Marigold Quilters.

The Marigold Quilters are fabulous supporters of quilts for Siblings Togther and this year have made eleven wonderful quilts. Janice from the group explains how they became involved.

"We first got to know each other in a patchwork class in Chichester quite a few years ago.  Although the class stopped, we carried on meeting occasionally even if it was just for coffee.  Last summer we decided to hire the village hall to meet once a month and have a whole day sewing. Our first thought was just to ‘do our own thing’, perhaps tackling some of our UFOs or using up some of the stash but we really felt we wanted a bit more of a purpose.

 So, I Googled ‘quilts for charity’, found Siblings Together, and we immediately agreed that making quilts for you would  be just the project we were looking for.  So we pooled our stash and orphan blocks and worked together to make eleven quilts so far.  We hope they are what you want."

They certainly are Janice! Thanks very much on behalf of the Siblings Together charity.

 

If you are on Facebook do take a look at the Siblings Together charity's page as they are posting pictures of the quilts as they receive them plus other information about  what they do.

Drop Dead Gorgeous: The ladies of Bee 2!!

Thet Lilac TCat

Quilting and sewing

Today, Jennifer of The Lilac Cat blog tells us about the two gorgeous quilts she put together from blocks made by the members of Siblings Together Bee 2. Many thanks to Jennifer for giving permission to use her original blog post.

Drop dead gorgeous.

Now I can make that outrageous comment because I didn’t make this quilt other than the final assembly. Virtually all of the blocks come from my wonderful bee mates of the Siblings Together Bee 2.
I was Bee mamma for the very first time last September.  Siblings Together is a UK-based charity that brings together siblings that are split up in our care system for a holiday where happy memories of being together can be made and bonds kept alive. Each year quilters across the world make something like hundred quilts so that each child on these camps can have their own as momento of this special time together. There are lots of initiatives to get quilters involved.

Being relatively new to quilting and feeling a bit nervous about taking on the responsibility of other people making for me I did lots of research as I tend to do when I’m unsure about things. As an aside ahead of having our first child I read so many parenting books I could have passed a masters degree in child care although hands on experience was nil!!    Some of it even came in useful! Any way back to my quilt research I learnt people liked reasonably quick and easy blocks, preferably enabling them to use scraps, with a fairly broad colour range and from the mama’s perspective an overall design with wriggle room in case the blocks are inconsistently sized. Well step forward the Fieldcrossing quilt , a free design from Cloud Nine,  it has all these elements and more. Heaven  knows  why it is called Field Crossing but it is a beautiful design.
So we now have a finished quilt and isn’t she a stunner. I think it may be my favourite quilt to date.

I chose an all over fmq design of curves to complement the pointy elements of this design. The wadding was Dream Puff and the finished quilting was certainly more pronounced and puffy. Apparently it’s nice and warm and not as thin feeling as some other waddings. Don’t worry I shan’t be sleeping under it to check the product’s claims!!

In fact it must’ve been an easy block to make because most of the members very kindly sent me way more than I asked for, in fact enough to create two quilts. This is the other  one.

I wanted this one to have a bit more masculine feel to it hence it’s rather strong graphic design. It’s also made thinking that there will probably be teenage boys and some will be very tall. I think I may have reached the absolute maximum size on my domestic sewing machine. Just now need to get these labelled and off.  Am I the only one who hates the labelling…..?

Thanks again to Jenny and the ladies of Bee 2.

Mowbray Quilters

The Mowbray quilters of Thirsk, North Yorkshire have generously made and sent eight wonderful quilts to Siblings Together for this years camps.

Many thanks go to Pauline Gacal for sending the photos and to the ladies of Mowbray Quilters for supporting our campaign for 100 quilts for Siblings Together.

At the time of writing we have 87 linked quilts. Fantastic! Take a look at our "Quilt Link Up" page above to see all the wonderful quilts and don't forget to link your quilt too!

Siblings Together have asked that if possible we send the quilts via Royal Mail rather than by courier. The reason being that their office is manned during office hours and Royal Mail deliver within these hours. Sometimes courier companies deliver outside of these hours and if there is no one in the office to receive the parcel it is taken away by the courier company and it is sometimes difficult to get the parcel re-delivered. Thanks.

Orphan Medallions and how I make them - an example

It all started with this delectable mountain block from  Carina .   I decided it was such a bold block it would make a striking centre of a sizzling medallion in hot colours - orange, pink and maybe some yellow.  

I also found some scrap orange stars that came from the lovely Julie who always seems to conjure up fabulous quilts from scraps - she is truly inspiring and I decided the nine patch and rail fence blocks, also donated by Carina, would feature somehow.  

