Quilts 4 Leukaemia

Long time no speak, but I thought those of you who might occasionally still be reading this blog might be wondering what happened to Quilts 4 Leukaemia.  Unfortunately life, health, etc took over and I felt unable to continue.

You might like to know that the 100's of blocks I still have are being sent to a quilting friend in the UK who is making quilts for children in memory of her grandson.

With your help over 40 quilts were made and I cannot thank you all enough for the love you gave to the children who received them.

The blog and web site were taken down some time ago.  However, if you know of anyone who sent me blocks could you please pass this on, saying that their blocks will still be sending love to a child, somewhere.

Again, thank you all.

xxxxx

Going, Going, Gone!

Strawberries & Cream has raised £200 for the West Suffolk Hospital children's ward.

I am thrilled to bits!

More soon.

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.

How Did I Do?

Way back in November 2010 I got caught on the hop by that wicked woman, Finn at Pieces from my Scrapbag.

You may remember I pledged to make 9 quilts by 15 March 2011. By February I decided that I would be unable to meet my pledge and extended the date to 31st December.

So how did I do?

Well. The last quilt made 2010 was Quilt #29, made by a quilting friend on Facebook for a boy in Canada.

By the end of January I'd added another 3 to the list, but was beginning to feel a bit swamped by what I had taken on.

Tracey stepped with a gorgeous red and white string quilt with UnRuly letters and we were up to 4 in 2 months!

She certainly gave me a boost.

Then Finn chipped in, followed closely by Ann in France with a gorgeous Irish Chain quilt, bringing the total up to 6.

Carol E produced another masterpiece and lovely Siobhan broke her own record by actually starting and finishing a quilt within a few weeks.

By now I was completely overwhelmed and beginning to lose count of how many quilts were being made all over the world. They were coming in so thick and fast I couldn't update the blog quick enough and sadly it is still out of date.

However, as at 11th December 2011 the grand total was 13 quilts and thanks to everyone we managed to give 12 children some happiness in 2011.

With regard to the great masterpiece, Strawberries & Cream, which is Quilt  #40, I'm still waiting to hear what's going to happen to it.

Michelle Mobley went back to her native GA, USA for Christmas and the New Year and I hoping when she returns to the UK she'll start organising the auction/raffle. I'll let you know what happens.

So that's it! 13 quilts in a year. Phew!  So many thanks to all the lovely people who made quilts so I could reach my goal and, most of all to Finn and Michele for cheering me on behind the scenes.

Now - would you like to read about how other people did in 2011?

Lily at Lily's Quilts has asked other quilters to review what they achieved.

Hop over see what other quilters have done. There are some gorgeous quilts.

Here's to 2012 and a lot more red and white quilts!

More soon.

A Finish!

Strawberries & Cream is about to start it's journey to the UK.

For once I don't want to see this quilt go. It's so beautiful and cuddly and I hope its new owner will love and cherish it as much as I do.

I knuckled down last week and decided that this quilt had to go to its new home. Choosing the backing fabric proved to be more of a nightmare than I thought it would be.  I couldn't find a flannel sheet anywhere. The French don't seem to sell flannel, or flannel sheets, so a trip to the fabric warehouse at Javerlhac was called for.

It took ages to find the right fabric, but find it I did. A cross between flannel and fleece in a dark cream. Very soft and cuddly.

Then a couple of days while I plucked up courage to "birth" it. Never done that before and panic set in.  Took a few deep breaths, pinned the two sides together and sewed.

Turned it inside outside - that was so easy - sewed up the top and then started tying the sides together. What a mammoth task that was!

and here she is again - all tied together and ready to go!

I'd like to thank Mary for letting me use the Heartstrings Project pattern and for giving me moral support and help throughout this project.

More soon.

Do Not Disturb ....

.....  quilter at work.

Sorry Pipette. You can scratch and yell to be let in as much as you like, but your Mum is busy, busy, busy.

Look at this lot!

Clockwise from bottom right is Strawberries & Cream waiting to be tied;

Liberated Roman Strings being hand quilted;

another Q4L quilt waiting to be tied; and 

All That Jazz (aka Brick Building) still being built.

Phew!

More soon.

Building Bricks

I've been making inroads into the waiting list for Leukaemia snuggle quilts. We've hit #42 - woohoo!

After days of non-stop sewing blocks and borders together, I was getting bored, bored, bored, and then Emma 1's light bulb went ping which meant changing to Emma 2 (note to self - find photos of the Emma's to put in side bar).

After a lot of swearing as I couldn't remember how to wind the bobbin, I stomped off in a sulk and decided to vent my frustration on the strings and fabric I've been hoarding.

Out came the bins. Out came the plastic boxes full to bursting of strings and scraps. The sewing table was cleared of anything resembling red and white quilts and the nice and tidy sewing room was no more.

I've been finding some forgotten about treasures

(the daisy fabric is from Heidi in Germany. She sent me some lovely strings)

and some really ugly stuff. Isn't this just so yuk!

I didn't realise I had such a stash of uglies.

Though some of them are quite fun.

