Siblings Together - guest post from Mary Emmens

Hi, I'm Mary, I'm here to ask for your help in the fourth year of the quilt drive for Siblings Together. In the UK there are approximately 40,000 children in care now who are living separated from brothers and sisters who are also in care, and a further 4,000 children entering care and separated from siblings each year. Siblings Together provides opportunities for planned, enjoyable, creative and high quality sibling contact, for children living in different care arrangements.

Back in 2012 Lynne started the drive to make quilts for the charity to give out to the children at the camps.   They have been so well received and here is an extract from one of the camp blogs last summer:

Saturday 4th August – Throughout the camp relationships blossomed within and between sibling groups and with the many volunteers who gave their time to make the camp happen. To say goodbye, each camper was presented with a certificate to celebrate the many talents and achievements that shone throughout the week. They were also given a quilt, each made specifically for the Siblings Together camps by the quilting group which has members from across the globe. Each quilt was chosen specifically for each camper by their mentor(s) to ensure each quilt matched the personality 
of the camper.

 

 One of the children said in their feedback “and my blanket/quilt is so warm and keeps me safe”.

   

So how about making a quilt to give to a child who might only get to spend one week a year with their siblings?  A quilt that become part of a great memory of a week spent together, something to be treasured?  Children in care are massively disadvantaged:

• Today in the UK, 36 per cent of care leavers aged 19 are not in education, employment or training (NEET)
• Nearly a quarter of girls in the care system become teenage mothers
• 24 per cent of the total adult population in prison have been in care
• 11 per cent of homeless people are care leavers
• 70 per cent of sex workers have been in care. Figures from the CSJ (Centre for Social Justice)

I'm not aware of any research that proves that giving a child a quilt improves their chances in life but I don't doubt that it will help them feel valued and loved and that has to be a good thing. Last year a group of us got together and put a call out on IG and Flickr for quilt blocks for Siblings Together. We received 211 blocks and used every single one of them making 3 quilts for the charity.

   

 We're doing the same again this year, but we'd love to make more than 3 quilts.

   

Which is where you come in; what we are asking is for you to make Home Sweet Home blocks like this (4 blocks shown):

   

 Jera of Quilting in the Rain is happy for you to use her tutorial, in fact please do! I played around in Touchdraw and here is an idea of what a finished quilt might look like:

   

The finished block needs to be trimmed down to 13" square, please use green, blue, grey and black masculine prints so that the quilts are suitable for teenage boys.

 

We would really appreciate your support and help with this, so please get stitching, spread the word on twitter, IG (share photos using #siblingstogetherhsh), your blog, Facebook, in your quilting group etc. Any offers of backing and or binding fabric will also be gratefully received. Of course if you want to make a whole quilt yourself, then please do, the details for donation are in the flickr group. Alternatively if you're interested in joining a Siblings Together bee please leave a comment below (with contact email) or in the flickr group and we will be in touch. Thank you in anticipation of your help. I will post updates on IG, in the flickr group and on my blog.