Link Up your Finished Quilts for Siblings Together 2016

One of our pages, the one with the tab 'Quilt Link Up' is where we will be counting up the finished quilts kindly made and donated by you, the wonderfully supportive quilting community in this year's campaign to donate 100 quilts to Siblings Together.

My Scraptastic friend Leanne set it up for us - thank you so much Leanne!

Can you please add a link from a blogpost, from Flickr or Instagram.  Instructions on how to do this are on the 'Quilt Link Up' page. 

If you do not have any of these social media, and do not wish to, then please email us a photo and some words and we can put a guest post together on this blog on your behalf and link for you.

We really want to know about all the quilts being made for Siblings Together this year so please be our eyes and ears and tell us about any that haven't been linked or tell the quiltmaker about us!

We would ask , when you send your quilt onto the charity Siblings Together, that you mark your quilt label and packaging with your linky number to help identify your quilt - please write Linky Number x!  

That way we hope the Siblings Together charity will easily be able to identify your quilt and let you know it has arrived safely.  If you are like me I get a bit agitated not knowing if something I have made has arrived or not!

Thanks for all your support in this year's campaign.  We really want things to work out as smoothly as possible for everyone involved so if there is a problem do let us know and we will try to resolve it.  

And you can help us spread the message around by putting this button on your blog page 

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Stingy Bee made a quilt for Siblings Together!

And here is another Scrappy Trip Story....

Way back in 2013 I was inspired to ask my Stingy Bee mates to help make a quilt for Siblings Together.  Most of them were able to send me some blocks...

The Scrappy Trip Around the World (method by Bonnie Hunter) was all the rage, popularised at the time by Katy.  So we picked out our red, blue, grey and white scraps and put this quilt together...

Everyone sent me their blocks, and I put the quilt together in this layout, with a generous backing donation from Helen.

If you don't really think you can make a quilt on your own for Siblings Together why not ask a few friends to help - they could be from a bee you are already in, a group of online friends or even ones that you meet up with in real life!


We had fun making this quilt and it brings back a few early memories of our Stingy Bee !  

Being 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.

The first one, the Siblings Together Quilting Bee, was started by Lynne Goldsworthy and though the membership has changed over the years we are still making at least one quilt every month for the charity.

I have been in it from the beginning and I love this bee and our lovely members as everyone seems so generous and supportive of each other.  Making quilts with these ladies really is a great experience.  

Here are some of the quilts we have made in the last year:

We use tutorials online or create our own to make large, simple blocks from stash.  I have started a page on this blog with links to tutorials we have used.  It will take a while to list them all but I hope to be adding to it.

Here is the block I was asking for in November:

Could it get any simpler?

Well I added a bit of extra work for my bee mates by asking them to add a square of wadding, backing fabric and asking for it to be quilted.

Here is the finished quilt

There is a second bee called Siblings Together Quilting Bee 2.   They are looking for a few new members if you would like to join them.

Alternately, I wondered if there were other generous people out there who would be able and willing to start other Siblings Together Bees.

Maybe you have heard about bees and never been in one before?  Here is your chance to try it out! 

Maria and I were thinking of trying out the idea of mini bees, set up for a shorter period (perhaps for just a few months), with fewer people, working together to make quilts for Siblings Together. The blocks will be simple and varied - it is a good opportunity to learn as you work for a great cause.  So if you want to know more, please add a comment below and we will be in touch. 

Please make sure we can contact you - leave an email in your comment if you are in any doubt please.

Publicise your Siblings Together event

Are you planning to hold an event in aid of our campaign to make 100 quilts for Siblings Together?

Maybe you have a quilt shop with a workshop space and want to hold a community based quilt or block drive for the charity?

Perhaps you are part of a group of quilters or guild and would like to host an event for Siblings Together?


We have now created  a poster on google docs  that you can download, copy and amend to publicise your Siblings Together event!

It looks like this....

100 Quilts for Siblings Together

This is a campaign run by the Siblings Together Quilt Group to provide quilts for children in the UK Care System.

We coordinate the supply of quilts to the registered charity Siblings Together.  The charity arranges holiday camps and day events in the UK to ensure that children in the care system, who are not always placed with their siblings, can retain these crucial family bonds.  The quilts are presented to the children as a reminder of the times shared with their siblings.

Please make quilts suitable for boys and girls, 7-17 years old, measuring 50” min. - 80”max, square or rectangular.

Send completed quilts to: Siblings Together, 351 Southwark Park Road, London, SE16 2JW

For further information about the charity, please visit http://siblingstogether.co.uk/

For further information about the 100 quilts for Siblings Together, please visit:

http://siblingstogetherquiltgroup.blogspot.co.uk  http://instagram.com/siblingstogetherquiltgroup

Join our event for Siblings Together!

What we are doing:

When:

Where:


So if you have a venue: a quiltshop workshop space; a guild meeting room; a retreat space,  please use this poster to let everyone know what you are doing and when.

If you are a customer/member of any of the above please alert your venue owner/leader to the campaign and organise a stitching session, a quilt drive, a block drive to make quilts for Siblings Together!  

Thank you for your support!

Mini bees are go!

I am very happy to announce that we have two mini bees starting to make quilts for Siblings Together.

What is a mini bee, do I hear you say?

It is an online bee that runs for four months and has four members in it.

As with most other quilting bees, one person will be Queen bee (QB) each month, and will choose a block for the group to make.   The QB will link to a tutorial, or write one, to give instruction on constructing the block.  It should be a simple block so it can be made easily and quickly.   Preferably the block should measure about 20" so that nine blocks will make one quilt.   

Each Bee, or member of the group, will make two blocks and the QB will make an extra one.  It is helpful for the group if the QB makes a sample block, to check that the tutorial is easy to follow, and to give an idea of colours and fabrics required.    The QB should clearly state the colour scheme for the quilt.

Bees will then make the block, as requested, and send them to the QB, within the month they are set.   The QB will then complete the quilt and send it to the charity Siblings Together.

In a nutshell, that is a mini bee, but this excludes all the fun, chatter, getting to make new friends online, and making a quilt for someone who really will appreciate it! 

Do you want to join in the fun? 

You don't have to have experience of being in a bee before, and this might just be the perfect opportunity to find out what it is like.  

 Our first mini bee is making these pretty blocks made by February Queen Bee, Tanya

Can't wait to see the finished quilt...!  Can you? 

So let's go and make quilts!

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!