After Trudy’s funeral last week several of us decided a charity quilt would be a good thing to do. As the Blue Nurses helped Trudy stay at home where she wanted to be, and had been her favourite charity we decided they should be the ones to benefit.

So… all who are interested – we will do a block 10″ finished (so hand it in at 11″ or over) based on a simple flower (ie a centre and 5 or 6 petals. I’ve attached a flower drawing as a guide but you don’t have to be totally rigid to this design. It’s just to inspire you!). As her favourite colours were red and orange they will be the main colours. You can do a block any way you like – pieced, embroidered, appliqued – whatever you like. If you need a foundation fabric please call me and I will supply it for you (so then all the backgrounds will be the same). Obviously if you are doing a pieced block you won’t need this background. Similarly if you don’t have any reds or oranges in your stash give me a call and we’ll sort you out.

We’ve put a deadline for finishing the blocks at 31st May to give everyone time for inspiration and assembly. When they are all finished we will put them together in a quilt and donate it to the Blue Nurses so they can raffle it and raise funds for their organisation.

I think this will be a postive thing for our group and will be a fitting tribute to Trudy so make sure you register to be included.

Drumroll please. As we have now reached 20 comments I have used the random number generator to dtermine who will win the prize. And the winner is………………. Karyn Hewson. A pack of fat quarters will be winging its way to you very soon. Congratulations and thanks for your comments.

A very sad day today as we farewelled our quilting sister Trudy who died on Sunday. I have put this off since that day because I didn’t want to think about her being gone.

Trudy was a lovely lady who had a real zest for life and struggled through the awful illness of cancer with grace and humour. At her funeral today she was described as a wonderful mother and grandmother, courageous and loyal  – phrases often used at this type of gathering. But these weren’t just throwaway lines – Trudy was really special.

She often said that quilting inspired her and helped her make it through some tough days. In fact her coffin was draped with a teddy bear quilt she made when she was at her sickest (that really set us Apatchy girls off when we saw it). What we tried to tell her was that she inspired us – which is why she won the inaugural Apatchy Geronimo Award. This award was presented to her at the Christmas party last year where she also won the Viewer’s Choice award for her challenge quilt – a quilt that she finished even though she was suffering badly with the illness. We were amazed that she could persist and what determination she had. When others said they were ‘too busy’ or ‘couldn’t finish anything in time’ she just went right on and got on with it. It put many of us to shame. In fact her challenge quilt from the year before is in this year’s calendar – rather aptly her quilt is the feauture for this month.

For me personally – she certainly inspired me to re-think life and to make the most of it. I have taken up Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project – partly due to Trudy’s example – and have done things this year that I have always wanted to do (like taking singing lessons). It’s because of her that I use my good china and don’t keep it hidden away in a cupboard to be used “one day” and that I really try to make every day count – just like she did.

It still doesn’t seem quite right that we won’t hear her funny laugh again or see the joy she had for quilt classes. Trudy was our dear friend and we will miss her terribly.

Ok well it’s taken a year but it’s finally here. After thinking about having a blog for a year I have now seen all the online tutorials and waded through zillions of other people’s blogs to get to this stage. So I’m a little behind the pack but better late than never.

I am the voice behind the shop Apatchy Quilting but don’t stress this blog won’t be all sell sell. I would like it to include a gallery of my work, my clever customers’ work, humour, tutorials, patterns and links. As well as all that I would like it to be a conversation between the two us where we can exchange ideas – on lots of aspects of our craft.

An ambitious goal I hear you say but what about what I want? Good point….. Why don’t you tell me then? So the first 20 people to send me their (constructive) comments on what they would like to see in this blog will go in the prize draw to win three fat quarters from the ‘Perfectly Perched’ fabric range. So now I’m perfectly perched waiting for your response.

With my new iPhone 5 and iPad I could win ‘quilting techie of the year’! All I need now is a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a Pinterest account……