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.