Bee Blessed

Please join me in welcoming today’s guest, Judith, as she shares with us the charity group her and a friend have created to help others in need in Belfast. They’d love to have you join them making blocks and spreading the word about their efforts.

Hi there, thank you for taking the time to read about a small charity quilting bee called

My friend, Sarah (Sew Me) and I started up this wee group in September 2011, with a view to bringing together creative quilty minds to have fun together and create quilts that will bless local needy families and groups here in Belfast.

As bloggers, Sarah and I thought it would be great to involve the blogging community in this venture too. We were blown away by the amazing response we had to the launch of Bee Blessed, and we now have 35 blogging members of BB supporting us.

This is how it works. Every 3rd Saturday, a physical group of ladies (between 10-12) meet to sew blocks, design quilt tops, baste and quilt, etc., and of course enjoy a cuppa and some cake and natter!

In addition to this, each month I post a new block that we ask our supporting bloggy friends to make and send back to me. So far we’ve received blocks from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada & Morocco! When we make these blocks up into quilts, they have a truly international feel!

We then donate the quilts to families or groups we are aware of that are experiencing illness, difficulty or practical need. Since starting in September. we have donated 19 quilts & 1 cushion & currently have 11 WIPs. Some examples of those we have donated to are families where a member is terminally ill, a young homeless mum and new baby in need of cot blankets, a community nursery needing cot blankets, a full-time carer in need of comfort and respite, a family victimised out of their home. We are also making smaller cot blankets to donate to a local mum & baby HIV unit.

We realise that the needs of some folks out there are massive, especially during these hard financial times. A small quilt or similar gift may be a drop in the ocean of what is needed, but we hope that our Bee Blessed gifts will bring some light and hope into otherwise dark and sad places.

Bee Blessed could not operate without the generous donations of fabric and blocks. You would be amazed what we can do with your unwanted cotton!! If you would like to support our efforts to bless others through Bee Blessed here’s how you can get involved:

• If you have any unwanted cotton fabrics or remnants, we will gratefully receive them!
• If you would like to make a block or two, check out our tutorials list here and join the Bee Blessed Flickr group and post pictures of what you’ve made.
• Spread the word! If you are a blogger, let others know about Bee Blessed so we can raise awareness and bless even more folks.

My email address is justjudedesigns@hotmail.co.uk if you would like more information about Bee Blessed. Or you can check out our blogs for more information, photos & tutorials:

http://judith-justjude.blogspot.co.uk/
http://sewmeblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Thank you, Judith xo