Siblings Together - a quilt and its story

When Lynne@LilysQuilts put out a tentative call for quilty contributions to Siblings Together it was a no-brainer for me.
  
I’m so so lucky.  I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have been separated from my half-brother, AJ, when I was growing up.  He was 16 years older than me.  He was my hero.  He played the trombone.   He was wickedly funny and at times extremely mean.  He could do requests on comb and paper.  He died in July 2010 and he is the reason I started sewing again.  It seemed only right to make a quilt to celebrate siblingdom.

Coincidentally, I had started a quilt on New Year’s Eve 2010/2011 which I named my Quilt of Good Intentions (a self-fulfilling prophecy, as it got consigned to the WIP box round about Feb 2011!) 



Well, I was determined to come good with the intentions, and so the blocks got a revamp and my Siblings Quilt is the result.





For fabric nerds, the main solids are Kona Charcoal and Chartreuse, piecing was mainly from my stash & Cheater Friday fabric by MelanieSullivan@TexasFreckles found here on Spoonflower … **Edited to add: Spoonflower also sponsored our quilt labels, I got mine from the super organised  Laura@NeedlesPins&BakingTins. 




So, that’s the story of this quilt, and now, with label attached, QOGI is ready to be sent on to its new owner. My brother never got to cuddle his quilt so I just love that I now have a connection with another ‘sibling’ somewhere.  Quilts, just like siblings, need to share memories.  



I know that the quilty community is very generous and I know that many of you give to your own favourite causes, but just in case you're after a little something to do there are other opportunities to get you into giving action here at the 100 quilts for kids blog hop over at SwimBikeQuilt.

.... or you could just go revel in all the wonderfully generous siblings together quilty linky loveliness over at Lily'sQuilts 

Echino Patchwork Quilt? Tick!

I’m so excited to finally show you my first ever machine pieced quilt - using 4 fat quarters of Echino Patchwork & some Kona solids!

This lap quilt is a Christmas gift for my very best friend who, in the last two months, has lost her husband, her mother and her two dogs … I reckoned she really needed something bright and jewel-like to snuggle up on the sofa with, and she is one very classy lady, so I think the Echino is the perfect choice !

--- Whoops!  I forgot to take a picture of the back this morning, so apologies for the dark inside shot … but here goes … 

Now, this would be a very picture heavy post were it not for the fact that I’ve documented the whole process on a new page at the top of this blog … Echino - Quilting As Therapy III … Please click the link if you’d like to see more …

Squeakity Squeak

 Hey - see that turquoise and pink 'Quilt Story' button over up there on the right  ?

Let's just say I'm just a little bit squeakity squeak ...

AND I may be taking possession of an understudy sewing machine oh yes and a new home-needing cat companion seems not ... tomorrow ... 

carpe diem, I bloomin well say!

Finished!

 

click for more

My Creative Space #2

So, I've finally started binding the second half of my 'quilting as therapy' quilt -(see tabs above for the background to the story)  It just seemed to come to a natural stop so the embroidered quilting is quite randomly spread - I've also hand-tied with ribbon ... it's sad to see it finish, but it marks another stage in my grieving process, I guess  ....

Don't forget to pop in to some of the many inspirational spaces out there, as curated by Kirsty at kootoyoo ... 

Sew (geddit?) here I am, rekindling an old love/hate relationship  - I used to sew when I was much younger, but as a hobby it was something I tended to lose patience with.  Not much change there -  I still don't find it easy, but I do find it immensely satisfying, and considerably less messy than painting!

Hopefully this blog will serve to encourage and chart my improvement over time (yeah well, it's a nice thought).

use the links at the side to see specific projects