Siblings Together Quilt

When I read about Lynne's call for quilts for kids earlier this year, and the wonderful Siblings Together initiative, I knew that Bee Blessed would want to respond.

Through Bee Blessed, we know the impact that the gift of a quilt has on people's lives - bringing hope, comfort and pleasure.  We regularly donate quilts to children of all ages (as well as adults) so it was a no brainer for us to pass on one of our kid's quilts to Siblings Together.

 
Siblings Together is a charity which brings together siblings who are separated within the care system.   This summer, a residential camp is being organised to give these siblings valuable time together, and each child will be given the gift of a quilt to keep as a reminder of the time they had with their brothers or sisters.

This is such a great idea and a brilliant charity. You can read more about what Siblings Together are trying to achieve this year here on Lynne's blog.

'My First Quilt' Class

The 'My First Quilt Class' finished tonight!

Everyone did amazingly well, especially the beginner sewers in the group!  Some even made 2 quilts during the course of the 6 weeks!

It is so wonderful for me to see each quilt uniquely made, even though everyone was working from the same pattern.

A huge pat on the back ladies!  You should be v.proud of your snuggly creations!  Enjoy!

If you are interested in making a quick & easy quilt from pre-cut squares (called a Layer Cake) then this pattern is available to purchase from my Etsy shop.  You will also receive the complimentary pattern on how to make and attach binding.

The Busiest (& wettest) June on Record?

The highlights for me this June were

* Fat Quarterly Retreat in London

* seeing months of planning come together in our Exhibition/Fund Raising day on 21st. 

* handing over the Pippi Quilt to a young girl in need of hope and blessing.

* and seeing my baby girl turn 11, finish out her last year of Primary School and try on her 'big school' uniform!

So many more lovely things happened this month, which are too numerous to mention here.

But I'll leave you instead with my monster mosaic of makes for June (I did make a few other bee blocks in June, but they were for July so I'll pop them into next month's mosaic!).

Linking up with Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day.

Bee Blessed Summer Block

It's that time again when Bee Blessed put out the call to all our wonderful supporters for block donations.

This time, you have July and August to have a go at this month's block - Antique Tile.

You can find the brilliant tutorial for this block here.

We would love for you to keep to a mainly blue and white theme for this block, using white on the outside where I have used white (fabric A in the tutorial).

If you want to introduce slightly different shades of blue e.g. teal or aqua, then that would be great, as long as the overal colour scheme of the block is blue and white.

This is a really quick block to make, with a clever and cunning way to construct it. 

We hope you have fun with it.

Bee Blessed will only be meeting once or twice over the summer, so we may not have much to report for a few weeks yet.  But please know that projects are progressing and all the donated blocks so far are being put to good use.

Thank you too for the wonderful fabric donations we have recently received from several bloggers.  The generosity of this blogging community never ceases to impress me. Your 'gifts' will be turned into quilts to bless others.

Nearly There!

For my Thursday and Friday classes, it is the end of term!  Here is a wee summary of what the Thursday crowd were up to:

This is a selection of journal covers and travel sewing pouches which the ladies made in just 2 weeks.  Aren't they fab!  I didn't get taking pictures of everyone's, but trust me when I say they were fabulous!

Well done to the ladies in all my classes, for producing such wonderful creations, getting to the end of term, and putting up with my chaos and mistakes!!  You have been a privilege and a joy to teach (well, most of the time!).

The patterns for the Journal Cover and Travel Sewing Pouch are now available in my Etsy shop.

I have just one more evening class next week and a Saturday workshop, and then I am officially clocking off for 9 days!

I am so much looking forward to my first real slice of time off since Christmas!

Well, this weekend I am nursing a sick girl back to health, watching Wimbledon, and trying to stay in my PJs for as long as possible!

Hope you have a relaxing one!

Teachers Presents!

Today is the last day of school for my kids!

With this being the busiest June I've ever known, only my youngest's Primary school teacher and assistants got hand made pressies this year!

'Joanie' for the P7 teacher

Pencil case (flled with chocs) & teabag wallet for classroom assistant no.1

Pencil case (filled with chocs) & teabag wallet for classroom assistant no.2

Close up of cheesecake zipper pull, made by Poppy's Pocket

Another cheesecake zipper pull! Yum!

In the madness of this week, I also had a friend's teenage son's birthday.  So he got .... you guessed it, a pencil case filled with goodies!

I found a brill website that sold cool badges, the perfect finish for this teen pencil case (my tomboy daughter loves this one!).

So by the end of today, all presents will be safely delivered, school uniforms washed and packed away, and although my classes don't finish until 7/7, I can start to wind down and maybe even sneak in one or two lie-ins!

Hope you have a wonderful end to the week!

'Here Come The Girls!'

I am delighted to announce a new Blogging Bee called:

When Di and Sarah and I met up for coffee recently, Di suggested how she would love to be in a bee with UK based bloggers of small blogs (I keep going to say 'small bloggers' but that implies something completely different!!).

I'm not entirely sure what defines a small blog, but I kind of invited myself along, even though I'm already in several other bees (I know, I'm bee greedy!).

And so Hipbees was formed!  Sarah is the queen of naming things, and didn't disappoint this time either!  How cool is the name! It sooooo appeals to my inner hippy!

The other 11 cool, hip 'n happenin' chicks are:

Tanya - Second Chance Tan - http://sewasecondchance.blogspot.co.uk/

Rachel - Mamma Fairy Sews - http://mammafairysews.blogspot.co.uk/

Karen - Lisnaweary Quilts - http://lisnaweary-quilts.blogspot.co.uk/

Fiona - Sew Fi - http://go-sewfi.blogspot.co.uk/

Collette - Poppie and Poochie - http://poppyandpoochie.blogspot.co.uk/

Renee - Nellie's Niceties - http://nelliesniceties.blogspot.co.uk/

Lynz - Domestic Light and Magic - http://domesticlightandmagic.blogspot.co.uk/

Jan - Isisjem - http://isisjem.blogspot.co.uk/

Catherine - Sew Wonderful Life - http://sewonderfulife.blogspot.co.uk/

Sarah - Sew Me - http://sewmeblog.blogspot.co.uk/

and our uber cool Mama,

Di - Willowbeck Designs - http://willowbeckdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

We will officially get under way in August, but we just thought we'd let you all know what we're about.

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After I had posted yesterday about my birthday pressies, I got one more in the post!

Even the wrapping is adorable!  Imagine saying this with the M&S voice 'This isn't just wrapping; this is Mish Mash Mama wrapping!'

Amazing stitchery, copied from my new blog header!

Terri, you rock! Your creativity and talent are awe inspiring!  I love my special notebook, and I'm even going to keep the wrapping!  Thank you my friend!

And just before I go, the secret partners in the Brit Quilt Swap Round 3 were announced today!  I got a goodun'!

Have a happy, hippee Thursday!