Giving and Receiving

Two of our members, Judith and Marion, also support a fantastic charity group called Siblings Together Quilting Group, which you can read about here. Their aim is to collect 100 quilts in 2016.  In support of their work we have donated the two quilts below to this worthy cause and hope they bring a smile to the kids' faces when they receive them. Why not pop over to their blog or visit them on Instagram here.

As well as giving we also did some receiving this month.

I'm sorry I can't show you a photograph of what was donated to us last Saturday as I didn't take one!!! Oh how I wish I had a photograph of the lovely blocks and fabrics we received. My fault completely.  I will show them to you at a later date...I promise.

It doesn't mean I can't pass on our thanks.

Firstly there is Lucy who blogs here.  Go and read her blog. I assure you it would be very easy to spend an afternoon absorbed in her sewing and quilting loveliness. Thank you Lucy. We greatly appreciate your kindness.

Secondly there is Rita, whom we haven't met but hope to one day.  Thank you so much.  Your goodies will be put to good use.

Thirdly,  Marion donated and made something which I can show you a photograph of -

Whoop whoop another 'man quilt'.  Thanks Marion.  It will go to a good home.

Happy Easter 

How many times have I used the word quilt/quilts/quilted/quilting??????

We had so many quilts in need of quilting that we decided to focus on doing just that last Saturday.  Not everyone is enamoured with quilting but most of us had a go and everything that needed quilting was quilted. This is what we achieved:

The Friendship Star quilt was quilted, binding was attached and it was taken home to be finished and sent off to its new home, this week hopefully.

Our girly quilt - another one which was kindly donated last month - was quilted and is now ready for binding. Soooooo pretty and some little girl is going to love it.

Another donated quilt had some free motion quilting finished by one of our talented ladies ;-)

There are another couple of quilts - also quilted - which I forgot to photograph but they will keep for another day.

Karen made a start on a new quilt. We're making it from some more of last month's donated cache. It will look really good when it's finished.

We sorted through the beautiful Churn Dash blocks....more on them another day...

...and smiled for the camera

Happy Sewing 

What it's all about...two stories

I've been posting photographs of our latest 'man quilt' in its various forms for a while now and on Sunday it made its way to its new home.  We loved this quilt and want to show it off once again and say thanks to everyone...for the lovely blocks you made at Bee Blessed...and the lovely blocks you posted to us.  Some photographs...

Firstly, this is it over my banister

On my floorboards lol

And most importantly, here it is in its new home

Isn't it amazing how it looks 'at home'.  It's such an encouragement when we hear that it is exactly to the recipient's taste. The gentleman who received it has been having a difficult time health-wise recently and we wanted to bless and encourage him.  Both he and his wife are artistic, creative people, as is evident from their beautiful home, and the quilt hopefully reflects this. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they enjoy it. They are happy for us to use these photographs as they also want to pass on their thanks to everyone involved.  This is from their email:

'We were so touched and overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity I felt compelled to write. I used to make quilts years ago and I am very aware of the hours of work and love that goes into them. The quilt  is truly magnificent and as you can see from the pictures tailor made for our sitting room. It will be a constant reminder to us of God's love. 

May God bless your little group and the fantastic witness you give out through your creative talents. We are honoured to have received such a perfect gift, thank you so,so much.'

What can I say...their words say it all.  Thank you everyone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were contacted about a quilt for a little boy called Joseph who has had a difficult year with health problems and hospital visits.  We didn't have anything we felt was appropriate at the time, and had been pondering and looking at various options, but last month what we felt was the perfect quilt top was kindly donated to us.  Thank you again, Irene. Having a grandson of a similar age I know how much he would love it...so it was a no brainer!!!

TADA!

It's so cute, which is good, but what is great is that Joseph loved it.  His mum very kindly contacted us and said we could show you all these lovely photographs of her son.  I quote from her email:

'I would like to say a huge thankyou for the beautiful quilt you made for my son, Joseph.  He loves Noah's ark as he has a jigsaw of it and it put a smile on his face as it did ours. Thankyou for thinking of him, he has been very unwell for the best part of a year and little things like this make all the difference to us as a family. I have attached a few photos.'

