A very good friend of mine, Josephine makes quilts for a Victorian based charity – Very Snuggly Quilt Program. They make quilts for sick kids in the Royal Children’s Hospital. She’s an absolute inspiration to me… the majority of her sewing time goes to Snugglies (as it is affectionately known) and they make 200 quilts Every. Single. Month for the kids.

In November last year, Josephine invited me to join her and share one of her charity quilt workshops. The makers who came along made 14 or so quilt tops for each charity. We came up with this brilliant idea to see if we could get 50 makers to come along to the next charity day with the grand plan to make 100 quilt tops on the day!

Needless to say, we have been busily cutting up quilt kits to use on the day. I have cut up soooo many nine patch, disappearing 4 patch, disappearing nine patch, St Louis 16 patch, rail fence, square in a square, charm square quilt kits that I’m seeing squares in my sleep!

The quilt workshop is set to take place this Sunday, 12 February 2017 at 10.30am at St Augustine’s hall in Yarraville and at this stage we have 42 women confirmed to attend. It’s going to be a fabulous day – we have sponsors and prizes and music and dancing planned for the day. And we are aiming so high…. 100 quilt tops or bust.

Thing is… I have been asked from lots of people outside of Melbourne whether they can join in on the day from their remote (to Melbourne) locations. And the answers is YES!!!

The question has also been raised about which quilt pattern should makers be using. And well… any pattern is fine, for any quilt size from crib size up to largish lap size. The quilts will be donated to women and kids in domestic violence safe houses across Australia and, really they just need to big and bright enough to give a comforting hug.

BUT… because I know some people prefer to work to a pattern I have asked the amazing folks over at Robert Kaufman have been kind enough to give us permission to use the free Genny & Ruth pattern from the inimitable Elizabeth Hartman.

I have some experience with this quilt. I was inspired by the quilt Kate Basti made for Alison Glass using her gorgeous Seventy Six and Insignia ranges so I decided to make one for myself! The blocks come together so fast and they’re huge – 20″ to be exact!

Yummy hey!

So – if you are keen to get involved, but you’re not in Melbourne, then you could easily whip up a few of these blocks and have a quilt top to donate in no time. The great thing is that even if you only have time to make 4 blocks, that still makes a 40″ x 40″ quilt. And if you could stretch to 6 blocks, you’d make a 40″ x 60″ quilt and 9 blocks make a bumper 60″ x 60″ quilt.

Now… I’m a person who likes to give options!

When I was making up quilt kits I discovered that, with a slight variation, this quilt block can be even faster to make (read: no HSTs)! So I came up with a quick tutorial in case you are HST averse or really just need a fast finish!

SUPER QUICK TUTORIAL

Each block requires:

13  x 4.5″ background squares

12 x 4.5″ coloured squares (can be scrappy or all the same colour)

Next:

Lay out your background and coloured squares to match the picture below.

 

Finally:

Piece each of the rows together – chain piecing works brilliantly here.

Press the first, third and fifth rows to the right and the second and fourth rows to the left.

Piece the rows together, nesting and pinning at the joins.

And voila! You have a 20″ block.

It took me about 10 minutes to piece the block together. I found that if I cut out all the fabric first, then laid out my blocks and chain pieced that it was super fast and really effective!

For 4 blocks you will need  52 background squares and 48 coloured squared (4 x 12). For 6 blocks you will need 78 background blocks and 72 coloured (6 x 12) squares. And if you really want to go big or go home… then you’ll need 117 background squares and 108 coloured squares (9 x 12).

So there are a couple of choices… and I’d love it if you joined us on Sunday for our “Virtual” Charity Quilt Making Sew In Day…

Phew! That was a mouthful!

 

With the tic tac toe quilt blocks designed by Alyce of @blossomheartquilts coming in quick and fast, in no time I had enough for 10 quilts. And now came the fun part of piecing the tops and sourcing help to quilt them. I really have been blown away by the amount of support I have found amongst the quilty community. Lots of amazing women have contacted me and offered to piece and quilt, they have donated their time, fabric and batting and really supported the project.

This post is going to be a picture heavy post, dedicated to those women who have lent a hand to make the #quiltblockstohealviolence project a reality. So grab a cuppa and settle in for a look at the tic tac toe quilts that we as a community have been able to make for some of this countries most vulnerable  women and children.

The first completed quilt was pieced by me and gorgeously quilted by the fabulous Ms Midge. I’ve said it before – I am a total sucker for a rainbow and I love this quilt. Backing was donated by Angie of @gnomeangel fame and binding was provided by Ms Midge with batting coming from the lovely Clair of Clair’s Fabrics. I plan to do another post just on donations made by our awesome fabric shop contributors, so keep an eye out for that!

In the early days of the project, I had lots of energy for piecing the blocks myself and so the first few were all me on the piecing front. When I realised though how many blocks were actually coming in, that’s when I started accepting the help that was being offered!

The second quilt was pieced by me and quilted by the lovely Kelly Wickenton, who had heard about the project on Facebook and had offered her services. Kelly also donated the backing fabric for this quilt. You’ll notice that I still need to bind this one – last week I bound 6 of these quilts in a frenzied attempt to these all finished! This one will have to wait until next week.

The third quilt was pieced from donated blocks by the wonderful Sue of @suesewstoo and the quilted by Sue’s friend, Sue Schultz. I sent the blocks off in the post and received back a completed quilt. Can’t ask for more than that really. It was brilliant!

