Busy Month

As some of you know, I teach P & Q here in Ayrshire. My current classes are rolling towards the end of session and I always round things off with an Open Evening. This year it will be on 1st April!! As we approach this time of year I always throw a challenge to all my students to make one small quilt for Project Linus. We usually produce heaps of little pre-natal sized quilts which go to our local maternity unit. We are told that nursing staff especially appreciate the quilts being backed with fleece so that is what we do.
I have 5 classes a fortnight, one for beginners, and the others all follow the same project. In the term before Christmas the project was called Cabin in the Woods and was a smallish wallhanging of an appliqued centre surrounded by log cabin blocks. The focus was on the applique and the ladies were encouraged to pursue their own applique ideas if they didn't want to follow my samples. In term two it's all been about free moltion quilting. and I suggested that perhaps they could combine this with their Linus quilts. We are often terrified of doing free motion quilting on a "real" quilt. Attendance this term has been a bit sporadic, due in the main to illness, but those who have managed to get their teeth into the technique have really grown their confidence and skill levels, even me! So it really is all about practice.
Anyway, I usually start collecting exhibits for my Open Evening as folks finish their projects and today I decided to blog each little Linus quilt as I receive it. Much effort has gone into these little gems, one or two are a bit bigger than neo-natal, and I am sure all will be gratefully received, and loved, for a long time.

Delia started this one as her Cabin in the Woods project and decided to give it to Linus. The Sue and Sam in the centre are French and have all been hand stitched......look at this close-up,

The next two have been made by Wendy, from orphans and scraps! Both are quite big, toddler sized I reckon and are properly layered and bound. She has even free motion quilted the pink one even tho she hates the technique.

This next Linus teenie, has been made by Irene from my beginners class - Irene has embraced p & q with great gusto. She has also taken up machine embroidery as can be seen in the quilt's embellishments.

This next baby quilt is from another busy beginner, Denise. It is actually destined for a poorly little relative, Lily...

My final pic for today is Jackie's Cabin in the Woods project. She started following the Baby Baltimore sample but wanted to make a cushion. The leaves and buds were raw edge appliqued and then she did some rather clever fabric maniulation to make her petals. It has all been stitched onto a linen background and is indeed, a thing of beauty.

Keep coming back as the month progresses I will post more work from all my clever ladies.