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Joseph, and we hope this year will be better than last.

And the photographs:

I can hear you all saying 'AW'!!!  

That's what the general response was from the ladies who saw the photographs when we met last Saturday.

SO...

HAPPY SEWING AND THANKS AGAIN TO ALL WHO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE

THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

March Block - Scrappy Rail Fence

This month's block comes courtesy of Sarah and you'll find the pattern here.  We've already used a few of Sarah's blocks and find them really easy to follow and this one is no different.  It was designed as a scrap buster for Siblings Together and you can pop over here to read all about them.  Thanks to both of them for allowing us to use it this month.

Please construct your block following the layout above/Sarah's layout (below) with the top left quarter in horizontal stripes.

Sarah constructed her block in quadrants of single colour ways in varying widths, taking inspiration from this quilt. I think it's very effective and a great way to use up those scraps which have been lurking, unwanted, in the midst of our stashes.

We'd love you to help us out with a block this month.  Once you've decided on your fabric it comes together very quickly.

We would like the blocks to be with us by the 15th April, if possible.  I know Easter is in the midst of this and people have plans so here's hoping some of you can squeeze in a few minutes to make us one and, as always, we thank you in advance for your continued support.

Check out our next blog for some feedback regarding the fruits of your labour.  It is such an encouragement to hear that someone's life has been touched through what you all help us do.

If you've landed on this page for the first time and want to send us a block, our email address is here and if you drop us a line I'll give you the address for the blocks.  We meet here and you are more than welcome to join us if you can sew.  Just drop us a line if you've any queries.

I'm off to bed now to try and shake of this 'dreaded lurgy' and I'll blog the update asap.

Happy Sewing and Many Thanks

Thank you!!!!

We were truly blessed on Saturday. A lovely lady called Irene arrived to see us with a bag full of goodies.  Irene belonged to a group of ladies who decided to get together and make some quilts for charity.  Not only did we receive quilts, but other fabricy goodness as well. We have a wee bit of work to do on some of the quilts, some in need of quilting or binding etc, but we couldn't be more pleased.  Unfortunately, in our excitement, we didn't get a photograph of Irene, so if you're reading this Irene, whoops, my mistake!!!

A few photographs of some of those goodies.....

Male quilts, female quilts, quilts for young and old, just what we needed.

Thanks again ladies. I hope you are truly blessed in return.

HAPPY SEWING...

Great day at Bee Blessed

We had such a productive day at Bee Blessed.  Everyone was doing something different, new skills were learnt and we had a ball.  Lots of photographs to follow.

This is how we spent yesterday!

The Wheel of Time quilt has turned out even better than we expected and is basted and ready for quilting.  I love how the different shades of navy and grey make it so interesting and I could look at this all day.  Thanks for the blocks you sent to us. We are like kids in a sweet shop checking them out.

Last month we set The Churn Dash block and whoop! whoop! they have been arriving with us throughout the month.

So....this month we made a start on the reverse Churn Dash which we will alternate with last month's blocks. The pattern is here.

 Thanks Ceri for donating this stunning quilt top, which is much appreciated and will soon be ready for a new home. 

Another kiddie quilt is almost complete...

...as is our New Orleans Star Quilt, which still gets referred to as the Trudi Quilt.  Just the borders to add and it will be ready for basting and quilting.

Someone, before my time (lol I mean before I became involved),  kindly donated some fabric to Bee Blessed amongst which was this cute jelly roll. The pattern is Hopscotch by Thimble Blossoms and it will definitely bring a smile to its new owner with its cheery brightness.

Last, but not least, another quilt top from a donated Layer Cake was sewn together and is now ready for borders, basting and quilting.  

So I can safely say we were productive in between the chat and catch ups.  

We too at Bee Blessed were blessed with a donation and I'll post that tomorrow.  

We loved and appreciated it!!!

Happy Sewing...

February block...another churn dash????