The centre was quite dark so I thought I should go with something lighter as a contrast and squares of 2wenty Thr33 fabric donated by Emma seemed a good match as the colours are pink, orange, mustard and grey.  The squares repeat the star centres. 

I cut lots out but it seemed chaotic at first (sorry no photo - you will have to trust me on that), so I thought I'd repeat the nine patch that would feature later in the quilt.  This seemed more restful to my eye.

My borders didn't quite fit at first hence the skinny dark pink border round the centre block.  I love those skinny borders that permit a tiny punch of strong colour and help everything to measure up to the same width/length.   

Once those blocks were patched together I added another scrappy thin border which repeated all the colours of my chosen scheme.  It now looked a bit square!   


Time to add in some triangles to repeat the pointy-ness of the delectable mountain centre block and those star points.  I cut lots of triangles from my hot colours scrap box and used a coloured square as my cornerstone.

For my final border I had been thinking about a border of alternating rail fence and nine patch blocks but preferred the more open look of the solid Kona White.  I kept those blocks as my cornerstones - two donated by Carina and two in similar colours that I made to match.  

And here it is ... 

The binding was a scrappy one that repeated some of the 2wenty Thr33 fabric from Emma.  

If you have an odd block somewhere and a few other orphans to match why not set yourself a creative challenge and make a simple medallion quilt - you could then donate it to siblings together! 

Think of what you will learn in the process.  I know I have learnt so much about colour placement, value, positive v negative space, repetition of shapes.  I do seem to like making them.

Here are a few I made earlier:  

Who would like to be a bee?

One of the ways quilts have been made for Siblings Together is through one of the quilting bees started up just for that purpose. They are a great way to make quilts for Siblings Together.

Each member is allocated a month when they are "Queen Bee", the queen chooses a large, simple block  and each bee member makes a block which they send to the queen who makes a quilt from them. The queen also suggests a colourway and we try to work from stash.

We are looking for new members to join Siblings Together Bee 1. So, if you would like to join the fun please leave a comment below and we will be in touch. If you are a no reply blogger please leave an email address so we can contact you.

These are some of the lovely quilts made by the bee last year.

QAYG tile block drive - one quilt finished!

I wrote on Monday that I had received five quilt as you go blocks from some lovely generous quilters.

Since then I have received even more!

Enough to finish one quilt already.

It didn't really take me long to add the sashing and stitch the whole thing together - in fact it took me less than one day !

Here are the blocks all trimmed and ready to be sashed.

And here they are sashed and bound - job done!  I love how these blocks came from a group of people but all blend together so well - bit like a community of quilters don't you think!  

Thanks to Joanne, Jennifer, Biff, and Linda for all the blocks - I hope I got that right !  

The good news is I have two more from Linda to start the next quilt.  I just need seven more blocks to join them - I used the blue one .....

If you want to make a block or two the tutorial can be found here.  I've linked it up on our Quilt Link Up Page here as no 50!  We are half way to our target of 100 quilts and I feel we should be celebrating!

Block Drive! Update

I have now received five blocks towards a quilt for Siblings Together and I know there are more on the way!  

If you have a moment please join in and make a block for us - details are here in case you missed the announcement!  

I am looking forward to sashing these QAYG blocks together to make a quilt like this...

I hope I will have lots to sash together as we still need more quilts to reach our target!  



Please have a look here to see some of the fabulous quilts that are being donated this year.  This is a linky page we have created on this blog but also on my own blog, where you can link your finished quilt.  We have 48 linked already so we are halfway there.

Linking up is also a great way to find out if your quilt has arrived safely as the Charity are leaving comments on the linky party page.  

Siblings Together Bee quilt story.

My Siblings Together Bee quilt for 2016 is finished (apart from the label which I really must do). The block I chose this year used the Patchwork Wheel tutorial by Don't Call Me Betsy. I decided on a scrappy style in colours appropriate for a girl. As usual by bee mates sent some gorgeous blocks. There's a huge variety of different fabrics in the quilt and apart from individuals using the same fabric more than once there were no duplicates. It goes to show what a large variety of fabrics are available for us quilters to be tempted by.

Big thanks go to my generous bee mate Joanne Jones for sending me the binding as she knows I'm not a great fan of binding making. I hope a young lady who is given the quilt at one of the Siblings Together camps in the summer will love it.

If you would like to be involved with making a quilt for Siblings Together but can't comit to a whole quilt then have a look at Nicky's previous post about donating quilt as you go blocks.

Maria.

