Kate's Siblings Together Quilt Story.

 Kate Bennett is a wonderful supporter of Siblings Together quilts and today she tells us about two fabulous quilts she's made for this years camps.

"I have been making quilts for this lovely charity for a few years now. This year I decided to make two very similar ones with the thought that two siblings could find lots of fabrics that are in both quilts, yet they are different. I backed these with some interesting African fabrics that came from Zimbabwe. These were fun to make. I love scrap quilts as I think the owners can find something they haven't noticed before."

As I write the first of this years camps is taking place, I really do hope that the weather is better there than where I am in  East Anglia, however whatever the weather I'm sure the siblings are having a wonderful time together.

Medallion quilt for Siblings Together

It's incredible to think that the 2017 Siblings Together camps are nearly here.

The dates are: 28th July - 5th August

                  18th - 26th August

                     20th - 28th October

Lots of lovely quilters have been, and still are, busying away making quilts for the children.

We would love to share lots of photos and stories about the quilts so if anyone has any stories to share please do let us know. A photo and a quick description of the quilt details will be fine.

Here is a quilt I've made.

The centre of the quilt is a block I made a few years ago and although I love it, it's been sat in a drawer so I decided to put it to good use as the centre of a medallion quilt.

Most of the square in a square blocks were kindly donated by my friend Fran  and I made a few more to make up the numbers. The piano keys border is such a quick and easy border which I've used a few times.

This picture is the back of the quilt. The square in a square blocks were made for a border for the front but I decided they weren't right so used them on the back instead. As all quilt makers know, fabric is expensive so although pieced backs take longer they are a great way of using scraps to make up a backing particularly for a charity quilt. They add some extra interest too. 

I hope a young lady will enjoy and find some comfort in this quilt.

Maria

Siblings Together Quilts In Sewing World Magazine.

Exciting news. Siblings Together quilts have been featured in an article written my kerry Green in Sewing World Magazine.

This will be great way of speading the world to the wider sewing community which will hopefully lead to more quilts being donated.

Sewing World Magazine can be found on the following social media platforms:

www.facebook.com/sewingworldmagazine

www.sewingworldmagazine

Instagram: @sewingworldmag

twitter.com/sewingworldmag

Sheila's Greek Crosses Siblings Together Bee Quilt.

    

Today Sheila tells us about the splendid quilt she put together from blocks made by members of a Siblings Together Bee over on Instagram.

 

 I am in a lovely bee for siblings together and December was my month, I have this idea of doing a quilt to commemorate every holiday I go on. I have wanted one to remember my trip to Athens a few years ago. I will never forget going up to the Acropolis on a beautiful sunny day and see it in all its splendour.

 

What really struck me was the gorgeous blue sky and the creamy marble. It was a mental hop skip and jump to putting together a Greek cross block in creams and blues.

The lovely ladies from my bee and some other IG chums who weren't sent me a ton of blocks to put together.

Which gave me more than enough for one, so I might have to add a second one to my Q2 list!!

 Jo Avery of mybearpaw had written a blog post about a lovely quilt she's just finished for Siblings Together. It's a beauty, so pop over to her blog, mybearpaw, to admire it and perhaps be inspired.

Do you have a finished Siblings Together quilt that you think we may like to see and read about?

If so leave a comment and we will be in contact.

Star Bee Quilt.

Today Jen of Glinda quilts tells us about the quilt she made for Siblings Together from blocks made by the ladies of a quilting bee.

This is my 3rd year supporting the great work of this charity - and being part of a wonderful 'online' Quilt Bee. Each month - mine was January - the Queen Bee decides on a block and the other bees make it, send it to you and you make the quilt from them.

For the tutorial of my block, please see this post:

A simple design and I just asked the bees to make scrappy blocks in red, yellow, green, orange or blue. A big block - unfinished at 18.5" - and with 12 of us in the Bee, it was always going to finish a good size. Bridgid from Australia joins in too so when she and one of the bees sent me two blocks and a newbie follower on IG asked if she could make me one too, I ended up with 16! Aren't they all fabby?

I went to Simply Solids last week for a free motion quilting class with Charlo from Quiltification (what a small world; she's in the other Siblings Together Quilt Bee) and whilst I'm very comfortable and competent in stippling, the class gave me the confidence to try 'new shapes' and I immediately put it to use on this quilt:

And here it is in all its glory yesterday in the morning sunshine in Wales - finishing at 72" square, I think it will make a great quilt for an older child:

I kept the backing gender neutral - a fabby bargain from Fabric Guild - beautiful fabric and I also used the off cuts for the binding:

LOVE IT. 

Thank you to all the kind and talented bees for their beautiful blocks.

The Siblings Together Menagerie of Quilts

The Siblings Together Bee 2 has been running a few years and although the membership has changed over that time the pleasure and fun of making as a group is just the same. Everyone involved has had the pleasure of seeing beautiful and unique  quilts wend their way off to the Siblings Together charity. We thought it would be fun to review the finished quilts over the last couple of years. There have been quite a few so we have divided these up into a couple of posts.

One of the many great things about making quilts for children is that matching seams, lost points etc etc which cause us quilters such heartache at times is to a child or young person completely irrelevant. Ok they don't want quilts that disintegrate the first time they are washed or have gaping seams but they do want quilts that have bright and cheery designs that have the less tangible but equally important sense that this has been made for them and with love. You can also indulge your sense of fun and worry less about modern design and originality!! So now for  a simply wonderful group of quilts of animals and birds that got made last year.

Judith of JustJudeDesigns asked for a hen block to be made. With the variety of fabrics a group of quilters can bring to a quilt you get the beautifully scrappy quilts which magically just blend together.

Next up was an appliqué owl quilt for Doti. Again a wonderful selection. Not all of us are as confident at appliqué as others (well that's probably just me...) but again the very nature of these quilts just mean they all have more character....

The same could apply to the wonderfully characterful hedgehogs that Ann had us making. In the haste to get this quilt off no picture was taken so you will have to do with pictures of my contributions. Yes I agree the one on the left looks as if it has enjoyed rather too many fermented  apples!!!

And last but certainly not least was Sally's request for the delightful Dog Gone Cute block from the very talented and generous Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. Lorna has designed many wonderful animal quilts and often has them as part of a quilt along so are free but also has a positive zoo in quilt form in her shop.

If you would like to make a quilt for Siblings Together please check out the "Important Information" page at the top of the blog.

Next time more quilts but no animals in the next batch...

Jenny - the lilac cat