This project has really shown me how wonderful, generous and kind people can be – flying in the face of the cruelty and violence that some people show their loved ones, especially in family violence situations. One person in particular has been so generous with her time and quilt making. Lisa of @sewlamb made over 50 blocks on her own, a pieced quilt backing as well as 8 children’s quilts. I secretly decided to piece 30 of Lisa’s blocks into a quilt top which represents the good that there is in people. I have dedicated an entire blogpost to Lisa’s other makes here.

Next up, we had the warm quilt, made up of reds and oranges and yellows. Leanne of @sewnbyleanne volunteered to take possession of 30 blocks and transform them into a quilt top. She was then going to drop them off to my mother in law who was in turn going to drop them to someone to quilt it, when plans fell through. Like a real trooper, Leanne then offered to quilt and bind the quilt for me too. She did an absolutely gorgeous job, matching up the pattern on the pieced backing and stippling in a variegated yellow thread!

 

Honestly, this next one is my absolute favourite so far. I cheekily cherry picked the blocks to make the ultimate rainbow quilt. I pieced it myself and then sent it across to Carolyn of @freebirdquiltingdesigns. If you don’t know about Carolyn’s work, do yourself a favour – grab a cup of tea, click on the link to her IG page, settle in and prepared to be wowed. She is a master and her work is stunning!

Coming home from work to find envelopes and packages full of blocks was a daily pleasure, but receiving a the above fully completed quilt was just thrilling! The ladies of Thimbles & Thread and the Cow Girls sewing groups in Mudgeeraba got together to piece, quilt and bind the quilt to donate. So bright and happy!

And then it was time to be “Singin’ the Blues” – a quilt done in blue, teal and green. All the cool colours and boy do I love this one. This one was precisely pieced by Jane of @behind_lilpipdesigns and again quilted by Carolyn of @freebirdquiltingdesigns. Both lovely ladies and generous to boot!

Part way through the project, I was contact by the lovely Rachael of @sewtodaycleantomorrow (a motto we can all get behind I’m sure!) who told me she was making some blocks to donate. She contacted me a few weeks after that to say that she had caught the Tic Tac Toe bug and had made so many that she may as well continue and finish an entire quilt. Not long after that, I received this gorgeous Zen Chic fabric creation! Rachael is a rock star!

On a blisteringly hot, muggy, overcast, yucky day in Melbourne I got this gorgeous rainbow back from Karen of @shecooks_shesews who was so speedy that she had this back to me before I even had time to blink. No prizes for guessing who pieced this rainbowy goodness – yep, that’s right, little ol’ me – #sorrynotsorry

You know, I did try to find other layouts for these quilts. Ones that didn’t involve rainbows, but it was like a compulsion. I rationalised it to myself by saying that the quilt would be going to different safe houses and refuges – and rainbows bring the promise that the troubles of today will surely come to pass. Rainbows symbolise fresh beginnings. So – perfect for these quilts for women escaping domestic violence. This quilt was pieced by me and quilted by Karen again (aka speedy gonzales!)

After the bright, saturated rainbow colours, this soft, more muted quilt is so calming. Piece by the Baroness herself (Alison of @baroness_stella) and quilted by Catherine Brummell Midson who contacted me on Facebook.

The Baroness had a hand in this colourful one too. Pieced by Alison and quilted in a gorgeous edge to edge pattern by Jan (@jan_foster) of Red Shed Quilting. So many generous people have donated their time and skills to this project and it is just so humbling.

The generosity of amazing women doesn’t stop there – this quilt was donated by the fabulous women of the Canberra Modern Quilt Guild.  Special thanks to @bibliosewandso (for organising and being generally awesome), @procrasticraft (for quilting), @coralquilts (for binding and label), @nicships and @gigi.sews (for blocks),  @amira_littlemushroomcap and her sister (for block placement) and the other members of the @canberramqg for their generous contribution!

This quilt is one of the first ones pieced way back in October 2015. Pieced by me on a rainy Melbourne day and then sent off to be quilted by Raylee of @sunflowerquilting. I whizzed around with binding too!

Ok… I’m pretty sure I said above that there was a quilt I had decided was my favourite… well… maybe I’ve changed my mind and this is now my favourite! Blocks and top were pieced by Deb Slater and was donated along with another 20 or so blocks! Karen of @shecooks_shesews has again delivered on a absolutely stunning quilt design.

This colourful quilt was pieced by the marvelous Michelle Wyers (aka @micheles_kitchen) and again quilted by Karen of @shecooks_shesews.  Bound by me in a flurry of activity that saw 6 quilts done in one day!

A slightly smaller quilt, I love this one for its more muted colours and stippled quilting. Beautifully pieced by Michele of @micheles_kitchen from donated blocks and quilted in an all over stipple by Karen of @shecooks_shesews (bringing the total number of quilts done by Karen to 5!) and bound by me!

And to bring us up to date, the Do Good Stitches care circle, led by Merran of @123bluejumper pieced the blocks as well as the top, then quilted and bound and sent completed this gorgeous quilt. Special thanks to the contributors Gina of @happygolizzie, Leanne of @daisyandjack, Jodi of @talesofcloth, Rachel of @rachelwoodenspoon, Lucy of @lucyfleur7, Cat of @hellofromcat, Tracy, Kath of @bluebeehive, Monique of @sharingthegoodstuff and Erin of @onceuponadonkey!

In all, 19 finished tic tac toe block quilts are finished and ready to be labelled and donated to various domestic violence safe houses and refuges across all the Australian states. I’m thrilled to be able to facilitate the giving of such gorgeous and precious gifts to women and kids escaping violence – from our hands, to their hearts. May they warm their bodies and comfort their brave souls.

Jackie xxx