheartedly to her call and the children attending the camps were presented with their very own quilt. Not only those attending the camps in 2012 but in 2013, in 2014 and in 2015 too.

Please do take the time to visit the "About Siblings Together Quilt Group" page at the top of the blog where Lynne and Delma both speak immensely movingly, back in 2012, about the charity and the quilts. 

Please keep re-visiting the blog as we will be adding more information about how you can help,  and what other people have been doing.    

We hope you are with us in supporting this worthy cause and help us in our aim to provide 100 Quilts for 2015/16!  If you are, then please leave a friendly comment to let us know - your encouragement means a lot!

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