Isn't it sewing weather!!!!  I don't know what the weather is like where you are but if it's anything like Northern Ireland you'll be glad to huddle in your cosy house and get some sewing done. That's what many of you did last month, sewing together Churn Dash blocks then whizzing them off to us.  THANK YOU!!!  It was a fun block to make and a great tutorial. Thanks for letting us use it Sarah.

We were so inspired by Sarah's Ruby quilt (photograph above) which is on her blog here, that we thought we would try the same layout, white background fabric with a patterned Churn Dash, which was January's block, beside the reverse, a patterned background fabric with a white Churn Dash.  Hence this month's block...a patterned background with a white Churn Dash,which is in the photograph below.  Phew, what a mouthful.  I hope it's clear!!!

The pattern is the same as last month's and you'll find it here. The white churn dash pops out against the strong background colour and once again we're not stipulating a specific colour. 

We would like the blocks to be with us by the Friday, 4th of March, please, and as always we thank you in advance for your continued support.  Our email address is here, should you need it, and we meet here monthly. Actually we meet tomorrow, whoop whoop, so I'll have some updates for you at the beginning of the week.

Happy Sewing...the days are getting longer 

Back in the hive!!!

It was so good to get back to normal after Christmas and especially good to get together for a catch up, coffee and biscuits and, best of all, some communal sewing.  Here's what we got up to...

We checked the progress of The Wheel of Time block and realised that we're a bit short of blocks with a navy background...task number one.  This is going to look so good when finished.

You've probably heard me harping on about 'man quilts' recently and having handed one over before Christmas, witnessing how deeply it touched the person, has made us determined to have some more in reserve. We're thinking about how best to do this.

We made a start on this month's block and the pattern is here. As someone commented, 'It's hard to beat a Churn Dash...' and Sarah's pattern is so well-written and easy to follow.

This kindly-donated beauty is being sent off to its new home next week.

Bee Blessed relies mainly on donated fabric, quilt tops, blocks and perhaps unwanted projects which people no longer have a need for. If you are having a destash or have any fabric or precuts which you have fallen out of love with, or no longer want, we would welcome your donations.

We were gifted the layer cake in the photograph above and found this pattern for a Double Slice Layer Cake Quilt by the Missouri Star Quilt Company. We're still playing about with the layout but it came together very quickly.

Last but not least, we finally trimmed and laid-out these beautiful blocks for The New Orleans Star Quilt, before adding the borders. Thank you so much Trudi Wood for donating this amazing project. It was a labour of love and we all agree that it's going to be stunning when finished. 

Till we chat again...happy sewing

Churn Dash Block - January

 

Many thanks to Sarah for allowing us to use her Churn Dash pattern this month.  It's very easy to follow and you'll find the pattern here.  We aren't setting a specific colour this time but we would like the background to be plain white, as shown in the photographs above.  We'd like the blocks by Valentine's Day...an easy date to remember...and thank you in advance.
 
It's always exciting to see the varied blocks that we receive from you and we can't thank you enough for your continued support.

 Here's to 2016...happy sewing!!!

Happy New Year and Thanks to Y'all...

Christmas is over for another year and it seemed to go by in a flash. I hope it was a good one for you and that you managed to get some time to let your creative juices flow.

It seems an age since we last posted and this is what has happened since...

We gifted these quilts to two lovely ladies:

And this one to a lovely gentleman:

They hopefully went some way to letting people know they're not alone in the midst of their circumstances.

We continued making the Wheel of Time block which we set in November and you'll find the pattern here

We find ourselves always struggling to find a quilt suitable for a man so we decided to set a 'male appropriate' block this time.  You're still in plenty of time should you wish to send us one.

The Friendship Star quilt is coming together nicely:

That's about it for now, apart from a few dates for your diary.  For those of you who would like to join us our contact details are here.

We will be meeting in Christian Fellowship Church, Holywood Road, Belfast from 2pm to 5pm on the following dates:

9th January 2016

6th February 2016

5th March 2016

2nd April 2016

7th May 2016

4th June 2016

The dates etc are on our 'where and when' page too. Looking forward to connecting with you in the New Year either in person or online.  We couldn't do this without you, so....

Happy New Year and thank you for all your support xxxx