Two Solid Weeks

The month of April saw school holidays and a design challenge. My niece teaches children with special needs, they are very young with many obstacles including being blind, wheelchair bound and autism. The resources she has for these children are very basic and lack imagination. My niece funds her own resources also as the school budget is tight. Over Good Friday lunch we were discussing her obstacles and I offered to sew her up a couple of tactile quilts. The quilts would have a variety of fabrics with a different feel like - velvet, chiffon, netting,silk, polar fleece etc. finding small quantities of lots of different feeling fabrics is hard. My stash is mostly 100% cotton so............ Thank you Homecraft Textiles in Vic Park for supplying remnant bundles for half price.

 It is amazing how much we depend on our vision for texture/pattern in fabrics. Walking around a store with your eyes closed to really feel the texture is another experience. I touch and feel fabrics all the time but with these children in mind it was another dimension to quilting.

Although the photo's don't show the texture these fabrics offer soft, smooth, rough, fluffy etc. the mats are made to go on tables or on their laps each square is cut 7" finished at 6" and yes you can see a flannel as one of the squares. We are hoping to get donations of fabric and lace and wool to make more of these quilts from the families at the school.
I also want to make eye spy quilts for the kids and have many other ideas just waiting for a miracle......
My brother in law very kindly donated a couple of metres of denim to the cause and so with the purchase of some polar fleece I whipped up a couple of rag edge quilts. They are for the kids to lay on outside. I have finished the girls quilt and the boys quilt just needs the binding finished.

Love, love, love rag edge quilts......

Denim backing makes the quilt rather heavy but hard wearing.

Look where I was sitting while sewing on the binding...... Bicton Baths on the Swan River..... Hard huh.

Hubby and brother heading into the Swan River to dive on a wreck
I have also made a couple of touchy squares out of leftover polar fleece and ribbons, the children love the ribbon tassels and will sit fiddling and feeling. I must admit I love running my fingers over the ribbons too.

I also have a couple of touchy activity mats on the design board with pockets and zippers and other goodies, they should be finished soon. I think the hardest part of making the quilts is the variety of fabrics needed.

The blocks in this quilt were originally designed for another reason, as that reason no longer exists I decided to put them together for my niece to hang in her class.
I really hope we get funding and donations to make many more quilts for the kids at he school. For now though I have plenty more sewing and designing to go.