Have you heard about the latest craze to hit the liberated quilting world?

Tonya has been sewing up a storm and has created a masterpiece. You can read about it here, and you can see other bricks being built by Siobhan (there are other posts below this one so make sure you read all of them) and Julie (again read her previous posts about the construction).

I'm not at all sure how big mine is going to be. I might end up with a king size (shudder - the thought of hand quilting that!), or a lap quilt for me.  

I have a lot of browns for some reason, so I'm putting them in a separate box and might make another fool quilt with them, chucking in a few oranges to brighten it up. Brown and orange? Clare, you cannot be serious!

No post is complete without a kitty pîc.

Pippi Longstocking is gaining in confidence and has fallen in love with The Old One. Wherever he goes, she's not far behind. He says it's like being stalked!

More soon.

Strawberries & Cream

We have a quilt top!

Awful photos - sorry.

I'm on the hunt for a flannel sheet or fleece for the back. Then I'm going to use the pillowcase turn, without batting.

It should end up heavy enough for a bed quilt, but snuggly at the same time.

More soon.

Wordless Wednesday

A Decision Has Been Made

The Old One does have his moments.

He helped out once before and, of course, being a Leo, was right.

I'm cutting more foundation blocks - 24 to be exact.

Just hope I can get it finished by October.

Stay tuned!

More soon.

Red and White Strings - Help Needed Please

Here's the proposed layout.

It's on a double bed and The Old One thinks it needs another horizontal row. I think if I do that I'll need to add another vertical one. Which will mean cutting another 24 9" muslin squares!

What do you think?

ADDENDUM : I can't add borders.  I'm not going to use batting.  The quilt will be too heavy. So I'm going to back it with a flannel sheet, use the pillowcase method and then do some decorative stitches, or use buttons, to stabilise it.  So do I add more rows, or do I leave it?

What's red and white and stringy?

No - not Liquorice!

Remember this?

I was getting a bit disheartened as the fabrics are all the same and I thought it was getting a bit boring.

I put out a plea on the Stashbuster Yahoo Group asking if anyone wanted to get rid of some of their red and white stash.  After all, the purpose of the group is to get rid of stash isn't it?

I received an email from a lovely lady in Illinois saying she'd willingly send me some of hers as she'd grown tired of them and didn't think she'd use them.

Woot!

Look what arrived the other day. 4lbs of fabric!

<3 those "heart strings".

The quilt is back on the floor and I'm cutting and

sewing again.

I've got so many projects on the go at the moment it's a bit overwhelming. So it's nice to sit down and do some mindless piecing.

If you read the Quilts 4 Leukaemia blog, you'll know that Quilt #32 was made for a little boy called Morgan. Sadly he became an angel in April and his mother is trying to raise funds for the children's ward of the hospital where he was treated. When this quilt is finished I'll be sending it to her so she can auction it.

More soon.

Wednesday Waffle

Well, it makes a change from Wordless Wednesday!

I've decided to extend the date of my challenge to the end of the year.

It's stressing me out watching the days fly past and I'm only just half way.

I've finished binding one quilt and another is waiting in the wings.  Then there is the string quilt which is driving me nuts!

I just want to do something for myself.  So extending the date seems to be the only way out of this.

If you are following me because you are are flying on my coat tails, so to speak, then please take your time.  There is no rush.

Not much going on at Chez Nous at the moment.  One minute Spring seems to have arrived and the next its gone.

However, the cranes flew over the other day

on their way to lovely Nicolette in Holland,

and I found this whilst walking round the garden this morning.

Perhaps Spring is really on its way?

Oh and a mini CATastrophe.

Someone was supposed to have been sterilised before she came to stay, otherwise we wouldn't have adopted her.  Someone Isn't.  In fact the complete opposite!  Also, Someone isn't called Mimi, or Poucette, as we were originally told. Someone is Pipette.  Now Someone comes running when she is called.

I'm going up to the sewing room to pack up the red and white strings and the blocks and start playing with something I want to do.  Question is what?

I had a lovely idea towards the end of last year.  To make a Word Verification quilt.  You know.  The words that appear on the comments form.

I had some really great ones.  I decided that the maximum length would be 6 letters and the list was getting longer.

Guess what!  I've lost the list!  I keep a notebook by the computer to write down the good ones.  Went to said notebook the other day and the pages are gone!  Oh woe is me!

Right - must get those red and white strings out of my sight!

More soon.

Not Wordless Wednesday .....

........ because we have photos and words.

I've been slaving away and trying to meet my self imposed challenge.

So far I have one more quilt basted and waiting to be tied.

This one is going to a little girl in the UK who has just celebrated the first anniversary of her bone marrow transplant.

Then we have another quilt waiting to be be basted.

I've grown very fond of this one.  It's the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning.

Then we have my huge string quilt.

Whoops!  Didn't realise that a corner had flipped!

Each 1/4 block is 9" so this is going to be BIG!  It takes me about an afternoon to do one complete block.  I managed 1 and 2/3 today and have got another 4 complete blocks to do.

