Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

I don't usually enter Amy's quilt festival as I don't have that many finished quilts.  The tops are hanging on coat hangers waiting to be quilted.  At the last count there were 4!

Anyway, I decided to this time, just because I'm missing "my baby" and showing her off to the rest of the world might help ease the pain a bit.

For new readers, I make quilts for children suffering from Leukaemia.

Last year I made a quilt for a special little boy called Morgan, who unfortunately became an angel in April of the same year. So sad.

I had already started making a red and white string quilt, based on Mary's Heartstrings's pattern, but had put it to one side as the fabric was getting repetitive and I was getting bored with  it.

A nice person in America took pity on me and sent me a box filled with red and white fabric.  My juices started flowing again and within a few days another 4 blocks had been  made.

But what to do with what was turning into a large quilt?

Morgan's mother had started to raise funds for the children's ward where Morgan had been treated so I contacted her asking if she'd be interested in auctioning this quilt in Morgan's memory and to raise funds for the West Suffolk Hospital.  She said yes!

So I sewed and sewed and sewed, showing pictures here as I progressed.

Last November she was finally finished

I used the berthing/pillowcase method to back her, with a very cuddly cream flannel, and tied her with red and white DMC Perle Cotton No 5.

She had been part of my life for over a year and I was devastated when I had to pack her up and send her on her way to England.

I finally heard this week that she will be auctioned at the West Suffolk Hospital ball in a couple of months and the money raised will help buy equipment for the children's ward, as originally planned.

I'm so pleased that finally she will find a home and hopefully will be loved as much as I love her.

I have 3 blocks left over so I'm going to make myself a memento quilt.  It won't the same as my lovely Strawberries & Cream, but at least it will be something to remember this quilt by.

So there you have it.

The story of a very much missed quilt.

More soon.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Stars and Stripes

The minute I saw the announcement about this on Nicolette's blog (see post below this one), I knew which quilt I was going to show.

When I started quilting some years ago, I read about denim quilts and just had to make one. I only had my old hand crank sewing machine, some wooden templates made up for me by a friend, a proper rotary cutter, a cutting mat and not a lot else, let alone "experience". I was so naive I did not know you couldn't mix different fabric weights. What the hell - go with the flow and see what happens! (I didn't know then that that was liberated quilting :-) ) I started cutting up The Old One's jeans that were falling to pieces or too small and came across an old red and white stripped apron which I snapped up. A visit to the fabric shop produced the lovely heavy red and blue fabric and, to me now, that ghastly poly mix with the oak leaves which stretches. I even cut out and sewed on an old Pace Jeans label (do they still make Pace Jeans I wonder? They were my all time favourite - perfect fit!). Halfway through making this we got my new, but cranky (as in temperamental) electric sewing machine with embroidery stitches - woo hoo. You can see where I had fun using the zig zag stitch on some stars I traced onto the fabric. I sewed huge running stitches in the ditch round each block and some of the seams, most of which have since come out. I folded over the backing to create the binding (which surprisingly is still in place). This was meant to hang above our bed as a sort of bed head, but ended up on one of the sofas as a lap quilt/throw for those chilly evenings. I can't get near it. The Young One has taken over that particular sofa and the quilt. We had it on our bed this last winter - not really big enough, but it helped - and we loved the feel of it so much another one has been commissioned to be finished by Winter 2009. All in all - a lot of work and love went into this quilt. I hope as much goes into the next one.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I've been to 3, possibly 4, quilt shows/expos, but nothing like the ones I've read about where there are stalls overflowing with notions, fabrics and books, not to mention quilts of every size and description. The local ones are typically French - lots of hand piecing, hand quilting and gorgeous hand appliqué - and nothing else. Just showcases. It is my dream to one day get to Houston, or even Paducah. So imagine my delight when I hopped over to Nicolette's new blog this morning and found this. I've copied the image that Amy put on her blog and added it to my sidebar (top left). I've already decided what quilt I'm going to show and you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see which one it is. In the meantime, a little bit of progress on Family Trees.

(Sorry. Not a brilliant photo. Light was dreadful)

This has been like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's got a mind of it's own and won't do what I want it to do, hence the orange strip bottom right. Goodness only knows why it is there, but it is! The top in two halves at the moment. I'm hoping to get them sewn together today and will then make a start on the border. A demain .......