New project for Siblings Together! Please read on....

At the Siblings Together Quilt Group we love to think of new ways for people to join in making quilts for the charity Siblings Together.   If you want to know our history as a group please find out about that here.

We have now got seven bees up and running which is marvellous ( thank you Jenny, aka @thelilaccat for all her hard work in keeping those going) but what if you cannot commit to making blocks every month ? 


Our answer is to join our Siblings Together Mini Block Drive ! 

We will introduce a Quilt Mama of the Month on our blog on or around the first day of the month and provide a link to information about the blocks she/he is asking for.  

This will probably be on the Mama's feed/blog not here so that you can get answers to any questions you may have.   We might run the same block for two months or change each month - this is still to be finalised. 

So you can start each month with a nice easy block to get your sewing mojo going.  You can join in every time or you can opt in whenever you have can.  

You can make one block or as many as you wish, in the colourway requested.  

When your blocks are complete please contact the Quilt Mama of the Month direct who will tell you where to send them.  We are hoping to receive enough blocks each time to make one or two quilts or possibly even a third!  

If you like the idea of the quilt so much that you’d like to finish one off for us then please shout out and blocks can be sent to you.  Otherwise our Quilt Mama of the Month will make the quilt top(s) and we will arrange for the quilt to be finished. 

We are hoping you will enjoy this new way of helping and being part of our community.  We could not make all the quilts we need without you - every little bit helps ! 

So when is this all starting ?  

...on 1st October with our Quilt Mama of the Month Tricia who you can find on Instagram @yondergirlie!   She is raring to go and introduce you to two blocks which will make a fabulous quilt or two for #100quiltsforsiblingstogether.   

Please be sure to support her and the wonderful children who receive quilts from us.  

Any questions?  Do ask but as this is totally new to us please bear with us as we iron out the wrinkles.

Our schedule for the coming year is as follows:

October Tricia @yondergirlie

November Tricia @yondergirlie

December - winter break

January Nicky @nickyeglinton

February Nicky @nickyeglinton

March Maria @sewlovetosew

April tbc

May tbc

June tbc 

July tbc

August - summer break

September tbc

As you can see there are a few spots to be confirmed - if you would like to take a month please do contact us to see what is involved.

Many thanks and I'm looking forward to seeing all those wonderful blocks and how they become quilts. 

Siblings Together Quilt Group Update August 2018

We're now heading towards the end of August and the second of the 2018 Siblings Together camps is in full swing. This post is fairly long but please stick with it to the end!!

This lovely report was posted on the charity's Facebook page.

We've had another successful year receiving donations of quilts, quilt tops and blocks. The donated tops needed quilting so over on Instagram we requested for volunteer quilters to step forward, and of course some wonderful ladies from this generous quilting community of ours put their hands in the air. They set to work quilting on domestic and long arm machines. Here are just a few of them.

Top donated by Sue Blake and quilted by Amanda Ashton in gold thread.

The centre panel of this quilt was donated by Sue Blake, the borders were added by Nicky Eglinton and it was quilted by Jane Ingham. A true team effort.

Top made by Carolyn Forster and quilted by Linda Phillips.

So, if you have a quilt top to donate but are unable to quilt it give us a shout and we'll try and match it up with one of our volunteer quilters. Alternatively if you are a quilter who would like to quilt a donated top let us know, we would love to add you to our merry band of quilters. Email address in side bar.

Here's a selection of more donated quilts.

A stunner by Sheila Williams. 

Beautiful flying geese by Janet Goddard.

A Lovely modern design by Jane.

A beauty made by the ladies of Bee 4.

A bright and beautiful quilt by Fiona Calvert

Another wonderful modern design, this time by Lynne.

For anyone with an Instagram account we are @siblingstogetherquiltgroup, there are lots more photos of the wonderful quilts there.

As with 2017 Nicky had the quilts sent to her home. The Siblings Together office is small with only three permanent part time office staff so it makes life much easier for them if the quilts are collected elsewhere so they can concentrate on their work.

This what a pile of 100 quilts looks like!

Back in June Mary Campbell, who is a volunteer worker for Siblings Together, came to Nicky's house to collect the quilts.

Careful Mary we don't want any quilt related injuries!

Mary reported that some of the children see as many as 30 changes of place before they leave care and the quilts are truly special as they are the only permanent thing in the children's lives. We still have a long way to go improve the lives of these children but giving a quilt seems to be a significant one!

Mary told the story of two brothers at one of the camps last year who had trouble reconnecting, but by the end of the camp they were best of friends - both under one quilt, bonding when they should have been sleeping!

This quilt was made by three young men with the help of the organisation Fine Cell Work which goes into prisons to help prisoners onto better lives. It is going to a care leaver with a baby.

Can you spot your quilt amongst the pile?

Mary and Nicky spent a good few hours talking about and looking at the quilts, they are all hugely appreciated and loved. The thanks of the charity go to everyone who has played a part in making them.

The following quote is taken from the Siblings Together (Charity) Facebook page.

 "I would love to thank the people that made my quilt. I love the colour and design and I honestly have fallen in love with it. It's very homely and comfy and I just want to say a massive thank you for bringing me something that makes me feel like home xx"

 Anyone reading this from the quilting community will know about the Festival of Quilts which was held a couple of weeks ago at the Birmingham NEC. This year The Quilt Room of Dorking, Surrey kindly agreed to collect donations of quilts, fabric, wadding etc. which they loaded into their van and brought south where Nicky collected them from the shop. Enormous thanks go to Pam and Nicky of The Quilt room for supporting us. When you've finished reading this why not head along to the Quilt Room web site, Pam and Nicky Lintott are the authors of a range of quilting books with beautiful patterns for making quilts from Jelly Rolls and Pre-cuts, ideal for your next Siblings Together quilt !! They sell a beautiful range of fabric too.

The donations were loaded into Nicky's car and piled onto the dining room table. I expect great fun will be had sorting through them all!

May we again thank Prinfab for supplying us with our quilt labels. If you would like one please email the address in the sidebar.

Again many many thanks to everyone who has contributed in so many different ways. It really does help to make a difference to the comfort of the lives of the children supported by Siblings Together.

Thanks very much for reading to the end!