When it is finally done you'll have to flip over to the Quilts 4 Leukaemia blog.  I'll let you know when.

So far I've completed 3 quilts and with 2 in the making that makes 5 done and 4 to go (the one above doesn't count.  Yet!).

I've also extended the date of my Challenge until the end of April.  Spring is on its way and the garden is calling. The Wisteria needs pruning and there is a lot of stuff that has got to be moved or removed!   I've yet to update my sidebar, but keeping watching it.  The date may change again.

Mimi Pipette/Poucette is doing fine.  Gaining in confidence every day.

I somehow managed to lose the SD card for my camera today (goodness only knows where it is).  The inbuilt memory only allows 5 captures at a time so this is the last photo of the day.

We've decided to kick the old fashioned desktop (5 years old!) into touch.  It's still with us and being used as a music player/recorder etc, etc, etc.

The Young One and I now use a cross between a laptop and a Netbook.  It's downstairs in the kitchen and we love it.  The only problem is I'm standing up/crouching to use it and it's not doing my posture any good.

I promise that photo is not posed.  That's how it is.

The cotton reel is there because I'm doing a search for the thread that I like best.  The coffee cup?  A long story but I love it and it's staying put!

Just before I sign off.

Someone recently gave me an blogging award.  A Very Nice One.  She sent me an email and I looked at her blog.  Now I can't find the mail or the blog link.  If you, nice personnage, are reading this could you contact me again.  Thanks.

More soon.

2010 Round Up

Which means not a lot!

Learnt a few things.  Like how to adapt, expand and extend.

Liberated Strings

Back of Liberated Strings

Thanks to Tonya for such an fantastic liberating class (Liberated Amish Challenge).

Ummm - what else?  Can't really think.

2010 seems to have been taken up with the Liberated Quilters Yahoo group and web ring.  Fun fun fun, but time consuming.

Quilts 4 Leukaemia has also taken up a lot of time - Quilt #32 is finished and I'm about to start on Quilt #33 - woohoo!

Meeting the lovely Viv in July was great too.  Hope we'll meet again one day.

Oh - musn't forget!  I suppose the 3 highlights of the year were the publication of Liberated Quiltmaking II, then receiving a letter from Gwen herself and, of course, the best thing to happen this year.  The publication of the most talked about book in Blogland this year.  Word Play Quilts.  What a year it has been for liberating books.

What a year it has been too for forging long lasting internet friendships.

So here's to 2011.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Quilts 4 Leukaemia Challenge 2011

I was at the starting gate waiting for it to go up on 1st January (see side bar) and it went up a month early.  I think it might have something to do with Michele and Finn.

Anyway, up it went and although I was slightly startled at the early start, start I did!

Quilt #30

Quilt #31

These quilts were made for Gracie and Megan in the UK.  11 year old twins.  The quilts arrived with their new owners the day before yesterday.

As I type this, Quilt #32 is hanging on the clothes dryer and will be sent to its recipient after the festivities.

So that's 3 down, 6 to go!

Early Doors!

There is just over a month to go before I start my Challenge.

However there are two little girls (twins) who live in the UK and have been waiting for their quilts since, I think, last March.

I'm hoping to get the quilts in the post the week after next.  Hopefully they will receive them in time for Christmas.

Just keep your fingers crossed that La Poste and Royal Mail oblige.

TTFN

A Plea for Help

I've had my head stuck in the Red & White Blocks bin for the last 24 hours doing a round up of what I've got.

I'm fine for blocks from the USA, thanks to the huge efforts of Carol Egan, Wanda and others.

However, I need blocks from the following countries:

Canada

any of the Scandanavian countries

Australia

Holland

Germany

Italy

Spain

in fact most of Western Europe.

If you haven't made blocks for me before, here are the rules.

The block MUST BE no less and no more than 8.5 inches unfinished and in red and white fabric.  The block pattern can be of your own choosing.  You can get some idea of the sort of blocks other people have sent by going to the blog here.

If you can help, leave me a comment and I'll send you my snail mail address

Thank you so much.

A Pledge

I've got myself into a right pickle and it serves me right for being over-zealous!

Who knows about Finn's yearly UFO Challenge?  You select the UFO's you want to finish and they have to be completed within the allotted time span.  Normally New Year's Eve.

Well, I got wind of what the young and lovely (cough) Michele is up to.  She's pledged to finish 10, yes 10, quilts by 31st December 2010!

Knowing how busy she is and how once she gets the bit between her teeth there is normally no stopping her, I thought I might just light a bit of a fire under her and see how high she jumps!

I have pledged that IF and only IF Michele finishes all 10 UFO's by 31st December 2010, I will start on 1st January 2011 and try to finish 9 quilts for Quilts 4 Leukaemia by The Young One's birthday on 15th March 2011.  If I finish all 9 by that date, Finn will make a quilt for a Leukaemia suffer in the US.

I do have one, possibly 2 tops already done which is a help, so I suppose I ought to make sure the sewing machines are in working order and start getting myself fired up for what is undoubtedly going to be a very busy 2 months!

TTFN