Saturday 2 April 2016

Charity doesn't always begin at home ...

Because in this case, charity began in the USA with Joan (IG account here) asking if someone would take her beautiful 42 quilt blocks and turn them into a quilt for Siblings Together ... and I said YES.

Siblings Together is a wonderful charity - you can read more about them here and I have taken this from their website:

Siblings Together is a UK based charity that promotes positive contact between brothers and sisters separated in foster care, kinship care, residential care, or adoption.

I started supporting this wonderful charity last year - there are dozens of quilters in the UK (and further) who make quilts for the children who come together at camps ... my contribution is tiny compared to others but this year, I am part of a monthly group (Siblings Together Quilting Group - please visit the blog), who exchange blocks of the Queen Bee's choice - I will post again about that and I will also be making a second quilt. 

When Joan came on the IG feed a few months ago asking for a volunteer to finish her quilt, I was happy to do so. Sending stuff across the Atlantic can be a bit risky (and we had a little battle with Customs but they refunded me, Joan!) but her gorgeous blocks arrived safely at the end of February:


I started putting them together - aren't they delightful?


And the rows just grew and grew:


This was asking for a border, which, thankfully I had just the right fabric in my stash for:


Dearest darling hubby helped me baste again in the decorating tables we put up in the hall:


I still cannot manage decent straight-line quilting on a quilt this size so stuck to my tried and tested stippling / meandering in a variegated yellow:


DH also chose the binding:


This really is my favourite part of the process:


And the all important label (donated by Spoonflower) attached yesterday (so it was a Friday finish, honest!):


And here she is in all her glory:


Joan, thank you again for trusting me with your blocks ... I hope I did them justice and that the child / young person our quilt will eventually go to loves it as much as we do. 



13 comments:

  1. That looks wonderful, what a great team. A lovely gift for someone to appreciate.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You have done a beautiful job for a great cause, well done.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW!! that is a really nice job! Good for you, it is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You finished that off beautifully with the border and binding. Looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I absolutely love stories like this, full of trust and collaboration and a dash of adventure. Well done all around!! And beautiful color choices to you both (and dh--a keeper--he has great taste).

    ReplyDelete
  6. I absolutely love stories like this, full of trust and collaboration and a dash of adventure. Well done all around!! And beautiful color choices to you both (and dh--a keeper--he has great taste).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Marcelle, that's a lovely comment to leave - we loved collaborating on this quilt and yes, DH is definitely a keeper!

      Many thanks, Jen :)

      Delete
  7. I really enjoyed browsing through your blog so I added my name to your followers and look forward to coming back to visit again.
    Fabulous quilt you made from these blocks and I am sure it will be well loved by the special person who becomes it's owner.
    Best wishes from Liverpool
    Jo

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh Jennifer you have done the most fantastic job. It looks wonderful. I love the choice of colours you added to it, and how special that it was a collaboration. Well done to you for taking it on, I am sure it will be loved and treasured by someone.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is lovely and really special! What a great post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Tami; it really was fun to make and I've made a new friend :)

      Delete
  10. What a beautiful joint effort. (Or should I say tripple effort. I love how your husband helps out.)

    ReplyDelete
  11. This beauty has arrived safely at Siblings Together HQ! THanks!

    ReplyDelete

I love reading all your comments, I know it takes time to write them but they make me smile so thank you for dropping by :)