I haven’t used my longarm quilting machine in a month… so I started here

Christine designed a quilt pattern for Quilts for Care Leavers UK and made two sample quilts using completely different fabrics — and it’s amazing how different they feel despite using the exact same pattern. These quilts will be displayed at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham this year, where the pattern will also be available to buy on the charity stand. Before quilting them on my longarm, I decided to spend some time warming up on a practice quilt first. I haven’t used my longarm machine for a few weeks, and I wanted to feel confident in the design choice before working on quilts that will hopefully inspire other people to have a go too. I’ve intentionally kept the quilting simple and achievable because I want people to look at these quilts and think: “Yes… I could do that.” The charity was inspired by Lemn Sissay, whose words about wanting a hug while leaving care led Maggie Lloyd-Jones to create the idea of “quilted hugs” for young people leaving local authority care. If you’d like to learn more about the charity: https://www.q4cl.org.uk/ Hiya, I’m Diane — Chief Stitcher of Shenanigans at Stitchscape & Patchwork Play — sharing what I’m sewing now, one quilt at a time. #LongarmQuilting #PatchworkQuilt #QuiltingForBeginners #QuiltsForCareLeavers #FestivalOfQuilts #WhatImSewingNow