Project Linus UK

Some of you will know that I am one of the co-ordinators for Project Linus UK Lincolnshire. If you haven't heard of Project Linus UK, you can read about it here . Lovely people in Lincolnshire make patchwork quilts which are then donated to Project Linus UK and given to children who are in need of an extra cuddle for so many reasons. In fact, lovely people make these quilts all over the British Isles too and there are lots of other co- ordinators in lots of other places.  We all know the wonderfulness of being wrapped in a quilt, the comfort, the soft touch of the fabric, the colours and the skill of the maker... I could go on... The gift of one of these quilts just says that we care for children who are sad and their families who are so stressed. 

Project Linus UK quilt made in Lincolnshire

Trudi at Quilting Prolifically has been so very kind and quilted several quilts for us including a really big one which was second prize in the national raffle. 

We get lots of thank you e mails and cards from families who receive the quilts, the kindness of strangers towards their families helps so much at such a difficult time. 

This weekend I have maxed out on the wonderful smell of dried lavender as I have made lots of lavender bags as a fund raiser. We buy the lavender from The Yorkshire Lavender Company and it has the most amazing scent which makes the sewing room smell like a summer garden. 

Lavender bag

Its a simple design, a rectangle of patchwork 6 x 8 inches, sewn into a bag, filled and hemmed to close. They are made from scraps from my sewing room and every one is different....These go with the hundred or so we have already sold at our talks.

lots of lavender bags

They have pretty ribbons to hang them up with and a carefully chosen button which is tied on. Often the buttons are from my Mum's vintage button box although there is only so much I can do with all the grey trouser buttons she saved so carefully with war time economy...

even more lavender bags

Each one is tucked into a cellophane bag with a contact details card

front of the contact details card

 and a sticky 'thank you from Project Linus UK' label on the front...

lavender bags ready to sell

Now they are ready for the sales table at our next talk and Project Linus quilt show to be given to a Women's Institute in the north of Lincolnshire.

If you have any scraps of fabric you can spare for Project Linus UK, please send me an email, we are so grateful for donations. If you would like to make a quilt, contact the

 co-ordinator nearest you and she will get you started, the names are on the national website. And lastly, thank you, thank you, thank you to the kind and generous people who give time, skill and so much more to our local group, 

Sue 

PS. Thanks for reading all this, do leave a message if you have any fund raising ideas too. 

  

A Memory Quilt

This week has been so cold, but I have been rather warm as I have wrestled with a huge quilt which I am making for Alisdair. It is a memory quilt and uses all his baby clothes. The clothes were mostly babygros and little t shirts, so rather stretchy and different to use from woven cotton fabrics. Here it is laid out on the floor as the pieces are put together. It won't be the flattest of quilts but I hope it will be very loved throughout his babyhood:

Here it is, finished, in all its glory, on a king sized bed ....

Alisdair's memory quilt

 It is a big quilt and hard to photograph no chance of taking it outside in the rain, so together we went on a tour of the house....

memory quilt

The airing rack is from Dublin, used in the 1930's and now lovingly painted by husband. This is only one part of it, there are three pieces and it is very tall too. Ideal for photos of big quilts.

memory quilt for Alisdair

This week I'm hoping to meet some new friends. Lynne at Lily's Quilts has kindly hosted a meet up for people with small blogs, yes I nearly said small bloggers, which brings a delightful picture to mind!

If you are dropping in, do tell me what you are making and how things are with you,

Sue 

Moving house

House and garden

Several of my dear friends have moved house recently. It generally involves lots of upheaval and plenty of this....

Our kitchen about 5 years ago

Also new boilers, skips of old carpet and, in Jenny's case a new baby on the way.... well they do say new houses have that effect....  Some people love gardening and specialise in topiary:

This is a garden path at Hackthorn Hall near Lincoln, where they had an open day last summer.

 cushion made from a printed panel with an added border

Charlotte has moved just across the road to a house with more bedrooms and a bigger garden. For those that need help in the garden, our local garden centre has a fine selection of people just waiting to be asked ....

Maybe there will be a wildlife garden, we certainly share ours with lots of other families....

Hedgehog nest in the garden

But how to combine everything one hopes for the family moving to the new house? This is my gift to Charlotte in her new home. I must admit there were some sharp words said over the piping of the edges... but I am pleased with the colours. I bought the garden gnome fabric from Kay. You can read about her fabrics here

cushion

back of cushion

The cushion was inspired by the beautiful cushions made by Amandajean  here She is the most generous of ladies and has great photos too. The back is fastened with two large buttons tied on with red embroidery thread...

and here is the Ta Dah photo of the front complete with slightly wonky piping...

