This is the third year I’ve taken part in the Hands2Help quilt challenge, it’s organised by Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict. There are three charities to choose from each year or you can donate a quilt to a more local one if you wish (there are two in America and one in Canada). This year I’m doing both!

By chance my mum was having a clear out and found a quilt top she made years ago but never finished, she didn’t want it and she was more than happy for me to send it to Hands2Help. For those of us who live the other side of the pond Sarah kindly offers to quilt any top that is sent over, as otherwise postal costs would be pretty high, so I can send my Mum’s quilt over as it is.

I also offered to make one for a charity set up by a friend after her son died from cancer. Latch is a Welsh charity which gives emotional, financial and practical support for families with a child with cancer. The Emyr Owen Porthcawl branch are having a Charity Ball and Auction in May, so Sandra was very grateful for the offer of a quilt.

As the quilt is going to be auctioned I felt it needed a bit of Wow! factor, it’s got to appeal to enough people when it’s held up for bidding. I thought long and hard about this and eventually decided on the Paisley Splash pattern from Wyndham Fabrics. I first came across it when my daughter Helen decided she wanted an elephant quilt, she decided on a different one but I still love this one. It’s a free pattern which is designed as a cot quilt, however I felt if I enlarged it and put some borders round it I could get it near to single bed size. I’m hoping the elephant will appeal to young adults as well as children…and to parents and grandparents who might buy it to gift!

The pattern printed off on my computer to an A4 size elephant. I decided to enlarge it the oldfashioned way by drawing 1″ squares on the A4 and 2″ on the A2. I managed to draw the paisley splash bit freehand on another piece of A2.

Yesterday afternoon I raided my scrap box for some suitable patterns. I ended up with blues, greens, purples, pinks and the occasional bit of orange. I need to make this quilt fairly quickly (the event is on May 11th!) so I used Bondaweb, playing around with the shapes until I was happy with the colours and the arrangement. Having secured them on the background with the Bondaweb I used a narrow zig-zag to stitch them all on.

I’ve just started the borders now. After the two narrow borders, I’m planning to do a piano key border of all the different fabrics (plus a few extra!) I’ll probably then just add a narrow stripe of ivory and a deeper blue border. Hopefully that will get the quilt size up enough, at the moment it’s approximately 35″ x 43″. I’m pleased with it so far, I’m planning to quilt it with an all over swirly pattern, with the wind behind me I might get it finished by the weekend 🙂