Siblings Together quilts

I am very happy to report that the Siblings Together quilts that I made with the invaluable help of Leeds Modern Quilt Guild  were indeed finished in time to be sent down to Fat Quarterly Retreat and handed over. So pleased! We pieced the blocks at our June meeting, all 48 of them.

I was absolutely determined to get these finished by this year's deadline. I do work well with a bit of focus, so I sashed, basted, quilted and had the binding chopped up and ready in time for our July guild sewing day. 

No pins here! 505 spray ftw

Easy peasy wavy line quilting

Binding strips all cut and ready

The day of our July meet was an absolute scorcher. Remember Summer, people? Yes, that was just a few weeks ago. Just the perfect kind of day for binding two huge quilts. But that deadline was just a week away, along with the end of term, our family holiday and a whole load of gift making and packing stress! So I cracked on, and got the bindings attached and machined down. I usually prefer to hand finish my bindings but when speed is of the essence it has to be machine finished. Just a few finishing tasks to be done, attaching the labels and hand finishing the corners (I always like to do this for durability). Luckily many hands came to the rescue! We had some illustrious names at our meeting that month and so I am proud to say that the lovely Katy, Amy and Justine all had a hand in finishing off these quilts. It was a  busy, productive and super fun day. 

I left the finished quilts with Lisa who handed them over to Karen (you still with me, yes?). And Karen took them down to Fat Quarterly Retreat! This was a real team effort and I am so grateful to everyone involved.

Siblings Together is such an important charity. It helps to reunite and rebuild relationships between siblings separated by the UK care system. Each year it holds summer camps for these children, and each child who attends gets to take away their own quilt, a special handmade item infused with happy memories and love. I have donated 3 quilts to the charity this year, including these two, and been involved in 11 more! I hope to do the same again this year as once again I am part of the Siblings Together quilting bee. And Leeds Modern Quilt Guild will be making quilts to send again too, although we may give ourselves a little more time this year!!

I didn't manage to get any pictures of the finished quilts as they had to be handed over as soon as they were done, but Lisa did. Thanks Lisa!

So to summarise ...
Pattern: Granny square blocks in a 4 by 6 arrangement
Fabric: Potluck scraps plus others, Kona snow for sashing
Backing: IKEA fabrics donated by Lisa and Hannah
Binding: Chicopee plaid and Lizzy House orange jewels
Quilting: Simple wavy lines on the diagonal, I think 3" apart.
Size: 78" ish by 53" ish

Thanks everyone!