Gnome, hedgehog and watering can cushion 

Thank you for calling in to read my ramblings, if you are moving house this week, I hope it goes well,

Kind regards,

Sue

Spring lambs

In the last week I have been making a farmyard quilt for Marie to give to baby Dylan. The quilt is red and green colours and  has lots of animals and of course a tractor or two. I love making these quilts, just the right size for lots of uses, in the cot, on the floor to play on, in the car or pushchair.... I really hope they used and loved throughout babyhood. Here it is:

Marie reminded me it is nine years since she had her own baby and in fact also nearly nine years since Green Star Quilts was started. The time has whizzed by! It reminded me that I have made many other farmyard quilts, farmyards are a thing close to my heart... this was one of the first...

Then there was this one and this is giving me a lovely chance to revisit my photos of quilts made over several years....

It feels so like spring is just around the corner and I am cheering it on with inspections of the state of my daffodil flowers, nearly out now, everyday. Today My sewing room robin had a fright. A very competitive blue tit with beak full of moss clearly thought the hanging willow heart would be a good place to nest and was outraged that 1) the window was in the way and 2) the fabric robin was there first. There was a lot of flapping at the glass, loud tweeting through a beak of moss and a huge grumpiness from a very tiny person with a yellow feather covered tummy. How could such a small bird be so cross??

Not far from the borders of south Lincolnshire is a beautiful village of Easton on the Hill. This is the field beside the church on a January Sunday and I took the photo because the scene looked calm and very English indeed... and the pub lunch was great too...

And now in Lincolnshire we have the first lambs arriving. Our own very special sheep are the Lincolnshire Longwools. Historically, our county fortunes were based on the wool and meat from these sheep.They have the most spectacular fleece, an all over perm from head to knee that would cost a fortune at the hairdressers... and they gaze through their extravagant curls with a mild and calm expression, knowing they are very beautiful sheep indeed. Louise who owns the  Risby Grange Longwool flock has kindly loaned this photo:

Is there anything more sweet than a new lamb, well maybe two new lambs with terry towelling legs?

At Riseholme the lambs last year were a huge success on Lambing Sunday when visitors were welcome. They were such fun to watch as they got in the feed troughs, on the hay bales, muddled up with the wrong families, but still were able to recognise a baaaa from mum...

Here is the farmyard quilt which I made for our little one for her second birthday. 

And now I have my own flock.... of ladybirds.... which every year holiday over the winter in the cracks of the window frames in daughter's bedroom. This year there are hundreds, families and friends snuggled up cosily in the corners, trotting off for a walk occasionally before settling down for a snooze in the sun, red with black spots, black with red spots and even yellow with black spots....

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my farmyard quilts and will have have a chance to visit lambs near you this spring, also that your daffodils will be in flower this week, thanks for dropping in,

Sue

Tulips and a spring coloured quilt

Here in Lincolnshire we grow a lot of tulips. In the south of the county, on the flat land are the bulb fields. Spalding has a history of an annual tulip festival. The colours are amazing, blocks of bright pink, yellows, mauves stand out against the fenland skies. 

I bought some tulips especially for the photos of my latest spring coloured quilt. The soft muted shades are a delight in a month of low light levels and gloom, they cheer me up so much.

Here they are :

This quilt was inspired by a beauty that I saw in Edinburgh at Jo Avery's quilt shop in Morningside. You can read about her here 

I can't remember the name of the maker sadly, but the block is a sashed thimble shape made of random width strips from my enormous scrap bag.... 

On a cold grey day I made husband stand outside as a living quilt stand....so you can see my tulip quilt against our very wet garden, not a permanent lake, just flooded from ground water...

Theses are photos taken with my new camera and I am trying to be more creative with the backgrounds, so off we go around the house and garden....

These are the two best photos, the fish eye effect made the  quilt draped over the bed shot very odd, so I won't show you that! I also tried the draped over the bathroom door with a poor effect... And lastly, because I want to show you a less than tidy sewing room because life isn't perfect... and there's the next quilt on the design wall too...

Thank you for calling in to Quilting the Green Star,

 Hope you have a good week,

Sue

PS. Jo from My Bear Paw has contacted me to say that if fact she made the quilt I saw in her shop, so thank you Jo for the inspiration! 

St Valentine hearts

Tomorrow is THAT day.... over many years not one of those days has been forgotten.... Husband has blushed and flowers, a poem or a card has appeared. Every time. So I hope tomorrow will be no exception.... Hearts can be found on lots of my quilts:

In the garden...

On a chicken...

A gate at Ironbridge....

With pearly buttons...

On a bucket given to me by Jenny...

and now on a hanging in the window... and this is how I made it:

Get 6 long bendy stems of willow and tie together with string

divide into 2 bunches of 3 stems and plait each bunch, plaiting in the sticky out bits too

use those clip things for freezer bags to hold the ends

clip both plait ends together

bend the ends down into the middle to form the heart, twisting them together.

Secure the ends to the bottom of the heart with string and snip off the bits which hang over. Your willow heart is finished!

Add a ribbon hanging loop and hang in a window. Here you can see mine with  an added  robin given to me by Jo. It was made by Sharron in Cambridge. You can see her things here 

Happy St Valentine's day to you all and thanks for dropping in. Do say hello and tell me what you are making this week..