Block Drive for Siblings Together

You might want to support the campaign to make 100 quilts for Siblings Together but you don't have the time or the resources to make a whole quilt.  Well now is your chance to join in the campaign by making Quilt As You Go blocks!

Never made a Quilt As You Go Block?  Never fear you will find instructions below and the block is a very simple one.  It is just squares!  

When nine blocks are all joined together they will make a quilt like this

Step One

The block is made from 4.5" squares, and finishes at 20" or 20.5" unfinished.

Any colour combination is fine but the central block should be dark and can be fussy cut (not obligatory). The rest of the layout can be seen in the above diagram.   

Alternately you can make this from 4.5" X 18" strips and cross cut the strips.  An even quicker way to make the block.  

Cut 4.5" X 18" strips of each:

1 of cornerstone fabric A

2 of outer LV fabric B

2 of contrast fabric C

1 of inner LV fabric D

Plus one dark centre 4.5" square E

Stitch together :

One strip B and A

One strip B and C

One strip C and D

Press strips and crosscut at 4.5" intervals - you should have four units of each strip set.

Arrange as follows:

Stitch centre single row and then both double rows on either side.

Then stitch the central row to each side.

The block is complete and should measure 20.5" unfinished.

Step 2 

Layer with a 22" piece of wadding and backing fabric (something Low Volume please) and baste.   Both wadding and backing fabric can be pieced.  To join pieces of wadding, butt them together and use a wide zigzag stitch.  Please do not use thick polyester wadding for these blocks.  

Stitch in the ditch (the seamline) in a grid pattern or any other pattern you prefer.  You may want to practice some Free Motion Quilting - please do!  

No need to trim your blocks just let me know with a comment here or email me at:  nickyeglinton@aol.com and I will send you my address.

Alternatively you may wish to put a quilt together with friends or on your own.  

I will be following up with a tutorial showing how to join these blocks with sashing.

Any quilts you have made for Siblings Together can be linked to our tally here.  It also gives Siblings Together one place to look for quilts they receive and let you know they have arrived safely.   

I love seeing those quilts you have made too and other people will be inspired by what you have been making for this great cause.   

Quilt Story: Charity doesn't always begin at home

 Today Jen of Glinda Quilts tells us the story of a wonderful quilt she has finished for Siblings Together:

 Charity doesn't always begin at home..........
Because in this case, charity began in the USA with Joan (IG account here) asking if someone would take her beautiful 42 quilt blocks and turn them into a quilt for Siblings Together ... and I said YES.

I started supporting this wonderful charity last year - there are dozens of quilters in the UK (and further) who make quilts for the children who come together at camps ... my contribution is tiny compared to others but this year, I am part of a monthly group, who exchange blocks of the Queen Bee's choice - I will post again about that and I will also be making a second quilt. 

When Joan came on the IG feed a few months ago asking for a volunteer to finish her quilt, I was happy to do so. Sending stuff across the Atlantic can be a bit risky (and we had a little battle with Customs but they refunded me, Joan!) but her gorgeous blocks arrived safely at the end of February:

I started putting them together - aren't they delightful?

And the rows just grew and grew:

This was asking for a border, which, thankfully I had just the right fabric in my stash for:

Dearest darling hubby helped me baste again in the decorating tables we put up in the hall:

I still cannot manage decent straight-line quilting on a quilt this size so stuck to my tried and tested stippling / meandering in a variegated yellow:

DH also chose the binding:

This really is my favourite part of the process:

And the all important label (donated by Spoonflower) attached yesterday (so it was a Friday finish, honest!):

And here she is in all her glory:

Joan, thank you again for trusting me with your blocks ... I hope I did them justice and that the child / young person our quilt will eventually go to loves it as much as we do. 

Siblings Together Quilt group: Featured In.

Siblings Together Quilt Group have recently been featured in two articles in British Patchwork and Quilting magazine. Firstly in their "Wandering the web" feature written by Chris Franses. Thank you Chris for choosing to tell readers about our group.

Secondly, many thanks go to Nicky for writing a fabulous article for this months issue of the magazine which explains all about quilts for Siblings Together.

Thanks also go to Helen of the Archie the Wonder Dog blog for helping edit the article and to those people who kindly provided photos, and of couse to the magazine for giving us the chance to get the message out there.

A warm welcome goes to anyone visiting after reading the articles in British Patchwork and Quilting magazine, we hope you're inspired to join us in making 100 Quilts for Siblings Together in 2016.
We would love to know about any quilts donated to the charity so please do contact us via email, the address can be found in the side bar.
Maria.